blogging essentials

BloggingEssentials StepstoOrganicallyBoost  Traffic&CashFlow       ©KarinaWright,December2008  Page2     TableofContents  TableofContents 2 BloggingEssentials 3 Authenticity&Transparency 4 FindingaNicheMarket 5 InternalBloggingforCompanies 6 MakingMoneythroughBlogging 7 SEOContent 8 BloggingGlossary 10 BloggingSoftware 14 FreeMulti‐userplatforms 14 Freeandopensourcesoftware 14 Proprietarysoftware 15 Unknownlicense 15 Developer‐hosted 15  Page3     BloggingEssentials  I'veoftenspokenaboutthevalueofblogging.Whetheryou'reanindividualwhowantsto makeafewextrabuckswhileprovidingacommentaryonthethingsthatinterestyouora companywhowantstoinstilltheirvaluesandbrandintheirexistingstaff,bloggingisone ofthemostinfluential"non‐media"platformsinusetoday.  Inthemid‐90s,mostofuswonderedwhointheirrightmindwould keep an "online journal",asitwasknownbeforeitsevolution.Thesefrequentlyupdatedweblogs(see, "weblogs"became"weblogs",whichinturnevolvedintojust"blogs") quickly became popular among online junkies whowantedtheirinformationfastand less biased by big media.    Ablogistraditionallymaintainedbyanindividualwithregular entries of commentary, descriptionsofevents,andsupportingmaterialsuchasimagesorvideo.Entriesaremost typicallyfoundinreverse‐chronological order and support comments by readers in an interactiveformat.Theword"blog"canalsobeusedasaverb.  Althoughbloggingwasthestapleof'90sgeekswithangst,itquicklygrewintoapowerful marketing tool, news platform, and communications medium.  Further popularized by hostedbloggingtools,usagespreadquicklyinthelatenineties, with the initial online journalingplatformsbeingreplacedbycontentmanagementsystemsandprofessional bloggingtools.  Blogshavegainedincreasingnoticeandcoveragefortheirroleincommunicatingnewsand providingaplatformforoutreach,marketing,andcollaborativeinformation.Notto mention,ifyoudoitright,youcanmakesomegoodmoney.  Herein,we'llreviewwhatittakestomaintainasuccessfulblogandreviewmoney‐making optionsrelatedtoblogging.   WEBLOG  Page4    Authenticity&Transparency  Bloggingisahugeinfluencerofbrandingandreputationenhancement,providingthat authenticityandtransparencyaremaintained.Authenticityandtransparencyarethe bedrocksofblogging–particularlycompanyblogging.Beingopenandhonestwillimprove trustwithinatargetcommunity.  When people refer to “authenticity and transparency”, they’re basically saying “be honest”.If youact likeyou’vegotnothingto hide,andbackitupby(gasp)havingnothing tohide,yourreaderswilltrustyou.  Yep, honesty breeds trust – who would've guessed?  So,whyshouldwebesohonestontheweb? Isn’ttheInternetwherewe’resupposedtobe abletolieasmuchaswewant?  Toputitsimply,everyonehasabullshit detectors,andyoudon’twanttogetcalled out;itwouldbeembarrassingtosaytheleast.Tohaveasuccessfulblog,maintainyour integrity, post your actual opinions, offer reason, and allow comments.  Engage in a conversation with your readers, but most importantly, write unique content from your honestpointofview.    Page5     FindingaNicheMarket  People have beenon a “long tail” marketing craze fora while, talking about allthe little nichemarketsthatmakeupalargerpercentageofpotentialclients.Thephrase"TheLong Tail"wasfirstcoined to describe the niche strategy of businesses such as Amazon that sell a large number of uniqueitems,eachin relatively small quantities.  Targeting all those little pockets of people drives highly targetedtraffictosites,sowhyshouldn’teveryonegetinonit?Perhapswithoutrealizingit, manybloggershavealreadydoneso.  Withtheriseofsocialnetworkingandblogging,we’veevolvedonlineaswehaveinother ways; our online personas often mirror our offline lives. Our interests are targeted to somethingspecificandsometimes, such interestsdon’t necessarilyfit into a general blog withwidesubjectmatter–postssuchastheseoftengetignoredorlostintheshuffle,and asaresult,manybloggersfeeltheyneedanichetobeheard.  