By Kenneth Zhou

Want to make more money online in an affiliate marketing programme? Here's some advice from a very smart -- and very successful -- guy who does just that:

"I blog at Entrepreneurs-Journey.com and I make about $2,000 USD a month via affiliate products. Here's my advice if you choose to use a blog as part of your affiliate marketing arsenal."

TIPS FROM AN AFFILIATE MARKETING EXPERT:

- Blog honestly and consistently. When you blog every day and make the content your own words, and helpful, you build up a very powerful relationship between you and your readers. At a certain point your blog gains the credibility of the recommendation of a friend. After that, sales are a piece of cake.

- Don't hesitate to write over and over about the same product in your affiliate marketing programme. You can come at it from different points of view that way... write about what you
expect from the product at first, why you bought it, how you hope to use it, and so on. Then you can tell your cyber-friends out there, (the ones whose trust you've gained through your blog), exactly how the product came through for you. You're basically echoing what any purchaser goes through with any product, not regurgitating a lot of recognizable affiliate marketing jargon. Product reviews are highly sought-after and help make sales for you.

- Make sure everything you blog has content the reader can really use, and are not just sales puff pieces.

- For your affiliate marketing plan, you can attract links with blogs much easier than with normal websites, so do remember your slogan: Blog Every Day!

- As you build up content, it will compound the effect of each single blog, and each article will have a synergistic effect on the whole process.

- Save time every day to work on building a list. Once you have a credible, substantial blog and a list to match, you're in the affiliate marketing business!

About The Author:

Please Visite our website at http://www.make2ndincome.com for information. Our website is dedicated to researching Internet home business ideas and opportunities that can help you start a new Internet home business or grow the one you already have.

Labels: Affiliate Marketing, Blogs and RSS

By Chris Taylor

Some of you may have already experienced writer's, or in this case blogger's, block. This is when you can't seem to start blogging anything worthwhile, sometimes not even a single word's worth.

How could this happen when you were so good at blogging before? Why is it that you can't get one word written? And the most frustrating thing of all: the more time you spend thinking about blogging, the less able you are to start your next project! Is there any cure? Luckily, there are a few things you can try.

Visiting other people's blogs is a good start. Read through your favorite ones, or do a random blog search and see what gets turned up. Reading what other people have to say can spark
your own creativity and send you over the hump of blogger's block. Leave some comments to get you started; you might be able to expand on their ideas, and sometimes you can track back
to your own blog. Looking at your blog inbox can help, too, as there might be a question or comment there that can get you started.

Look for a word or topic. Then begin writing about it. You can also do this with pictures. Check out photos and think of something to write about it. You can also check the news, which is always rich with current events. Even if there isn't anything that directly relates to what you normally write about, writing about something completely different than your normal topics can help.

If those things do not seem to work for you, you can search for creative or journal writing software to help you with your writing problem. Oftentimes, these things have suggestions of topic or idea that can help you get started.

Think about an extraordinary topic. For example, you can research about inventions and inventors. What was the first car ever invented? Anything that you fancy can become a blog entry. You can look for answers to questions like the one about the car at online resources like encyclopedias and almanacs. When you have the answer, blog about it. You never know, maybe some people are thinking of the same things and you have answered their questions. Besides, it can be good to drift from your usual topic one in awhile. Your readers might feel refreshed by the change.

If none of these exercises help, it might be time to do something unrelated to writing for a while. Sometimes we just need a break from writing! Go outside, go shopping, go to a movie. Anything to take your mind off of your blog. You just might feel refreshed and ready to start blogging once you get back up in front of your computer.

There are a lot more ways to beat blogger's block. If you come up with something new that helps you get over it, think of what a good blog topic your experience would be! Who knows, you may even help someone out there who is struggling with blogger's block!

About The Author:

Visit http://www.rss-feeds-directory.com

today! Your comprehensive guide to rss and blogs including our
http://www.rss-feeds-directory.com/rss-feed-submission-sites-service.html.

Labels: Article Writing, Blogs and RSS

By Chris Taylor

Have you heard other people talking on and on about their "blogs" while all you could do was smile and nod?

Yes, "blog" is a peculiar word, conjuring visions of mosquito-infested swamps, and you can't imagine why people would be eager to get more visitors to theirs.

But eager they are. In spite of the rather unfortunate name, blogs are the hottest things in communication since cell phones. Blogs are websites on which almost anybody can post information on almost any topic as often as they like. Blogs can be devoted to a single factual topic, or they can be the equivalent of personal diaries in which people record their private thoughts and observations about the world. The contents of a blog are limited only by the imagination of the blog's creator, or "author".

If you find the thought of your own blog appealing, and have an Internet-connected computer, here are some suggestions to help you both get a blog going and build an audience with whom you can share it:

First, choose a topic for your blog on which you will enjoy communicating, and prepare your material. You opinions on a subject are fine, as long as they are based on some underlying. There are always going to be those who know as much, about a topic as you, and if you want a credible blog, you need to be able to back up your statements.

Add some humor and personal experiences to your topic if you can. Writing a travel blog about places you have actually been, and about colorful locals whom you actually encountered, will
make much better reading than just posting facts and figures picked up from travel sites and TV shows. Offer material which will appeal to both novice travelers--like how to avoid pickpockets--and more seasoned ones--like the best undiscovered attractions in a specific destination.

Don't limit your blog to your own experiences. Keep it updated with news that might affect those interested in your subject. While your experiences can give people valuable insight, recognize that your opinions about what happened to you or about a specific product are, after all, just opinions. Give people factual information which they can weigh for themselves.

Keep you blog current. On the Internet, news can become old in a matter of hours, and what happened a month ago is ancient history. Telling people considering a trip to Thailand that Thailand experienced a coup last September will do nothing to help them decide about a trip next month. Updating them on the peaceful state of affairs in Thailand today, however, will.

Updating your blog will require a commitment from you. You'll need to establish a regular time to search for and write about fresh news, and get it posted. There'll be times when not much has happened, and there'll be times when you can't type fast enough. But two or three times a week are not too many to post something new. Even it it's only to tell your readers that not much has been going on, share a few thoughts, and tell your readers when to next check in for your next entry, make an appearance. Your audience will keep coming back as long as they know you are.

Keep you blog as simple as you can, without sounding like you don't have a complete grasp of your subject. You want to appeal to as many people as possible, and nothing will drive those newly interested in a subject away faster than lots of technical jargon and statistics. You can provide complex information, as long as you make the effort to put it in user-friendly terms.

Find a memorable name for your blog, and use your blog editing feature to post it in large, bold face type. "My Hiking Blog" will probably sound interesting only to Mom and Dad and only because you never write or call them while you're out adventuring. "Climbing through the Clouds" will appeal to those who either tackle the high places of the Earth, or want to.

Every so often, say, at the end of each month, archive your existing blog posts. Your blog editor will let you do this in a less than a minute. The entries will still be available for new blog readers who want to catch up, or those who want to reference your earlier writings. And list keywords for your archived work so that new traffic will be able to find its way to you.

Finally, make sure your blog is professionally presented. You have a spell checker, so use it. Proof-read your copy and correct any grammar or punctuation errors before you post your work. If you're not sure whether you are using a word properly, get help from an online dictionary. Respect your readers as intelligent, well-informed people who could just as easily spend their time elsewhere.

These suggestions may make your entry into the world of blogging more successful, but it's up to you to commit to building and keeping an audience.

About The Author:

Need to promote your blog on the search engines and get the word out about your new resource? Try our rss feed submission sites service today -
http://www.rss-feeds-directory.com/rss-feed-submission-sites-service.html
Copyright © Catdynamics - 2006.

Labels: Blogs and RSS

By Jo Han Mok

This has to be one of the "best" ways to generate sales. Controversy creates two types of interest. Negative and positive. And both forms of interest work together to make you profits. How exactly?

Well, let's do a quick example. Person N and Person P. Person P loves what you have written and can directly relate to what you have said. Person N on the other hand thinks you're an obnoxious creep full of insane beliefs. Both Person P and Person N comment on your writing. They read each others comments and they are inflamed by those comments. So, they begin a back and forth battle of words based entirely on what you had to say! Now comes Person S, Person V, and Person C. They add their two cents and take sides of who's right and who's wrong. Then come more comments. And more, and more.

And if you're selling something that expands on your initial post, you'll get both those that hate what you had to say, and love it, buying your product. The negative folks will want further proof that you're a total moron while the positive folks will want to learn more about what you are teaching, or saying.

Every single day, millions of folks hop onto the internet and have something to say. Most likely they'll do this through writing. Whether it's through an article, an email, or a blog. The "trick" is to make what you discuss controversial through your writings.

Don't be "Boring". That won't do a thing for you. The essence of creating controversy is by using passion. If you've had a bad experience with another person, tell people about it. If you really love a particular product, or person, tell people about it. But be sure that your writings can convey the passion that you feel whether it's negative or positive.

If you are effectively creating controversy through your writings, most people that read it will either love what you have to say or hate it. Either way, they'll "Talk About It". And if you give them a chance to communicate how they feel about it, this will lead to more profits in your pockets!

But, in order to use controversy you have to be willing to take a stand on a certain topic. No "wishy-washy" comments will do. If you make people angry, "Good"! But don't back down on your opinions though. That defeats the purpose of using this tactic completely. If some people don't like what you're saying, who cares?? At least you had the guts to stand up for what you believe and say it. And that's the point that will come across to those that love your writings.

I "Know For A Fact" this works. Jason Cain is a living example of this dirty trick. He uses controversy in his writings and makes immense profits from the dust he stirs up. Some folks hate him. Some folks love him. The love-hate factor doesn't really matter though. What DOES matter is that people are reading what he has to say. And they are 'Listening'. And, they are BUYING.

Another terrific example is a fellow by the name of Stuart Halpryn. He creates controversy through the amount of money he charges for products he sells. He lets his readers know that he is directly responsible for pissing other marketers off by charging extremely low prices for their products to his customers. And it works! He's earning good money from using controversy

The whole idea of this tactic is to speak your mind, send off a spark, and watch it build into a roaring flame

About the Author:

Jo Han Mok is a #1 bestselling author and frequent featured speaker at Internet Marketing bootcamps and conferences. Visit his website for a simple step-by-step plan to profit online in 21 days or less! http://www.SuperFastProfit.com

Labels: Article Writing, Blogs and RSS, Copywriting, Internet Marketing

By Sharon Housley

Podcasts are relatively inexpensive to create, as a result, and the quality in published podcasts is extremely diverse. Corporate podcasts can be very polished audio productions while hobbyist experimenting with podcasts may have dogs barking and children's screaming in the background.

After all it is the content that matters right? Well no, not exactly remember when black and white televisions could "kind of" tune into stations it was just a hazy effect. How many continued to watch the grainy or flipping screen. Rarely was the show so riveting did it hold the interest of the viewer. Unless of course the content was forbidden to young eyes (as in the playboy channel).

