7 Reasons Every Writer Needs to Blog

If you are a writer and you are not blogging then you should be. While many people simply dismiss blogging because of its description as a web diary they are missing a lot of traffic and revenue generating opportunities every day. Many internet entrepreneurs work hard to publish their blogs but as a writer you have the ability to easily create the content you need without needing to hire out. In fact, publishing a blog can be the perfect way for you to profit from your writing.

In truth blogs are much more than a simple web diary. They are actually a content management system and/or an easy web site template. Blogging software allows you to begin posting your content to the internet in minutes and when you harness that ability with an RSS Read more

Bloggin for Business - What Should I Blog About?

While a blog can be almost anything from a personal diary to an expostulation of the most arcane data or research results, keeping the blog going is one of the most important aspects of blogging. This is particularly true if your goal is to use your blog as part of your internet business marketing strategy.

Unfortunately, many would-be internet entrepreneurs get lured into programs by the prospect of lots of money made easily. The truth is that MOST of these people, even highly-motivated, intelligent people who have been successful in other spheres will fail. The money does not Read more

Does the Idea of Creating A Business Blog Scare You?

If the idea of creating a business blog scares you, you are not alone. All the hype and media attention makes the average business person feel that blogging is too mysterious and complicated to try. This is not the case!

Both the largest and the smallest companies blog to great effect. It’s not an experimental or risky technology. Blogs are easy to create and maintain. There are several good technologies out there.

So why do they inspire fear? Here are three things that I hear from clients that are not true about blogs: Read more

Full Steps to SEO WordPress Blog

To optimize your wordpress blog, simply follow the following guidelines:

Friendly permalink structure

The first thing to do before creating any post is to change the permalink. Always do this before you post anything. The most friendly permalink structure should be what this site has, with the structure “domain.com/post-name”. I have seen a lot of people tend to use the date and month in the middle of the url, which is not a good thing, as the deeper you put your post in, the harder it gets found, unless you really have a good content. Read more

There Are Some Pitfalls in Using Free Blogs

There Are Some Pitfalls in Using Free Blogs
By Wayne Smith

The world of blogging has become a serious place. In many circles it has almost become a fashion statement to run your own blog, and for good reason. But as online publishers, by the thousands, scramble to create new themed blogs every day, there are some pitfalls associated in using many of the so-called free blog services available.

Many bloggers use a free blogging service to support their first entry into the field. Naturally, this makes a great deal of sense for someone starting out. Free providers do offer some extremely simple to use and relatively competant and dynamic platforms. Furthermore, avoiding a financial expense certainly reduces the risk concerned to an absolute bare minimum.

Free blog hosting services can be a great way to introduce oneself to the concept of blogging and to discern a little bit concerning the process. Nevertheless, they are usually (With some exceptions, using the right methods) a poor choice for those hoping to generate any substantial blogging income. There are simply too numerous pitfalls associated with their use and functionality.

For a start, many free blogs hamstring the user’s capacity to utilize one of the greatest and most effective ways of producing a profit via blogging, namely; Adsense. Different free blog hosts offer the free blog and server room in exchange for the display of their own Adsense ads. The terms of service directly disallow the user from featuring any additional contextual ads. This is how the free services develop their revenue, and the prohibition makes complete sense to the providers, who are essentially still providing a free service to the blog owner. However, it takes one very powerful mechanism out from the blogger’s moneymaking armory.

Second, whenever one adopts a free service they hand over mastery of their Web page to a large degree. This is not just a matter of ads or content restrictions which one may be able to generate an income. The void of mastery has far reaching implications which are far more serious. Blogger.com, for pattern, is known to commonly freeze and/or revoke blogs altogether for unknown grounds. Those blogs just disappear and a great deal of effort vanishes with them.

Further, lesser-acknowledged services may be severely hindered or given restricted potential and may just go down - taking the blogs straight down the drain with them.
Third, there is the issue of credibility. Whether it’s right or wrong, surfers appear to accord a major measure of credibility to (and are accordingly more likely to visit) sites which have their own URLs. A blog which is an obvious sub domain at a free host can cause likely guests and customers wary of a blog’s credibility and can register an adverse effect on fruitfulness.

Finally, there is the matter of flexibility. Different free blog services limit your options in agreement of appearance and may use platforms which unavail different elements which can potentially aid in fruitfulness. For part, the blogs at Blogger.com tend to lack the variety of categories appearing in their Wordpress equivalents. Further free services may offer only a few templates which can only be tweaked ever so moderately. In order to behave optimally, one need be equipped to append any and all appropriate changes to their moneymaking blog.

