Blogging about how to blog may seem like a conceited task, but the truth of the matter is that most people who blog aren’t utilizing the medium to its full potential. According to statistics complied by Technorati, there are an estimated 175,000 new blogs created everyday. Albeit a considerable number of these blogs never make it past the first few posts, that is still an astronomical amount of competition. So the challenge all bloggers have to confront is how to get their voice heard through all of the static. Here are some tips to help you do just that:
Blogging is an indispensable tool for disseminating information, cultivating multilateral communication and promoting your business. But even if you are simply blogging for fun, we all like to know that are voices are being heard, which is why getting comments on your blog is such a rewarding feeling. And while it would be nice if only well-intentioned people interested in expounding a topic commented to your blog, the fact of the matter is that the vast majority of the feedback you receive will actually be spam comments.
Any blogger knows that creating a blog and writing fresh, relevant content is a time-consuming endeavor. And, not surprisingly, there are people out there looking to take a piggyback ride on your hard work. Instead of creating their own blog, other website owners will add a comment to your site with a link back to their business page. Not only is this a bastardization of the purpose of the comments section, it also can have a negative impact on your blog. As we mentioned in our previous post on search engine algorithms, your inbound and outbound links are a crucial component in search engine algorithms. So if you have a surfeit of spam comments linking to shady sites, it doesn’t bode well for your blog’s ranking in the various search engines.
As an entrepreneur of a new, online business it can sometimes seem like your daily to-do list is substantial. What may have originated as a foolproof plan for simplistic, home-based sales can quickly amount to a handful of responsibilities as you set up your content, pictures, products and so forth.
Fortunately, among the often hefty list of must-haves that every successful web store demands, there is one key area that can be cultivated in just 10 minutes a day. Social media is a new-age marketing platform that allows online-business owners to connect with a worldwide audience of consumers.
Below you’ll find three fundamental ways – courtesy of SocialMediaExaminer.com – to create the ultimate social-media experience for your consumers.
More than a decade ago, the concept of blogging originated as an innovative approach to traditional forum, allowing individuals to express their thoughts, ideas and opinions with a worldwide audience. Today, the dynamics of this interactive, web-based platform have exploded with popularity and continue to climb exponentially.
However, with the incessant rise in the number of active bloggers in recent years, how many people actually know how blogging came to be?
According to eHow.com, Jorn Barger coined the term weblog in 1997 to condense the original expression, web log. Later on – five years to be exact – Peter Merholz coined the word blog accidently when he broke up weblog in the sidebar of his blog page to read we blog, which evolved into blog shortly after.
In 1999 the website Blogger.com emerged as a quintessential hub for anyone to set up a personal blog. And today, the number of blogging sources has reached the hundreds, if not thousands.
Roger Kern remembers the aches and pains of a time when he used to get the flu and a lung infection each year, like clockwork. Fortunately, those days are long gone and his health has grown strong and unwavering to ailment for three years now.
Naturally, the first question most people have when they hear of Kern’s story is, “What is responsible for such a miraculous change?” Well, listen closely because the secret to his transformation isn’t an everyday remedy or cure-all, it can’t be found in a drugstore and it didn’t involve a shaman. The key to unlocking his newfound wellness was nothing more than a few simple changes in his diet, a switch from nutritional neglect to a meal plan that was heavily focused on herbal supplements.
“After several failed attempts with other popular solutions, I discovered the Herbalife program and dropped 30 pounds within the first three months,” Kern said. I’ve felt great and energized ever since; it was the exact boost I was looking for.”
In fact, Kern was so impressed with his results that he decided to become an independent distributor for Herbalife, launching www.HerbalWiseSupplements.com in October 2009. Here, healthy-living seekers are invited to browse an extensive selection of herbal-based supplements that promote basic cellular nutrition, weight management, core nutrition and targeted health, energy and fitness as well as a variety of products that deliver personal skin care and outer nutrition.