Sound Quality Matters
Having a decent quality microphone is critical to ensure that the audio recording is a quality recording. Filter out extraneous noises, or select a recording area that will not be Interrupted. Use recording software that will allow you to edit out audio snippets that are subpar.

If you generally record in the same location a fixed mic is generally better. If you do field recording you will want to consider a cordless microphone.

Intro and Extro (Outro)
Using music to introduce and end the podcast adds polish to the overall show. You can licensee rights to podsafe music that will allow you to use music in a royalty free capacity. If your show
is popular you might find that the music is linked to your show, as part of your brand, so you will want to choose it carefully. There are a number of podsafe music directories where podcasters can purchase music that is royalty free, meaning there would not be any recurring charges when using the music in a podcast.

Theme Music
As with intro and outros, theme music can add a level of professional to a podcast. It is illegal to use copyrighted music in your podcast unless you own the copyright or license it through the proper channels. Consider visiting one of the podsafe music directories to locate music that is reflective of your show.

Edit
It is not enough to record the audio for a show. Polished podcasts are produced using audio editing software. The editing software allows podcasters the ability to filter unwanted noises and edit any dead air or parts of the show you dislike.

Catchy Relevant Name
Keep in mind that many listeners will find your podcast through a web page or search engine. Your podcasts title should be catchy and related to the podcasts content. The podcasts title should contain a slogan that conveys the general theme of the show.

Add iTunes Tags
The Apple iTunes Music Store has a huge audience. Podcasters can tap the iPod audience by adding the appropriate iTunes tags to their podcast. There are software applications that will walk you through the process of adding iTunes to podcast feeds. After adding the tags simply submit your podcast for inclusion in the iTunes Music Store. The listing should appear within a few weeks.

Spin-It
Podcasts are now a dime a dozen. In order to truly stand out the show needs a unique angle, a unique view, an interesting perspective, something different from all the other podcasts out there.

Logo / Image
Add an image to your podcast feed, the extra step will add a bit of polish to your show. Many podcatchers or RSS readers will display the image beside the podcast listing. The visual effect will make your podcast jump out of the list.

Understand Demographic
Who are Your Listeners? Understanding your audience will allow you to cater to them. Know the demographics of your target audience. A well-defined target audience will also help you find show sponsors or advertisers.

SEO for Podcasts
Optimize your podcast shows summary for search engines. Be sure to include keywords or related resources in the podcast feed. This will allow search engines to spider the text for words that relate to your podcast.

Transcript or Show Notes
Many podcasters neglect to include a show transcript, podcasters should consider including detailed show notes or a transcript of the show in the description of the podcast feed. If you display the feed this will increase the likelihood that those interested will find your show in the search engines and podcast directories.

Podcast Length
The show should only be as long as necessary, without being a rambling. Most listeners will have a limited amount of time to listen to podcasts, as a result they will be selective about what they listen to.

Keep it Regular
Create a recording schedule and stick to it, if you don't have time to do it properly then skip a show, your listeners will appreciate that you did not waste their time.

Podcasts are becoming more and more commonplace, distinguish your podcast by polishing it and properly publicizing it.

About the Author:
Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll http://www.feedforall.com software for creating, editing, publishing RSS feeds and podcasts. In addition Sharon manages marketing for RecordForAll http://www.recordforall.com audio recording and editing software.

Labels: Blogs and RSS, Internet Marketing

By Will Lee

Background
Search engines are particularly interested in websites with constantly updated, relevant content. Websites that appear static without a supply of fresh content may be viewed as dormant and in their drive to provide the latest, most relevant search results to users, search engines may rank such a website lower than a website that is updated regularly.

What Is It?
RSS to Blog Pro is a fully automated blog posting tool offering self-updating websites. It's a PHP script that is installed on a single web hosting account. From this centralised installation, multiple blogs can be maintained with fresh content from various sources. Also available is an earlier, non-pro version, which has the same basic functionality, but requires a separate install for each blog it maintains.

What Problem Does It Solve?
Adding fresh - and importantly, relevant - content to websites can be a resource consuming task. Either you spend time finding and creating new content or you pay someone to do it for you. Without fresh content, your websites can appear stagnant and drop off the search engines radar. This impacts your website rankings in search results and ultimately has a detrimental
effect on any free traffic coming from the search engines. If your websites rely on search engine traffic then this can mean their downfall.

What Are The Benefits?
RSS to Blog Pro tackles the problem of needing to regularly update website content by automating the whole process from finding relevant content based upon keywords that you provide through to posting content to your website blog. In the eyes of search engines, updating a website with irrelevant content isn't nearly as good as having relevant content. The tighter your niche, the better chances you have of ranking higher as you'll be competing with a smaller number of websites. Using a scattergun approach to website content can mean you end up competing with websites across a large number of niches.

If you're building content websites with the aim of earning an AdSense income then you'll know that the ads shown are dependant upon the surrounding content on your webpages. Irrelevant content results in ads that are irrelevant to your website visitors, which means they'll have no interest in clicking on them and your generated income will be poor.

Features

* Supports multiple blog types including WordPress, Blogger Blogs, Movable Type, Type Pad, Live Journal and MSN Spaces.
* Keywords and RSS feeds can be specified for automatic content generation or you can supply your own content.
* Posting to your blogs can be scheduled at random intervals e.g. once or twice a day so that posting appears natural.
* There are no 'footprints' to identify the content as being automatically generated.
* Log records are kept so you can see exactly what has been posted and to where.
* Built-in ping functionality for blog and ping.
* A single installation will post to an unlimited number of blogs.
* Regular updates.
* User support forum.
* Two tier affiliate programme offering 40% commission to the top level and 10% for any sales from affiliates you recruit.

My Experience With RSS to Blog Pro Since August 2005, I've been using RSS to Blog Pro on an
increasing number of blogs in various niches. I'm pleased to be able to say that my income from AdSense has increased month upon month since then. With the software installed on my virtual
private server (VPS), I currently manage around 50 blogs, posting relevant new content every day or two. I'd recommend that you don't install RSS to Blog Pro onto a shared server because if you're updating a large number of websites or you're running the script frequently (every couple of minutes) then your host is likely to take a dim view on it. Considering how inexpensive and how much more reliable a VPS is to operate there just isn't any reasonable justification for risking a shared server. A VPS is like having your own server, completely isolated from any other peoples websites so you can't affect them and they can't affect you. There is the exception of disk IO, but that isn't something that should be of any real concern.

The issue of relevancy is really what makes the difference between an effective auto content generation tool and one that will never do anything for your bottom line. I can't stress it enough; without relevant content, search engines won't be able to categorise your niche and won't be able to rank you fairly amongst your peers. That means you won't do well in searches in your subject area. It also could mean your website will serve ads for tennis equipment when your niche is dog care. Visitors looking for information about dog care are highly unlikely to be interested in tennis equipment when they come to your website because it's not something which is relevant to their needs at that time.

There's no doubt that this helps to keep those websites looking fresh and my website stats show a constant stream of visits to my blog pages each month. And of course, lots of targetted visitors and lots of targetted content means a lot of clicks on targetted ads!

Support-wise, Michelle (creator of RSS to Blog Pro) has answered my email queries promptly and there's an active user forum for peer support. Michelle also visits the forum to provide assistance although some queries can take a couple of days for a response, however the user base, support forum and software is mature enough to be able to cope with almost every common question a new user might have.

Fortunately, the software is easy to install and set-up so you can expect to be running within an hour or two.

One feature that I haven't used is the ability to ping blog directories from within RSS to Blog Pro. The reason for this is that if I pinged these websites for every post made to each of my blogs then I'd actually end up pinging up to 50 times a day from the same domain (the domain on which RSS to Blog Pro is installed). Rather than risk being blacklisted for pinging too much and hogging the resources of the directories, I use the ping facility from with my WordPress blog software instead so that the individual pings come from the individual domains. Again, this will appear to be a lot more natural and it also helps RSS to Blog Pro to work more efficiently by decoupling some of the work away from it.

Conclusion
After 6 months of constant usage, I'm pretty happy with RSS to Blog Pro's performance. and would definitely recommend it to anyone who is wanting to have self-updating websites that attract targetted traffic. Care needs to be taken when selecting a host for the script, but once installed, operation of the script is simple and reliable. An excellent script in the toolbox of AdSense earners and affiliate marketers alike.

About The Author:

Will Lee is the Internet Marketing Fool (http://www.internetmarketingfool.com), sharing real life Internet Marketing advice and product reviews. RSS to Blog (http://www.rsstoblogg.com) is an automated blogging tool, created by Michelle Timothy. United Articles(http://www.unitedarticles.com) offers free syndicated content.

Labels: Blogs and RSS

By Judith Kallos

Everyone wants top 10 rankings as though just because they wished it that should make it so. Wishing has nothing to do with rankings. Unless you have a genie in a bottle, we all know it simply just doesn't work that way.

How about I get you thinking differently about this issue?

Don't Chase Search Engines-Let Them Chase You!

How is that possible?

Become a Search Engine All-You-Can-Eat Buffet!!

I can hear you out there.. "Yeah, sure!" Well, it's not that difficult of a methodology really. All you have to do is think differently than all the hype, amateur Web designers and unscrupulous marketing "gurus" have led you to believe about how getting found works.

First off, what search engines like is fresh content and lots of it; yummy! That's the fuel for their fire so to speak. So it goes without saying that if you keep adding new content on a regular basis that will encourage search engines to visit your site because you'll have a fresh buffet of tempting entrées.

How do search engines know you have new content? Certainly not by osmosis!

If you make the effort in the appropriate areas, much of which the costs are minimal, they'll get a whiff of the appetizing content you have to offer and act like they are at an all-you-can-eat buffet!! Your site will be like Mama's house on a Sunday afternoon. You know what I mean; dinner smells so good everyone in the house can't wait to get a plateful! That's how it goes with search engines and content.

If you don't have savory content-why should search engines visit you and give you higher rankings over those who serve up a delicious all-you-can-eat Sunday dinner? The answer is they don't.

The "build it and they will come" way of thinking does not apply to Web sites in this day and age, so everyone needs to wash that concept right out of their hair. All it takes is for you to be prepared to mix, cook and serve. Mix up a new article, cook it to perfection and serve it to the hungry search engines!

That's not too much to ask to succeed online is it? If it is, well, maybe you should reconsider your online endeavors. If you don't want to make these efforts, just forget about achieving no charge organic/natural listings. You'll never rank anywhere near the top so determine your PayPerClick budget and go setup your campaign straight away.

Now let's setup your buffet! Start a blog that you post to continually and submit it to all the blog directories. Make sure your blog offers a subscribe feature so visitors get notified by e-mail when you enter a new post. Also offer RSS and podcasting feeds of your blog posts so that visitors can get your information in as many flavors as they choose. See? Your mouthwatering buffet is growing!

