Web logs, or "blogs", have invaded the small business community. Just search Google for "small business blog", and you'll get over 7,000,000 results. Blogs offer an opportunity to communicate in a casual atmosphere with your customers, often for free. Once small business owners are convinced of the promotional power of blogs, they often struggle with the next step: what to write about. Or they don't blog about the right things to most effectively promote their businesses. Use the following list of topics to help guide your blogging efforts, and never worry about "Blogger's Block" again!
Keep an eye on what other small business owners/bloggers are blogging about, and link to related material in your own blog. Include your own thoughts on the topic, agreeing or disagreeing with the original poster.
Post excerpts/tips from a book or Special Report you've written (then link to where your readers can purchase/download it! That's a key marketing concept: make the customer aware of a product or service, convince her she wants it, then advise her where to get it. You can do all that on a blog.)
Post links to positive reviews and/or media coverage for your book/products/services.
Create your own version of an Editorial Calendar to combat Blogger's Block. An editorial calendar can keep your blogging on track throughout the week: pick a topic to cover for each day of the week and stick to it. That way, you always know what topic to write about on a given day. Figure out what works best for you -- choose certain topics for each day of the week, a certain category to post in, or a certain type of post format (interview, top 10 list, etc). Or if you plan to blog only three times a week, decide to blog on upcoming events on Mondays, company news on Wednesdays, and give a project idea on Fridays.
Post a review of the latest resource book – your "insider insights" can help position you as an expert in your field. Or consider reviewing a book that is not marketed to your industry, but has valuable applications.
Mention mainstream newspaper and magazine articles that relate to your field. Show how it is making an impact on general society. Provide your own commentary, then link to where readers can get more info on your books/products/services.
Blog about upcoming book signings, appearances, classes, workshops, seminars, articles, sales/promotions, etc. Describe what you're excited about, who you expect to see there, what topics you're going to discuss, and where people can go for more information. If you're blogging about a seminar, post a screenshot from your PowerPoint to lure people in.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Thursday, July 23, 2009
A Multitude of Reasons For Starting an Online Business By Thomas J. Bronson
Only those who have been living under a rock are probably the ones who have not felt the effect of the economic downturn for the past few years. From your end, what are you doing to counteract the effects of the economic recession?
The good news is this: all you need to have is a computer with an Internet connection and a spare room or a tiny vacant space in your home which you can turn into an office. Naturally, you would need to spend the time and effort to work on it - but these are the only tools which are required for you to run an online business.
Revealing the Reasons why an Internet Business is a Viable Venture
Since there is an economic problem and people are doing everything that they can to save money, who would be the target audience for your online business in the first place?
If you're contemplating on starting your very own online business, remember that people are still buying goods. Some because there's a need, others because they simply want to.
However, they are a bunch of wiser consumers now - which is precisely the reason why you need to start your very own online business. Let's say that you are into affiliate marketing. For this, you will be getting commissions out of the Internet sales which are entered through your website.
The reason why consumers are buying goods online is because the items are cheaper and Internet shopping is more convenient. How can online stores afford to offer discounts to their customers? Take a look at the following reasons:
1. There is no brick-and-mortar office to rent or maintain.
2. There is no need to hire sales clerks.
3. No third-party selling is necessary.
Since there are no overhead costs, the savings can be passed on to the online customers in the form of great discounts. If you're looking for an idea for an online business, you can even start selling an original product yourself and reap the same set of benefits.
In addition, an online business is something that you can work on as hard or as little as you want to. Take your pick from using it as a primary or secondary source of income.
So what are you waiting for? Take advantage of the many benefits of starting your very own online business and have the confidence to say "What recession?".
The good news is this: all you need to have is a computer with an Internet connection and a spare room or a tiny vacant space in your home which you can turn into an office. Naturally, you would need to spend the time and effort to work on it - but these are the only tools which are required for you to run an online business.
Revealing the Reasons why an Internet Business is a Viable Venture
Since there is an economic problem and people are doing everything that they can to save money, who would be the target audience for your online business in the first place?
If you're contemplating on starting your very own online business, remember that people are still buying goods. Some because there's a need, others because they simply want to.
However, they are a bunch of wiser consumers now - which is precisely the reason why you need to start your very own online business. Let's say that you are into affiliate marketing. For this, you will be getting commissions out of the Internet sales which are entered through your website.
The reason why consumers are buying goods online is because the items are cheaper and Internet shopping is more convenient. How can online stores afford to offer discounts to their customers? Take a look at the following reasons:
1. There is no brick-and-mortar office to rent or maintain.
2. There is no need to hire sales clerks.
3. No third-party selling is necessary.
Since there are no overhead costs, the savings can be passed on to the online customers in the form of great discounts. If you're looking for an idea for an online business, you can even start selling an original product yourself and reap the same set of benefits.
In addition, an online business is something that you can work on as hard or as little as you want to. Take your pick from using it as a primary or secondary source of income.
So what are you waiting for? Take advantage of the many benefits of starting your very own online business and have the confidence to say "What recession?".
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
What You Need to Take Note About a Corporate Blog? By Alex Liu
Starting a corporate blog is definitely a very powerful choice to grow a business. Blogs are very good tools when it comes to word-of-mouth marketing, effective communication with market, following up, branding, creating customer loyalty and others. However, there're some 7 crucial points you need to take note for a successful corporate blog.
1. Objectives
What are the objectives for the blog? Is it marketing, communicate tightly with the market, announcing products or events, building relationship with customers. If corporate bloggers are blogging just for the sake to join the corporate blogging trend, the blog will loses its attractiveness. I used to own a blog and advertise it heavily. I couldn't understand why visitors are not staying until I realize my blog have no objectives and people don't find it attractive.
2. Readers
Who will read your blog? Who are you targeting? You can write your blog for the market you are in and the customer who you want to follow up with. However, you need to make it clear because your blog will filter readers who are targeted. If you are writing to your customers, customers would find the blog attractive because the blog looks like specially made for them. Besides knowing you are writing for customers or the market, you need to understand your readers. When you blog about your readers problems, pain and questions, they will find the blog even more attractive.
3. Who Is Writing
You need to show your readers clearly about who is writing the blog. What is his position in the company? Clearly defines what will he writes about the company. Don't use the word 'admin' to write blogs. It doesn't sound personal but too official.
4. Design
How your blog is designed is very important. Besides making the blog easy to read, navigate and beautiful, you need to create a unique design that explains to readers what is the blog about. People judge a blog with their feel and experience. Before they start reading, they will look at the design first. If they find the design is bad, they will judge the contents are low quality before reading. Since most internet users surf many websites everyday. So if the design tells them this is not what they are looking for, they will just leave. Your blog's design tells everything about your blog.
5. Writing style
Some corporate would still prefer to make each blog post official to announce events and new products. That's fine. Writing in a conversational style with some personality makes readers feel listening to someone talking rather than reading a newspaper. Conversational style allows you to build strong relationship with your readers. However, make sure your writing style is consistent. Don't switch your writing style. I read many blogs which announce new products and events. They are doing fine.
6. Follow Up
Make sure there's a method to follow up your readers. Encourage them to sign up RSS. RSS is a tool to follow blog readers. You could use autoresponder services too. Every time you update your blog, use the 'broadcast' function to tell your readers you updated your blog and remind them to come and read. This helps building strong relationship with your readers.
