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Tips on Increasing Traffic to Your Blog

By Terry Detty in Blogs & Podcasts

Increasing traffic is actually easier than it seems–provided you know how. In this article, we will go over 7 specific methods of increasing traffic. These are guaranteed methods to draw more visitors to your blog.

Tip #1: Sign up for pinging services It seems pretty obvious, but most bloggers, even those who are more experienced, don’t sign up for pinging services. If you’re new to blogging and don’t know what pinging means, pinging basically means that when your blog is updated, a “ping” is sent out by the service to let pinging sites know that your blog has been updated. People who are visiting sites with pinging services will then see your blog flash across the side of the screen as “newly updated”. Pinging services include Yahoo’s blogs, weblogs.com, Google Blog search, and ZingFast.

Tip #2: Sign up for Technorati If you go to technorati.com, you’ll see an option on the left side of the screen to “Claim Your Blog”. Doing so allows you to get updated link counts, add your photo or branding to Technorati, and see your Technorati link.

Having your blog claimed on Technorati helps to increase traffic because the millions of people who go to that site will have a chance to see your blog on there.

Tip #3: Sign up for FeedBurner, a RSS service What FeedBurner basically does for your blog is it helps you to promote your blog’s content, build your audience and measure your audience. In other words, it helps you increase your blog’s traffic.

Tip #4: Bookmark your blogs at places like del.icio.us You can set up an account and profile at del.icio.us. Then, using that, you can add links to your blog along with excerpts from your blog. Anytime someone visits your profile on del.icio.us, they will see a link to your blog and excerpts. There are other social bookmarking sites that you can use in much the same way. The bottom line is, using these social bookmarking sites can help you increase traffic.

Tip #5: Post comments at other blogs No, this doesn’t mean you should go and spam other blogs with comments that are only there to promote a site. It means that you should visit similar blogs to your own, post legitimate comments and then sign your name(along with a link to your blog). This way, people know you aren’t there just to promote your site–you’re there to post a good piece of feedback and also say where you’re from.

Tip #6: Ask owners of other blogs to post a link to yours Find other blogs that are similar to yours. If they seem to be decently popular(that is, they have a good amount of comments for each post), you can try to contact the owner of the blog to add a link to your blog if they have a links section. To make them really want to do this, you can offer to link back to their blog on your blog. People do this reciprocal blog linking all the time and it does help to increase traffic.

Tip #7: Use keywords in your blog Like regular web pages, having a good keyword density on a blog is a terrific way of getting search engine spiders to notice your page. (FYI: Search engine spiders are programs from search engines that browse sites and report back their findings to the search engine database, which then lists that site. The more keywords on your site, the more likely it is for a search engine spider to pay a visit)

If your average blog posting is around 200 words, try to use 2-6 keywords per blog post. 2-6 keywords in a blog posting of 200 words is a keyword density of between 1 and 3 percent, a respectable number. Remember that you don’t want to use too many keywords, as that will make your blog look bad. Also be sure that the keywords used are relevant to your blog. Before even making a blog posting, decide what the post will be about and then select a keyword or two to use in your post. Then do it. It’s a surefire way of getting more traffic to your site!

Signing up with a service like Technorati is a quick, painless way of increasing traffic to your blog. So sign up today!

Author:  Terry Detty, 42, enjoys all aspects of internet marketing and getting out for a breath of fresh air occasionally. Online internet marketing, time and attendance and fix my credit.

Corporate Blogging: Don’t Be an Island

By Mihaela Lica in Blogs & Podcasts

So you set up a corporate blog. You have put your shiniest suits forward and have in-house editors serving up professional content. And it’s being updated regularly, in fact it’s running smoothly. In fact, you’ve created a blogger’s dream come true.

Sit back, relax. Pat yourself on the back, even. After all, you’ve done the right thing. Well, haven’t you?

I browse the blogosphere a lot and I am particularly interested in business blogs because, in the end, this is what I sell: online public relations for corporate clients. Blogging, as a publishing tool, is a very important facet of my business. I always recommend to website owners to add a blog to their sites because blogs bring many advantages including traffic, links, credibility, not to mention the possibility of publishing your own corporate news in real time and have them indexed almost instantly.

But many new online business owners don’t really understand what blogging is all about. They think that by daily contributions they’ll get higher rankings in the search engine results pages (SERPs). Well, this method used to hold true for Google rankings, but that was back in the good old days, before blogging became a mania.

So what real chances do corporate blogs have and how can they grab the attention of their market? The reality is corporate blogs have nothing if they don’t have community.

The first rule in corporate blogging (and the first rule in blogging as a discipline) is: don’t be an island. If you choose to be an island, then do us all a favor and post a big ALOHA sign in your harbor now. Being an island is like one hand clapping. You know you’re doing it, but no one else does.

So how do you make the transition from island to continent?

A blog is the ideal platform to publish news fast and to control the message you want to send out. A blog is also the ideal platform to communicate with your future clients and business partners. Used wisely, it will help establish a trusted brand and leverage profits for your business.

To help bring trust to your blog, you’ll need to turn on your comments. Let people tell you how they feel about what you have to say. Accept their advice, accept their criticisms.

Learn, improve and move on. In the process, you might discover that elusive “je ne sais quoi” that was missing from your product or service and by listening to the feedback from your readers, you just might change the face of your business.

Don’t forget to respond to these comments. It’s not just a courtesy: when you do answer, you show your readers that their questions and ideas actually matter. Engage your readers in a meaningful conversation, give them valuable, competent answers.

The blogosphere revolves at a fast pace. Try to be as fast as this revolution.