Onliners visit your blog and then follow the links to the scrumptious new articles on your site. They like your articles and link to them or post them on their site with a link to yours. Incoming links to your site; lip smacking good!

You also offer an RSS feed of your top articles to get the word out. You add your new articles to your site map. Google checks for your site map XML file and updates its index with your freshly baked content. You add your seasoned articles to all the article banks that have popped up in the last year or so-more delectable links to your site! Can you see what is happening? We are creating a feeding frenzy!

This interactive medium called the Web is now more interactive than ever. At first when it all began, "interactive" meant some flashing this or moving that. Now interactive means just that; you need to interact and be involved by using all these tools or you'll be left in the dumpster by those who do.

One thing is sure; chasing search engine algorithms is a futile effort at best. But when you have the nourishment they want, tasty content, search engines are hungry little bots and it's hard to keep them away. Food for thought? You bet! Open your own buffet today and feed the beast!

About the Author:

Judith Kallos is an authoritative and good-humored Technology Muse who has played @ http://www.TheIStudio.com for over a decade. Check out her new Dot Com Business Starter Kit @
http://www.DotComStarterKit.com

Labels: Article Writing, Blogs and RSS, Search Engine Marketing, Search Engine Optimization

By Chris Angus

When most people visit your site, the most articles that they will see is anywhere from three to fifteen depending on the length of them and whether or not you have linked them "behind the fold." Behind the Fold means that they are stuffed in your archives. Of course, this begs the question, Are these search engine optimized blogs lost forever in the archives or are they still accessible to search engines?

The good news that even though your blog posts from the past are not displayed on the blog page but this does not mean that they are not accessible to the search engines or your readers.
Most blog software and online providers supply some kind of archiving system so that readers can easily search your blog for other articles. In fact a little box that allows your readers to search a blog is a good plug in to look for when you are choosing a provider.

Sometimes the archives are listed in a separate list on another page by date or subject. On other templates, there may be a list of general categories scrolling down one side of your blog that people can click on to read other subjects. Another possibility is that a calendar object may be put on the page so that people can look up the blogs in the archive by date. Another technique
is to keep all of your category headings for your blogs as keyworded titles and to maintain a lot of them. The more categories you have describing your blog archives the more keywords you will have available to the search engines.

Even though these posts are not archived on your front page they are still searchable through the search engines. The more articles you have in your archives the more visible your site is likely to be in the search engines.

About The Author:

Christopher Angus is a SEO and Website Marketer. He can be contacted at: Sales (at) Brilliantseo.com
http://www.illustratemyname.com
http://www.mobility-direct.co.uk http://www.seocompanyuk.com

Labels: Blogs and RSS, Search Engine Optimization

By Nick P. Bentley

Undoubtedly one of the hottest trends on the Internet today is blogging. The numbers are simply mind-boggling if one has to compare the number of blogs that have been created. This is an incredible way to interact with people who share similar interests and likes as you. This new world serves as a great networking tool. In fact I first discovered this when I decided to advertise on my blog.

At times I post freelance writing jobs on my blog for other writers. Employers advertise on my site indirectly. On the other hand this service is extremely appreciated by a number of my visitors who are in search for work. Instead of visiting countless web pages, many writers come directly to my blog to see what I advertise on my site.

Personally I like consistency so I prefer to take on solid projects with reliable clients. Nonetheless, there is something very appealing about the thrill of the chase. Despite the fact that I don't advertise on my site to find work for myself however I do get a kick out of hunting down the offers. Besides I appreciate the feedback given from the writers who find work through my blog. I simply cannot imagine looking for work on a daily basis. Well, actually, I can because I do search every day. Frankly speaking I really can't imagine relying on the search for my livelihood.

A number of the readers who visit the blog sometimes leave messages just to let me know that they were hired for one project or another. For sure, these messages make my day! I'm
happy to know that the site is doing some good. Unfortunately, one of my readers became offended that I use Google advertisements on my site. Indeed she wanted to know why I advertise on my blog for profit. Well, the profit is quite small. In fact I have found that writers are not really clickers. And in my opinion I also think that clicking on one or two ads is not a big price for the service I provide. Now this brings to mind the question about blog etiquette. A lot of seasoned bloggers get aggravated by the site of advertisements. Nevertheless, these readers should consider the purpose of the site before passing judgment.

The reason behind why I advertise on my site is because it offers a valuable service. Of course, the reader has the option of scrolling down past the advertisements if he isn't happy with them. There is absolutely no obligation at all to click on an ad. The fact is that several of my readers commented that they didn't even notice that I advertise on my blog until the complaint was posted on my site. I'd like to thank that person for complaining. This way my readers are taking time to give me a few clicks now!

About The Author:

Nick P. Bentley provides readers with up-to-date commentaries, articles, and reviews for http://www.insights-on-marketing.com, http://www.all-business-talk.com as well as other related information.

Labels: Blogs and RSS, Pay Per Click Advertising

By Chris Taylor

Some of you may have already experienced writer's, or in this case blogger's, block. This is when you can't seem to start blogging anything worthwhile, sometimes not even a single word's worth.

How could this happen when you were so good at blogging before? Why is it that you can't get one word written? And the most frustrating thing of all: the more time you spend thinking about blogging, the less able you are to start your next project! Is there any cure? Luckily, there are a few things you can try.

Visiting other people's blogs is a good start. Read through your favorite ones, or do a random blog search and see what gets turned up. Reading what other people have to say can spark your own creativity and send you over the hump of blogger's block. Leave some comments to get you started; you might be able to expand on their ideas, and sometimes you can track back to your own blog. Looking at your blog inbox can help, too, as there might be a question or comment there that can get you started.

Look for a word or topic. Then begin writing about it. You can also do this with pictures. Check out photos and think of something to write about it. You can also check the news, which is always rich with current events. Even if there isn't anything that directly relates to what you normally write about, writing about something completely different than your normal topics
can help.

If those things do not seem to work for you, you can search for creative or journal writing software to help you with your writing problem. Oftentimes, these things have suggestions of
topic or idea that can help you get started.

Think about an extraordinary topic. For example, you can research about inventions and inventors. What was the first car ever invented? Anything that you fancy can become a blog entry. You can look for answers to questions like the one about the car at online resources like encyclopedias and almanacs. When you have the answer, blog about it. You never know, maybe some people are thinking of the same things and you have answered their questions. Besides, it can be good to drift from your usual topic one in awhile. Your readers might feel refreshed by
the change.

If none of these exercises help, it might be time to do something unrelated to writing for a while. Sometimes we just need a break from writing! Go outside, go shopping, go to a movie. Anything to take your mind off of your blog. You just might feel refreshed and ready to start blogging once you get back up in front of your computer.

There are a lot more ways to beat blogger's block. If you come up with something new that helps you get over it, think of what a good blog topic your experience would be! Who knows, you may even help someone out there who is struggling with blogger's block!

About The Author:

Visit http://www.rss-feeds-directory.com today! Your comprehensive guide to rss and blogs including our http://www.rss-feeds-directory.com/rss-feed-submission-sites-service.html.

Labels: Article Writing, Blogs and RSS

By Mario Churchill

Money can now be made by sharing one's opinion. Is this a joke? No it is for real. This is because blogs are one of the things people love to look at these days when surfing in the web.

It is not that hard to make a blog. A user can download a template and put the content there or make one up using wizard.

The trick to making money is being able to find a niche market. This means finding something relevant to talk about that people can relate to that can be done through research.

When the blog site is ready, it is time to do one pre-flight check to make sure all the systems are working. It is such a huge turnoff when it is not user friendly enough to the public.

The only way to get people to see the blog is to advertise. This means coming up with important keywords that someone will normally type so that the website will appear in a few seconds.

There are many search engines on the web. The person should not be afraid of paying a small amount to be able work with some of the best in the industry such as Yahoo, Google or MSN to get more traffic.

The best way to get more viewers is to narrow down the market. Some search engines have a target ad system so that those of the same interest will be informed about the person's blog
site.

Google's version is called Adsense. The system uses a java script code. When it is ready, the person will have to endorse it to the search engine for inspection. If there are no problems, this will shortly be updated to the main server.

How does the person make money-using Adsense? When a site is made, Google will be the one posting ads in the site. Every time a customer buys something, the developer will get a commission from the transaction. So, more visitors turns into more revenue.

The best way for people to know that such a blog exists will be to tell friends and family members about it so the word will get around.

If the topic posted does not get that much attention, perhaps the issue is not that relevant anymore. Blogging is really trial and error so the person should again go back to the drawing board and come up with something better that the viewers would love to read and even tell others.

There are three requirements for anyone who wishes to use Adsense. The website developed by the person must have 10 to 15 pages of relevant information. The second is that this should be
user-friendly. Lastly, it must not have too many ads around because this will just distract the visitor from exploring the site any further.

Studies show that the number of blogs are increasing daily. This will double or even triple as various sites are also giving members the opportunity to express opinion.

It is very rare that topic for the blog will be an overnight success. There are also other people who have said something about the topic and the person has to find a way to beat the
competition.

The most important thing to do when it is up and running is to conduct maintenance checks and have updates regularly so that there is always something new to show to visitors.

About The Author:

Mario Churchill is a freelance author and has written over 200 articles on various subjects. For more information about an excellent business opportunity checkout http://www.starscapes.com

Labels: Blogs and RSS

By Jeff Phelps

Blog traffic is crucial if you are in the business of making money with your blog. If your blog traffic is low, chances are so is your revenue. So how do you increase your blog traffic? Easy if you follow these basic steps:

Post On Niche Related Forums

Please don't spam. Search for the forums that can be added to the niche that you wish to promote. Carefully study the entire discussed topic and relate it to the questions asked during the discussion. The discussion can also answer personal questions. Make sure that in every discussion made, you put a small resource box at the end of it to serve as a link to your blog
(not always your homepage). Many forums will have you tossed if all you do is promote affiliate products, so don't do it! It is necessary to put your bio in every end of your postings with a
relevant keyword link back to your blog. Do not pursue with some of the forums that do not allow the posting of a resource box.

Write Your Own Content

You can pass an article or web content in many websites. Usually, these sites are free and if you are cash tight, you can pass your own made web contents initially. Writing your own web content will save you a ton of cash, but will also cost you a lot of time. There are freelance writers that will do the work for you, but there is something to be said about having your own personally written content. Therefore, it is wise to do your own article. The article that you will be writing must match the niche of your blog. Put knowledge that you know into every writings, you can discuss tips, tricks, guidelines that you get from your own life experiences. This will encourage your blog traffic to frequently visit your site.