Asaresult,blogshavenowgonethewayofthee‐mailaddress:oneforpersonaluseand oneforbusinessuse(andperhapsoneforyouralterego).Oneforcustomersandonefor employees, each in its own niche within its own community: onlinesocietyisquickly becomingsimilartoofflinesocietyandthereareplentyofnichestofill.  Althoughinmanycases,thepointofhavingablogistogainawideraudience,withtoo muchcrossover,youraudiencewon’tbeastargetedaspossible;andonceyou’vestarted crossoverreadership,itcanbedifficulttopullitbacktoyournichefocus.Itisimportantto marketyoursitetotheappropriateaudience,soensurethatyoucommentonothersitesin thesameniche,thatyouadvertiseappropriatelyonyoursite,andthatyoukeepyourfocus.  There’snothingwrongwithatargetedmessagetoyourtargetedaudience,sodon’texpect topleaseallyourexistingreaders–insteadofrelyingontryingtokeepeveryonehappy, findyourownaudiencebasedonthenichemarketofyoursubject matter… and keep posting!    Page6    InternalBloggingforCompanies  Ablogisanessentialtoolforcompanieswhowanttoeffectivelycommunicatewiththeir staff.Ablogwill:   Capture information for short and long‐term reference
‐Foster cross‐discipline communicationofinformation
   Localizeinformationandincrease “findability”
  Decrease deficiencies found in traditionalknowledgetransfer  Usually placed on or linked from the companyintranet,theinternalblogshould beoneofthemosteasilyaccessiblepoints togaininternalcompanyinformation.  Ideally,everyoneshouldbeabletopost entries; however, to maintain a sense of decorum,itissometimesbesttoallowallmanagementtohaveaccesstopostentrieswhile everyoneelseinthecompanyshouldhaveaccesstopostcomments.  Typically easier to pitch to the execs than an external blog, internal blogs are also substantiallyeasiertoimplementwithbuy‐infromseniormanagement,asthecontentisn’t viewablefromexternalsources.Inaddition,aninternalblogismorelikelytobereadby employeesthanatypicalcompanyintranet,newsletters,orgeneralannouncements.  So,whatshouldbeincludedinaninternalcompanyblog?Obviously,anycompany announcements,includingnewproducts,newcompanydirections,staff additions and changes,awardswon,events,andespecially“fun”thingslikeriddles, links to interesting sitesrelatedtotheindustry–evenbirthdaysandotherannouncementscan beincluded. Usuallyjustacoupleofpostsperdayaresufficienttocommunicateallinformationwithout overloadingyourreaders.Anymorethanthat,andinformationcaneasilybemissed.Space out your announcement and do a “round‐up” once a week to reiterate all important communicationsandlinks.  Ittypicallytakesfivetotenrepetitionsforapieceofinformation to reach and be comprehended by the majority of staff, so the more vehicles there are for internal communications initiatives, the better – and if the staff is young or tech.‐oriented, what betterwaythanablog?       Page7    MakingMoneythroughBlogging  You’vewrittenabunchofgreatblogcontentorperhapsyou’vewritten an e‐book and you’vebeengivingitawayforfree.Youhavesolidtraffictoyoursite,butyoudon’twantto advertise.Howdoyoucreatecashfromyoursite?  Ifyourblogisasuccessandyou’vebeengivingyourcontentaway,you’vegotasolidbasis ofauthorityandanexistingcustomerbase.Theonlythingthat’slefttodoispackagewhat youalreadyhaveandsellit.   Checkouttheself‐publishingservicesofferedby companieslikeLulu(http://www.lulu.com/).  Ifyoualreadyhaveane‐bookthatyou’re offeringforfree,youcanaddtheoptionofa hardcopybookforaprice–orlikemanynew authors,organizeyourexistingblogcontentinto abook.  Alternately,ifyouprefertostayfaithfultothe paperlesse‐bookoption,youcouldtakeacue from countless successful subject matter experts,addadditionalcontent,andchargefor an“unabridged”version,whichyoucansellnot onlythroughyourownblog,butthroughmultipleothernichewebsitesaswellasmonsters eBay (http://www.ebay.com) and Clickbank (http://www.clickbank.com). Better yet, automatetheprocessandcreateanongoingcashstream.  