By: Lynette Chandler
1.Create a Team Blog. Gather up people who's business or blog
topic matches your own and set it up so that everyone has access
to post. You can have anywhere from 2-5 people (or more!) on
your team blog. By blogging as a team you will gain more visitors
and traffic because: You are combining the traffic of multiple
contributors and you will have more content for the search engines
to pick up
2.Hire a team of bloggers. Newspapers have contributors, blogs
can too. If you've ever used writers to do articles and content for
you , they can do the same type of thing with a blog. Many of the
most successful blogs are already doing this. The combination of
group promotion effort, regular updates and pinging can help bring
in traffic quickly. One thing to note here is blogs are a somewhat
social tool. Some very popular niche blogs are not all that visible in
the search engines, yet they get a lot of traffic because people
recommend them and they become a sort of buzz hub. Search
engines do not always pick up on this but they do eventually. This
is why group blogging can be very powerful because you're
leveraging the power of not one (your) influence group but several
people's influence group. If you do pay your bloggers, you can
always offset this cost by displaying Adsense ads. Many popular
blogs earn a good amount in Adsense, that they make a nice profit
even after paying their bloggers team. After a while it becomes a
passive income stream.
3.Recycle Content. By taking previously published articles,
interviews or even audio and breaking it up into blog sized pieces
you can recycle old content and make it new again! You can break
up long pieces into a bunch of segments and have a series going
for, say, a week or so. Then you won't have to worry about
coming up with new content for a week!
4.Include audio. For some of us, it's much easier to speak than to
write. So, mix up your blog. Carry a small portable MP3 recorder or
blog by phone. What a convenient way for moms who are running
around all day , busing the kids where they need to go , doing
errands , and whatever else needs to be done. Maybe you're stuck
in traffic, or waiting for the kids to get out piano class or school. An
idea or thought strikes and you think "Oh I need to share that on
my blog" so, pick up your phone (assuming you have a cell phone -
and many of us do), dial a number, say what's on your mind, save
it and you're done. Your blog is published. If you're using Blogger,
you can do this for free through AudioBlog. It involves calling a long
distance number, but most cell phone plans don't charge extra for
long distance anyway so you're not incurring any extra cost.
If you're using another blog publishing tool like WordPress,
Movable Type or TypePad, then you'll need a service like
AudioBlogger.com. This one is a paid service but it's only $4.95 a
month and it gives you more options like a nice flash player,
statistics and even video that make it worth while.
5.Automate Your Blog. Want to save time? A great thing about
using Wordpress as a publishing tool is having the ability to
forward blog entries to a later date. When you've got more than
one post that you'd like to make this makes it much easier. You
just set a time and date for your entry to be posted and that's it,
your post will appear on schedule.
Let's face it. There will be times we have a ton to say and times we
have little or nothing to share. Instead of having multiple entries
one day and nothing over the next few days, by using forward
entry you can blog everyday of the week. Or rather you blog once
and the blog publishing tool does the job automatically the rest of
the week. You can even forward blog for weeks and months ahead
of time.
Note: Blogger users unfortunately cannot do this because Blogger
publishes all entries regardless what you date it immediately.
Article by:
Affectionately nicknamed Tech Diva by her peers, Lynette Chandler regularly dispenses blogging and RSS help to countless business owners. Visit www.BloggingStarterPack.com to learn more about blogging and get a copy of her video free.
8/27/08
How to set up a Great Blog!
By: Doll5272
So you have seen how so many people in your crafting community are benefiting from having their own blogs but you do not have the first clue on to start a blog or maintain it.
Crafters just like you are starting to see that by having and regularly maintaining a blog can highly impact the sales and customers coming to your site. Not only are blogs the new "HOT THING" out there, but they can be very large tool in the promotion of your site. A blog that is update frequently will be picked up regularly through Google and other Major search engines. Therefore boosting your rankings higher in major search engines. But maintaining a a blog can be time consuming and if not done properly can be a total waste of your time. So today I will be writing a very detailed article to help you on your way to having a successful blog.
1-Setting up your blog:
I highly recommend that you get a blog FOR FREE on Blogger.com . WHy? simply it is owned and operated by Google and it is proven that blogs on google rank higher in the Google search engines.