Get Involved In Link Exchanges

This is the most effective way to bring traffic in your blog. This is a careful study of all the links shown on the search engines. It is important to secure the sites that are linked to you to have topics same to your blog. Blog traffic is generated if the same subject is seen on the recommendation by the site that you share your subject with. There will be an increased
chance of reaching the highest rank with the benefit of linking with other site or search engines. Both sites exchanging links will benefit from this exercise. Don't get involved with "link farms". Send an email to the blogger you wish to exchange links with and simply ask if they are willing to exchange links. You will be surprised how many say yes. Also, if you create well written, highly niche targeted posts, bloggers will link to that post creating tons of "search-engine loved" one way links.

Create A Newsletter

If you have regular blog traffic, you must develop a newsletter for your readers. Your newsletter can be either on weekly or monthly basis. This can sometimes seem too difficult for the new blogger, but this is the time to use those freelance writers. Have them write 5-10 articles on your niche, and use those as your newsletter. You should only put a small resources
box after every article. The small box will serve as the link back to your blog. This will surely increase your blog traffic and returning visitors. If your customers like it, they may
even recommend you to their friends, relatives and colleagues.

Join Traffic Exchanges

This is another form of exchange links allowing the member to view each other's blog posts by surfing. By surfing to the blog, you are gaining points, the more you surf the more points
you receive. You are also given an option to gain credits. This will not produce much blog traffic but it will obtain the names for your visitors by using squeeze pages. If you display Google
Adsense on your site, be careful joining traffic exchanges as it can violate Google's TOS.

Follow thes 5 steps and watch your blog traffic grow. It won't happen overnight, but it will happen. Stay patient, stay focused and work hard to increase your blog traffic.

About The Author:

Don't give up, success is right around the corner. Check out my blog for more
http://rugjeff.com/187/blog-traffic-analysis-tips/ and get your
http://elands1.com/12/profitable-business-internet-marketing-opportunity/
seen.

Labels: Blogs and RSS, Link Building

By Dee Owens

Ezine Articles have been around since the early 80's, and the
group Cult of the Dead Cow claims to have published the first
one in 1984. No matter who was the first to create it, Ezine
articles have become a part of everyday web hosting, designing,
and promotion. Ezine articles are a way to focus on specific
content and keywords.

The Pros
The benefits of Ezine Articles are numerous to say the least;
however, the top Pros make your work and research all worth the
while. Traffic the proper Ezine articles can generate enough
visitors to make your web page a success, while improper
content, repetitiveness, and missing links can spell disaster
for any on-line business. Making sure that all of your content
is accurate and up to date can be tedious but a necessary part
of maintaining a successful site.

The Cons
What can go wrong with Ezine articles, you would think what
cons can there possibly be on something that if you look in the
right spots you can get for free, but there are a few. The
first being the content of the article, is it accurate, current
and informative? If not then this can cause serious problems
such as someone marking your site as an unreliable source. The
safety net for this is the fact that the articles are written by
other authors and can be stated one point of view. Another
major con is how fast others generate new articles, the web
content changes daily and unless you have catchy headlines and
SEO Articles then you can be left behind.

Summary
Many Ezine articles free as long as you follow basic guidelines
when using them in either your website or emails. First, you
must leave where the article came from in the article and not
change any part of the source. You may do minor editing but
nothing major that can change the articles content, also
copying only parts or just a few lines is illegal as well.
Most times, you must inform the original host of the Article
where you are putting the Ezine Article, or if it is part of a
solicited email list then a forward of your email should work.
Not all require notification however; it is good business sense
and ethnics to contact them. Ezine articles can be user
friendly as long as you remember that the information has to be
accurate, you keep the source of the article in it, and you
follow the copyright guidelines. However finding the right
article for your web page can be a difficult task. Don't give
up though, with patients and the right Keywords, and the web
you are sure to find the right article for you.

About The Author:

Dee Owens writes articles for
http://www.articles3000.com. A free ezine articles site.

Labels: Article Writing, Blogs and RSS

Dee Owens

Blogging has grown in the last few years, with more and more
people doing it everyday. If you can write in a diary or
journal you can blog, it really is that simple. When you make
entries into your blog site, they are listed newest to oldest.
There is also no limit on what you can blog about, from food to
romance, or maybe even your chosen career you will find
something to talk about.

So you have decided to blog. Now what? Well the first step is
to set up an account on either a blogging site or a personal
website. There are many free websites out there so do not let
money be a factor in your decision, let coverage. You are going
to write down a daily, weekly, or monthly account of what is
happening and lets face it, you not only want people to read
it, you need them too. Therefore, your first step is to type
blog or blogging into your favorite Search Engine and see who
pops up the most, and then second most, and so on and so forth.
Once you have your say top five blogging sites, go to each one
and check out what they offer compared to the other guys. Who
is free maybe, or guarantees fresh content, possibly even
helping you set up your blogging page.

Wait I said guarantees fresh content, why would you need a
website to provide fresh content? It's simple really you want
to keep visitors coming to your website right; well fresh
content is what does it. They make sure you do not have a
repeat of what someone else has written, and they help keep all
the current topics there on your blogging site.

So you have found your blogging site, it is all set up and
ready for content, now what do you write about? Well I
recommend first introducing your product. Take a couple of
paragraphs explaining what it is all about. Next, take a moment
to talk about you. Possibly where you are from, what made you
start your business, even how you have experience in it.

Now that you have your first entry, take time each day, week,
or month depending on your needs and update your site. By
setting, this schedule and keeping to it you guarantee people
to see what you are all about and at the same time showing your
dedication to getting the job done. Remember life happens though
and if for some reason your newest blog is late, do not stress
over it. Make your first sentence about how you know it has
been a while, make your apology and begin talking.

Writing is talking with your fingers on a piece a paper,
website, or email, all you have to do is remember to keep the
conversation going. On this point, I have another suggestion
for your blogging site. Put a comment box in it. No there is no
guarantee that someone will leave a posting but then again they
just might and you can focus your next blog on answering them.
Hey, why not tell your friends and family about your new blog
they may even leave a comment for you to discuss.

Hope this helps you in your blogging career I know it has in
mine.

About The Author:

Dee Owens writes articles for
http://www.articles3000.com. A free ezine articles site.

Labels: Blogs and RSS

Danny Wirken

Understanding RSS Patents And Meta Data

There are some issues regarding patent applications of RSS and
different aspects of Meta Data and what its overall effects
would be. When companies are able to patent obvious technical
innovations and successfully prevent other companies from
moving forward, an unhealthy situation occurs. So how do
patents really work in the software industry?

Are Patents Important?

Some say that the US Patent System has become a murky swamp for
the tech industry where only corporations with deep pockets are
considered safe. The long standing resistance to patents is
based on the belief that it has become a barrier to innovation.
The idea that a small firm's freedom to innovate is curtailed by
the existence of so many patents in the software industry
persists. At least one research contradicts this premise that
large companies use claims of patent infringement to fend-off
smaller competitors. It further claims that small businesses
can actually use patents to their advantage even in an industry
that has seen an explosion of new patents in the past decades.

The experts' advice to small companies is to come up with a
patent strategy before starting operation. Research data would
show that there is a significant correlation between the
pursuit of patents and the future success of start-ups. It has
been found out that start-ups with patents are four times more
likely to go public than those without. Only half of this
number is expected to fail especially as they receive much more
in financing. The people that excel in this area are those that
recognize threats to their developed technology as a serious
problem. Those that do not bother to take steps for
intellectual property protection consistently fared worse.

Newly published patent applications can be searched at the US
Patent and Trademark Office. It can be done online by browsing
through industry category or by doing keyword search. The site
provides searches by keyword and lists of patents applications
by location, agent and law firm name, city of the agent and
inventor name.

RSS Patents and the Different Aspects of Meta Data

When Apple Computer filed for patents on some uses of RSS as
well as patents covering Meta Data management, it gave rise to
a prolonged and extended discussion about its probable effects.
One applied patent deals with variable length posts. A user can
modify how a feed is displayed, in what order and how it is
formatted in one embodiment. This also includes how much of a
particular content is to be displayed. Another embodiment
provides modification regarding how a displayed feed is stored
so that it can be used again at a later time.

There is also a filed patent that deals directly with
auto-discovery. Disclosure of technique for detecting, managing
and presenting syndication XML feeds is done. An embodiment
allows a web browser to automatically determine when a web site
is publishing feeds and notifies the user for easy access. One
other embodiment facilitates browser capability to determine
whether a web page or feed is advertising relationship XML
while displaying information about the people identified with
such.

A series of Apple related patent applications include one that
makes some broad claims for a web browser user interface that
enables a user to switch between displaying a file and
displaying a feed related to the file. There are also
applications that make claims on managing Meta Data and
indices. These claims are considered incredibly broad as one
application basically claim that Apple owns the ability to
aggregate Meta Data from two or more programs for searching.

There is a fear that if such application with a very broad
coverage is approved, it could effectively lock out all
newcomers from the field. It could easily impact other player's
ability to implement its search techniques as well. Whether or
not such a scenario is possible, one thing remains clear: users
will not appreciate anything that gets in the way of improving
the feed-reading experience.

An abstract of a patent application for methods and systems for
managing data such as Meta Data appears this way. In one method,
Meta Data from files created by several different software
applications are captured which is then searched. The type of
information in Meta Data from one type of file differs from the
type of information in Meta Data for another type of file. Other
methods are described as well as data processing systems and
machine-readable media.

A patent application for the methods and apparatuses for
processing Meta Data is as follows: One embodiment provides
that when a file having Meta Data is received, the Meta Data or
at least a portion of the content of the file is extracted from
the file to generate a first set of Meta Data. An analysis is
performed on the extracted Meta Data and the content to be able
to generate a second set of Meta Data. This may include Meta
Data in addition to the first set. The second set may then be
stored in a database suitable to be searched for identification
or location of the file. Other methods and applications are
likewise described.

For methods and systems for managing an index database, the
patent application is as follows: An index database is stored
on a machine readable volume with an operating system and the
files which have been indexed. After storing, the volume is
made available for distribution to licensees or customers. The
volume will include a previously created index database which
allows the user to begin use of the index database without
having to perform an indexing operation.

Another patent application for systems and methods for managing
Meta Data provides that a search through the Meta Data database
is performed. This is done when a selection of at least one
file having Meta Data stored in a Meta Data database is
received and a selection of a command to search using at least
a portion of the Meta Data is also received. This particular
application likewise describes other methods, data processing
systems and machine readable media.

It would be very interesting to see if claims such as those
mentioned above will survive. The approval of patent
applications largely depends on the claim having precedence
over the practices of others. Non-obviousness is another
consideration which can be used as a main argument against most
patent applications.

About The Author: http://www.theinternetone.net

Labels: Blogs and RSS

By: Danny Wirken

It is much easier for search engines to index text blogs than
podcasts or videoblogs. At present, search engines are using
link text and the text surrounding the links to podcasts and
videoblogs as a means to index their contents. The situation is
admittedly a far cry from the ideal but the great strides being
seen in the development of technologies towards the indexing of
these mediacasts are very encouraging.