7. Comment Policy
Blogs are allowed to comment on. Your readers can give you their comment about your blog and blog post. However, there're people who intent to destroy your blog or people who want to advertise their services. They will give bad comments that impact your blog and readers negatively. Set a policy for your comments. Make sure you delete those harmful comments and reply to comments that contribute to your blog.
Hope you get a big picture about the key points to have a successful corporate blog and start enjoy blogging.
1. Objectives
What are the objectives for the blog? Is it marketing, communicate tightly with the market, announcing products or events, building relationship with customers. If corporate bloggers are blogging just for the sake to join the corporate blogging trend, the blog will loses its attractiveness. I used to own a blog and advertise it heavily. I couldn't understand why visitors are not staying until I realize my blog have no objectives and people don't find it attractive.
2. Readers
Who will read your blog? Who are you targeting? You can write your blog for the market you are in and the customer who you want to follow up with. However, you need to make it clear because your blog will filter readers who are targeted. If you are writing to your customers, customers would find the blog attractive because the blog looks like specially made for them. Besides knowing you are writing for customers or the market, you need to understand your readers. When you blog about your readers problems, pain and questions, they will find the blog even more attractive.
3. Who Is Writing
You need to show your readers clearly about who is writing the blog. What is his position in the company? Clearly defines what will he writes about the company. Don't use the word 'admin' to write blogs. It doesn't sound personal but too official.
4. Design
How your blog is designed is very important. Besides making the blog easy to read, navigate and beautiful, you need to create a unique design that explains to readers what is the blog about. People judge a blog with their feel and experience. Before they start reading, they will look at the design first. If they find the design is bad, they will judge the contents are low quality before reading. Since most internet users surf many websites everyday. So if the design tells them this is not what they are looking for, they will just leave. Your blog's design tells everything about your blog.
5. Writing style
Some corporate would still prefer to make each blog post official to announce events and new products. That's fine. Writing in a conversational style with some personality makes readers feel listening to someone talking rather than reading a newspaper. Conversational style allows you to build strong relationship with your readers. However, make sure your writing style is consistent. Don't switch your writing style. I read many blogs which announce new products and events. They are doing fine.
6. Follow Up
Make sure there's a method to follow up your readers. Encourage them to sign up RSS. RSS is a tool to follow blog readers. You could use autoresponder services too. Every time you update your blog, use the 'broadcast' function to tell your readers you updated your blog and remind them to come and read. This helps building strong relationship with your readers.
7. Comment Policy
Blogs are allowed to comment on. Your readers can give you their comment about your blog and blog post. However, there're people who intent to destroy your blog or people who want to advertise their services. They will give bad comments that impact your blog and readers negatively. Set a policy for your comments. Make sure you delete those harmful comments and reply to comments that contribute to your blog.
Hope you get a big picture about the key points to have a successful corporate blog and start enjoy blogging.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Blogging Software Comparison - A Comparison of the Top Four Blog Software Choices By Melody Campbell
I have already addressed the question of website vs. blog in another article, but is any blog suitable for building your coaching business? I'm going to explain here what the basic differences of the major blog software options available and give you my perspective on what I believe to be the best option and why.
LiveJournal: This is where I posted my first blog which was more like an online journal for me. There is a cost to use and host at LiveJournal. Customization is limited and complicated for the average user. The addition of simple programming for implementing marketing strategies is also limited and complicated. I suppose it serves a purpose in the social networking but I don't consider it a strong choice for business use.
Typepad: This was my next stop as I learned the benefits of blogging for my business. I actually liked this blogging software, but there are some of the same limitations with Typepad as with LiveJournal. There is a monthly fee for hosting and using the Typepad blog. Customization is a little easier with Typepad but still very limited. They make nice use of widgets that the blogger can add to enhance what the blog "does" in terms of marketability and monetization.
Blogger: this is easy blog software to use. While I have an account / profile there I don't actively post in a blog there. Apparently Google, who owns Blogger, does allow user to post advertising (which is important to the monetization of your blog). But Blogger, which is hosted and operated by Google, has a frequent planned & unplanned outages - downtime, which is extremely inconvenient if you're trying to run a business. I am also told that it doesn't take much to "exceed the bandwidth" and have too many visitors to your blog.
There are probably several more less popular options that because they are less well known there are limited resources for customization and upgraded programming to make your blog more "powerful" in terms of what it can do for your business.
In my opinion, and in the opinion of some of the most popular bloggers on the Internet - Wordpress is by far the most developed software platform for blogging for business.
Wordpress - Wordpress is software which can be operated for a community hosted site at Wordpresss.com or you can self-host on your own domain.
Here's the biggest differences between the community or Wordpress.com hosted blog software. At Wordpress.com there is no software to install - just pick a free theme and start writing posts.
* does not allow ads - such as Google Adsense for the blogger's account
* does not allow programming for lead capture forms
* adds links to other peoples blogs at the end of your posts instead of other relevant posts within your blog
* limited customization available - many free themes but no truly custom premium themes can be used.
IMHO - Self-hosted WordPress blogs are the ONLY way to go if your blog is a serious part of your overall marketing plan. At sites like MySmallBusinessWebsite.com, the blog installation is done for you, however you do need to customize it...but more on that in another article.
* the blogger has full control over customization of blog - much of it is simple for the average user to control with minimal explanation
* hundreds or possibly thousands of widgets and plug-ins have been and are being developed that are completely free to add to your blog
* tools are available for attracting traffic to the blog, capturing leads and engage in with visitors to your blog.
* the blogger can place ads on the blog with out worry of being shut down like other community hosted blog software.
In a future article I will explain "widgets & plugins" - what are they, what to use and why. Is your blog a strategic part of building your coaching business online? Do you devote enough time and attention to developing content that attracts your ideal prospect?
LiveJournal: This is where I posted my first blog which was more like an online journal for me. There is a cost to use and host at LiveJournal. Customization is limited and complicated for the average user. The addition of simple programming for implementing marketing strategies is also limited and complicated. I suppose it serves a purpose in the social networking but I don't consider it a strong choice for business use.
Typepad: This was my next stop as I learned the benefits of blogging for my business. I actually liked this blogging software, but there are some of the same limitations with Typepad as with LiveJournal. There is a monthly fee for hosting and using the Typepad blog. Customization is a little easier with Typepad but still very limited. They make nice use of widgets that the blogger can add to enhance what the blog "does" in terms of marketability and monetization.
Blogger: this is easy blog software to use. While I have an account / profile there I don't actively post in a blog there. Apparently Google, who owns Blogger, does allow user to post advertising (which is important to the monetization of your blog). But Blogger, which is hosted and operated by Google, has a frequent planned & unplanned outages - downtime, which is extremely inconvenient if you're trying to run a business. I am also told that it doesn't take much to "exceed the bandwidth" and have too many visitors to your blog.
There are probably several more less popular options that because they are less well known there are limited resources for customization and upgraded programming to make your blog more "powerful" in terms of what it can do for your business.
In my opinion, and in the opinion of some of the most popular bloggers on the Internet - Wordpress is by far the most developed software platform for blogging for business.
Wordpress - Wordpress is software which can be operated for a community hosted site at Wordpresss.com or you can self-host on your own domain.
Here's the biggest differences between the community or Wordpress.com hosted blog software. At Wordpress.com there is no software to install - just pick a free theme and start writing posts.
* does not allow ads - such as Google Adsense for the blogger's account
* does not allow programming for lead capture forms
* adds links to other peoples blogs at the end of your posts instead of other relevant posts within your blog
* limited customization available - many free themes but no truly custom premium themes can be used.
IMHO - Self-hosted WordPress blogs are the ONLY way to go if your blog is a serious part of your overall marketing plan. At sites like MySmallBusinessWebsite.com, the blog installation is done for you, however you do need to customize it...but more on that in another article.
* the blogger has full control over customization of blog - much of it is simple for the average user to control with minimal explanation
* hundreds or possibly thousands of widgets and plug-ins have been and are being developed that are completely free to add to your blog
* tools are available for attracting traffic to the blog, capturing leads and engage in with visitors to your blog.
* the blogger can place ads on the blog with out worry of being shut down like other community hosted blog software.
In a future article I will explain "widgets & plugins" - what are they, what to use and why. Is your blog a strategic part of building your coaching business online? Do you devote enough time and attention to developing content that attracts your ideal prospect?
Friday, July 17, 2009
The Use of Blogs in Promoting a Business By Kat Nocom
Business entrepreneurs can promote their respective companies through weblogs. With the advent of advance technology, more and more people are making use of the Internet to search for specific products and solutions. With this, businesses maximize the full potential of online promotion through the use of blogs. Here are a few things that must be done to benefit from other blogs, and from creating a company blog.
Blog Commenting
Searching for quality readers can be done through blog commenting. Leaving a valuable opinion on a specific blog post will interest targeted readers, and encourage them to view your site. It is also advisable to focus on particular business-niche-topics on other blogs, to gain exposure from people who might be interested in a specific product or solution offered by your company. Moreover, continuous interaction among bloggers can increase the possibility of promoting a company's website, weblog, and the company itself.
Posting Reliable Content
It is important to regularly maintain a blog through posting quality article contents. The articles must be informative and useful for specific readers. For companies that aim to target small businesses, marketing tips can be incorporated on the company's weblog. On the other hand, for business firms that cater to design and photography, they can include articles about design tips, and post attractive photographs as well. Blog owners must design their blog by using appropriate theme or customizing an existing blog theme. It is also recommended to put a feedback section on a blog to gain response from readers and visitors.
Hosting a Contest
Blogs can also be used to run daily or weekly contests, a great means of keeping customers coming back to a particular website. A contest trough blogs is a great low-cost alternative for paid online advertisement. The contest must be aligned with a specific event or product line. The rules must be clearly defined so that interested people will be able to know if they're qualified or not. Through holding contests, companies can gain more traffic for their website or weblog. Furthermore, a sample of specific products offered by a certain company can be offered as prize for the winner.
Taking advantage of the opportunities provided by other blogs can increase online traffic for a specific weblog or company website. Moreover, there will be more online readers and bloggers who will be interested in viewing a company's website or weblog.
For more reliable content, you can visit here.
Blog Commenting
Searching for quality readers can be done through blog commenting. Leaving a valuable opinion on a specific blog post will interest targeted readers, and encourage them to view your site. It is also advisable to focus on particular business-niche-topics on other blogs, to gain exposure from people who might be interested in a specific product or solution offered by your company. Moreover, continuous interaction among bloggers can increase the possibility of promoting a company's website, weblog, and the company itself.
Posting Reliable Content
It is important to regularly maintain a blog through posting quality article contents. The articles must be informative and useful for specific readers. For companies that aim to target small businesses, marketing tips can be incorporated on the company's weblog. On the other hand, for business firms that cater to design and photography, they can include articles about design tips, and post attractive photographs as well. Blog owners must design their blog by using appropriate theme or customizing an existing blog theme. It is also recommended to put a feedback section on a blog to gain response from readers and visitors.
Hosting a Contest
Blogs can also be used to run daily or weekly contests, a great means of keeping customers coming back to a particular website. A contest trough blogs is a great low-cost alternative for paid online advertisement. The contest must be aligned with a specific event or product line. The rules must be clearly defined so that interested people will be able to know if they're qualified or not. Through holding contests, companies can gain more traffic for their website or weblog. Furthermore, a sample of specific products offered by a certain company can be offered as prize for the winner.
Taking advantage of the opportunities provided by other blogs can increase online traffic for a specific weblog or company website. Moreover, there will be more online readers and bloggers who will be interested in viewing a company's website or weblog.
For more reliable content, you can visit here.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
16 Ways to Drive Traffic to Your Blog By Denise Wakeman
You've got your blog set up and you've started posting pithy, useful information that your niche market would benefit from and enjoy. Days go by, you keep publishing, but no one comments and your traffic stats are barely registering. What do you do?
Like any website you own, you must do some blog promotion to start driving traffic to your site. Here are 16 steps, in no particular order of importance, that you can start doing now to get traffic moving to your blog.
1. Set up a Bloglet subscription form on your blog and invite everyone in your network to subscribe: family, friends, colleagues, clients, associates.
Http://www.bloglet.com
2. Set up a feed on MyYahoo.com so your site gets regularly spidered by the Yahoo search engine (see tutorial on http://www.biztipsblog.com)
http://www.my.yahoo.com
3. Read and comment on other blogs that are in your target niche. Don't write things like "nice blog" or "great post." Write intelligent, useful comments with a link to your blog.
4. Use Ping-0-matic to ping blog directories. Do this every time you publish.
http://www.pingomatic.com
5. Submit your blog to traditional search engines:
http://www.submitfire.com
6. Submit your blog to blog directories. The most comprehensive list of directories is on this site:
http://www.masternewmedia.org/rss/top55/
Tip: Create a form to track your submissions; this can take several hours when you first start so schedule an hour a day for submitting or hire a VA to do it for you.
7. Add a link to your blog in your email signature file.
8. Put a link to your blog on every page of your website.
9. If you publish a newsletter, make sure you have a link to your blog in every issue.
10. Include a link to your blog as a standard part of all outgoing correspondence such as autoresponder sequences, sales letters, reports, white papers, etc.
11. Print your blog URL on your business cards, brochures and flyers.
12. Make sure you have an RSS feed URL that people can subscribe to.
The acronym RSS means Rich Site Summary, or some may consider its meaning as Really Simple Syndication. It is a document type that lists updates of websites or blogs available for syndication. These RSS documents (also known as 'feeds') may be read using aggregators (news readers). RSS feeds may show headlines only or both headlines and summaries.
To learn how news aggregators/RSS readers work, see this site: http://www.rss-specifications.com/rss-readers.htm
13. Post often to keep attracting your subscribers to come back and refer you to others in their networks; include links to other blogs, articles and websites in your posts
14. Use Trackback links when you quote or refer to other blog posts. What is TrackBack? Essentially what this does is send a message from one server to another server letting it know you have posted a reference to their post. The beauty is that a link to your blog is now included on their site.
15. Write articles to post around the web in article directories. Include a link to your blog in the author info box (See example in our signature below).
16. Make a commitment to blog everyday. 10 minutes a day can help increase your traffic as new content attracts search engine spiders. Put it on your calendar as a task every day at the same time.
Tip: Use a hit counter to track your visitor stats: how many unique visitors, how many page views, average length of visit. You can get a free hit counter at http://www.sitemeter.com
Like any website you own, you must do some blog promotion to start driving traffic to your site. Here are 16 steps, in no particular order of importance, that you can start doing now to get traffic moving to your blog.
1. Set up a Bloglet subscription form on your blog and invite everyone in your network to subscribe: family, friends, colleagues, clients, associates.
Http://www.bloglet.com
2. Set up a feed on MyYahoo.com so your site gets regularly spidered by the Yahoo search engine (see tutorial on http://www.biztipsblog.com)
http://www.my.yahoo.com
3. Read and comment on other blogs that are in your target niche. Don't write things like "nice blog" or "great post." Write intelligent, useful comments with a link to your blog.
4. Use Ping-0-matic to ping blog directories. Do this every time you publish.
http://www.pingomatic.com
5. Submit your blog to traditional search engines:
http://www.submitfire.com
6. Submit your blog to blog directories. The most comprehensive list of directories is on this site:
http://www.masternewmedia.org/rss/top55/
Tip: Create a form to track your submissions; this can take several hours when you first start so schedule an hour a day for submitting or hire a VA to do it for you.
7. Add a link to your blog in your email signature file.
8. Put a link to your blog on every page of your website.
9. If you publish a newsletter, make sure you have a link to your blog in every issue.
10. Include a link to your blog as a standard part of all outgoing correspondence such as autoresponder sequences, sales letters, reports, white papers, etc.
11. Print your blog URL on your business cards, brochures and flyers.
12. Make sure you have an RSS feed URL that people can subscribe to.
The acronym RSS means Rich Site Summary, or some may consider its meaning as Really Simple Syndication. It is a document type that lists updates of websites or blogs available for syndication. These RSS documents (also known as 'feeds') may be read using aggregators (news readers). RSS feeds may show headlines only or both headlines and summaries.
To learn how news aggregators/RSS readers work, see this site: http://www.rss-specifications.com/rss-readers.htm
13. Post often to keep attracting your subscribers to come back and refer you to others in their networks; include links to other blogs, articles and websites in your posts
14. Use Trackback links when you quote or refer to other blog posts. What is TrackBack? Essentially what this does is send a message from one server to another server letting it know you have posted a reference to their post. The beauty is that a link to your blog is now included on their site.
15. Write articles to post around the web in article directories. Include a link to your blog in the author info box (See example in our signature below).
16. Make a commitment to blog everyday. 10 minutes a day can help increase your traffic as new content attracts search engine spiders. Put it on your calendar as a task every day at the same time.
Tip: Use a hit counter to track your visitor stats: how many unique visitors, how many page views, average length of visit. You can get a free hit counter at http://www.sitemeter.com
Thursday, July 9, 2009
How To Use A Corporate Blog To Grow Your Business By Dana Prince
Do you need a blog for your business? Can the blogosphere really do all that much for you?
Many corporate websites for companies large and small today have a blog attached to their website. A blog is a fantastic tool for doing multiple things. It can drive traffic, get you more customers, increase customer satisfaction and improve your SEO rankings.
First, it helps you communicate with your customer. If you have a voice, you don't appear to be a nameless and faceless corporate entity. Customers like dealing with people and a blog helps your customer feel like they are buying from a real person. It gives you a chance to share information and news with your customers. It's a great vehicle to drive information to your client base without pushing information at them too aggressively. They choose to read your blog and choose to find out about your company. They can also choose to comment and they can help spread the word. Blogs get syndicated and people do social bookmarking with them as well. Your blog is ideal for viral marketing!
SEO and the Corporate Blog
A blog does great things for your SEO (search engine optimization). Search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Altavista love blogs and will often index them faster than websites. Linking a blog to your website can increase the number of links out there and increase your website relevancy in your niche which can doubly impact your PR. How? It can impact your public relations and your page rank!
Your blog should be optimized for your keywords just as much as your website is in order to attract the right audience. Blog posts should give value to readers and encourage participation. You can also use your corporate blog to announce contests, special discounts and to get feedback from your customer base.
How do you manage your business blog the right way?
If you don't know that you can keep the content fresh and write it in a way that will bring you the right traffic and get you the right SEO value, hire a professional blogger. A professional blogger can work closely with you to ensure that your blog provides maximum benefits to your business.
Many corporate websites for companies large and small today have a blog attached to their website. A blog is a fantastic tool for doing multiple things. It can drive traffic, get you more customers, increase customer satisfaction and improve your SEO rankings.
First, it helps you communicate with your customer. If you have a voice, you don't appear to be a nameless and faceless corporate entity. Customers like dealing with people and a blog helps your customer feel like they are buying from a real person. It gives you a chance to share information and news with your customers. It's a great vehicle to drive information to your client base without pushing information at them too aggressively. They choose to read your blog and choose to find out about your company. They can also choose to comment and they can help spread the word. Blogs get syndicated and people do social bookmarking with them as well. Your blog is ideal for viral marketing!
SEO and the Corporate Blog
A blog does great things for your SEO (search engine optimization). Search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Altavista love blogs and will often index them faster than websites. Linking a blog to your website can increase the number of links out there and increase your website relevancy in your niche which can doubly impact your PR. How? It can impact your public relations and your page rank!
Your blog should be optimized for your keywords just as much as your website is in order to attract the right audience. Blog posts should give value to readers and encourage participation. You can also use your corporate blog to announce contests, special discounts and to get feedback from your customer base.
How do you manage your business blog the right way?
If you don't know that you can keep the content fresh and write it in a way that will bring you the right traffic and get you the right SEO value, hire a professional blogger. A professional blogger can work closely with you to ensure that your blog provides maximum benefits to your business.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Business Networking And Blog Courtesy-working On A Professional Link Campaign For Blog SEO By: Chuck Crawford
Business is all about networking, right? Plus, you likely know that you need to get some links to your website to build traffic. Since you’re a pro blogger, of course the first place you look for those much needed links is the blogosphere.
However, some manners are in order when it comes to posting comments and linking to your blog from other blogs.
It comes down to common courtesy. We’ve all heard the ‘golden rule’, right? Do unto others and all that jazz? The goal is for us to get a much needed backlink to our website, that’s true. But that’s not all we want. Spammy backlinks can be obtained pretty easily. There’s even software out there that will blast your links to a million different blog posts comment areas. But it’s not really what we want or need.
I’ll tell you one reason why.
Before even thinking about the other guy’s blog, and common courtesy, let’s consider your overall professional appearance. Think of your backlink campaign as one big press release for a minute. If you were blasting a press release to the major news networks today, you would want to present a super professional appearance right? You would want the world to see you as the undisputed expert in your field, professional, classy, the very best. Right?
Then why would you use a different approach and spam your link across the blogosphere? Making you and your website (translate: your company) look cheesy and unprofessional? If you knew that was the way the world perceived you and your business, you probably would have thought twice about it before you used a link blaster and posted your link to a million spam blogs. The problem is that many businesses and many bloggers don’t think the internet is part of ‘the real world’. They don’t stop and think about the fact that their actions on the web can have the same negative impact that they would have in the real world when it comes to cheesy and sleezy promotion tactics.
Nope, the internet is different in their eyes. They only know they need a bunch of links. It’s not important to them to build an overall web persona. PR is not a concern. But it should be. Because the web is no different than any other advertising medium. People are people, and if they read crappy comments that make you and your company look bad, they are not going to do business with you.