2-Adding Content:
We are all knowledgable in something that would interst your readers, you could write posts about new products you are creating, about upcoming sales or specials, or about diffrent sites you like or your personal life! Something that will engage your readers and make them want to visit your shoppe, and purchase your products. Use your blog as your selling tool to help promote your site, your products and you as a business owner. Below I will have a great lists of ideas on postings for your blog.
3-Feeds:
One of the most important things you should add to your blogs is feeds. What are feeds? Feeds are little buttons your customers can click on like Yahoo or Google or MSN that will notify your customer each time that you update your blog! Helps to keep your customers informed on when you update your blogs. This is great and I cannot stress to you enough how beneficial this is to you! You can go to Chiclet Creator and just click on the buttons you want to add and it will automatically generate a blog code for you to install into your blog. And that is all you have to do!
4-Pinging:
Another HUGE factor in creating a great site is PINGING. What is Pinging? This is letting all the search engines and blog sites out there know that you posted a new article on your blog. This is important because as I said above the more you update your blog with fresh content the more Google and other search engines will pick up your blog and give you targeted advertising! The two sites that I recommend for Pinging are PingGoat and Ping-O-Matic they are really easy to use! Simply after each post you make go to them and enter the title of your blog and your blog URL then check all the boxes of where you want your site pinged and hit SEND and you are done! Now everyone will know you just updated your blog with fresh content.
5-Link Exchange:
As with your normal website everyone who has a website knows that the more links coming to your site and going out from your site really helps in your site ranking higher in search engines. Same principal with a blog! Search blogs and try to link with other blogs that offer content similiar to your own like Country, Craft and Primitive Blogs!
Blogging Ideas:
Share Recipes
Craft Ideas
Craft Patterns
Sales from your site
Upcoming products
New Products
products you are working on
sites you love to visit
blogs you love to visit
Great ways you have found to advertise your sites
Sites you love to shop
Sites you partner with
Crafting Articles
Crafting Tips
Tips on your niche or expertise
Article by:
Article by Angela Wenke owner of Heartland Marketplace. www.heartlandmarketplace.org. Heartland Marketplace is an online craft marketplace offering affordable advertising options for crafters and primitive crafters. Heartland Marketplace Blog is also a great resource for great crafting and business articles heartlandmarketplace.blogspot.com
So you have seen how so many people in your crafting community are benefiting from having their own blogs but you do not have the first clue on to start a blog or maintain it.
Crafters just like you are starting to see that by having and regularly maintaining a blog can highly impact the sales and customers coming to your site. Not only are blogs the new "HOT THING" out there, but they can be very large tool in the promotion of your site. A blog that is update frequently will be picked up regularly through Google and other Major search engines. Therefore boosting your rankings higher in major search engines. But maintaining a a blog can be time consuming and if not done properly can be a total waste of your time. So today I will be writing a very detailed article to help you on your way to having a successful blog.
1-Setting up your blog:
I highly recommend that you get a blog FOR FREE on Blogger.com . WHy? simply it is owned and operated by Google and it is proven that blogs on google rank higher in the Google search engines.
2-Adding Content:
We are all knowledgable in something that would interst your readers, you could write posts about new products you are creating, about upcoming sales or specials, or about diffrent sites you like or your personal life! Something that will engage your readers and make them want to visit your shoppe, and purchase your products. Use your blog as your selling tool to help promote your site, your products and you as a business owner. Below I will have a great lists of ideas on postings for your blog.
3-Feeds:
One of the most important things you should add to your blogs is feeds. What are feeds? Feeds are little buttons your customers can click on like Yahoo or Google or MSN that will notify your customer each time that you update your blog! Helps to keep your customers informed on when you update your blogs. This is great and I cannot stress to you enough how beneficial this is to you! You can go to Chiclet Creator and just click on the buttons you want to add and it will automatically generate a blog code for you to install into your blog. And that is all you have to do!
4-Pinging:
Another HUGE factor in creating a great site is PINGING. What is Pinging? This is letting all the search engines and blog sites out there know that you posted a new article on your blog. This is important because as I said above the more you update your blog with fresh content the more Google and other search engines will pick up your blog and give you targeted advertising! The two sites that I recommend for Pinging are PingGoat and Ping-O-Matic they are really easy to use! Simply after each post you make go to them and enter the title of your blog and your blog URL then check all the boxes of where you want your site pinged and hit SEND and you are done! Now everyone will know you just updated your blog with fresh content.