Podcasting in Relation to Search Engines

Podcasting is the method of distributing multi-media files over
the Internet using either the RSS or atom-syndication formats,
for playback on mobile devices and personal computers. This may
include, but is not limited to, audio programs and music videos.
Podcast can mean both the content and method of delivery while a
podcaster is the host or author of a podcast.

The websites of podcasters may offer direct download or
streaming of their files. A podcast usually features a single
type of show with new episodes introduced regularly or
sporadically, although there are podcast networks that feature
multiple shows on the same feed. It can be downloaded
automatically using software capable of reading RSS or atom
feeds.

The term podcasting is technically a misnomer as it combines
two words: iPod and broadcasting. It does not require an iPod
or over-the-air broadcasting. The "pod" name association
stemmed from the popularity of the iPod digital audio player
during the time that podcasting began. A lot of other terms
have been suggested for use but the term stuck and remained as
such.

Like any other regular websites that aim to be found by
searchers, search engines have much to contribute towards this
end including podcasts. Podcast optimization can be achieved by
promoting only one feed. Many podcasters commit the mistake of
creating a podcast and then moving over to a different
management system which entails promoting a new RSS feed. This
usually results to a lot of different feeds for every podcast
which may be disadvantageous in the long run.

Another way to get the most out of podcasts is by optimizing
the audio file. The findability gap should be closed since a
lot of people listen to a podcast on their computers as well as
their MP3 players. A landing page can be optimized for each
episode of the show as well as the category page. Subscription
information that is very visible on the landing page is highly
recommended.

Podcasters should also look into building correct and valid
feeds with feed validation tools. Since iTunes do not
redistribute, a separate feed must be built for it. Doing three
separate feeds - a 2.0 feed, a media feed and an iTunes feed is
ideal.

The inclusion of a transcript or summary depending on the
podcast's time span is needed. A landing page usually requires
just a summary which is a well optimized page covering the
podcast's high points. Some search engines use
speech-recognition to determine the relevancy of the podcast.

Quality podcasts may not be easy to find. This is especially
true if the desired site is one that has already done the
lifting for its searchers including podcast search engines,
directories and round up sites. A huge variety of podcasts are
available in a wide variety of genres.

The Podcasting Search Engines

Generally, major search engines are not indexing podcasts in a
format that is easy to find. However, some podcast-specific
search engines seem to have solved some of the problems.
Podscope searches for the spoken words within the podcasts
themselves. Yahoo! Podcasts is very user friendly and is one of
the more consistent and useful in finding good podcasts. Singing
Fish provides a whole ream of results by just typing in podcast
or bring back audio results only when specified with the use of
drop-down menus on the top left. Other worthy research engines
includes Podzinger, Blinkx, BlogDigger and Lycos Audio Search.

Aside from search engines, podcast directories are virtual
goldmines for finding good podcasts. The Podcast
http://Alley.com includes the very useful Top Ten Podcasts of
the Month as voted by listeners. The NPR Podcast Directory
contains quality podcasts in a subject directory format. The
http://Podcast.net categorizes podcasts of various subjects by
tags which are available for free download. Podcast Bunker is
likewise one of the best places to find quality podcasts on the
web.

Search engines have become very useful especially to those who
don't particularly enjoy the search process.
http://Podzinger.com allows the user to search podcasts in the
same way as searching for anything else in the web. A word or
phrase typed in will find relevant broadcasts and highlights
the segment of the audio in which they occurred. It is not
perfect but it serves the user's need at this time. It works
with a speech-recognition software which transforms audio into
words. http://Podscope.com and Blinkx are sites that work in a
similar way.

Podzinger and Blinkx are search engines that scour audio
content for keywords by translating the audio into text and
creating an index for quick searching. This is a step ahead of
traditional search engines that can only identify keywords in a
podcast's Meta data such as the headline and introductory notes
which describes the audio file's general content.

Podzinger has officially ended its beta and lets users jump to
the spot in a podcast where their search term appears. This is
a welcome option to being forced to scan an entire program for
pertinent parts such as with Blinkx. The design results to an
uncluttered search page similar to those of Google. Podcasters
can also link to a searchable index of their content in order
to sell sponsored links to text in the index provided by
Podzinger.

Both Podzinger and Blinkx include information about the source
of the podcast as well as excerpts of text translated from the
podcast. This comes with the added convenience of having
relevant search terms highlighted. In this regard, Podzinger's
information is more extensive while allowing users to hear
excerpts and determine its relevancy before downloading the
entire podcast.

Podscope searches podcasts but scans only for sounds of
syllable rather than full words. It has operated a keyword
search engine for video and radio broadcast since 1999. By far,
the Blinkx service is a bit more extensive as it scours
thousands of podcast and offers search for 1 million hours of
TV news video and the content of academic lectures.

The problem at hand for podcast search is the difficulty in
finding what is really needed in podcasts. Relevant results
cannot be attained without words thus the heavy reliance on
speech recognition software that would help the public search
for on-line video and radio content. Podcasts are a priority at
this time due to popularity boom it is currently experiencing.
The aim is to make the spoken word as searchable as the printed
word.

About The Author: http://www.theinternetone.net

Labels: Blogs and RSS, Search Engine Marketing

By: Danny Wirken

Maintaining a blog costs money. A blog owner has to contend
with hosting service fees and other incremental expenses
associated with publishing a blog. However, there are several
techniques a blogger can employ to make his tight blog
marketing budget work. Foremost of these ploys is implementing
painstaking search engine optimization (SEO) strategies. SEO
helps lessen the costs of marketing a blog.

Search Engine Optimization - Some Key Points

How do you get readers to visit your blog when you are
competing with thousands of blogs around the blogosphere and
the typical web surfer seldom reads beyond the first few
results of a search query? This s the biggest challenge any
blogger has to face. Search engine optimization is the answer.
Search engine optimization is often described as the art and
science of improving the rankings of one's blog within search
engine results. SEO is the best way to drive traffic to your
blog. Maximizing the benefits of a well-optimized blog will
yield earnings that will greatly help to cover the costs of
blogging.

There are certain things to remember when preparing to optimize
your blog. Your blog has to be attractive not only to your
visitors but to the search engine crawlers as well. If your
blog gets a good ranking in the search engine results pages
(SERP), it will mean better chances of getting visitors but it
will be up to the blog to keep them there and hopefully
encourages them to buy your product or avail of your service or
whatever purpose the blog is for.

Optimizing a blog is similar to optimizing a website. But
depending on the blogging tool you use, the results may vary. A
blogging software is a specific type of content management
system (software that provides a way for managing blogs).
Blogging software such as WordPress and MovableType have rich
sets of built-in optimization features that can make a blog
more search engine friendly. A blogging software provides a web
standard compliant interface that makes adding new blog posts
and integrating them into the blog's navigational structure
quite easy. After making sure that your blog software is set up
in such a way that it takes full advantage of all the
optimization features, keyword rich content comes next.

A blog that provides detailed information about its area of
expertise will rank well in search engines for keywords
contained in the content. Content may take the form of
articles, news stories, guides and tips, industry trends and
company developments, to name a few. To come up with the right
keywords, always consider how you want your readers to find
your blog post in search engines and what will they type if
they want information on the topic you are writing. These will
provide you with hints on what words will be repeated all
throughout the article. Keywords can be used in the URL of a
blog post and post title. URLs and title tags are good places
for including your keywords since search engines are likely to
give these areas more weight when indexing blog pages.

Content per post should be about one specific topic as the more
focused the theme of a blog post the better when search engines
come to rank it. Adding fresh new posts on a regular basis is
highly recommended. The more you update, the more the search
engine robots will index the blog posts. Choose catchy domain
names for your blog that visitors will recall easily.

For the search engines to find you, submit your blog to them.
Submit your blog URL to be included in the index. This might
take time. A quicker way is to get linked by a blog already
indexed by the search engines.

There are also certain external factors that affect a blog's
search engine ranking. The most important of these factors are
the inbound links. It is a widely accepted consensus that links
pointing to your blog or posts make it for possible for your
blog to rank higher in the search engine result pages. Every
link to your blog is interpreted by the search engines as
recognition bestowed on your blog. The best method to get these
much sought after links is to post relevant content that
visitors will want to read. After you publish a quality post on
a subject you know will be of interest to another blogger, you
may notify him through a short e-mail. If he does link, that
will be additional traffic and subsequently helps build your
own page rank in the search engines.

Another way to generate inbound links is to submit your blog on
RSS feeds to blog directories as well as other sites that will
list your blog. This is a very effective strategy. In fact,
bloggers usually submit their new blogs to different
directories. They submit links to important blog pages with
relevant keywords in the links. There are quite a number of
blog directories - http://DMOZ.org, Yahoo Directory and the
Best of the Web Blog Directory. These are the more prominent
ones. They offer free submissions.

Many blogs of the same nature exchange links with one another
and form interlink networks. The bloggers enjoy the benefits of
multiple sites and like-minded writers working together. Another
way to generate quality inbound links is to swap links with
other bloggers. Someone links to you so you link back. But in
most cases links are formally arranged between bloggers. You
can also generate inbound or backlinks to your blog by leaving
legitimate comments in response to posts on other blogs. You
can also get links back to your blog using trackbacks.
Trackback is a method of informing another blogger that you
wrote a post related to what he had posted on his blog.

The above techniques will help your blog perform well and at
the same time lessen the costs of marketing your blog. Search
engine optimization is important but your readers come first.
So, it all comes back to quality content. If you are publishing
relevant content updated periodically, rest assure that great
sites will more likely link to your blog. As a blog publisher,
you definitely would like to be in good company.

About The Author: http://www.theinternetone.net

Labels: Blogs and RSS

By: Danny Wirken

Over the years, the Internet has become a hub for people to
discover and invent new ways to share relevant information in
just a blink of an eye. A compelling worldwide conversation has
begun. This conversation has become the new market. The members
of this market communicate in a more open, natural honest,
direct and at times authoritative way. They are talking,
explaining, complaining, and sharing information in an
unmistakably human voice.

As business continues to be increasingly connected,
communication among these players in the new marketplace will
prove to be vital. If the market talks about a company and its
products, the concerned company should assess and understand
all the information to better respond to such information. As
information increases within the business world, proper
distribution and management of this information should be a
prime concern of the company. The blog is a very effective tool
that allows a company to gain, to store and to disseminate
information all at the same time. For a business to succeed,
connectivity with the market and community are a must. A blog
can accomplish this. The business weblog can affect the market
place.

A blog or weblog is simply a journal posted on the Internet. It
is updated regularly and may contain entries or posts on news,
opinions, ideas plus links to other blogs, websites and sources
of information. A blog has become a way to engage readers and
prospective customers of businesses. They have emerged as a
tool to boost business. Blogs invite readers to comment or post
feedback on what they see around them. It can be about sports,
entertainment, health, politics, economy, commerce to the most
mundane of things like rants about school work. A blog can
accomplish certain vital business goals. It can give
much-needed exposure to new or little-known product or service.
Since many potential clients know a little only about a certain
product or service, blogging is a good channel to lay out the
specifics of the product or service. Readers are always hungry
for information about companies and how to interact with them.
Blogging can lead to more informed clients as it supplants the
company as an information source.