Now, let’s also consider the other blogs out there and some basic manners. In the real world, that is the one that doesn’t have a keyboard attached to it, you need to have some etiquette when it comes to business networking, right?
For example, if you are a member of the local rotary club, you don’t walk into the meeting each week shouting, “Make $5,000 every day using my secret methods”!
Do you?
No. You network. You shake everyone’s hand and say hello. You get into conversations and have intelligent discussions. You add something to the group as a whole. When asked, you give your expert advice and opinions and you build new relationships that turn into new client relationships.
So why would you do it any differently online?
When working on links from other blogs and other business communities, have the same manners you would if you were in that rotary club meeting. Be a contributing part of the conversation. Get involved and work on your professional appearance at the same time. Post relevant comments to the current discussion. Don’t interrupt like a thirty second commercial break, changing the topic so that you can promote your new product or service. Stay on topic and contribute something useful.
It’s o.k. if you don’t agree with someone. Good debate can be good for business. Some people will agree with you and visit your site based on your professional opinions. But only if your argument is written professionally and with some class. Stay out of name calling sessions and stay away from labels. Don’t call anyone an idiot or a moron. In the end, you end up looking like one.
Your comments are mini press releases. They are little road signs showing how professional you are. Or how unprofessional you are. Your public appearance is up to you. So have some courtesy when posting your comments. It will make the difference when it comes to how successful your linking campaigns are.
However, some manners are in order when it comes to posting comments and linking to your blog from other blogs.
It comes down to common courtesy. We’ve all heard the ‘golden rule’, right? Do unto others and all that jazz? The goal is for us to get a much needed backlink to our website, that’s true. But that’s not all we want. Spammy backlinks can be obtained pretty easily. There’s even software out there that will blast your links to a million different blog posts comment areas. But it’s not really what we want or need.
I’ll tell you one reason why.
Before even thinking about the other guy’s blog, and common courtesy, let’s consider your overall professional appearance. Think of your backlink campaign as one big press release for a minute. If you were blasting a press release to the major news networks today, you would want to present a super professional appearance right? You would want the world to see you as the undisputed expert in your field, professional, classy, the very best. Right?
Then why would you use a different approach and spam your link across the blogosphere? Making you and your website (translate: your company) look cheesy and unprofessional? If you knew that was the way the world perceived you and your business, you probably would have thought twice about it before you used a link blaster and posted your link to a million spam blogs. The problem is that many businesses and many bloggers don’t think the internet is part of ‘the real world’. They don’t stop and think about the fact that their actions on the web can have the same negative impact that they would have in the real world when it comes to cheesy and sleezy promotion tactics.
Nope, the internet is different in their eyes. They only know they need a bunch of links. It’s not important to them to build an overall web persona. PR is not a concern. But it should be. Because the web is no different than any other advertising medium. People are people, and if they read crappy comments that make you and your company look bad, they are not going to do business with you.
Now, let’s also consider the other blogs out there and some basic manners. In the real world, that is the one that doesn’t have a keyboard attached to it, you need to have some etiquette when it comes to business networking, right?
For example, if you are a member of the local rotary club, you don’t walk into the meeting each week shouting, “Make $5,000 every day using my secret methods”!
Do you?
No. You network. You shake everyone’s hand and say hello. You get into conversations and have intelligent discussions. You add something to the group as a whole. When asked, you give your expert advice and opinions and you build new relationships that turn into new client relationships.
So why would you do it any differently online?
When working on links from other blogs and other business communities, have the same manners you would if you were in that rotary club meeting. Be a contributing part of the conversation. Get involved and work on your professional appearance at the same time. Post relevant comments to the current discussion. Don’t interrupt like a thirty second commercial break, changing the topic so that you can promote your new product or service. Stay on topic and contribute something useful.
It’s o.k. if you don’t agree with someone. Good debate can be good for business. Some people will agree with you and visit your site based on your professional opinions. But only if your argument is written professionally and with some class. Stay out of name calling sessions and stay away from labels. Don’t call anyone an idiot or a moron. In the end, you end up looking like one.
Your comments are mini press releases. They are little road signs showing how professional you are. Or how unprofessional you are. Your public appearance is up to you. So have some courtesy when posting your comments. It will make the difference when it comes to how successful your linking campaigns are.
Blog Marketing: 7 Small Business Blog Topics
Web logs, or "blogs", have invaded the small business community. Just search Google for "small business blog", and you'll get over 7,000,000 results. Blogs offer an opportunity to communicate in a casual atmosphere with your customers, often for free. Once small business owners are convinced of the promotional power of blogs, they often struggle with the next step: what to write about. Or they don't blog about the right things to most effectively promote their businesses. Use the following list of topics to help guide your blogging efforts, and never worry about "Blogger's Block" again!
1. Keep an eye on what other small business owners/bloggers are blogging about, and link to related material in your own blog. Include your own thoughts on the topic, agreeing or disagreeing with the original poster.
2. Post excerpts/tips from a book or Special Report you've written (then link to where your readers can purchase/download it! That's a key marketing concept: make the customer aware of a product or service, convince her she wants it, then advise her where to get it. You can do all that on a blog.)
3. Post links to positive reviews and/or media coverage for your book/products/services.
4. Create your own version of an Editorial Calendar to combat Blogger's Block. An editorial calendar can keep your blogging on track throughout the week: pick a topic to cover for each day of the week and stick to it. That way, you always know what topic to write about on a given day. Figure out what works best for you -- choose certain topics for each day of the week, a certain category to post in, or a certain type of post format (interview, top 10 list, etc). Or if you plan to blog only three times a week, decide to blog on upcoming events on Mondays, company news on Wednesdays, and give a project idea on Fridays.
5. Post a review of the latest resource book – your "insider insights" can help position you as an expert in your field. Or consider reviewing a book that is not marketed to your industry, but has valuable applications.
6. Mention mainstream newspaper and magazine articles that relate to your field. Show how it is making an impact on general society. Provide your own commentary, then link to where readers can get more info on your books/products/services.
7. Blog about upcoming book signings, appearances, classes, workshops, seminars, articles, sales/promotions, etc. Describe what you're excited about, who you expect to see there, what topics you're going to discuss, and where people can go for more information. If you're blogging about a seminar, post a screenshot from your PowerPoint to lure people in.
1. Keep an eye on what other small business owners/bloggers are blogging about, and link to related material in your own blog. Include your own thoughts on the topic, agreeing or disagreeing with the original poster.
2. Post excerpts/tips from a book or Special Report you've written (then link to where your readers can purchase/download it! That's a key marketing concept: make the customer aware of a product or service, convince her she wants it, then advise her where to get it. You can do all that on a blog.)
3. Post links to positive reviews and/or media coverage for your book/products/services.
4. Create your own version of an Editorial Calendar to combat Blogger's Block. An editorial calendar can keep your blogging on track throughout the week: pick a topic to cover for each day of the week and stick to it. That way, you always know what topic to write about on a given day. Figure out what works best for you -- choose certain topics for each day of the week, a certain category to post in, or a certain type of post format (interview, top 10 list, etc). Or if you plan to blog only three times a week, decide to blog on upcoming events on Mondays, company news on Wednesdays, and give a project idea on Fridays.
5. Post a review of the latest resource book – your "insider insights" can help position you as an expert in your field. Or consider reviewing a book that is not marketed to your industry, but has valuable applications.