You can find a variety of competant and dynamic blogging programs which won’t charge you a dime. The competitive fields of hosting and domain registration cause owning your own allotment of cyberspace surprisingly affordable. Which means the present context, enlisting a free blogging service as a method to launch part of your online business, just does not make the best of sense.

The least expense required to own and effectively run your own World Wide Web documents is an absolute steal when one considers the drawbacks associated with the flipside.

Wayne Smith

For the best way to make effective use of free blog platforms, visit
profit using free blogs.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Wayne_Smith

Tips to Selecting an RSS News Aggregator

Reading RSS Feeds

While many have resisted the urge to decipher the meaning behind the acronym RSS, the vast majority of technically knowledgeable online surfers have begun incorporating RSS into their daily routines. Why go through the hassle of understanding something new, the novice might want to know? Because it saves time, and time is a precious commodity these days.

The contents of an RSS feed can be read any number of ways. A variety of tools, both fee based and free, to read RSS feeds are available on the Internet.

When determining what RSS feed reader to download, thought should be given to security. More an more publishers are using RSS feeds as a way to deliver podcasts or media rich-content. Users of desktop software will want to find an RSS reader that allows for rich media to be delivered safely and securely.

Web surfers might want to give thought to another consideration of cross compatibility and synchronization. With the advances in RSS readers, many subscribers use multiple platforms to read their feeds. While this is convenient, if the the web surfer is not using a synchronized solution, they find themselves marking the same feed items read multiple times.

These days, aggregators are available in all shapes and sizes. Determine what type of RSS reader you would like to use to aggregate and manage your RSS feeds.

1. Desktop RSS Reader Software

A number of desktop RSS readers are available for download from the Internet. Many desktop readers allow subscribers to categorize and group their RSS feeds. Many users find it helpful to segregate personal and business feeds.

examples include:

FeedDemon http://www.feeddemon.com

Active Web Reader - http://www.deskshare.com/awr.aspx

2. Web Based RSS Aggregator

Web based RSS news aggregators are accessible via any computer that has Internet access using a login and password. Web based readers are particularly useful to individuals who travel frequently.

examples include:

MyYahoo - http://my.yahoo.com

BlogLines - http://www.bloglines.com

NewsGator - http://www.newsgator.com

3. Browser Plug In

RSS readers are now being incorporated into newer versions of web browsers. In addition many popular browsers have third party tools that expand their functionality to incorporate RSS feeds.

Examples include:

Firefox Sage - http://sage.mozdev.org/

Internet Explorer FeedScout - http://www.bytescout.com/feedscout.html

4. Email RSS Reader

A handful of popular email clients have add on modules that allow users to manage their RSS feeds in their existing email client.

Examples include:

Newsgator Inbox - http://www.newsgator.com

5. Mobile RSS Readers

As the world becomes remote, mobile RSS readers are becoming increasingly popular. Surfers on the run appreciate receiving content updates remotely.

example include:

Mobile RSS Reader - http://www.dace.fi/

FreeRange - http://www.freerangeinc.com/products/

Once you have a news reader setup, you will need to populate it with RSS feeds. Website visitors, subscribe to RSS feeds by adding the URL of the feed to their RSS reader or aggregator. Many publishers use orange boxes or buttons marked RSS or XML to signify that an RSS feed exists for a website. In order to discover the URL of the RSS feed simply click the icon. Do not panic if as a result of your click, you see a page that contains code that makes little sense. Simply add the URL to the RSS reader. The RSS reader will decipher the code and display the feed’s content in a format that is easily readable.

Some websites have added chicklets or icons for popular news readers to make subscriptions very easy. In those cases, you will see a subscription button for specific RSS readers, simply click the icon that corresponds with your RSS reader and the feed will appear in your RSS reader. Some desktop aggregators and integrated readers will automatically detect that an RSS feed is available on a website. The RSS reader will pop up and ask if you wish to subscribe to the RSS feed.

While it does require initial effort to setup a solution for aggregating and reading RSS feeds, users find that it saves a lot of time in the long run. Determine what solution best meets your RSS needs and begin aggregating information.

Copyright 2006 Sharon Housley

Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll http://www.feedforall.com software for creating, editing, publishing RSS feeds and podcasts. In addition Sharon manages marketing for NotePage http://www.notepage.net a wireless text messaging software company.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=S._Housley

Blogging Versus Email Newsletters - Do You Need Them Both?

After you have clicked on the article link and before the text is fetched, you probably think — “What Do I think about this one?” You must have an opinion even though the issue (of blogging) is still fresh.

