Blogging isn’t hard. 

People see it as a massive investment of time but it’s not really.  If you’re willing to invest time in a networking meeting then you can invest time in a blog because it’s essentially the same thing.  Presumably you go along to a networking meeting to meet people and let them know what a fab person you are?  Because if they like you then they’ll trust you and if they trust you then they’ll buy from you, right?

Right.  So you talk about your business a bit, perhaps take the opportunity to discuss a new product you’re working on and share some funny anecdotes about something or other.  Then leave the room with everyone thinking that you’re a great person and fun to spend some time with.  Mission accomplished.

Blogging for your business is pretty much the same except that the other person doesn’t interrupt and you have more time to think up clever and witty things to impress people with.  With your blog, you get a chance to put a human face to your business.  You only have a few paragraphs on your core website to explain your business but with your blog you have months of posts for people to dip into to get a feel for your company.

What a great opportunity to earn the trust of people you’ve never even met.  They come to your website and there’s this great person writing really interesting stuff and sharing insights into this subject that he’s a real expert on.  Perhaps they’ll come back each day or subscribe to your feed to see what you have to say.  And if at some point they need to buy whatever you’re selling then they’re definitely going to come to you instead of your competitor - that really cold faceless business run by robots.

Still not convinced?

Don’t be mistaken into thinking that it’s not worthwhile if you don’t have hundred of avid readers of your blog.  If you keep all of your posts on your website then random browsers to your website will have a wealth of information to jump into.  You’re building their trust using stuff that you’ve written months ago.

And if they like what they see then they’ll come back.  And visitors that come back turn into customers eventually.  And customers generate repeat business.  And referrals.  Surely it’s starting to make sense now?

No?  OK, one last shot.

You’re generating a new page for your website every single time you post something.  Who likes websites with lots of relevant content that gets updated frequently?  Go on, take a guess…

Google will love you if you start blogging.  If you write interesting stuff then people will link to it and Google will love you even more.  Suddenly your website is more popular than ever and more people are visiting and more people are buying and it’s just turning into one great big party with you at the centre of it.

OK, perhaps it won’t be quite that dramatic but you must take the long term view when it comes to your approach to blogging.  Don’t write a couple of entries and then give up.  Keep at it, keep producing new content and invest time in it as you would any other marketing activity.  When it does all kick off then you’ll be glad that you have that wealth of information sitting there for your website visitors to delve into.

Good luck - let me know how you get on and I’ll add a comment to your blog!

If you want some blogging tips and ideas on what to blog about then feel free to pinch ideas from my blog: [http://www.massmediadesign.co.uk/blog title=Mass Media Design Blog]http://www.massmediadesign.co.uk/blog

Gregor Spowart is a partner in Mass Media Design, a Website Design and Internet Marketing company based in Reading (Berkshire), Swindon (Wiltshire) and Cardiff.  Gregor is an SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) specialist. [http://www.massmediadesign.co.uk]Mass Media Design Website Design and Internet Marketing

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Gregor_Spowart http://EzineArticles.com/?Blogging-Is-Your-Best-Marketing-Tool&id=1143858

Did you know how easy it is to actually make an article with a camcorder?  Did you even think that this was possible?  If you ever have a great idea while away from the computer and want to write an article but do not have the means to do so, this is where your camcorder becomes your best friend.

1.  Record Your Message, Turn it Into an Article.

A camcorder makes high quality audio.  The audio can easily be converted from any editing software to an MP3 file.  Once in an MP3 file many things are possible.

2.  Upload it As a Podcast.

Just think you were in the car, out and about, and a topic for discussion came into your head.  You have recorded this and now you can now use the MP3 file to upload as a podcast. Super cool!

3.  Transcription

Send the MP3 file to a transcription service and and get it transcribed for very little money.  Easy article!

4.  Upload the Video to A Social Sites

You can also make video articles.  Set the tripod and camera at your desk.  Talk into the camera.  Upload your video article to sharing sites for traffic.  Wow!

5.  Use the Video For Your Blog

Take the same video to use and upload into a video blog or a video podcast.  People seem to have a problem with content production for their blogs, now this has made it simple.  Just talk and upload.  Do not worry you will get better over time.

6.  Make One Long Video by Editing

You can use this video with other videos and editing software to make one video.  This longer video can be used as dvd product to be sold or you can upload the videos to your membership sites.

7.  Use A Digital Camera to Make Articles

This video easily makes article content for traffic.  Traffic helps to build to your list.  Building your list is the most important thing to do with whatever you do online.

And to discover more about the power of blogging for your business, I invite you to visit http://www.internetvideoguy.com and http://www.audiovideoinwordpress.com

From Lindsey Stewart- The Internet Video Lady

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Lindsey_Stewart http://EzineArticles.com/?The-Top-Seven-Tips-for-Making-Content-with-a-Mobile-Camcorder&id=1055893

Kevin W. Riley, well-known Internet Marketing Maven, has just released another one of his magnificent eBooks.

Well, it’s actually a series of eBooks, 3 to be exact.

Titled “Recipe For Shooting And Distributing Sales-Pulling Video Commercials” these eBooks will become your bible if you are interested in video search marketing in Early 2008.