5-Link Exchange:
As with your normal website everyone who has a website knows that the more links coming to your site and going out from your site really helps in your site ranking higher in search engines. Same principal with a blog! Search blogs and try to link with other blogs that offer content similiar to your own like Country, Craft and Primitive Blogs!
Blogging Ideas:
Share Recipes
Craft Ideas
Craft Patterns
Sales from your site
Upcoming products
New Products
products you are working on
sites you love to visit
blogs you love to visit
Great ways you have found to advertise your sites
Sites you love to shop
Sites you partner with
Crafting Articles
Crafting Tips
Tips on your niche or expertise
Article by:
Article by Angela Wenke owner of Heartland Marketplace. www.heartlandmarketplace.org. Heartland Marketplace is an online craft marketplace offering affordable advertising options for crafters and primitive crafters. Heartland Marketplace Blog is also a great resource for great crafting and business articles heartlandmarketplace.blogspot.com
5 Things NOT to do With Your Blog
By: Lynette Chandler
Are you fed up with your blog? Do you feel it's not giving you the
results you're hoping for? Don't feel bad. Chances are, some
missteps were made along the way that contributed to that. Here
are the most common ones.
Not Asking For Comments
Bloggers always agonize over the lack of comments. But the
problem is not that people don't read the blog or don't want to
comment but the blogger hasn't given the opportunity for readers
to comment. Just like asking for people to order a product, you've
got to coax people to spend their 3 or 4 precious minutes to
comment on your blog. Ask for opinions. People love giving it. Ask
for reader's experiences, input or help to accomplish something.
Ask people to suggest something to you e.g. You're getting
incorporated, ask people for suggestions, tips and
recommendations. Asking also tells people you're open to
suggestions and alternative views, further improving the image
people may have of you.
Not Hosting On Their Own Domain
Too many businesses jump on the blogging bandwagon without
thinking through how exactly it will fit into their overall marketing
strategy. Blogs are started on other people's sub-domains just to
test the waters. Before they know it, the blog has taken a life of
it's own and it's too late to get their own domain.
Start it off right. Domains aren't expensive. Even starting the blog
on an existing domain is better than someone else's sub-domain
because you can control it. Hosting your blog on a blog service's
sub-domain is also unprofessional. It's a lot like putting your
business site on a Geocities domain. Not pretty.
This way you control where you want to publish the blog to.
Tomorrow, if you outgrow these services, you can easily export
your blog to another tool, another host without losing too much
established traffic. A domain is also easier for people to remember
and easier for you to publicize.
Not Maximizing Their Blog Content
Many businesses quit blogging because they feel it's too much
work. True, like everything else, you gotta work on a blog but you
don't have to break your back over it. Sometimes you may have a
paragraph here and there about a topic that just isn't big enough
for an article. You know what? You're going to have many more of
these impromptu thoughts and ideas ¨C publish it to your blog.
Later, you can come back and gather these paragraphs, compile
them into a complete article or even a book.
That's only one way of maximizing your work. Have you written
articles in the past? How about e-courses, audio transcripts or
books that aren't in publication anymore? Recycle. Break them up
and post them on your blog. In fact, if you have lot's of this type of
content, you can even get your assistant to post them for you.
Publishing Too Often
Wow. Did I actually say that? Isn't that like the opposite of
everything you've ever learnt about blogging? Yes and no. You
see, the blogging world changes. What works yesterday may not
today. This is one of them. There are countless of blogs out there
and more being started by the day. Who has the time to read so
many posts? It's come to a point people cherry pick the blogs they
read and even that you're not safe yet. If they can't keep up with
you, they'll drop you no matter how good your information is. Try
to keep a balance. Feed information to your readers not dump a
truckload on them.
Falling For Short Term Methods
Ah, this is my favorite. If you can have a favorite pet peeve that is.
Every week, you hear about people dishing out the newest,
coolest blogging tactic, best blogging tool that's sure to sky rocket
your business to success or bull doze your way to the top search
engine listings. Consider how any offer will help you advance your
business two, five or tens years from now. Is it really in line with
your marketing direction? If it isn't drop it. It also helps a lot if you
can have a reliable source whom you can consult and help put
things into perspective for you. One of the most powerful qualities
of a blog has nothing to do with search engines, tagging or
pinging. These things do have a place, but they aren't as powerful
as the relationship opportunities between you and your
customers.