Onceyourbloghassolidifiedyouasanexpertinyoursubjectmatter,withyourexpertise andexistingtraffic;itwon’tbedifficulttoturnyourworkintosomethingprofitable.    Page8    SEOContent  There are numerous simple methods to make moneythrough blogging,including Google Adsense, affiliates, sponsorships, paid reviews, and brokering services, but before implementing any targeted monetization systems, the first thingyouneedtodoismakesure yourblogiswell‐rankedinthe search engines, enabling people to actually find your site to then click on any advertisements (or what‐have‐you) you may have implemented.  Most people use search engines tofindwhatthey’relookingfor, andfromthosepeople,many won’t look past the second page ofresults.Thereisahigher probability of someone clicking onalinktoyoursiteifyouare ranked highly within the search engines ‐ and the more hits you have, the more potential money youcanmake.  Although in the past, search engine optimization has most oftenreferredtomaking changesinthedevelopmentofyoursite,peoplearenowrealizingthatcontentisabsolute king.Valuablecontent,coupledwithreadabilityandsitestructure,providesthebasisfor any SEO ‐friendly content. There is a fine balance between giving your audience with compellingcontentandprovidingsearchengineswithpopularcontent.  Developingcontentwithtopsearchtermsinmind(i.e.:writingforwhatyouraudienceis searchingfor)isthemostsure‐firewayofincreasingyourranking; usethese additional tipstohelpincreaseyourtraffic:  1.Focusonnichemarkets‐ifyoubroadenyoursubjectmattertoo much, you’ll find yourself lost among too many results to count. Focus on particulars and frequent other blogsinthesameniche;commentonotherpostsleavingalinkbacktoyourblog.Instant traffic!  2. Research popular search terms using resources like Alexa (http://www.alexa.com/), Digg(http://digg.com/ ),GoogleTrends(http://www.google.com/trends),andTechnorati (http://technorati.com/) ‐ remember; you’re not looking for keywords that you WANT  Page9    peopletosearch;youneedtofindoutwhatthey’reALREADYsearchingforandusethose populartermstocreatenewcontentandthusboostyourranking.  3.MakeuseofyourMetatagstoensurethatyourtitle,description,andkeywordtagsare uniquetoyourpage’scontent,andpairdownunnecessarylanguagetoboostyourkeyword density.  4.TestyoursiteusingaMetataganalyzerandakeyworddensityanalyzer;therearemany freetoolsavailabletoanalyzeyourcontentandtags.Somesearchenginesclaimtoignore Metatagsentirely,butfrequentlyusethedescriptiontagtoprovideapage’sdescriptionin searchresults.Well‐writtentagsarestronglyrecommended.  5. Use Google Analytics (http://www.google.com/analytics)orasimilarservicetokeep trackofwhereyourhitsarecomingfrom,andwritenewpostsbased on popular posts you’vealreadywritten‐whyreinventthewheelwhenyoucanlearn from your existing content?Analyticswilltrackalltraffictoyoursiteandwilltellyoueverythingyouwantto knowabouthowyourvisitorsfoundyoursiteandhowtheyinteractwithit‐you’llbeable tofocusyourcontentbasedonwhat’salreadybeenprovenpopularandimprovetoconvert morevisitors.  6.Makeuseofyourblogroll‐linktoexternalsitesaswellasotherpostswithinyourown blog;thiswillincreasereferraltrafficandmostsearchenginesgivemoreweighttopages thatarefrequentlylinked.Averygeneralruleisthatthehighertheoff‐sitepagesrank,the quickerthesitewillbecrawled,andsothegreaternumberofimportant sites that are linkingtoYOURsite,themoreoftensearchengineslikeGooglewillcrawlyoursiteinthe future.Manywell‐linkedsitesarecrawledseveraltimesaday.   Page10    BloggingGlossary  Thesearepopulartermsyoumaycomeacrossduringyourforayintothebloggingworld.  A  Atom AnotherpopularfeedformatdevelopedasanalternativetoRSS.  Autocasting Automatedformofpodcastingthatallowsbloggersandblogreaderstogenerateaudio versionsoftextblogsfromRSSfeeds.  Audioblog Ablogwherethepostsconsistmainlyofvoicerecordingssentbymobilephone,sometimes withsomeshorttextmessageaddedformetadatapurposes.