Next, get involved in the online community. Ask your employees to read related blogs and take some time to add comments where they can. Their comments should be meaningful because this is the surest way to get the recognition you deserve and encourage people to visit your website or blog. Their comments should never mention your company or your products. They should be related to the host blog’s entry and they should add something new to the conversation. Never comment “just to comment.” And never use comments like “visit our site, we are the best in…” Self promotion is not welcomed anywhere. Respect the owners of the blog where you post your comments, respect their readers. You’ll also need to educate your employees about how to recognize authority blogs and understand how networking works.

Encourage social networking in your company. Ask each employee to post at least 4-5 comments each day on different blogs. And get them to do this with a link to your corporate blog in their signature. Refrain from using keywords in the comments signature — so no niche-related key phrases that could be perceived as spamming. And be real: ask your employees to use their own names. This is how you give a human face to your business. It’s that personal touch that will gain credibility and goodwill for your company. As a bonus, when they learn how to interact with other people online, the members of your staff will understand why communication is important within a team too. From reading different blogs they will learn how related businesses manage their online strategies and they will be able to bring good feedback and lessons to your company too.

Another very important reason why you should comment on other blogs has a lot to do with SEM and SEO, basically with what online marketing experts call “linking strategies.” Many bloggers have joined a “you comment I follow” movement to motivate their visitors to comment. Basically they remove the “nofollow” attributes from the signature link of the commentators. That’s good news, because those links will count in Google and Technorati. But you should also comment even when some blogs use “nofollow” for the signature links. There are search engines (like Yahoo and Ask.com) that completely ignore the “nofollow” attributes. Besides, the readers — and they are your real target — will follow. They click on the names of those who manage to get their attention through witty comments and professional advice. You should understand that the real purpose of the signature links is to drive traffic to your website or blog. That’s it! No matter what else you’ve heard, they do not have important SEO weight to make them count for your rankings in the SERPs.

So don’t blog to get more links, blog to gain goodwill for your business. Use your blog as a PR tool. Think of the savings and the amazing power you hold in your hands. Hire a blogger to do the networking if you don’t have time to do it yourself, but don’t be afraid to explore this world. Professional online PR consultants already agree that a site without a blog is a dead site in this profound Web 2.0 world. And guess what? We are heading towards Web 3.0!

Author:  Mihaela Lica is online marketing specialist for the Luxembourg based web development company Red Dog Communications.

Merging Podcasting and SEO

By Lisa Barone in Blogs & Podcasts

You’ve heard about podcasting. It’s the cousin of the blog, Google and Ask.com have both found ways to incorporate podcasts into their SERPs, and it’s being touted at all the search industry conferences and on the search marketing blogs as the medium to pay attention to. But what does podcasting really entail and can you really make it search engine friendly?

At its most basic core, a podcast is a blog in audio form. The difference with podcasting is that content creators are able to connect with users on a very basic level by engaging in conversations through voice. It’s real discussion captured in an audio file. The files are then uploaded onto the Web and made available through an RSS feed so that users armed with an iPod or some other media device can download it and listen to the MP3 at their leisure offline.

How Will Podcasting Help My Company?

There are plenty of reasons to experiment with podcasting as a new marketing channel for your company. It allows you to extend the reach of your brand, helps you to foster a more intimate relationship with your audience, and can increase your search engine visibility. For those Internet marketers having a difficult time connecting with or creating an emotional bond with users, podcasting could be a way to accomplish that.

Another benefit of podcasting is that it’s flexible. Unlike with blogs, search marketers aren’t forced to commit themselves to a weekly radio show in order to work podcasts into a search engine optimization campaign. Podcasts work just as well as a standalone communication as they do at fostering an ongoing conversation or dialogue. Use podcasts to generate buzz around a new product launch, for man-on-the-street interviews during trade shows, or to announce special events.

Okay, So How Do I Create a Podcast?

Just like with any other marketing technique, the first step in podcasting is to determine your objectives.

• What do you want your podcast to accomplish?
• Who is your target audience?
• What other podcasts is your audience listening to?
• What styles do they prefer?
• What format will you use?
• Are you going to be producing a few stand alone podcasts or are you going to create a weekly or bi-weekly radio show?

Answering these questions will help you to map out what your show is going to be about and how time-intensive it’s going to be. Obviously, if you’re going to dedicate yourself to a weekly podcast you should make sure you have an abundance of material to discuss and that you’re targeting a subject you are genuinely passionate about. You can’t “fake it” in podcasting. People can hear your voice; they’ll know if you’re not being genuine. Being passionate about your topic is the only way you’ll ever be credible.

The good news for Internet marketers is that the startup costs associated with podcasting are low. All that’s needed to get started is a microphone, some voice-editing software and a site to upload your content to. During July’s WordCamp 2007, PodPress creator Dan Kuykendall commented that his entire podcasting setup cost him approximately $200 — $100 each for a microphone and a good soundcard. As for the software, both WordPress and Audacity offer free programs to help wannabe podcasters get started.

That’s not to say that podcasting is easy. As with most things, your podcast will live and die on your content. And because people can actually hear you, it’s not about just having the content; it’s also about delivering it.

If you’ve listened to a fair share of podcasts you’ve probably noticed something – most of them are terrible. This is no reflection of podcasting as a medium, it’s simply because very few people are doing podcasting correctly. Most newbie podcasters are committing one of two fatal mistakes: Either they just start rambling with no topic in mind or they’re so set on their topic that they come off robotic and kill any chance of fostering a real discussion.

You want your podcast to sound natural. It should be topic-focused but loose enough that people don’t feel like you’re reading off of a script. Keep it friendly, but do know what you’re going to say. Hesitation and long silences are killer in an auditory medium.

If you are going to make your podcasting a regular thing, try and stick to a consistent posting schedule. Let people know when they can expect new content from you. You want them to become attached.

Making Your Podcast Readily Available

Once created, you’ll have to upload your podcast to a Web in order to make it available for download. Whether you want to upload it directly onto your site or use one of the many hosting sites is your choice. We typically recommend hosting the podcast off site because if and when your podcast becomes successful (which, after all, is the point.) you’ll likely exceed your bandwidth pretty quickly. If you’re just starting out, WordPress and Audacity will both host your podcasts for free. Once you gain a bigger following, however, you may want switch over to a fee-based company.

The most important part in podcast optimization is to construct proper ID3 tags. ID3 tags hold the metadata that will appear in a user’s media player once the file is downloaded. While there are more than 35 pre-defined fields, the most essential metadata to include is the title (name of your show), the album (name of your podcast), article (name of the host), the date the show was created, the track or episode number, the genre, and comment information. There are no strict guidelines regarding what should be placed within the comment section, but it’s typically reserved for information such as your URL, a transcript, contact info or info regarding when your audience can expect your next episode.

If the idea of creating a feed sounds a bit tricky, feel free to use a feed validator tool to help you. There are plenty of hosting companies that offer full podcasting packages to help you get started. Some trusted companies are Feed For All, Jitbit, Podifier, and FeedBurner. Or, if you’re uploading your podcasts using WordPress, there’s a great podcast plug-in created by Dan Kuykendall called PodPress that makes tagging audio files completely painless.

One of the mistakes newbie podcasters make is that they promote multiple feeds for their podcast. It’s okay to have more than feed; in fact, you’ll probably need more than one feed, but you should only be promoting one. It’s confusing for users when your content is out there all over the place. Promoting only one feed makes it easy for users and the search engines to locate your content.

Podcasts Should Be Keyword-Rich

When you’re optimizing your podcasts remember that just like when optimizing a Web page, you never want to miss a chance to use keywords when appropriate. The success of your podcast will be directly tied to how “findable” it is.

• File Names: Your file names should be optimized using a date + truncated episode title format. For example, if the title of your July 31, 2007 podcast is “Lessons in Podcasting”, you may want to name it something like “lsnspdcsting73107.mp3”.
• Podcast Titles: Research what terms users are most likely to query when searching for the subject matter discussed in your content. Use relevant keywords and phrases whenever possible.
• Create podcast transcripts: Creating a transcript of your podcast gives you a valuable opportunity to add more keyword-rich content to your site. This will help your site to be seen as a subject matter expert on that topic, and it will also aid users in finding your podcast.
• Create Unique Landing Pages: When you’re creating a podcast as part of a regular show, we typically recommend creating separate landing pages both for the show itself and each episode. Using distinct landing pages does several things. It helps limit the amount of broken links, it allows your main landing page to act as a site map for all of your podcasts, and it gives you more room to use important keywords to describe the content of your podcast. The more keyword-rich content you use, the easier it will be for users and the search engines to find you.

Another landing page tip: Make subscription info easy to find and include an online media player for the users who prefer to listen to your podcasts straight from your site.

The last part of podcast optimization is promotion. Podcasts are valuable resources so don’t be afraid to tell those in your community and influential niche bloggers what you’re doing. Use your own company Web site or blog to promote your podcasting efforts, and submit your feed to the various podcasting directories out there, such as Podfeed.net, FeedBurner, Podcast Alley, Yahoo! Podcast and others. If you’re using a podcasting hosting service, many times they’ll automatically submit your podcast for you so make sure you check to see what your package includes.

Podcasts have received a lot of attention because they’re low cost to set up and they’re easily indexed by the search engines. But they won’t be indexed if you’re not optimizing them correctly. As ever, it is worth the time to do it right.

Author:  Lisa Barone is a Sr. Writer at Bruce Clay Inc.

Blogs From the Dark Side: How To Offend Friends and Family Without Trying

By Devin Hansen in Blogs & Podcasts

With websites like MySpace and LiveJournal boasting high popularity levels and celebrity members, blogs have cemented themselves into the daily lives of regular people.  Yet, as with every notable trend that lasts more than six months in America , blogging has produced a darker, uglier side that is experienced by an abundance of individual users.  Writing in a blog that you share with family and friends can be an excellent way to announce important news, new discoveries, and spread ideas for feedback, or it can be your ticket to hurt feelings, offended friends, and a large number of apologies.  Here are suggestions about what not to do if you want to keep your friends and remain in Grandpa’s will.

Zen and the art of the spell check.  You’ve finished a post for your blog, and clicked the small button on the bottom of the screen that will send your literary masterpiece into the world.  Problem is, you’ve announced that the baby has “cut her first toot,” instead of tooth, or that your “new boss at work is a real weiner,” instead of winner.  The first and easiest step in writing a blog is to proofread what you’ve written before posting it.  Bad grammar and spelling are an excellent way to fail to get your point across or accidentally insult people.  If your blog page does not have a spell-check function, then write your post in a word-processing program first.  After a quick spell-check, all you have to do is cut and paste into your blog.   

WUI:  Writing under the influence.  You don’t drink and drive, and you don’t drink and dial. But what about drinking and typing?  If your primitive brain has taken over due to excessive drinking, its probably best not to send any emails and you probably shouldn’t post a blog. Making a blog post while hindered by anything, be it prescription medication, or just a lack of sleep, is an unwise decision.  The lack of judgment can lead to posts that make no sense, or even worse, spew out every hurt feeling and critical remark that rises to the surface in an uninhibited mind. You might spew some vile remarks, or even some late-night declarations of love to the wrong person.

The personal thoughts or “Twinkie” defense.  A blog entry has been made.  Feelings have been hurt.  When responding to a previous blog entry that has gathered some negative feedback, the first gut response is to make another post, this time stating that everything in the blog is the author’s personal thoughts and that the author has nothing to apologize for.  This is indeed true, but when allowing other people to read your blog, you’re also giving them the right to react to what you write, and part of those will be negative reactions.  By claiming that they shouldn’t get angry over your personal thoughts, you are discrediting their personal feelings, and building even more unrest.  To avoid needing the personal thoughts defense, first try just editing your blog entries before posting them.  If you feel this is censoring your creative output, a good alternative might be a second, private blog, where you can express the feelings you think would offend your friends and family.  Just don’t pass out the address.

Cheese and whine.  Life sucks, and the entire world is against you.  Every day.  Even multiple times a day.  An excellent way to turn your family and friends off from reading your blog is to have a continually negative attitude about everything and everyone that comes in contact with you.  While people can be sympathetic to a bad day and offer support, a constantly pessimistic outlook will become tiresome, and in the end, drive people away.  The key is balance.  Try to write about three things that make you feel good for every one thing that makes you feel bad.  In the end, you might make yourself feel better, and if nothing else, the sympathy will keep flowing.

The Flame-Thrower.  It’s wonderful that you have an opinion on the state of the world at large.  It’s even better if that opinion is well informed and backed by credible sources, even if the opinion is unpopular.  But attacking everything in a twenty mile radius around you with the flame of righteous indignation or worse, simple malice, on a frequent basis will not only get tiresome to the people reading your blog, but is a distinct way to insult most of your readers.  If you’re having a bad day, try to calm down before making a post that might do nothing but strike out at everything making you angry.  If you’ve seen a news report on television or read an article in the newspaper that has left you outraged, sleep on it first. Not only will you have better insight with a clear head, but the story might change, or new evidence might surface that could blow your arguments right out of the water.

There is no formula for the perfect blog, or some secret to keeping your own so pristine that it balances that personal feeling with the straight-forward listing of what is going on in your life flawlessly.  Typos happen, we have bad days, we get angry, and everyone makes bad decisions.  But if your blog is on the brink of the dark side, you can pull it back into the light on your own and without much effort.  Identify if any of the categories above fit your current blog, and adjust your tactics a little.  In the end, you’ll feel better about what you send out into the world for your friends and family to read, and you just might be surprised by the positive feedback you receive.

Author:  Devin Hansen is the owner of SEO Copywriters, a web-content development company based in Illinois . With a staff of American writers and editors, they produce high-quality, unique content for any business in any industry

Blog Startup: Template Organization

By Ian Fernando in Blogs & Podcasts

This weekend was very busy; I have been working hard on the new design and its layout/structure. I was going to post about it on Saturday, but I wanted to release my new blog by the end of the week. Template design is crucial and important. I want to make sure everything is organize and easy to navigate to all readers.

Designing your own successful web page can seem difficult and nearly impossible if you do not do a little research first. The reason you need to know the basics of web page design is because the design of your website will actually influence whether or not people continue to visit your site and ultimately, whether they will buy from you or not. Obviously, a lot is riding on your website design so it is worthwhile to take this seriously and put some effort into doing it right the first time.

A design flaw many beginners run into is organization. Your website must be well organized, and not just to you, but to the average person who has never visited your site before. It should be obvious where the information is and how visitors can get to it without wading through a lot of other links and information they are not interested in. Check out some larger, more successful sites to see how they deal with organization and just follow their lead.

With this specific blog, I decided to go with web templates, as these days templates are getting real popular and can be easily manageable. This blog as well is template base from Brian Gardner. I like this specific template for this blog because it has a blog feel to it and is very easily manageable. Of course I reorganize some things and added a small banner to make the blog look a live.

Template or Create your Own?

The first obvious mistake you should be aware of is using a template that is very popular. If many people use the same template, your website will not appear unique at all and your credibility as a solid, different website will be tarnished. In other words, you will appear generic just like your next-door neighbors. I made sure not a lot of users were using this specific template, by simply searching the footer that is usually left on a template.

But, if you want to create your own design, you can. But you will need to plan first. Ask yourself:

1. How many columns
2. Where is the MAIN content
3. Where is the MAIN navigation
4. How will they Contact me
5. Ease of Navigation
6. Will it be interactive

To me, these are the main issues that I look for and plan for when I decide to create my own design. But with this new blog I am creating I have decided to use a template, as it is very simple for me to use. I always look for ease of navigation when finding a template:

Fluent and intuitive navigation is vital to satisfactory user browsing experience and fruitful search engine optimization for obvious reasons. It is indispensable to ensure that the organization of your site is hierarchically logical and consistent. It is advisable to include a site map if your site has more than 10 pages. It is also wise to stick to obvious descriptions - titles for navigation buttons/ tools. It is an absolute must that all internal web pages sport a link to the homepage. This also increases the number of links pointing to your home page.
Source: Isha Sharma

The organization of your menu bar is very important it will help the reader easily flow with your website, making them stay on your website much longer than usual.

As well as the importance of navigation, color plays a big role as well. Internet readers usually stereotype your website by design and color. People who visit your website usually form an instant opinion about you and what your website offers. They can’t help themselves. Their instant opinion is formed in their subconscious mind. If you have been reading my blog, you can tell I talk about the mix match colors of web sites I review.

I have created a good report on web design which is far longer and lengthy than this post, It talks about template design with 3 columns and why it is beginning to be more popular than other layouts. If you would like to download this free report, just enter your name and email in the form above within the middle column.

Again, designs and layouts are important to your readers. It will determine re-occurring readers or losing prospects. It is all about flow when it comes to your web design and layouts.

Author:  Ian has just started up a new blog and is writing every step that he takes to achieve its success. To read more about blog startups, visit IanFernando.com

10 Blogging Mistakes Bloggers Should Avoid

By Rose DesRochers in Blogs & Podcasts

I have come across a number of blogs where beginners bloggers not yet familiar with blogging have made the same common blogging mistakes. Do you make these mistakes with your blog?

Background Music - This is one of the most complained about features on a website or blog. Don’t put music files on your blog that run in the background. Give the visitor the option to turn the music off.

Screen Size Width - Design your site for all screen resolution. When designing your blog be sure to test it out in various screen sizes. Avoid making the assumption that all your visitors are viewing at the same screen resolution. Horizontal scrolling is one of those usability nightmares. There is nothing worse than having to scroll horizontally on a page just to read the content.

No Alt Attribute - Provide the alt description text with the images you post on your blog whenever possible. Spider bots cannot read images.

Disabling Right Click - Don’t disable right click on your blog. No Right Click can very easily be bypassed and most internet uses know how to bypass it. Disabling right click does not prevent your images from being stolen. Determined visitors will either disable JavaScript on their browser or retrieve the file from a search engine cache or the source code of your blog.

Blog does not display the same in all browsers - View your blog in many different browsers. Browershots.org is a free service that generates screenshots of your blog on a wide number of browsers. Enter your web address and click “Make Screenshots.” It takes about 30-40 min.

Too Much Advertising - Adding a massive amount of advertisements on your blog is a huge mistake. There is nothing wrong with a few appropriately places ads, but don’t let it become over bearing. Limit the ads to no more than two or three.

Too Much on a blog - Some bloggers believe they need to have all the bells and whistles. Keep it simple. Too much on a page can slow down the loading time. The same can be said for large images. When someone attempts to load the page, it will take an excessively long time to load. I have been driven away from many blogs that took a long time to load or froze my computer.

Using Copywritten images without permission - This one can get you in a heat of trouble. Obtain permission before using an image. Copyright infringement is the unauthorized use of someone else’s copyrighted material. Giving credit does not mean that you are not infringing on copyright or does it mean that you have permission to use that person’s work. If you intend to use someone’s copyrighted work on your blog be it a photo, cartoon or article, you must obtain the author’s written permission.

Hotlinking to images - Don’t hotlink to images. Hotlinking is when you link to an image on someone else’s server instead of saving the image to your computer and uploading it to your blog. When you link to an image directly, you are using up that websites bandwidth. This does not cost you anything, but it does cost the website that you’re stealing the bandwidth from.

Non descriptive Posting Titles - When creating titles for your post be sure to make them descriptive. Use keywords in your post titles. The post title is vital for search engine optimization. Consider the words that a potential reader will be using to search in Google to find the information you’re posting about. Use the Overture Keyword Popularity Tool to access the WordTracker database and see what terms are being searched for.

For blogging support, advice, tips, tricks and hints to assist you in not only improving your blog, but your blogging experience as well visit Blogger Talk Blog Community and Blogger Forum.

Author:  Rose DesRochers is a published poet and freelance writer. She has been writing poetry for more than 20 years. Rose DesRochers is also the founder of http://www.todays-woman.net , a supportive online writing community for men and women over 18 and http://www.bloggertalk.net a community where bloggers connect.

Visit her blog at http://rosedesrochers.todays-woman.net

Four Reasons To Be Wary of Free Blog Services

By Keith Stieneke in Blogs & Podcasts

If you aren’t blogging and plan to get started soon beware.

There are several free blogging services available that make the idea of starting one’s own blog very easy and attractive. Indeed, many bloggers fall into the trap of using a free blogging service as their first entry into the filed of blogging. This of course makes a great deal of sense, as the free blog service providers offer some very easy to use powerful platforms. Also, this approach avoids spending funds and therefore reduces the risk involved in starting a blog to a bare minimum.

Although using a free blogging service may be an easy way to get started with blogging and learning about the process of blogging there are simply too many pitfalls associated with using these services. Indeed, they are a poor choice for those hoping to generate significant blogging profits.

There are four main reasons that they are poor choices for those looking to generate significant blogging profits. These reasons are as follows:

1. Since most of the free blog services offer the free blog and server space in order to display their own Adsense or other ads. The free service provider’s terms of service often prohibit the user from displaying any additional contextual advertising. The reason for this is that the free services generate their revenue this way, therefore there TOS makes perfect sense. Unfortunately this takes one of the most powerful tools for a blogger to make money away from the blogger.

2. If you operate a blog on a free service then you loose much of the control over your site. This is not only a matter of advertising or content restriction, rather this lack of control is much more serious. Such free blog service providers as Blogger.com is known to regularly freeze blogs and delete blogs for reasons they do not explain to the bloggers operating those blogs. Blogs simply disappear and so does the great deal of work that the blogger has done. With other lesser known blog service providers the provider may be undercapitalized. These blog providers may simply go out of business and take your blog right along with them. In the case of blogger deleting blogs I had this happen and it was very discouraging. Although I was able to set up my blogs again and with the same urls, I was not able to recover any of the previous posts that existed before the blog was deleted.

3. If you use a free blog hosting provider there is an issue of credibility. Surfers are more likely to visit and bestow a great deal more credibility to blogs that are hosted upon their own domain. Blogs that are obviously hosted on a sub domain at a free host make potential visitors and customers doubt a blog’s credibility, legitimacy and have a negative impact on generating sales of any kind.