6. Mention mainstream newspaper and magazine articles that relate to your field. Show how it is making an impact on general society. Provide your own commentary, then link to where readers can get more info on your books/products/services.
7. Blog about upcoming book signings, appearances, classes, workshops, seminars, articles, sales/promotions, etc. Describe what you're excited about, who you expect to see there, what topics you're going to discuss, and where people can go for more information. If you're blogging about a seminar, post a screenshot from your PowerPoint to lure people in.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Can a Blog Help Promote Your Small Business? By Lauren Hobson
You may find it a bit surprising, but blogs are turning out to be a very effective method of promoting your business on the web! Not too long ago, lots of people thought of blogs as little more than a tool for teenagers to journal every mood swing online. But today blogs have become quite mainstream, and people from all walks of life are embracing the technology and finding value in using blogs, especially for business purposes.
So what exactly is a blog, anyway? A blog (short for “web log”) is basically a simple web site with an interactive format that allows users to “post” comments and add new information (entries) to the site. This interactivity is really what differentiates blogs from other web sites. Blog entries are typically posted in reverse chronological order, with the oldest information appearing at the bottom of the page and the most recent information at the top.
There are blogs on almost every topic imaginable, and businesses are finding that having a company blog helps them communicate with customers, get better search engine rankings, and attract a much larger customer base. Here are a few highlights of how a blog can help promote your business online:
- Search engines LOVE blogs because the content is being updated constantly, resulting in higher search engine rankings for your business.
- Niche visitors are more likely to discover your business because blog entries can be very specific, often containing words that might not otherwise be in your web site text. This will attract customers that would not have otherwise found your business!
- Blogs can be organized by topic, making it easy for readers to find topics that interest them.
- Blog entries continue to bring in web traffic 24/7. Like many other forms of marketing on the web, blogs provide content and links that act like ripples in a pond – they continue to be shared, indexed, and published all over the web long after you have finished doing the work.
- Information on your blog can be easily distributed directly to your readers with an RSS newsfeed. RSS feeds automatically notify your readers whenever new content has been posted to your blog.
- You can differentiate yourself from your competitors with your blog. You may even find that your competitors don’t offer this type of interactive communication with customers, which gives you an excellent opportunity to stand out.
So if you’re looking for a low-cost marketing strategy that can help extend your reach, improve your search engine rankings, and give your business an edge with customers, then you may want to consider a blog!
So what exactly is a blog, anyway? A blog (short for “web log”) is basically a simple web site with an interactive format that allows users to “post” comments and add new information (entries) to the site. This interactivity is really what differentiates blogs from other web sites. Blog entries are typically posted in reverse chronological order, with the oldest information appearing at the bottom of the page and the most recent information at the top.
There are blogs on almost every topic imaginable, and businesses are finding that having a company blog helps them communicate with customers, get better search engine rankings, and attract a much larger customer base. Here are a few highlights of how a blog can help promote your business online:
- Search engines LOVE blogs because the content is being updated constantly, resulting in higher search engine rankings for your business.
- Niche visitors are more likely to discover your business because blog entries can be very specific, often containing words that might not otherwise be in your web site text. This will attract customers that would not have otherwise found your business!
- Blogs can be organized by topic, making it easy for readers to find topics that interest them.
- Blog entries continue to bring in web traffic 24/7. Like many other forms of marketing on the web, blogs provide content and links that act like ripples in a pond – they continue to be shared, indexed, and published all over the web long after you have finished doing the work.
- Information on your blog can be easily distributed directly to your readers with an RSS newsfeed. RSS feeds automatically notify your readers whenever new content has been posted to your blog.
- You can differentiate yourself from your competitors with your blog. You may even find that your competitors don’t offer this type of interactive communication with customers, which gives you an excellent opportunity to stand out.
So if you’re looking for a low-cost marketing strategy that can help extend your reach, improve your search engine rankings, and give your business an edge with customers, then you may want to consider a blog!
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
How a Business Blog Can Boost Your Credibility Factor By Denise Wakeman
When creating a business online it is extremely important to build and market your online brand. In fact, if you have a business, it is a necessity in this day and time to be online with that business, no matter what your business is, because that is where people are going to find information. And the first step in marketing your business online is creating your online brand. This is what starts you off on the right foot in gaining credibility.
One of the best ways to create and to monitor your online brand is by creating a business blog. What it does is it helps you establish your credibility by demonstrating your expertise, and it helps boost your visibility in your niche, which helps you become known. And the more visible you are, the more credibility you actually have, because when people see you everywhere, they think: oh, this person knows what they're doing; they're an expert in what they're doing, so I believe them.
Now of course, it does boil down to what you're putting out there too. You have to make sure that what you are putting on your blog is excellent content, that it reflects what you do for a living, and you are providing ways for people to contact you and get more information.
Keep in mind that a blog is a place to share and to go deep into what you do so people get a better sense of who you are. And by doing that you're constantly demonstrating your expertise, you are establishing yourself as a thought leader in your field. This helps build trust with that community of readers who then very often become fans of what you do.
A fan is much easier to convert to a client or a buyer, so you want to make sure you're controlling the conversation about you, and the best way to do that is on a blog, because it's your content put out on your schedule about your expertise, and all of that is going to build this body of content that gives you massive visibility and credibility.
It is a process and yes it can take some time to complete and begin seeing results, but once you do you will continue to reap the benefits in your business for years to come. One of the pros of the Internet being a "forever" forum where information is permanent once put out there is that you can benefit from your information being available for all time. This will help to strengthen you brand and build your business in the long term.
One of the best ways to create and to monitor your online brand is by creating a business blog. What it does is it helps you establish your credibility by demonstrating your expertise, and it helps boost your visibility in your niche, which helps you become known. And the more visible you are, the more credibility you actually have, because when people see you everywhere, they think: oh, this person knows what they're doing; they're an expert in what they're doing, so I believe them.
Now of course, it does boil down to what you're putting out there too. You have to make sure that what you are putting on your blog is excellent content, that it reflects what you do for a living, and you are providing ways for people to contact you and get more information.
Keep in mind that a blog is a place to share and to go deep into what you do so people get a better sense of who you are. And by doing that you're constantly demonstrating your expertise, you are establishing yourself as a thought leader in your field. This helps build trust with that community of readers who then very often become fans of what you do.
A fan is much easier to convert to a client or a buyer, so you want to make sure you're controlling the conversation about you, and the best way to do that is on a blog, because it's your content put out on your schedule about your expertise, and all of that is going to build this body of content that gives you massive visibility and credibility.
It is a process and yes it can take some time to complete and begin seeing results, but once you do you will continue to reap the benefits in your business for years to come. One of the pros of the Internet being a "forever" forum where information is permanent once put out there is that you can benefit from your information being available for all time. This will help to strengthen you brand and build your business in the long term.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Increase Blog Traffic - Are These 3 Video Mistakes Stunting Your Blog Traffic? By Keith Goodrum
Videos have become an important blog traffic strategy, and shows no signs of slowing down. There is a lot of people flocking to online video sites like YouTube, Revver, Google Video and bloggers have taken noticed. In fact, YouTube has become the 3rd most visited site on the Internet today.
You can and should include videos in your blog and take advantage of the huge amount of traffic these site attract. This has become too important of a medium to ignore. So, get in there and grab your share of the traffic pie.
But, before you jump in and start throwing your videos all over the place; you should check out the 3 biggest mistakes being made by some bloggers. Here are the mistakes, and what you can do to correct them:
Only placing videos in one or two sites - Many people only use the grand daddy of these sites... YouTube. Now it is smart to be there, considering how many people visit this site everyday. But, many ignore all the other sites, and the traffic they could provide.
What to do to correct this - There are several sites out there that will distribute your video to many video websites at one time. The free version is Tube Mogul and the paid is Traffic Geyser. Traffic Geyser will charge you a monthly fee to use there service. But, if you are on a budget Tube Mogul will upload to most of the major players.
Using only screen capture recordings - Many people like to use screen capture recordings. It is a great way to demonstrate things your are doing on your computer screen. The problem comes is when this becomes the only way
What to do to correct this - Get your face on camera. It's important to get your face on camera. People are use to watching talking head, and like to connect a face to the voice.
Leaving out contact information - If you watch enough videos you will notice many people leave out contact information. It's not easy to find their websites, usually requiring you to look long and hard. Sometimes, you can't even find this information. This make is tough to attract traffic to your blog if you are missing this information
What to do instead - Get your blog URL in as many places a possible. Add it to your profile page, subscriber page and on every video. One place many people over look to add a URL is in the description page.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Keith_Goodrum
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Web Hosting Tips - Selecting a Perfect Web Host For Your Website Or Blog
There are so many web hosts out there that one can easily get lost choosing the right host. There are many criteria that you should consider before buying a web hosting package. Choosing the wrong host can cause some serious pain down the road. How do you choose a good host provider?
Many people start with price. Price is not always the best indicator of quality when looking at web hosts. There are many cheaply priced web hosts who provide great service and there are some that cost an arm and a leg and are clearly not worth it. The primary criteria I use when choosing a host is what I am doing with the hosting package. If I am building websites for clients, I will choose a reseller package. If I am doing a website for a relative or friend, I will select a cheap host package for $5/month. If you want to create a website or blog about ping pong, or fishing, or your dog, etc., then a cheap hosting package should be more than enough. My first host charged me $5/month yearly, so I paid $60/year in one shot.
Well, if we've decided on creating a website about frisky the dog, what kind of website will we create? When you are just starting out, you might consider creating a blog. What is a blog? Well, the whole discussion is too big for this article, but let's just say that free blog software like WordPress allows you to create a website in a few minutes and there are tens of thousands of free themes that can change the look to anything you desire quickly and easily. Adding articles is as easy as logging in and typing your post.
There are many other considerations when looking for the right host provider. We talk about it at length on our website. Please take a look at our discussion of great, reliable web hosts here: http://www.5000dollarsin45days.com/web-hosting
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Thomas_Gajdjis
Steps to Upload a Free Wordpress Blog Into Your Hosting Account Server to Customize it As You Want
Steps to upload a free Wordpress blog into your hosting account server to customize it as you want:
Although you can create a free blog at Wordpress.com however if you want to customize it as your own liking then you will have to upload it into your hosting server.
Here are the steps to upload a free blog at your host:
1. First to download a Wordpress blog script. So go to Wordpress.org and download Wordpress 2.6.5. (its open source, so free)
2. Now to download a ftp software. So go to coreftp.com and download core ftp software free.
3. After downloading coreftp in your desktop click on it for set up.
4. To set up click on add new site: site name: host:
user: password: if you have a hosting account you should have all these information. Otherwise pls contact with your host.
5. after new site added click on the new added site. then you will be connected with the host server.
6. there you will see a left window that is your computer, right window your host server
7. at right window you will see public_html, click on it. or if you see the public_html at top address bar of right window then nothing to do.
8. now at left window select the Wordpress you download earlier.
9. then at left window just at top of open left box there is an arrow from left to right. it transfers files from left to right. click it.
10. your loaded Wordpress at computer will be uploaded to host server. it may take time considering internet speed.
Then there will be needed some set up at uploaded Wordpress script which i will cover in my future article here.
M Yakub Chowdhury is a search engine optimization seo friendly article, website content and blog post writer. He is a freelance programmer for search engine optimization seo. His website is http://www.mdyakub.com and e-mail is mdyakub.com@gmail.com - He work for link building, search engine submission, directory submission, classified ad posting etc.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=M_Yakub_Chowdhury
Web Hosting Tips - Selecting a Perfect Web Host For Your Website Or Blog
There are so many web hosts out there that one can easily get lost choosing the right host. There are many criteria that you should consider before buying a web hosting package. Choosing the wrong host can cause some serious pain down the road. How do you choose a good host provider?
Many people start with price. Price is not always the best indicator of quality when looking at web hosts. There are many cheaply priced web hosts who provide great service and there are some that cost an arm and a leg and are clearly not worth it. The primary criteria I use when choosing a host is what I am doing with the hosting package. If I am building websites for clients, I will choose a reseller package. If I am doing a website for a relative or friend, I will select a cheap host package for $5/month. If you want to create a website or blog about ping pong, or fishing, or your dog, etc., then a cheap hosting package should be more than enough. My first host charged me $5/month yearly, so I paid $60/year in one shot.
Well, if we've decided on creating a website about frisky the dog, what kind of website will we create? When you are just starting out, you might consider creating a blog. What is a blog? Well, the whole discussion is too big for this article, but let's just say that free blog software like WordPress allows you to create a website in a few minutes and there are tens of thousands of free themes that can change the look to anything you desire quickly and easily. Adding articles is as easy as logging in and typing your post.
There are many other considerations when looking for the right host provider. We talk about it at length on our website. Please take a look at our discussion of great, reliable web hosts here: http://www.5000dollarsin45days.com/web-hosting
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Thomas_Gajdjis
WordPress Recommends Bluehost For Blog Hosting
I went on my journey to find out how to host my own blog and not have a generic one like I did with Blogger and Typepad. My results were great and right on target of what I wanted. I am not a computer programmer nor do I want to be, but I did want a customized blog. What I found was the following.
Bluehost had exactly what I needed. This is how basic I am; I started by looking for what wordpress recommended, a fantastico logo that is a blue smiley face. They also wanted to make sure they had what is called cPanel.
Once I went to the website I signed up for one year at $7.95 month which is very affordable and then they gave me a free domain name. So when you sign up, make sure you have a domain name in mind and one that is available for purchase, they will give this to you for free.
The next thing you do is log into your account which will have a lot of icons, this is the cPanel interface. Along the left hand side you will see Wordpress, click on that and then you will have the option to install Wordpress, they will have the latest version ready for you to install. Simply fill in the boxes along with your email and then you are ready to blog.
It's that easy and once you've done it once, you can do it again without a problem. Remember now that you have your space, you can continue to add domains to your web host by adding subdomains. There is no limit to the amount of domains you can add. So go ahead and build your blog empire. I am and I'm going to do it on my Bluehost account.
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How to Set Up a Wordpress Blog From Hosting Control Panel in Less Than 15 Minutes?
Step by step tutorial to set up Wordpress Blog from website hosting cPanel:
It is really very easy to set up blog from website host control panel with few steps as follows:
- Log in to your website control panel. You will need user and password which your server company should provide you during setting up your website.
- In the control panel there will be either Fantastico or installscripts icon in most of the server. Click on Fantastico or Installscript. You will see the wordpress icon there and click on it.