I would say; you need only one of them, if not neither.

You need an email newsletter in the case where you think that relationship management is a must for you business. This story didn’t change much. With a newsletter you are able to give prospects and clients valuable information that is not otherwise available. The newsletter should continue news, but also updates and other product information or discounts. Success stories may be included, etc, etc.

With a newsletter you show your public that you are still around. The frequency per issue may vary, but the credibility will increase when this frequency is constant. This requires hard work, and only liable companies are able to do this. This is why most people buy (on the internet); ninety percent out of trust.

If sales is not your first business priority, than you do not need an email newsletter. There are so many other specialized direct marketing companies and focused companies that you should better link to. And you do not even have to write them a letter, you ought to convince them that your service or product is a win for both.

If sales is not your first priority than you can do without a weblog too. There is no need for a weblog, other than that it is just fancy. Choose for one, if you think it will help your business.

© 2006 Hans Bool

Hans Bool is the founder of Astor White a traditional management consulting company that offers online management advice. Astor Online solves issues in hours what normally would take days.
You can apply for a free demo account

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Hans_Bool

Blogging Versus Email Newsletters - Do You Need Them Both?

After you have clicked on the article link and before the text is fetched, you probably think — “What Do I think about this one?” You must have an opinion even though the issue (of blogging) is still fresh.

I would say; you need only one of them, if not neither.

You need an email newsletter in the case where you think that relationship management is a must for you business. This story didn’t change much. With a newsletter you are able to give prospects and clients valuable information that is not otherwise available. The newsletter should continue news, but also updates and other product information or discounts. Success stories may be included, etc, etc.

With a newsletter you show your public that you are still around. The frequency per issue may vary, but the credibility will increase when this frequency is constant. This requires hard work, and only liable companies are able to do this. This is why most people buy (on the internet); ninety percent out of trust.

If sales is not your first business priority, than you do not need an email newsletter. There are so many other specialized direct marketing companies and focused companies that you should better link to. And you do not even have to write them a letter, you ought to convince them that your service or product is a win for both.

If sales is not your first priority than you can do without a weblog too. There is no need for a weblog, other than that it is just fancy. Choose for one, if you think it will help your business.

© 2006 Hans Bool

Hans Bool is the founder of Astor White a traditional management consulting company that offers online management advice. Astor Online solves issues in hours what normally would take days.
You can apply for a free demo account

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Hans_Bool

America’s National Pastime - Blogging (Kvetching)

According to the latest Time – CNN poll as reported by Wolf Blitzer in the situation room, Kvetching and Internet Poker have replaced Baseball as America’s favorite pastime. Kvetching has spawned a huge industry in the United States of America now that the manufacturing jobs have been relocated to China. “Kvetch”: “to complain, blame, harangue, scapegoat, get freaked out about, drive crazy, whine about, gossip, spin, twist the truth, lie and tell the truth about but do nothing about it except kvetch.”

Kvetching is the fuel of the internet, a multi billion dollar industry. The internet has turned the Earth into a worldwide Kvetchfest. Every blog is a series of daily kvetches by literally hundreds of millions of people world wide. Blogging is now replacing psychiatry as a way for people to vent their fear, frustration, anger, and sense of worthlessness. Soon blogging will render psychiatry obsolete. Instead of lying on a couch for 45 minutes complaining about what your father said to you when you were 5 years old, as your Doctor sits silently thinking about what to buy his mistress for her birthday, and then saying, “I’m sorry our time’s up for this week I’ll see you next Wednesday”, for $100 per session, people can now sit down at their computer and kvetch for free for as long as they like to the entire world.

Not only this, but the search engines’ super computers index every single word of every single person’s kvetch, so that if you search “Bush” you will come up with 228 million search results. Unfortunately the search engines do not yet display all 228 million results for each word, but they do display a thousand, and getting your kvetch into the top thousand has spawned an entire industry of snake oil salesmen called SEO experts. For a modest fee these people will tell you which words to use in your kvetch, submit your kvetch to millions of search engines, and promise to get your kvetch into the top ten kvetches for your keyword, the big time, where millions of people can read about your problem and feel sorry for you and send you comments, emails, and invite you to join their group of people with similar complaints. The NSA is now recording every telephone conversation that you make, writing down the name and number of the person you called, and recording every word of every blog that you write. It is as though they are recording on super computers every thought that comes into your mind. Even George Orwell could not have imagined this. It is like we are robots gone mad and our brains are mini computers and the government is the main computer trying to reign us all in, to defragment the system before we blow up the earth once and for all.

Kvetching is the fuel of the media, newspaper commentators and television commentators. You can now watch the talking heads in high definition. They have divided up into groups, Democrats and Republicans. Now the Republicans are kvetching about the other Republicans, as well as the Democrats. The Shiites are kvetching about the Sunnis and the Kurds and the Muslims are kvetching about the Hindus. The Americans are kvetching about the Iranians and the Iranians are kvetching about the Jews and the Americans. The psychiatrists only exist now because the search engines are not permitted to hand out medications, although that is changing. Drug companies are buying up our email addresses and spamming our mail boxes with invitations to purchase anti depressants over the internet without the intervention of any doctors. They are not concerned that many of these anti depressants cause even worse depression and cause the bloggers to commit suicide. The doctors are getting their revenge on patients who left them for their keyboards.

There is a deeply spiritual reason why computers are so popular. We know from countless people who have had near death experiences that after death many of us go back into a tunnel of brilliant white light. We experience a sense of complete relief and ecstasy, not a care in the world, all of our troubles left behind. Looking into the white light of our computer screens for hours on end we become one with the white light that is our holy spirit. We feel as though we are back in the womb, back in heaven from where we came, free from all worldly cares, like nuclear world war 3, global warming, Armageddon, pollution, crumbling economies, which worries are shouted at us constantly by the newspapers, televisions, and computer screens, sending us reeling to psychiatrists, drugstores, and SEO experts.

More American soldiers have committed suicide in Iraq than have been killed in combat. Imagine the stress they are under. They are in a country where they are universally hated, protecting people who hate their guts, watching their best friends get killed and their legs and arms blown off every single day, frightened to death that this will be their fate as they round the next turn, all for a country which was tricked into going to war and no longer believes in the war. Instead of sending more troops, the United States needs to send over more SEO experts. Don’t worry. Soon it will all be over. Jesus is coming on a flying white horse to save us all again, and to meet George Bush in Jerusalem, to congratulate him on his successful crusade, reclaiming the Holy Land for Christianity as the Pope did with his Christian Army 1,000 years ago. As Albert Einstein said to his lover of 20 years, “If you didn’t kvetch you’d have nothing to say at all. So keep on kvetching, you kvetch.”

Karen Fish is a writer currently living in Los Angeles California. The Temple of Love http://www.thetempleoflove.com/

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Karen_Fish

Which is Better? — A Blog or an Article?

You may have been putting off the idea of writing articles but why? You may be thinking that you’ve got nothing to say or nobody would listen to what you want to say but if that was true how come blog’s have become so popular with the search engines? All the experts out there are doing it so they must be onto something. Blog’s are a great thing because they give your business a bit of personality and move your business away from just a cold emotionless website. Why do you think audio on websites have improved conversion rates, people can connect the sales letter with a person and if you put a picture up there and now they have a face to go with the voice and you improve your conversion even better!

Can you see where we’re going here?

So maybe now your thinking “I need a blog” But do you here’s a couple of reasons against it, you have to remember there’s no point starting a blog if you don’t have the time to add to it on a regular basis or if you don’t have enough to knowledge about your subject to write about it every day, there really is no point just starting a blog and writing any old thing. You’ll find that people will just stop reading it that’s even if they find it in the first place (that’s another day’s article.)

When you think about by looking from the surfer’s perspective would you really want to read the ranting and ravings of someone (o.k. maybe if it was entertaining) but if you didn’t learn from it you’d just move on, this is the “McDonalds” generation people want things and they want them now they haven’t the patience to hang around and they just move on!

After thinking this over maybe a blog isn’t for you, but don’t think that people won’t be interested in what you have to say. If you don’t have the time or the knowledge to write about your subject daily why you don’t put your thoughts in the form of a series of articles. This way you can plod along at your own pace and give some quality information rather that just fluff (nobody likes to read fluff.) You’ll find that your quality article will get passed around and who knows where it could end up. Another benefit of article writing is that people will start to link your name with your product or service, so you come across as being an expert in your field. So when they think of “Product X” your name comes up and where do you think they go to buy it??

So don’t put it off another day, sit down now and put an article together you don’t have to have a degree in English, just put your personality into it and give some great advice or knowledge and you’ll go a long way. And if you first article bombs, don’t give up, some of mine have and some have really taken off for me, you won’t know until you send it out and who knows what might happen?

Best of luck!

Got the article bug yet, if you do send a copy of your article to http://www.barryjmcdonald.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Barry_McDonald

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