4. Last but not necessarily the least of the reasons why using a free blog host can be detrimental to your profitability is the what I shall refer to here as the matter of flexibility. With some free blog services your options to alter the appearance of the blog may be limited to nonexistent. These free services may use platforms that lack some features that can aid in making your blog profitable. For an example the blogs hosted at Blogger.com lack the category function found in their Wordpress counterparts. Other free services may offer only a few templates that can have any changes at all made to them and these are minimal. If you want your moneymaking blog to be profitable and perform optimally, you should be able to make any and all desired changes to your blog template.

There are a variety of blog platforms that won’t cost you anything at all and many of these are very powerful. Because of all the competition among the various hosting and domain registration companies you can find having your own website quite affordable. If you are planning to make an income through your blogging activities using a free blogging service to launch your online business does not make sense. Most domain hosts today offer such services as Wordpress and other blog platforms that you can simply add to your current domain. This is a definite bargain when one considers the pitfalls associated with the alternative of the free blog services.

Author:  Keith P. Stieneke is a network and affiliate marketer with a background in psychology and direct sales. You can view his ever-changing website the Opportunity Assistance at http://www.opportunityassistance.com. He has also built the blog resource website Blog Smart Resources at http://www.blogsmart-resources.com.

Why Your Business Should Consider Blogging

By Melissa Fach in Blogs & Podcasts

I have written about how much blogging has helped my business and also become beneficial to me personally, but there are still many businesses that fail to see how a blog can dramatically help their company and they fail to see the purpose of a blog.

Every business, consultant, employee and even non-employees have knowledge about various subjects. As we all know the “information highway” is where everyone is going for any and sometimes all questions they have. Bloggers are creating financial independence because they are discussing subjects people are researching about. The bottom line is that people are researching every possible subject- some a bit scary, but they are researching, reading, emailing…

I Have a Client…

I have a client that I think is just a complete class act. His name is John Hensley (new web site is launching soon) and he is a personal injury attorney in Indianapolis. I like this guy so much because he truly wants to help people. His goal is to provide his community with everything they need to know to prevent a loved one from being hurt. He doesn’t need to do this, but he does and that is what makes him so likable. His dedication to others has made me want to work harder for him because you know he is actually doing for others.

So, let’s use John as an example. He knows so much about those that have been attacked by dogs, those that have been hurt in construction accidents that should have never happened, those that have been hurt in medical facilities…I could truly go on and on. Now, John hired me to do a lot of writing and research so he could not only educate, but also help those that have already been hurt by providing them with free information and resources. He has very little time to think or sleep or even handle the work he currently has, but IF (and that is a big if) life ever slowed down his knowledge, thoughts and advice could help thousands of people. The type of information he could provide would probably turn into those prevention emails that gets sent and forwarded to thousands of people. Essentially, he would be providing valuable information and also, in a way, advertising his law firm. Unfortunately, for John, he works like a maniac and doesn’t have a lot of time to write out his thoughts.
(However, by creating free information and resources he is creating a web presence that will not only help others, but also let his law firm be known to residents in the area. Iif you don’t have time to blog this is another option).

YOU May Be a Different Story

You or your company may have valuable information and also have the time to write about it. If you do this you can submit your blog entries to RSS Feeds and essentially your blog is sent around the world very rapidly. If you have something solid and valuable to readers worldwide you can create a blog that people will frequently come to for good information and even good reading. At the same time, your blog reinforces that your company is knowledgeable, trustworthy and also a company that is trying to give back. Your company benefits and your readers benefit; to me there are no downsides.

Blogs need to be updated regularly to be successful and you may be worried about how you can accomplish this- Creativity is the key and it is possible. If you look at the labels listed at the bottom of this blog entry you will see a list of words. These words are words people may be researching and that is why they are listed. If they type “Personal Injury” into Technorati today this entry may come up and if they have signed up for a feed that emails them new entries on “Personal Injury” this may show up in their mail box or on their reader. Blogs allow people and businesses to reach people they would have never had an opportunity to reach before. This is why blogs are so valuable and this is why you are hearing about the importance of blogging all over the net.

Keep blogging in mind…it could be very beneficial to you and your business.

Author:  Melissa Fach has always been an Internet Junkie. A successful copywriter and SEO, Melissa works with a wide array of clients. Melissa runs Panaca Writing, SRQ Web Design and the Sarasota Print Shop.

Blogs and Social Media Forum 2

By Marie Howell in Blogs & Podcasts

Marie Howell, UK SEO at Bruce Clay Europe attended last week’s Blogs and Social Media Forum held at The London Marriot Grosvenor Hotel and was kind enough to share her experience. Thanks, Marie!

Although certainly not SMX, nor the dizzy (metaphorically speaking) heights of Seattle, the Blogs and Social Media Forum 2 in London offered a positive day, some concrete ideas, a chance to mull over and consider issues surrounding internal and external social media, such as UK-style to UK businesses, educational establishments and enterprises. There was even a little amusement in the ‘bristling’ by a certain attendee (after one or two interesting comments about Microsoft from Sun Micro Systems!).

Attendees ranged from companies and high pedigree organisations such as legal practices Deloitte & Touche and the Bank of England, through to educational establishments in the form of a Scottish University and governmental bodies like the MOD (Ministry Of Defence) and various councils. Each sector, it seems, has their own social media agenda and is keen to develop their enterprises and interaction using this medium. Some have the objective of internal interaction and information delivery, others are creating blogs to support Web business, others are looking to develop brands and brand management, whilst yet others are keen to monetize this interaction with the wider community at large.