Although these mistakes are common, they are also very easily
rectified and don't cost much money. All of these suggestions are
born out of my own trial and error and they've worked out nicely.
Try it yourself.
Article by:
Affectionately nicknamed Tech Diva by her peers, Lynette Chandler regularly dispenses blogging and RSS help to countless business owners. Visit www.BloggingStarterPack.com to learn more about blogging and get a copy of her video free.
Are you fed up with your blog? Do you feel it's not giving you the
results you're hoping for? Don't feel bad. Chances are, some
missteps were made along the way that contributed to that. Here
are the most common ones.
Not Asking For Comments
Bloggers always agonize over the lack of comments. But the
problem is not that people don't read the blog or don't want to
comment but the blogger hasn't given the opportunity for readers
to comment. Just like asking for people to order a product, you've
got to coax people to spend their 3 or 4 precious minutes to
comment on your blog. Ask for opinions. People love giving it. Ask
for reader's experiences, input or help to accomplish something.
Ask people to suggest something to you e.g. You're getting
incorporated, ask people for suggestions, tips and
recommendations. Asking also tells people you're open to
suggestions and alternative views, further improving the image
people may have of you.
Not Hosting On Their Own Domain
Too many businesses jump on the blogging bandwagon without
thinking through how exactly it will fit into their overall marketing
strategy. Blogs are started on other people's sub-domains just to
test the waters. Before they know it, the blog has taken a life of
it's own and it's too late to get their own domain.
Start it off right. Domains aren't expensive. Even starting the blog
on an existing domain is better than someone else's sub-domain
because you can control it. Hosting your blog on a blog service's
sub-domain is also unprofessional. It's a lot like putting your
business site on a Geocities domain. Not pretty.
This way you control where you want to publish the blog to.
Tomorrow, if you outgrow these services, you can easily export
your blog to another tool, another host without losing too much
established traffic. A domain is also easier for people to remember
and easier for you to publicize.
Not Maximizing Their Blog Content
Many businesses quit blogging because they feel it's too much
work. True, like everything else, you gotta work on a blog but you
don't have to break your back over it. Sometimes you may have a
paragraph here and there about a topic that just isn't big enough
for an article. You know what? You're going to have many more of
these impromptu thoughts and ideas ¨C publish it to your blog.
Later, you can come back and gather these paragraphs, compile
them into a complete article or even a book.
That's only one way of maximizing your work. Have you written
articles in the past? How about e-courses, audio transcripts or
books that aren't in publication anymore? Recycle. Break them up
and post them on your blog. In fact, if you have lot's of this type of
content, you can even get your assistant to post them for you.
Publishing Too Often
Wow. Did I actually say that? Isn't that like the opposite of
everything you've ever learnt about blogging? Yes and no. You
see, the blogging world changes. What works yesterday may not
today. This is one of them. There are countless of blogs out there
and more being started by the day. Who has the time to read so
many posts? It's come to a point people cherry pick the blogs they
read and even that you're not safe yet. If they can't keep up with
you, they'll drop you no matter how good your information is. Try
to keep a balance. Feed information to your readers not dump a
truckload on them.
Falling For Short Term Methods
Ah, this is my favorite. If you can have a favorite pet peeve that is.
Every week, you hear about people dishing out the newest,
coolest blogging tactic, best blogging tool that's sure to sky rocket
your business to success or bull doze your way to the top search
engine listings. Consider how any offer will help you advance your
business two, five or tens years from now. Is it really in line with
your marketing direction? If it isn't drop it. It also helps a lot if you
can have a reliable source whom you can consult and help put
things into perspective for you. One of the most powerful qualities
of a blog has nothing to do with search engines, tagging or
pinging. These things do have a place, but they aren't as powerful
as the relationship opportunities between you and your
customers.
Although these mistakes are common, they are also very easily
rectified and don't cost much money. All of these suggestions are
born out of my own trial and error and they've worked out nicely.
Try it yourself.
Article by:
Affectionately nicknamed Tech Diva by her peers, Lynette Chandler regularly dispenses blogging and RSS help to countless business owners. Visit www.BloggingStarterPack.com to learn more about blogging and get a copy of her video free.
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