Dendyd's Blog

A blog is basically an online journal wherein you can digitally pen down your thoughts, ideas, opinions and practically anything that you want people to read. Blogs come in different styles, formats, and settings, depending on the preference of the user. Many blogging sites, offer built in features such as hyperlink, straight texts, pictures etc. Some blogging sites, even allow you to put video and mp3's on your blogs.

Instead of writing texts, some bloggers choose to make their blogs more audio friendly, by using spoken word entries. This is called audio blogging.

Basically a blog contains these features:

title- which allows you to label your post
body- this is the content of your post
trackback- other sites can be linked back to your blog
permanent link- every article that you write has a URL
comments- this allow readers to post comments on your blog.

One of the advantages of blogging, is that it is made of only a few templates. Unlike, other websites that is made up of numerous individual pages. This make it easier for blog users to create new pages, because it already has a fix setting that include: slots for title, body of the post, category, etc.

This is especially useful for first time users, since they can start blogging right away. They can chose from a number of templates that blogging websites provide.

Anyone who wants to start a blog can do so by becoming a member of a blogging website of their choice. Once they've become members, they automatically become a part of that particular blogging community. They can browse through other bloggers pages, and link them back to their own blogs. They can also make comments on other members' blogs.

Blogging is not just limited to personal usage. There are a lot of blogs that follow a theme such as: sports, politics, philosophy, social commentary, etc. These blogs espouse on their specific themes. This way blogging becomes a medium in which people can share their knowledge and opinions about a variety of themes and topics.

Some bloggers even use their blogs as a means to advertise. Some authors advertise their books on their blogs. While other bloggers, use their blogs to shed light to currents issues, events, news and catastrophes.

Nowadays in education, blogs also play an important part. Professors use blogging to document the lessons that they have discussed and taught. This way, students who who have missed classes, can easily catch up with their assignments.

A lot of entrepreneurs benefit from blogging by promoting their businesses on their blogs, with millions and millions of people logging onto the net everyday, blogging has become a lucrative move. Some bloggers who run online businesses promote their merchandise online. While others profit through advertisement.

But by far, the most popular blog type is the one that takes the form of a personal journal. This is the kind that is usually used by first time bloggers. Individuals who want to document the daily struggle of their everyday lives, poems, rants, opinions, find that blogging offers them a medium in which to express themselves.

Bloggers usually communicate within themselves. This is one of the appeals of blogging. It creates a community of people sharing their ideas, thoughts, and comments with each other.

Blogs varying in topics, themes, and set-ups, can be found in blog directories. First time users who want to get an idea of what the blogging world is all about can browse through a number of blogs using these directories. This way they'd get an idea of what these blogging communities are like.

Blogging is popular all over the world. Blog is short for the term weblog. There are no rules when it comes to blogging. Bloggers have the freedom to express themselves how ever way they want, and the best thing about blogging, is that most blogging sites are free.

There are numerous blogging websites to choose from in the net. This give first time users the option of joining a blogging community that appeals to their interests.

Just search any blogging directory and you'd get a listing of a lot of blogging sites that are available on the net. It's easy to search a blogging directory, because it is organized according to category. This way you would get exactly what you are after. Blogging is really for everyone. It is fun, simple and easy.

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Once you really start scaling out your new internet marketing empire, one of the first major obstacles you are going to have to cross is what I refer to as the "Content Crisis". Everyone that I know, without fail who has built a successful series of small niche sites has at one time or another had to stretch a bit to add new, informative and entertaining bit of information to their website or blog. We all just hit a wall - it's really that simple. If you cover a particular topic thirteen ways from Wednesday - at some point, topic burnout sets in. Thankfully, the very basic dynamic nature of the web is your best friend, and you can set your site up to simply piggyback off of others within your niche when it gets a little bit sleepy..:-) Let's take a quick look at 2 of them.