- You will have to insert there some information in the blank forms like your email address, blog title, description etc. Another thing required is the directory where you want to put the blog. You can keep it blank if you want to set it in root directory under main domain.
- In some version you can put an administrator username and password while in some other version the password is generated in the screen by the system. The auto generated password will not be easy to remember because of its critical look with character and numeric. so it is better to copy it and log in to admin and then at user admin insert new password what you can remember.
- Follow the screen and click install and within few minutes your blog is ready to publish in the internet world.
Then start writing, post as you like based on your business or hobby or liking.
It is really very easy and it is time to try it out.
Md. Yakub Chy - Domain & Hosting Consultant - Guiding to select the best online business name and hosting solutions for internet business owner for many years by Domain Register Online & Hosting Guideline
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=M_Yakub_Chowdhury
How Much Should You Pay For Quality Website - Blog Hosting?
If you own a company or are considering an online business, you will most likely want to set up a paid web hosting account. Although there are free website hosting companies out there, their reliability is poor and you will have to put up with random ads that may not be related to your business or that may be down-right objectionable.
So, paid website hosting is the way to go for reliability and complete control of your site. These days paid hosting accounts are inexpensive, making them the preferred solution for anyone even remotely serious about their web presence.
But what exactly is a website host?
Briefly, it's a place to put your website so that the rest of the world can visit it. Hosting companies run web servers. Simply put, web servers are computers that are attached to the Internet and can communicate with all other computers online. And that means your customers!
The bad news: To maintain this service costs hosting companies money, so there are charges for you to host your website on their servers. The good news: A typical website owner's costs used to be quite high, but prices have come down considerably in recent years. And, at the same time, the features offered have become much more robust.
How much does web hosting cost?
Anywhere from $3.99 to hundreds per month. But for the typical small business or online entrepreneur, quality feature-filled website hosting can be purchased for $3.99 - $7.99 per month.
Why the range in pricing? As you might imagine $3.99 / month web hosting packages normally include fewer features than their $7.99 / month counterparts.
To give you an idea of the differences, let's consider two of the most critical features of any web hosting package: bandwidth and disk space.
What is Bandwidth?
Bandwidth is also called "data transfer" or "traffic". So if you see any of those terms associated with a gigabyte or gb or GB value then that feature is actually bandwidth.
It sounds like a very technical term, but bandwidth is simply the number of gigabytes of data that your website is allowed to transfer from the web hosting server to your users in one month. A gigabyte is roughly a billion bytes of data.
You'll want enough bandwidth to insure that all your customers can access your website without exceeding your monthly data transfer quota. These days you will see typical monthly bandwidth offered in the range of 300gb all the way up to unlimited!
To give you an idea of the amount of bandwidth you may need...
For the average business website with a few thousand visitors per month and less than 100 average-sized web pages, 300gb is probably many gigabytes beyond what's needed. But you may have spurts of traffic, so the extra included gigabytes of bandwidth can be useful to have.
(For a detailed explanation of Bandwidth requirements, please read: Web Hosting Features: What is Bandwidth and Why Should I Care?)
What is Disk Space?
Web space or disk space is the total number of megabytes or gigabytes a web hosting company gives you to hold the HTML and images that will be displayed on your website when your web pages are viewed.
However, your web space also includes website log files, FrontPage extensions, PHP files, CGI programs, externally linked CSS and Javascript files, and usually email accounts as well as space for your databases. (For a detailed explanation of these terms, please read: Web Hosting Features: What is Web Space and How Much is Enough?)
How much space do you need?
As in our example above, if your website consists of 100 pages with just a few medium-sized graphics per page, then you probably only need 20 megabytes (that's megabytes, not gigabytes) of disk space. However, there are other website features like forms automation, photo hosting, data gathering, or blogging that can substantially increase your need for disk space.
Not to worry... because disk space is cheap for your hosting company, they can offer a lot of space for a low monthly rate. For example, even the least expensive paid hosting company offers 10gb of disk space, which is almost overkill for the typical small business website.
Of course, if you're running a membership website or allowing your users to upload data or pictures, then you might need almost unlimited amounts of disk space. Fortunately, there are inexpensive web hosting packages that offer just that. In fact, many of the $7.99 / month hosting packages offer unlimited disk space (as well as unlimited bandwidth).
The best thing to do is to read reviews of hosting companies that you are considering and only pay for features that you'll use. In the event you become wildly successful (and I hope you do), be sure your hosting company can grow with you. They should be able to offer additional features, like increased bandwidth and disk space, as you need them.
Looking for inexpensive and reliable web hosting for your website or blog? You'll be surprised at the low prices you'll pay for quality website hosting today.
For the latest reviews of the Best Web Hosting plans available, visit http://www.BestMoneyMakersGuide.com/hosting
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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tom_Thomas
Get a Cheap Web Hosting Plan and Make a Great Blog
Many of us are new to blogging and don't have a clue which web hosting plan to choose from. There are many cheap and affordable web hosting sites out there that will make your head spin. Choosing the right plan is determined by many factors. Each factor can be different from person to person. When I started my first blog, I was lost as to which plan I should get. I wanted something cheap and affordable but not one with a bad reputation, etc. Here are some important factors when I was deciding on which affordable web hosting plan to choose from for my blog:
- Monthly Budget - First thing to consider is the monthly cost for hosting. A word of caution, don't just try to find the cheapest plan out there because most likely they are of lower service quality.
- Up Time - Server up time is important for website and blog owners. Look for a provider that offers you close to 100% up time.
- Disk Space - It's always better to have more space for your blog. Why? because we need for expansion. As you write more and more posts, you're going to need more space.
- Money Back Guarantee - An company with a money back guarantee basically trusts and backs up their service. Period.
- Support - It's always smart to look for a cheap web builder and hosting plan with support. Make sure they have customer support for any questions you might have for hosting.
Here's a great post every new blogger should read on choosing the a cheap web builder and hosting plan for their blogs.
Orange County SEO Expert, Jack Nguyen, offers great tips and strategies for internet marketing, SEO, social bookmarking, and much more.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=J._Nguyen
How to Find Reliable Blog Hosting
Blogging has become the internet phenomenon of the latter years, and with good reason too.
A well presented blog is not only useful as a personal tool, but as a business tool, too, and a great way of keeping customers up to date with the latest developments ion the industry that the business represents.
Whether a business or an individual, however, the key to a good blog is the host, and finding reliable blog hosting need not be as difficult as one may think.
A few rules
Any search engine enquiry will bring up a list of possible blog hosts, but there are a few simple rules that may help in finding a good, reliable blog hosting.
First, check that the candidate offers a good guarantee of 'up time', as the worst thing that can happen is your blog being off the air. Look for a guarantee of as much as 99.9 percent to be on the safe side.
Look for a blog hosting company that has incorporated WordPress - the industry blog standard - into the offered control panel system- preferably a control panel of the cPanel variety, too, the best model for blogging - as this not only saves the time and trouble of you downloading WordPress, but indicates a good deal of thought has gone into the process, thus increasing the level of confidence in the blog host.
Linux a bonus
Also, you might want to look for one that uses Linux as a platform for added comfort and lower costs, and you need to make sure that the one you choose offers a good level of on line support, as any problems that you may come across need to be fixed in the quickest possible time.
Want to setup a blog, find the best Blog Hosting from Affordable Web Hosting directories with blog hosting review and guide.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sean_Raymond,
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