Blogging allows a company to touch base with prospects. Any
company that has exposure in the Internet is well aware that
hits via the search engines especially the top three - Google,
Yahoo and MSN can bring in sizeable leads. Blogs can add
further leverage to the number of times with which search
engines identify a company especially if the blog is updated
regularly and allows readers to leave feedbacks. A
well-executed blog can contribute positively to the ranking of
a company's site within search engine results. A blog that
allows comments, post new entries equate to additional blog
pages to be crawled by the search engine robots.

Blogging is also an effective tool to establish a company as an
expert in its industry or niche. Blogging sends positive buzz
about the company credentials through the marketplace. It
builds credibility and generates leads and inquiries. Blogging
has evolved into a legitimate source of news that has greatly
influence public opinion. Some blogs even hold much sway on the
public as compared to larger and established media brands.
Through a blog, a company can openly engage customers and peers
in a discussion. This conversation transpires via reader
comments. Comments or feedbacks allow a company to know what it
is doing right and what needs to be improved. Customers and
potential clients can be a company's mirror to determine
whether its products or services are what the market wants to
buy or avail of. In this regard, a blog affects the marketing
scenario. A new trend in the marketplace has emerged - a
customer-centric market.

The current competitive environment is a challenge for many
businesses. The Internet and globalization have immensely
affected how businesses conduct business. The marketplace has
become a tough place for sellers. Customers and prospects have
become more demanding. They want to be heard and have a say on
the products and services that will satisfy their needs and
wants. In today's marketplace, the prevailing credo is "love
and hear thy customer". Customers, nowadays, expect that
companies will always take them into consideration. If they
have issues, companies should communicate that they understand
what the issues are from the customers' points of view.
Perception is very important thus companies should ask for
feedbacks from customers and listen to gain insight or how to
satisfy customer needs and wants.

Traditionally, a company develops a product or service and then
work out a marketing plan. The marketing plan is crucial in
applying company resources in the most cost-efficient way to
sell to potential customers. The marketing plan usually
includes the product, price, publicity or advertising and place
or target area. This marketing approach is product-driven or
company-centric. A company makes a product and then find ways
to get customers to buy the product.

The alternative to a product driven approach is the
customer-centric approach. The latter focuses on the customers.
The company first selects a particular group of customers. The
company then does research on the proposed product or service.
It is the customers who have the final say whether the
particular product is what they want to buy. Only then will
production commences.

A typical example is the La Fraise t-shirts. It all started
with a French guy who passionately blogs about t-shirts.
Through blogging, he built a community of loyal readers who
share the same interest. He posted samples of t-shirt designs
and the readers gladly send him feedbacks. This gave him an
idea to put up a gallery of t-shirt designs. He encouraged his
readers to vote on each design. The design that gets the
highest vote goes into production and he sells them through his
blog. What is nice is that the t-shirts are pre-sold already. He
has no worries about inventory. It has become a full- fledged
business. It is customer-centric. The customer decides which
product to produce and then buys it. Credit should go to the
guy because he is fully aware of the magic of comments - they
can spur great ideas that can be converted to a business and
one that works both ways for the customers and the business
entrepreneur. This story perfectly shows how blogging can
empower customers to be in the center in any business
undertaking. Blogging truly affects the marketplace in more
ways than one.

About The Author: http://www.theinternetone.net

Labels: Blogs and RSS

By: Danny Wirken

Since the release of WordPress, web users have customized this
blogging software to suit their own needs. On of the most
established needs in today's computing world is the need for
content management, particularly, a Content Management System
(CMS). With its rich set of features and flexibility, WordPress
can be customized into a major CMS.

Content Management System

Content management can be described as the process of creating,
managing and publishing online content sans any programming or
technical skills. If used properly, content management saves
time and money. An effective content management can be attained
by utilizing a content management system.

A content management system is a web-based application
connected to a database that allows users to update a website
without having to know any HTML (Hypertext Markup Language,
standard language with which all web pages are built). It is
software used to manage websites and web content. A CMS
facilitates the maintenance of content but not the design on a
website.

Without CMS, updating a website say, posting a new article
would involve manually changing the home page and archives and
creating a new page from scratch for the article itself.
Coupled with this, if a user wants other pages to link to the
article like a list of current articles in the sidebar of
pages, he has to change all these manually as well.

With CMS, a user just logs in and adds the article heading to a
specific category. He then enters the content and ends by
selecting some tags to describe the article. The CMS will
automatically put the title, date and the first paragraph on
the home page. He then constructs a new page for the article
and adds the article to an archive by date and category.

As can be gleamed, CMS does away with inconvenient manual tasks
and streamlines the updating process. A CMS manages content
efficiently from the time of creation to publication. A content
management system establishes a definitive approach to
effectively publish, store and organize content for the users.

Content management systems offered by different vendors have
varied benefits and functions that a user can select from
according to his needs. A CMS can be expensive or absolutely
free like WordPress. It really depends on how complex the site
is and what needs to be done.

Most blogging software programs are considered a particular
type of CMS. They have CMS features for creating and
maintaining a blog. They make publishing on the Internet as
easy as writing an article, giving it a title and setting it up
under one or more categories. Basic blogging software provides
an interface where a user can work in an intuitive manner while
the blogging software handles the presentation and publication.
A blogger gets to concentrate on writing and the blogging tool
functioning as a content management system takes care of the
rest of the site operation. WordPress is an example of blogging
software.

WordPress - An Overview

WordPress is a well-structured personal publishing system
written in PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor, a popular open source
server-side scripting language constructed specially for
integration with HTML available in Windows, Linux and Mac OS X)
and backed by MySQL (open source Structured Query Language
database implementation). WordPress is licensed under General
Public License (GPL) and is available for free. WordPress
started in 2001. Since then, it has grown to be the biggest
self-hosted blogging tool in the world, utilized on a multitude
of sites. WordPress focuses on ease of use, speed and a
wonderful user experience. It is an open source program.
Hundreds of people all over the globe are working on it. It
offers a service in http://WordPress.com that lets a user get
started with a free WordPress-based blog in seconds.

WordPress is an advanced blogging software program that
provides a sophisticated set of features. Via its
administration panels, a user can set options for the
presentation of his blog and be published on the Internet
instantly. WordPress focuses on aesthetics, web standards and
usability.

WordPress as a Content Management System

A distinct characteristic of a CMS is that it singles out
content from presentation. Content consists of text, images or
other information shared in posts. This is separate from the
structural design of a site which provides the foundation into
which the content is inserted and the presentation of a site
which involves graphic design. Content is stored in a database.
A user can change the look of a site with a few changes to style
sheets such as CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) and other layout
features that define the font styles and sizes, colors,
backgrounds and positions. In like manner, WordPress stores
content in a database and the WordPress Theme (layout/design)
controls the look of how the content is displayed.

A CMS has control over what content shows up and where ads,
related posts, comments and other interactive elements appear
on a web page. But with the plug-ins and add-ons available in
WordPresss, a user can also add these features to his blog. A
user can turn WordPress into a full-fledged CMS with the many
options, customizations and controls accessible to him.

There are a number of options a user can use to make WordPress
works like a CMS. Most CMS sites control what articles appear
on the front page. In WordPress, a user can make use of the
Semiologic Opt-in FrontPage Plug-in that lets him choose which
post will appear on his front page. Podcasting, videoblogging,
adding music and images are possible with WordPress. There are
plenty of elements that a user can add to WordPress to enhance
connectivity and functions. Signing up for mailing lists,
newsletters and other information to be disseminated can be
done with WordPress. A user can even set up e-commerce with
WordPress. Adding ads to a WordPress site is as simple as
placing the ad information into the proper template file.
Forums and bulletin boards are integrated with WordPress. Every
WordPress user has a role that determines his rights within the
application. This is particularly useful to control the flow of
certain content. Another valuable feature of WordPress is its
built-in moderation feature. This allows the user to approve
messages before they get posted. The WP-ShortStart Plug-in
renders Statistic monitoring. Lastly, a user's CMS site won't
be complete without a way to handle external and internal
links. WordPress has a number of plug-ins that can be used for
this purpose.

Simply put, WordPress has sophisticated features that make it a
powerful content management system.

About The Author: http://www.theinternetone.net

Labels: Blogs and RSS, Web Site Design

By: Danny Wirken

In the recent past, a news story came out that Yahoo! has begun
testing a blog search application in its Korean blog site.
Yahoo!, a leading global Internet company offers a range of
features making it a one-stop shop for all the popular
activities of the Internet. These features include Yahoo! Mail
(a web-based e-mail service), Yahoo! Messenger (instant
messaging client), online gaming, chat, news and information
portals, online shopping and online auction facilities. Add to
this array of features, the Blog Search. Yahoo! seems to be
ready to challenge industry leader blog search site,
Technorati.

The blog search technology is designed to let bloggers sign up
to publish their weblogs. The technology boasts of various
search tools that will enable blog visitors to retrieve content
and images within weblogs, latest blog postings or pages marked
as favorites.

Blogs are currently the rage in the Internet. Anybody with an
Internet connection can publish a blog for the worldwide
audience to see. At the beginning of 1999, there were only an
estimated two or three dozen blogs in existence. As of July
2006, Technorati counted more than 50 million and still
growing. In fact, 75 000 new blogs are created everyday.

A blog, short for weblog, is an interactive, personalized web
journal for posting articles or anything one wants to share
with the general public or a select few. Articles or posts are
arranged in reverse chronological order, that is, recent
addition is at the top of the page. A blog is updated regularly
and contains links to other articles (posts), blogs or websites.
Posting comments is another feature. Many blogs focus on a
specific topic such as politics, sports, technology, health,
news, etc. Others are more like personal diaries detailing the
author's (blogger) rants, raves and musings.

Because of the rapid growth of blogs, keeping on top of them is
quite challenging. Industry players like Yahoo! is well aware of
the increasing power of blogs and their ability to provide a
wealth of information online. Yet, there are only a few
blog-specific search tools to go through all the information in
real time.

Two months after Yahoo! began testing the blog search feature
on its Korean blog site; it has finally unveiled its blog
search tool. The launch came at a time when the United States
was still reeling from the devastation caused by Hurricane
Katrina. During that time, millions of people logged in to
Yahoo! News for in-depth and accurate information.
Simultaneously, bloggers were posting first-hand accounts,
pictures, opinions, personal experiences. But due to lack of
mainstream exposure, much relevant information was not
disseminated. This further highlights the role that a blog
search tool can play - a channel to bring information to the
public in the shortest time possible.