1)RSS. Everyone who publishes online has some degree of knowledge (or should!) of RSS - which in our non technical parlance will simply refer to Real Simple Syndication. Essentially RSS, from a publisher's standpoint, simply allows you to aggregate and collect information from around the web in small chunks, usually in the form of headlines and small snippets of content, which you can publish on your site, and will update for you automatically as the originators of the content add more items. Essentially, your site will be augmented with free information and content, published by other people which keeps YOUR site updated with a free flow of good information, AND benefits the other publishers as well as their content is effectively syndicated around the web, extending their reach and circle of influence. A win/win for both parties, and your readers too!

2)Blog comments. Many smart marketers have been using this method for years, and it amazes me how many people I consult with are OBLIVIOUS to this great source of entertaining and interactive content you can enjoy on autopilot. A good blog has an engaged audience. An engaged audience wants to be heard. And the ability to comment, allows them to be. They will interact with YOUR content, with each other, and with industry news. The buzzword going forward in the online marketing space is undoubtedly COMMUNITY. Strong communities make for strong sites, and even stronger bank statements..:-) If you are running ANY form of advertising on your site, do not even consider turning "comments" off on a blog install. Yes it is a pain in the butt to manage. Yes you will get SOME spam, but thankfully not much due to great anti-spam plugins readily available to you for free. But NOTHING kills a conversation quicker than a monologue. Your blog comments are a great source of organic traffic from the search engines and social networks, as well as a compelling force in keeping your one time visitors coming back often, interested, engaged and entertained! Good luck and don't forget to ask questions if you have them..:-)

Are you a Guru Groupie? Enough! It's Time For You to STEP up & stake your OWN claim!

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Blogging for business Because the search engines index blogs very quickly, blogging can be a good way to get your company or product to a wider audience. There are two ways to do this, either closely align your blog with your product, or blog about the market your product serves and reference your product. For the first it makes a deal of sense to include either your company or major product name in the blog title and domain. In fact you could just install a blog in a sub-directory of your main website which would tie it in very closely with your company. Many web hosts now have a domain control panel which enable Wordpress blogs to be installed almost completely automatically. I would suggest Wordpress as suitable blog software as there are an enormous number of add-ons and plugins available to make your blog look and act exactly as you want. A second option would be to register a suitable domain, install Wordpress on it and go from there.

If you want to initially distance yourself from your product, then you might well find it easiest to register a blog with one of the major blog hosts and set yourself up as a special interest blogger. You may wish to do this to attract visitors who might not frequently visit your site but are interested in the markets you serve. If you sell wine for instance you could blog about wine in general and reference the special offers that you sell, maybe including short tasting notes. It might be beneficial to come clean about your association in an About Me page, as being professionally involved in a specific market adds a certain authority to what you write. It would be clear to frequent visitors that you only mention one company but they would have initially been attracted by the content, and would most likely continue to visit as long as the content is valuable to them. The important thing about doing it this way is that your content should hold up regardless of your promotion of your product otherwise you won't get visitors returning.

Blogging for pleasure If anything this is the most rewarding way to blog. Writing about something you have a passion for is most likely to get visitors who share the same passion and can grow a community as you link to other blogs which have the same focus. I am an Arsenal Football Club supporter and have a blog http://blogs.goonerville.com/blog/LGS_blog.php where I vent and applaud everything about the club and football in general. If you leave the comments turned on, you will get visitors posting their replies to you which can help you gauge reaction to your opinions. But beware, you may not always like what people say about you! It's not compulsory, but you may also be able to make a little money from Adsense or affiliate sales as long as you don't overdo the adverts because you will have a very targeted audience reading the blog.

Whether you are blogging for business or pleasure, the important things to remember are:

1. Write in your own style, don't try and copy anyone else. 2. Use original content. You can use other material, but make sure you are not breaking copyright and add your own content. 3. Pace yourself. Don't start out intending to post every day if you don't have the time and inclination. It is better to start slowly and increase if you can rather than gradually tail off. 4. Use humour if you are humorous. Even if the blog is factual, visitors like to be entertained.

If used well, blogs can be a tremendous aid to communicating whatever message you wish to advance. There are many things you can do to make your blog more accessible and popular, but that are beyond the range of this article and will be covered in future articles.

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