(cf.podcasting)   B  Bleg Ablogarticlethatbegsforsomething,suchasadonationorproductsale.  BlogCarnival Ablogarticlethatcontainslinkstootherarticlescoveringaspecifictopic.Mostblog carnivalsarehostedbyarotatinglistoffrequentcontributorstothecarnival,andserveto bothgeneratenewpostsbycontributorsandhighlightnewbloggerspostingmatterinthat subjectarea.  Blogclient (Weblogclient)issoftwaretomanage(post,edit)blogsfromoperatingsystemwithno needtolaunchawebbrowser.Atypicalblogclienthasaneditor,aspell‐checkerandafew moreoptionsthatsimplifycontentcreationandediting.  Blogger Personwhorunsablog.Alsoblogger.com,apopularbloghostingwebsite.Rarely: weblogger.  Bloggies Oneofthemostpopularblogawards.  Blogroll Alistofblogs,usuallyplacedinthesidebarofablog,thatreadsasalistof recommendationsbythebloggerofotherblogs.  [...]... Developer­hosted  Software services operated by the developer, requiring no software installation for the  weblog author:                Blogger: http://www.blogger.com/   Blogging Systems: http://www.bloggingsystems.com/   Blue Kaffee: http://www.bluekaffee.com/   Israblog: http://israblog.nana10.co.il/   LiveJournal: http://www.livejournal.com   MySpace: http://www.myspace.com   Open Diary: http://www.opendiary.com  ... Like e‐mail spam. Robot “spambots” flood a blog with advertising in the form of bogus  comments. A serious problem that requires bloggers and blog platforms to have tools to  exclude some users or ban some addresses in comments.      D    Desktop Blogging Client  An off‐line blog management (posting, editing and archiving) tool      F    Fisking  To rebut a blog entry in a line‐by‐line fashion.    Flog  A portmanteau of "fake" and "blog". A blog that's ghostwritten by someone, such as in the ... (usually Slashdot, but also Digg, Metafilter, Boing Boing, Instapundit and others) sending  huge amounts of temporary traffic that often slow down the server.    Subscribe  The term used when a blogs feed is added to a feed reader like Bloglines or Google. Some  blogging platforms have internal subscriptions, this allows readers to receive notification  when there are new posts in a blog.      T    Templates  Templates, used on the "back end" of a blog that work together to handle information and ... another entry concerning it. The system works by sending a 'ping' between the blogs, and  therefore providing the alert.      V    Vlog  A video blog; a vlogger is a video blogger (e.g. someone who records himself interviewing  people of a certain field).      Page 13      Blogging Software     Free Multi­user platforms  Software packages installed by weblog authors or domain name owners to run on their  own systems available to use by the general public: Developer:   Multi‐user version of WordPress:...Blogosphere  All blogs, or the blogging community.     Blogware  A category of software which consists of a specialized form of a Content Management  System specifically designed for creating and maintaining weblogs.      C    Collaborative blog  .  Page2     TableofContents  TableofContents 2 Blogging Essentials 3 Authenticity&Transparency 4 FindingaNicheMarket 5 Internal Blogging forCompanies 6 MakingMoneythrough Blogging 7 SEOContent 8 Blogging Glossary. Blogging Essentials StepstoOrganicallyBoost  Traffic&CashFlow       ©KarinaWright,December2008 . 10 Blogging Software 14 FreeMulti‐userplatforms 14 Freeandopensourcesoftware 14 Proprietarysoftware 15 Unknownlicense 15 Developer‐hosted 15  Page3     Blogging Essentials  I'veoftenspokenaboutthevalueof blogging. Whetheryou'reanindividualwhowantsto makeafewextrabuckswhileprovidingacommentaryonthethingsthatinterestyouora companywhowantstoinstilltheirvaluesandbrandintheirexistingstaff, blogging isone ofthemostinfluential"non‐media"platformsinusetoday.  Inthemid‐90s,mostofuswonderedwhointheirrightmindwould