Although the notion of blogging strikes many people as an activity of an adolescent demographic, a recent report conducted by Sysomos, an accredited research company, proves otherwise. According to the study, more than half of these web-based voices – a whopping 53.3 percent – are between the ages of 21 and 35.
While this statistic may not come as a colossal announcement – in fact, the adolescent demographic (20 years old and younger) came in second at 20.2 percent – the pieces fit together in knowing that the first-place bracket was exposed to the “blog boom” during their adolescence, which started up about seven years ago, according to Sysomos.
Trailing behind in second place by 0.8 percent was the age group 36 to 50 years old at 19.4 percent, and rounding out the poll in last place were those age 51 and up at 7.1 percent.
The advent of social media and the internet have created a categorical shift in the way people receive, interpret and react to news stories. Traditional media sources are constantly having to change and adapt to remain profitable and relevant in this user-centric atmosphere, where blogs and Twitter are seen as reliable sources of information. As soon as a story breaks, there are hundreds of bloggers and other news sources vying to create their own angle and disseminate the information themselves. And while many of us would assume that the blogosphere is plagiarizing and repackaging stories from conventional reporters, many claim that the roles in this relationship are often reversed.
With a persistently booming popularity in e-commerce these days, it seems that web entrepreneurs of all ages and experience levels are emerging onto the scene daily, snatching up what’s left of the domains with their bright eyes and big dreams of fortune.
And, although, an online business promises many advantages to that of a traditional brick and mortar – little or no overhead, flexible hours and no face-to-face interaction – it’s important that these self-starters don’t neglect the crucial details that can make or break any business, online or not. Customer service.
Fortunately, Mashable.com, with help from social-media blogger Lauren Vargas, has extended a helping hand to these go-getters by providing some invaluable advice to industry newcomers. Below, they have highlighted five key areas worth noting to ensure that your business excels with many happily returning customers.
What originated as a simple concept to connect friends – new and old – family and even strangers through common interests as well as opposing views is rapidly popping up in new places all over the web, almost daily. That’s right, social media is making extreme headway in cyberspace.
From the pioneer websites like Facebook and MySpace to the newbie pages of Google Buzz and Foursquare, today, social media has evolved into much more than an interactive tool of social networking.
Television network, NBC, recognized the unequivocal popularity of social media and, therefore, launched a networking platform last Monday. Fan It – an interactive, network loyalty program – combines myNBC (NBC’s online community for fans), Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and Foursquare to provide a fully-loaded networking experience for users.
No matter her age, size or preferred taste in clothing, every woman is familiar with the struggle to find the perfect-fitting jeans. While some consider this notion a fairytale and others believe it’s about attainable as a four-leaf clover, nearly all women – even those who have stumbled upon occasional luck – share the frustration of chasing this dream.
“I had never heard of Not Your Daughter’s Jeans and then, one day, a friend who lives in Australia called me up to see if I could find her a pair and ship them overseas,” said Lee Ann Singleton.
It was the summer of 2008 and, although Singleton discovered she wasn’t able to grant this wish due to international distribution laws (specific to the brand), the request did spark a curiosity that led her to purchase a pair of her own to find out what, exactly, made them worth all the trouble to track down.
“Before I was introduced to NYDJ, I had to try on every pair of jeans prior to purchasing them because my size seemed to vary from store to store. But after slipping into my first pair of NYDJ, I was enlightened by the exhilarating reality that: Jeans can fit!” Singleton said.
Blogging about how to blog may seem like a conceited task, but the truth of the matter is that most people who blog aren’t utilizing the medium to its full potential. According to statistics complied by Technorati, there are an estimated 175,000 new blogs created everyday. Albeit a considerable number of these blogs never make it past the first few posts, that is still an astronomical amount of competition. So the challenge all bloggers have to confront is how to get their voice heard through all of the static. Here are some tips to help you do just that:
