Blogging for Success
Many of you are probably already aware that blogging has taken the internet by storm. But what does this mean for you? How can you take advantage of this growing trend? Read on to find out…
A Simple Blog Overview
Blogs (short for Web logs) are web-based "journals" or "newsletters" that are typically written in a personal style. They often take the form of short daily or weekly entries and reflect the opinions or personality of the author. You can either think of a blog in technical terms - as a content management system, or in layman’s terms – as an easy virtual diary of text, images, audio or photos which are meaningful to your site’s visitors.
Blogs are too powerful a communication media for website owners to ignore. While some people choose to run a blog as a stand alone site, others ‘add-on’ a blog to their existing sites. This is often achieved with a subdomain and a special folder where the blog program is installed.
Like regular websites, blogs can contain pages about specific topics, resources or information, but the main content is based upon your own posts and comments from others.
Getting Started
You are the “expert†and visitors to your site want to know your opinions and advice. You could start, as with any writing, by listing what you seek to achieve through your blog. Expand upon your initial thoughts and try to visualize your first posting. Try to stay focused, so that your reader does not get too confused. You want, no, you need them to keep coming back!
Title the blog crisply and to the point. After your first post, continue to update regularly and do make it easy for your readers to contact you. You may want readers to comment on some postings and not others. User comments (if relevant) can further enhance the value of your blog.
Create simple yet related categories under which you will post comments, photos, audio, or text. Good categorization of topics and links applies to blogs as much as it does for regular websites.
More advanced web masters will probably want to opt for a full-version Blog software like WordPress (which is free). The full version has many advanced features and options, but those with less technical skill may need the help of a web programmer or the WordPress community to get it up and running.
Every time you post new information on your blog, the most recent posts will show first, and older posts will be archived, yet still available for readers to find. Bear in mind that readers want quality. This means it would be wise to ONLY post affiliate links to other companies when it makes sense to, or if readers might genuinely be interested in how you built and host your site, or if the topic is technology related. If your quality of posts is good, occasional affiliate product recommendations will be tolerated and respected.
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