Instead of launching a stand alone feature, Yahoo! has
integrated blogs in Yahoo! News Search. When a user conducts a
search in Yahoo! News, blog results as well as news from
trusted news sites will be displayed simultaneously. Yahoo!
acknowledges that the opinions, stories and experiences
published on blogs make a great complement to mainstream news
people read everyday. Blogs have proven to be an effective
medium for anyone who wants to be heard in the public forum. A
lot of times bloggers have even beaten mainstream media to
newsworthy stories.

Traditional media recognize that they do not have the time and
resources to cover all the events and happenings in the world.
By incorporating the blog search into Yahoo! News, Yahoo!
desires to offer an alternative perspective on news aside from
what mainstream media can offer. Yahoo! wishes to bring
professional journalism and amateur or citizen journalism
together to provide the users with a wider array of
information. Yahoo assures the users and the general public as
well that there will be enough distinction where the
information is coming from.

Yahoo! aims to learn from users and publishers. The expanded
news search gives users more chances to find relevant
information that matters to them from leading news stories,
commentaries, citizen first-hand reports, pictures and images
that mainstream media may not have covered. It will be to the
utmost benefit of the millions of people who wants to be
informed of what is going on around the world if Yahoo! News
can bring mainstream and personal or grassroots media together.
The people are then assured of greater variety of sources and
viewpoints from all corners of the world.

When a user conducts a search on Yahoo! News, results from
mainstream media partners of Yahoo! will be displayed on the
left side of the page. On the right side, in a side-bar type
area will be relevant blog search results. When the user clicks
on "all blog results", the user will receive Flickr (Yahoo!'s
photo sharing service) photo thumbnails related to his search
on the right hand side of the search results page. By
integrating global grassroots media into the News Search
results, users can enjoy analysis or opinions thru blogs but
also related photos from the Flickr community that will provide
a visual context to content as reported by the citizens. In
addition, My Web links will also be displayed on the right hand
side of the search results page together with Flickr. My Web is
Yahoo!'s social search engine that utilizes the combined
knowledge of the My Web community. My Web provides important
links to information related to the user's search topic.

As to which search results to display in its blog column,
Yahoo! does not give specifics but suffice it to say that blog
search results are based in part on the popularity of the blogs
within My Yahoo!, as measured by a computer algorithm. At first,
only blogs registered with the My Yahoo! RSS directory will be
included in the search but will eventually scan the millions of
blogs outside the My Yahoo! sphere.

Yahoo!'s Blog Search will complement Yahoo! 360, its social
networking and blog publishing service and Yahoo!'s recently
launched advertising service for small publishers.

Whether you are looking for political commentary on the Israeli
air strikes in Lebanon, Superman movie reviews, iMac G5 specs,
sumptuous Vietnamese recipes, Louis Vuitton's latest bag
collection, or anything else, Yahoo! Blog Search will help you
find out what people are saying on these subjects of your
choice.

About The Author: http://www.theinternetone.net

Labels: Blogs and RSS

By: George Christdodolou

By: Scott Lindsay

As with most online marketing strategies there is a link
between the various facets of marketing. For example there is a
compatibility link between a business blog (b-blog) and a forum
board. There is also a link between a b-blog and a Really
Simple Syndication (RSS) feed.

Allow customers to decide what is most important.

By using an RSS feed in conjunction with your b-blog you are
extending a courtesy to your valued customers. They can choose
to be 'fed' blog entries that are compatible with their
personal interests. Don't be surprised if they visit at times
other than an RSS prompt.

This concept can also be implemented with a content-rich
website where new articles are being added on a regular basis.
These new articles are a draw to those who access an RSS feed
because it allows a hands-free feed of desired information from
sources they trust.

An RSS feed allows you the opportunity to become a trusted
source for information.

Integrated technology in marketing

Online marketing is the next logical step for brick and mortar
stores. Whether you have a store front or find yourself
exclusively web-based you can take advantage of available
technologies allowing you to maximize the impact you have on
prospects and existing customers.

The prospect of merging existing technologies into a
comprehensive online marketing plan can be a little
disconcerting if you aren't really sure how these technologies
work or how they perform together.

By spending some time in research or by outsourcing some of the
design features that allow the integration to take place you are
laying the groundwork that will positively impacting the future
productivity of your online business.

Many blogging sites allow the implementation of site RSS at no
extra costs to their customers while web browsers like Firefox
already have a built in RSS reader that allows the end-user
easy access the information they are most interested in.

As your website and/or blog grows you will find more and more
people accessing the RSS feature. This is a great tool that
provides a motivated list of contacts. Every time you post a
new article on your website or post something on your blog the
information is quickly directed to the parties most interested.

RSS simply offers another consumer tool that permits your
clients to be in control of the information they receive, your
job is to provide quality information and quietly allow it to
connect with a receptive audience.

About The Author: Scott Lindsay is a web developer and
entrepreneur. He is the founder of HighPowerSites and many
other web projects. Get your own website online in just 5
minutes with http://HighPowerSites.com at:
http://www.highpowersites.com

Labels: Blogs and RSS

By:Danny Wirken

Nowadays, a lot of people are clicking into the Internet daily.
A good number of this activity has a lot to do with online
advertising and blogs. The actual effect of online advertising
and blogging can be gauged by the continuously increasing
number of participants whether as individuals or organizations.

Traditional and Online Advertising

As compared to a traditional advertising, online ads produce
quick results at low cost. Business entrepreneurs going into
online advertising aim to attract more visitors to their
websites. Once the desired traffic is established, follow-up is
necessary to convert these viewers into customers or buyers.

Through the follow-up promotional technique, people tend to buy
more even if it was not the original intention of the customer.
People who have purchased once will buy again if a timely
follow-up is made. When a person trusts a particular product or
service, he/she continues to buy primarily due to the
satisfaction they get. Follow-up and follow through is very
important. It is a good practice in sales to get a customer to
ensure that they are happy and contented with their purchase.
This can also be an opportune time to present the customer with
a follow-up offer but selling should only be secondary to
customer service inquiry.

There are several online advertising methods and strategies
which can be used to generate more visitors, subscribers and
buyers into a website.

An Affiliate Program or Associate Program can be used to get
interested visitors to go into a site while having other people
do the legwork. This means that other people will do the job of
promoting the products and services. The program starts when
affiliates send visitors to a site with the use of text
referrals, logos, banner ads or anything used for promotion.
These visitors are then traced and tallied in a special
software. Once these visitors turn into buyers, the affiliate
is paid a commission. This is a sure win since affiliates are
paid only for sales made. There is absolutely no risk because
payment is made only when interested customers actually buy the
product or service. There is no cash out unless there is actual
cash received from the sale of product or service. What is
important here however is that affiliates should be well paid
for their efforts since unattractive incentives will fail to
provide the needed motivation. Additional incentives, such as
rewards or bonuses will do the business good and will surely
increase sales.

The Pay Per Click (PPC) Strategy is the powerful and fastest
way to bring targeted traffic into a website. With this PPC
method, it is easy to attract visitors who are interested with
the products and services through the use of the proper
keywords. As the name implies, payment of premium is made every
time a visitor clicks in a link. This strategy if correctly done
is very profitable. However, lots of money can be lost if not
used properly and carefully. Many people believe that the only
way to develop a successful pay per click ad is to get to the
number one position. However, being number one does not
necessarily mean being the best. There is no wisdom in being
ranked number one if it will translate to more expenses. To be
successful with PPC engines, bids should be kept as low as
possible.

Advertisers cannot afford to waste money on ineffective buys.
When ad response is very low, there is a need to concentrate on
improving the creative of the ad. Before choosing any
advertising idea, goals must be defined and clear objectives
stated. Identification of sites relevant to any product or
service is required to get started. Effective sites are those
which appeal to target customers and users. Messages need to be
able to go through. They should be easily understood especially
by the target audience. Promotional messages must be strong and
specific and rich media may be used to expand it. This could add
more depth to the creative and expand the capacity of responses.
Another way is to design ads as if it belongs to the site where
advertising is placed. Multiple versions of ads can be created
by as much as 3 to 4 versions. This can be achieved by changing
the promotional message, color schemes or text fonts. Do not be
afraid to experiment as adjustments on the ads based on initial
reactions can still be made. There should be no room in settling
for poor responses as ads should be made to work.

Online entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for effective
and affordable online advertising tools. In the process of
searching for the right advertising tool, so much time, money
and effort are devoted. These online advertising tools can
create and generate vast number of traffics, but if visitors
are not converted into buyers, the time, money and effort are
all wasted. It is therefore very important that adequate
attention be given to online ads that will convert viewers into
paying customers. The most vital tool to track performance is
the sales report copy. The percentage of buyers over the total
number of visitors will determine whether or not a business is
doing well. If the percentage of conversion is not good then
sales technologies and strategies should be improved.

Some website operators erroneously use the traditional brick
and mortar advertising technique in developing their sales
copy. This causes sales copy to be ineffective as an online
advertising tool. Traditional advertising is designed to get
shoppers into a retail store where the sales person would take
up the selling process. This is not true for Internet ads. Ads
attract visitors but there would be no sales personnel to meet
them as in brick and mortar stores. The sales copy is the sales
person. In this case, the sales report is not only an
advertising tool but also an online sales tool. Actual
advertisements should include website page titles and
descriptions. The rest of the copywriting should be sales
oriented. Without a website copy acting as a sales tool, the
use of the best online advertising tools on the net to attract
traffic will be fruitless.

Blogs and Advertising

Increasing the readership of blogs take time, patience and hard
work. Blogs that have good quality content as well as
interesting and original, are those which attracts more
readers. A good blog design is of vital importance if a blog is
to create a good first impression. With several blogs and sites
around, a good weblog lay-out counts. It is also necessary to
link to other blogs and interact with readers. Having
interaction with others invites involvement with readers and
produce repeat visitors. Active participation in web forums and
discussion pages may allow for addition of a signature to the
post and raise the profile in the process.

Position is a key element in successful advertising. A
billboard positioned along a busy intersection will not produce
the same result as a billboard in a road where no one drives.
The design and position of ads is likewise relevant. If they
are out of sight they will never get clicked on. All business
bloggers aim to have their site found to initiate what would
hopefully be a continuous business relationship.

About The Author: http://www.theinternetone.net

Labels: Blogs and RSS, Pay Per Click Advertising

By Danny Wirken

Searchers would never say no to something that would make their
work a lot easier. With the coming of Sphere - the latest blog
search engine, it promises to help users discover high-quality,
relevant and timely blog posts with the use of its advanced
search algorithm. It aims to deliver results far better than
other existing blog search services.

The People behind Sphere

Sphere was founded by Tony Conrad, Martin Remy, Steve Nieker
and Toni Schneider to assist readers in their discovery of
relevant blog content as well as encourage more people to read
blogs or be bloggers themselves. Investors who helped Sphere
get started include Doug Mackenzie, David Mahoney, Kevin
Compton, Mike Winston, Phil Black, Vince Vanelli and Will
Hearst. Its partners and capitalists, on the other hand include
Darcy Bentley of Hearst Publishing and Venetia Kontogouris of
Trident Capital.