The day kicked off with a welcome from chairman Euan Semple followed by a Keynote conversational panel featuring Ben Edwards (Economist.com), Jem Stone (BBC New Media and Technology), Adriana Lukas (Big Blog Company), Myles Runham (General Manager Europe, Ask.com), and Roo Reynolds (Metaverse Evangelist, IBM). Euan introduced the concept of blogging and social media as an industry tool and then looked to the Social Media line-up for their experiences and reflections.

In general advice from the panel, Myles stressed the importance of setting aside time for blogging. He also advocated how it should be something that you choose to do because it adds value to the company and it is something that you enjoy, primarily. The panel also stressed the need for relinquishing control to employees and the wider community. Social media is, by its own definition, controlled by the community and participants, and their interaction with each other.

Ben Edwards introduced how he has developed ‘community server’ within the Economist to enhance their site. His recommendation was for companies to work closely with their operations director and to give a degree of compulsion to interaction with social media (i.e. 4 “weekly reports” required).

[Aside: but, doesn’t that defeat the object of social media – a wanting / desire to be part of a community and to share your [own] thoughts / reflections with a wiser audience? Should social media be merely an extension of the company newsletter and mission statement? If it were as prescriptive as this, it would concern me greatly! – Marie ]

Other sound bytes included developing confidence and encouraging staff and colleagues to dip a toe in the water. The audience was reminded that in conversations you might say the ‘wrong thing’ but that doesn’t stop you from communicating. With blogging, for instance, you can proofread, edit, spell check and re-edit your work before publishing to lessen the likelihood of getting anything wrong, but one should accept the possibility that sometimes things can go a little awry and it shouldn’t stop you from keeping going. From a managerial point of view, it is definitely about letting go. People need to be free to express themselves. This valuable point was carried further by Adriana Lukas when she stated that managers have to recognise that things are not going to be perfect and they have to resign themselves to that fact. She also encouraged ‘unlearning’ the corporate lingo when working in social media (I like that better!).

The speed networking session (think speed dating – not tried it, only heard about it! – crossed with a networking event) allowed the Brits, slightly more ‘socially reserved’ than our American cousins, have fun and interact within a 3 minute slot. Too much time for some people, but too little for others. Lloyd Davis gamely hosted this session and encouraged participation from everyone with excellent results – bravo Lloyd!

One of the highlights of the day for me was the open session. This was where audience members ventured a topic they would like to discuss and then they hosted that conversation with those participants who chose to attend. There were a number of different huddles covering diverse social media topics such as The Dark Side of SM, Moderation & Spam, Real World SM and Monetizing SM. [You can find photos of the Social Media session on Marie’s personal blog, SEO Biker -- Lisa]. With attendees encouraged to float between topics, it was possible to get a good flavour of each and the concerns and motivations of different verticals.

With various case studies and talks from Motoraddicts, Economist, Sun Microsystems and BUPA, quality presentations abounded and the audience was allowed into the inner recesses of the planning and implementation of the projects of these organisations However, the Economist.com’s Ben Edwards disappointed attendees by only referring to his ‘roadmap’ for the coming months and would not enlarge on the company’s strategy.

A good day’s conference, expertly hosted by a suave, eloquent and ‘cerebral’ Euan Semple, containing ideas and information to get corporate and public bodies dipping that toe into the Social Media and Blogging waters. Highly recommended!

Author:  Based in London England, Marie Howell is the Sr. SEO for Bruce Clay Europe

Vidcasting - Revolutionize How You Distribute Your Video Web Content

By Erich Slipsager in Blogs & Podcasts

The internet has always been a dicey proposition for videographers looking to distribute their content. The disciplines that lend themselves to producing the best looking and most engaging content in conventional delivery channels (DVD, television, etc) do not lend themselves to the internet.

The problems are multifold. First and foremost is the issue of bandwidth - or the lack of it. High quality video generally means huge files, and consequently more time required to download the files to be played on the client’s computer. While the state of internet bandwidth is nowhere near as abysmal as it was just a few years ago - however even with current advances in bandwidth - the delivery of a file several hundred megabytes can be trying to even the most patient of potential viewers.

The second problem is the lack of an accepted video standard and assurance that your client has the proper software required to view the video in the format you’ve chosen to present it. For example - Quicktime is a wonderful technology and is embraced by most video producers due to it’s basis in Mac/Final Cut - however there’s a good percentage of Windows machines out there that don’t have Quicktime installed. Windows Media Player is dicey, and unless you install a few third party plugins cannot be viewed on the Macintosh. Flash video is a godsend for cross platform acceptance - especially with the advent of Flash 8 video and the most recent codecs - but there are sacrifices in quality.

…then you have to develop your web presence.

It’s easy to see why so many talented video producers have such bad web presences, with videos that work sporadically, or don’t work on a good percentage of client’s computers. Trying to account for all of the variables in content delivery usually falls well outside of their realm of expertise.

About a year ago, I was facing this dilemma, when I found what I believe to be the perfect solution. I found podcasting, or vidcasting (video podcasting) to be a perfect solution to the bulk of these problems. Podcasting enabled me to simplify how I delivered my content through the utilization of iTunes as a delivery vehicle, ensured that anyone viewing my content had the appropriate software, allowed me to keep the quality of my content high by utilizing the most current codecs, and also enabled me to keep my viewers notified of the newest additions to my library via subscriptions!

By simply placing a link within my website, and emails, pointing to my Podcast inside of the apple iTunes store, I could very easily utilize well established distribution channels to get my work out there. Millions of people have iTunes, and access to the music store. By default, they have everything they need to see my content. It’s just a matter of creating the content and pointing them in the right direction! It couldn’t be easier.

From this point, it was simply a matter of learning how to podcast. The hardest part of getting the podcast up and running was understanding exactly how a podcast works, and getting everything properly prepared. I hope to help you through that learning curve, by explaining everything in simple language. The concept isn’t difficult whatsoever.

First, let’s define what a podcast is.

A podcast is a text file located on the internet that points to a group of media files. This text file is called a newsfeed (or an RSS feed), and acts like a roadmap to media files that are also located on the internet. When someone views a podcast, what they are actually doing is reading this text file, and being pointed to the appropriate media files.

The program that reads the text file (newsfeed) is called an aggregator. The aggregator reads the text file, and grabs the media files that it is being pointed to. All of this is done in the background, giving you the illusion of “single” show that has multiple episodes. In reality, however, it’s just a bunch of files located on the internet tied together via this text file.

This text file must follow a certain format, in order to assure compatibility across the range of aggregators out there (e.g., iTunes). The structure of the text file defines the details of the show (the show’s title, description, etc), and where to find the show’s episodes. It’s done in a pretty straightforward manner. For an example of how a newsfeed looks, check out Apple’s technical document on podcast structure.

http://www.apple.com/itunes/store/podcaststechspecs.html#_Toc526931673

“Channel” defines the shows, and “item” defines the episodes. Once you have the file created, to add more episodes, you simply add another “item” pointing to a new file.

That’s how a podcast is structured.

Next, we’re going to tell you what you need to get your podcast up and running. There are two options. The first is what you will need if you want to do it all yourself. The second (and our preference) is the simpler route, which is to get a podcast host. These instructions presume that you already have your video converted into M4V format and ready to go.

To set up a podcast by yourself, you will need to do the following:

1: Find web space available for you to upload your media files to. There are plenty of web hosts available for you to choose from. From Google, do a search for “Web Hosting”. I recommend getting a Linux/PHP based host - because they are simpler to configure than Microsoft based hosting. As a general rule, try to find the most web space available, with the greatest amount of traffic allotted for your site. As your podcast grows in popularity - you don’t want to get sacked with extra traffic fees.

Before settling for a host, it also is in your best interests to do a little research to make sure they have a decent reputation. Lots of hosts over-sell their plans in order to get more business. There are lots of horror stories I’ve read of people that found their websites censured for excessive traffic when they were nowhere near the limits their plan advertised. A little research can help you avoid falling victim to an unscrupulous host.

2: Upload your media files (mp3 files, pictures and video files) to your new host.

You will most likely transfer your media files to your host through what’s called FTP. FTP is “File Transfer Protocol”. On Windows, I like “Wise FTP” by AceBit the best. On Macintosh, my favorite is Cyberduck. You can find both on Google.

One thing to keep in mind is whether or not your media files are supported by your web hosting company. If you’re simply podcasting your audio sermons, MP3 is pretty much universally supported. If you’re podcasting video files (M4V or MP4), you might need to configure your server to recognize those files. This is done via what’s called a “mime type” and is set up in a file called .htaccess on your web server.

To find out more information, if you need it, google “.htaccess mime types” for a detailed explanation.

3: Once you have uploaded the files, and thereby know where the files are located, it’s time to create the newsfeed.

Make sure that your newsfeed mimics the format we showed you earlier. If you follow that format, you should be good to go. Create your channel, and add all of your items.

Once you have created your newsfeed file, upload it to your server as well. Test it out by going to feedvalidator.org. If your feed comes back invalid, it will give suggestions as to how to fix your feed. If it comes back saying the feed is valid, then you’re good to go! Start submitting it to channels like yahoo, and the iTunes music store. Those are all of the steps required to get a podcast up and running, if you wish to do it all yourself!

The other alternative is to get what is called a podcast host.

Podcast hosts take care of all of the hosting, newsfeed creation and testing for you. When you contract a podcast host, you don’t need to worry about file types, ensuring that your feed is valid, or finding web space. They take care of all of that for you. With a podcast host, you simply upload the media file, give it a name and a description, and you’re done. This is the easiest way to make a podcast.

After a few months of maintaining our podcast and constantly updating the feed to reflect new additions to our podcast, this is the direction we chose to go. It really simplified the production process, and actually ended up costing us less per month than what we were paying before. This is an excellent option to consider for someone who doesn’t want to bother with the tech side of podcasting.

There are a lot of podcast hosts out there offering different packages. When determining which one to contract - look at the following things:

1. How much do they charge vs. how much space do you get for your podcasts? 2. Do they limit your bandwidth? (This is particularly important. One host we went with charged for bandwidth beyond a certain point, and it cost us a pretty penny.) It’s best to get a podcast host with “unmetered bandwidth”. This means they don’t charge you extra if your podcast becomes popular. 3. Do they support transferring of the podcasts to another domain? This is also very important. If you, for whatever reason, become dis-satisfied with the service or want to transfer it to another location, will they facilitate this for you? We had to recreate two of our podcasts from scratch because one host wouldn’t give us the ability to redirect our existing podcast to our new host. 4. Do they have good technical support for questions you may have?

My favorite podcast host is AvMyPodcast.com. They have unmetered bandwidth and great plans available for very reasonable charges. AvMyPodcast is especially great for it’s technical support, and includes automatic iTunes and Yahoo submissions. They even offer instructional pages to teach you how to podcast.

Whether you decide to go it yourself, or contract a podcast host, it’s definitely worth getting into vidcasting. It has been a godsend for streamlining the distribution of my videos to clients.

Good luck, and happy podcasting!

Author:  Erich Slipsager is a reformed tech geek, taking it one day at a time.