This blog search engine had a very successful first private
beta release in late 2005. Its success can be attributed to
Martin Remy and Steve Nieker who have worked on blog and
content matching technology for a long time. It also has for
its advisors the likes of Matt Mullenweg, founder of
Automatic/WordPress and a blog content tool leader; Mary
Hodder, founder/CEO of Dabble and a blog user experience
expert; and Scott Kurnit, founder and former CEO of
http://About.com who was instrumental in creating a work
community there.

The feedback gained from the well received private beta was
used to add some advanced and intuitive features. Sphere is
based in San Francisco but members of the team work virtually
from other places like Seattle, Denver, Vancouver, New York,
Phoenix and the Bay Area. It highly recommends its own Sphere
Blog for information regarding ongoing updates.

Tony Conrad was a general partner at VSP prior to founding
Sphere. This was where he led consumer-tech and marketing
software and services investments. He has also served as a
director for Oddpost, Iconoculture, MusicNow and Centive. He
has likewise been very active in managing investments in Post
Communications and Stonyfield Farms. At present, he serves on
the Board of Directors for Automatic/WordPress.

Martin Remy and Steve Nieker have worked together for a long
time and are both considered technologists extraordinaire. They
were together when they founded Think Tank 23 during the so
called dot-com boom. It was able to survive largely because
they were able to build a lot of great technology and sold a
few software projects to big publishing companies in spite of
being funded by venture capitalists. They have extensive roots
in information retrieval that goes back to the end of the last
century. Their NAV 4 which is a document-analysis genome that
drove precise information retrieval across broad networks
without onerous manual overhead is baked into Sphere. This has
provided many benefits including the base technology driving
the related news stories links.

Toni Schneider worked at Yahoo! and at Oddpost which was
subsequently acquired by Yahoo! He created the Yahoo! Developer
Network. He comes from Switzerland and only came to California
to study Computer Science for a year. At present, he is happily
based in San Francisco while serving as the CEO of Automatic and
a venture partner at True Ventures. He remains an adviser to
Sphere.

The Relevant Blog Search

Sphere is being touted as a search engine that has made blog
search much better. Its interface is designed by Adaptive Path
and comes out quite clean and understandable. One of its more
notable features is the profile link that produces a small
DHTML overlay with some vital stats for each blog such as
average posting frequency, posts per week and blogs recently
linked to among others. Its technology is believed to be more
resistant to spam blogs than other search engines. It doesn't
actually filter out such spam blogs but is able to rank them so
low that readers rarely encounter them.

The right combination of factors that produces a more robust
ranking technology of blogs and posts is the reason why Sphere
seems to work better than other blog search. It pays attention
to the ecology of relationships between blogs and credits a
higher weighted value to links that have more authority. This
will ensure that the work of an author who goes off-topic and
engages in rant will rank considerably lower compared to that
written by a reputable blogger who regularly writes about the
topic.

The metadata about a blog is also considered by Sphere. It
would look into the frequency of postings, the length of the
posts and the average links a post gets. Sphere will not rank
blogs well if they are not part of a larger ecosystem of
linking.

The system has made it possible to have spams fall at the
bottom of the ranking. It also gives ways to filter results
either by date, relevance or by language. A new version of the
services has some neat interface hacks along the lines of a
time axis.

Blogs are definitely big, with millions of existing blogs
multiplying by the second, relevant information can be very
hard to find. Sphere helps readers to find relevant and
intelligent blog posts on a specific topic based on authority.
It should be noted that the authority being mentioned here is
not an arbitrary decision of a human community but rather a
collective effort.

Searching the Sphere is very easy. The user needs to enter some
keywords and the system shows related posts, blogs, profiles,
related news, photos, books and podcasts. It sorts the results
by relevance or time and refines the date range with dropdowns
right on the results page. It also supports quotes for phrase
searching, Boolean operators and minus for exclusions.

The entry of multiple words or phrases in a query finds posts
that match all these words and phrases. A query comprised of
two words will find posts that contain both words. Posts that
contain the words together usually turn up first while posts
that contain the words separately and in different places will
show up much later. If the search is to be limited to an exact
phrase, only results that mention the words together are
obtained. For finding posts that match either of the words, the
OR operator can be used.

Excluding posts can be done by putting a minus before a term or
phrase. Parenthesis is used to group terms and expressions
together. A search can also be confined to the blog's domain.

Sphere has taken a new approach to blog search as it uses
variables to understand both individual blog posts and the
nature of the blog they appear on. It attempts to understand
link structures. In the process of analyzing these structures,
it attempts to understand who is starting or linking
discussions instead of bloggers who simply comment on
conversations.

About The Author: http://www.theinternetone.net

Labels: Blogs and RSS

By Van Whitsett

If it wasn't for my blog, I wouldn't make any online sales at all.

It's true that I have a "regular" website, my so-called "main website," which I first set up to sell my goods, in this case, men's and women's health products. It's my workhorse, the source of most of my revenue. Most of my sales resulted from generic listings in the search engines, particually Google.

That is, until Google sandboxed me.

Some of you may have heard of the legendary Google sandbox, sometimes called, "The Goggle Sandbox Effect." What happens is that newly listed sites rank well for about two to three weeks, then suddenly drop off the radar screen. These new sites are placed in a type of probational sandbox, away from the "real" sites.

Why does this happen, you ask? There are almost as many theories as there are SEO (Search Engine Optimization) experts. Many believe that this probation period is not related to the sites themselves, but to their links. It is believed that back link (pure link popularity) credit is placed in a reserve for a period of time (2-4 months) before it is applied to ranking and has an effect. The theory behind this is to combat PR (Page Rank) purchasers from dominating PR from the beginning. It is meant to deter spam websites.

Others believe this alleged filter that is placed on new websites is an illusion. These skeptics argue that the phenomenon merely echoes already existing Google algorithm calculations.

Whatever the reason, I got sandboxed, the rug pulled out from underneath me; shiskobobbed. The high-ranking and sales that I was receiving from my site suddenly plummented.

I was devastated. What's a poor boy to do now?

Desperate, I wrote to a number of online SEO forums, seeking advice from the SEO gurus. Some thought it was amusing and laughed in my face. Others offered advice such as forgetting about Google for awhile and optimizing my site for the other search engines (not a bad idea). Others thought that I should continue adding content, since content is king as far as the search engines are concerned. Still others thought I should try to gain as many quality links as I should and this would help pull me out of the sandbox (it felt more like quicksand to me.)

I committed to doing all these things, but in the meaintime, what about my website and the products that I was trying to sell, the money I was hoping to make?

I kept hearing about blogs, those personal websites that are published on the Web. As you probably know, blogs contain philosophical reflections, talk about social issues, and opinions about everything under the sun. They are usually presented in journal style with a new entry each day, or almost every day.

Some people have found out that blogs can also be used to sell products. In fact, an entire industry has evolved around commerical blogging and ways to market them. Some of these commerical blogs appear in the same journal style as the most popular blogs, while others do not look any different from a regular commerical website.

At any rate, I decided to check them out. The fact that a number of blog publishers allow you to build and post your comments for free, certainly didn't hurt either.

I studied many of the blogs that are out there on the Internet, particually the ones relating to my niche. The more I read, the more I liked. I was surprised to learn that some of the top websites in my niche were actually blogs. They ranked high on Google and all of the other search engines. And no doupt, they were making sales.

Soon, I had a pretty good idea about how I was going to build my blog. I didn't want to copy the others, I just needed to get an idea of how some enterprising webmasters were creating them.

Within minutes, I had created my blog, published it on the Web, and began posting and tweaking it. I inserted some HTML code to monitor my stats, and continued to work on making it a better blog. I also continued to work on my other websites, so that whenever I do climb out of Google's sandbox, my site will get a good rating.

Not long afterwards, I made my first blog sale!

Elated, I built other blogs. The more lines you have in the water, the better chance you'll catch a fish, right? Each was slightly different than the preceeding one, but I still hawked the same
products. All have links back to my "main" website, and all have brought me sales.

I might have been down, but thanks to my new-found knowledge about blogs, I wasn't out.

So, while I'm waiting to climb out of Google's sandbox, I have an ace in the hole and another up my sleeve that is continuing to make sales for me - my blog. Unknowingly, I had stumbled upon one of the best ways to get my products out there before the buying public.

What I had thought was the worse thing to happen turned out to be the best thing. Had Google not sandboxed me, I probably never would have discovered the awesome marketing power of blogs!

About the Author:

Van Whitsett is the author of numerous articles, both online and in the print media. He has tried (and failed) with a number of Internet businesses until he hit the jackpot as an affiliate for http://mensniche.com/wmreg/hit.php?w=102811 Mensniche. His website, Natural Male Enhancement has proven to him that the Holy Grail does indeed exist and that it's possible to earn money online.

Labels: Blogs and RSS

By Angie Noack

If you've been hearing all the buzz about blogging and want to
know what it is and how to get started, this article is for
you. Here we will discuss what blogging is, what blog software
you'll need, and what you can do with it.

What's a blog?

A weblog - blog for short - is a type of website. Blogs are
unique from other static website in that they are usually
updated often. The main page of the site usually contains the
most recent post or posts of the author or authors of the
website. Also, blogs often also allow readers to post their
comments directly to the site.

All of the factors work together to make blogs a very popular
form of website creation, and online community building. If
you'd like to try your hand at blogging, here's how to get
started.

First, decided on the topic of your blog. Maybe you want to
keep a diary of your daily life for your friends and family. If
there's a topic that you are interested in, say, politics for
example, blogs are a great way to discuss and share your
interests and comments on current topics related to your
interests.

Once you've decided on the topic of your blog, you'll want to
choose a blog software program. The great thing is, some of the
best programs and blog services are free!

Many blogging services are based online, such as blogger.com.
Just visit these sites and register with them - many will give
you free webspace and allow you to start blogging immediately.

If you want to register your own domain name and run your blog
on your own server, you will need to install server side blog
software. Not to fear, many webhosts come with an automatic
installer called fantastico that will make getting your site up
and running quick and easy.

Some of the more popular free blogging software programs are
Wordpress and B2Evolution. Doing a search for any of these will
get you the free downloads if they are not available through
your webhost.

Blogs can be useful for building many types of websites.
Examples include, corporate sights for keeping employees and
customers up-to-date, travel diaries, niche websites on
specific topics, interactive community websites, and more. The
ease of posting and editing your blog website online makes blog
software useful for many purposes.

About The Author:

Angie Noack is a business strategist with a
sharp edge for technology. With her unique ability to combine
these two skills, she's able to help businesses save time and
increase profits. You can find her online at
http://www.liquidblogging.com/blogs.php.

Labels: Blogs and RSS