Kevin’s eBooks are always well-written and chock fill of screenshots to make it easy to follow along with the narrative.  And what a narrative!  Kevin’s unique sense of humour is razor-sharp and he uses it to spice up what could be boring monologues.

Even some of his pictures are funny.

But there’s nothing funny about the information this set contains, no siree bob!

This is 100% ROCK SOLID STUFF!

Book One shows you absolutely everything you need to start producing your own sales-pulling video commercials to use in your video search marketing campaigns.

I had my first video up-and-running within an hour after reading “Recipe For Shooting And Distributing Sales-Pulling Video Commercials”!

Next in Book Two, he shows you 25 different video hosting sites (VHS for short) where you can upload your video for FR*EE!  There are a lot more than just AOL Videos and YouTube!

And Kevin shows you the top 25.

Then in Book Three of the “Recipe For Shooting And Distributing Sales-Pulling Video Commercials” Kevin shows you how to take advantage of one of today’s HOTTEST Affiliate Marketing techniques called Web 2.0 Social BookMarking Marketing.

If you’ve been around Affiliate Marketing for more than a day or two, you’ve probably heard the BUZZ.  Web 2.0 is HOT and Video Search Marketing is HOT TOO!

Put Them Together?  FaggedAboutIt!

You’re talking about some UNREAL search engine results (like Google’s Page One in 48 hours or less.  One of my Affiliate Marketing buddies has done in it under an hour!

AMAZING!

Now let’s talk about the traffic.  These techniques, when used in tandem, will generate an UNBELIEVABLE stampede of traffic to your website(s) and that means …….

MASSIVE PROFITS!

So try her out for yourself, OK?

Combine Video Search Marketing with Web 2.0 Social BookMarking Marketing Today!

But put your accountant on stand-by ……. You’re gonna need him to help you minimize your taxes on the MASSIVE PROFITS that are about to come rollin’ your way from Video Search Marketing!

Visit John’s website, http://www.YourVideoAssistant.com for information about his BRAND-NEW FR*EE software called “Your Video Assistant” - software that will help you improve your Video Search Marketing efforts by 527%!

Want to Get On the “Fast Track” to Video Search Marketing but You Don’t Know Where To Start?  Checkout My Review of the [http://yourvideoassistant.com/kevin-rileys-sales-pulling-video-commercials-ebook-package/]Recipe For Shooting And Distributing Sales-Pulling Video Commercials. It’s pretty nice - Check it out!

Read John’s [http://yourvideoassistant.com/video-search-marketing-newsletter-signup-page/]Video Search Marketing Newsletter for Weekly Updates On EVERYTHING to do with Video Search Marketing!

You have full permission to reprint this article provided this box is kept unchanged.

Video Search Marketing

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_Mann http://EzineArticles.com/?Recipe-For-Shooting-And-Distributing-Sales-Pulling-Video-Commercials—-An-Honest-Review&id=1043873

If you are just getting your feet wet with video marketing, you’ll likely want to submit your video to the top video sharing sites to start with. Here are details on two you should use right away.

Ebaumsworld.com is a site that allows you to submit video files to be available for access by family and friends. The site prides itself on its collection of funny and hilarious flash animation, pictures, games, and videos for download. This is perfect for those who are looking for a good excuse to laugh. Ebaumsworld is one of the best humor sites online and generates about an average of 75,000 hits daily.

Although the sight has been continuously plagued with controversies involving copying of material from other sites, Ebaumsworld still has one of the largest forum communities online.

Another equally good choice is Metacafe, which along with YouTube is one of the leading video submission sites. Metacafe specializes on short but original video content. This video submission site has some similarities to YouTube, including adult content filtering and rating of videos according to popularity. On the other hand, it has several features that make it unique, namely, they pay video creators for popular videos.

Creators of videos which have been viewed and ranked highest by the most number of people are often rewarded by the site through its Producer Rewards Program. Any video that has been viewed at least 20,000 times with a 3.0 rating and has passed the rest of Metacafe’s requirements and policies is rewarded with $5 per 1,000 views. More information about the service and its programs is also available in the Metacafe blog at www.blog.metacafe.com.

No matter which of these sites you use, you are a guaranteed an instant audience once you hit that “Upload” button and both should be part of any video marketing strategy.

Bonus Tip: Bulk video submission software now allows you to [http://www.videopostrobot.com]upload video automatically to many sites at one time. You pay a one time fee and then use it for as many videos submitted to as many sites as the software supports. This is a very cost effective method for getting your videos and your site the maximum public exposure possible with just one click. Currently, Video Post Robot is one of the more popular automatic video submission programs available. You can try it here: http://www.VideoPostRobot.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Yoshio_Kennedy http://EzineArticles.com/?Video-Marketing-Tips—Submit-Your-Video-To-These-Top-Sites&id=1050208

Marketing through blogs is simple, but can take some real creativity. This is because you have to get on a subject, or topic that will really interest people and make them want to comment. This can mean starting a controversial topic that will encourage their opinion, or talking about a recent event that is still fresh. This can be particularly hard to relate with your website hence the creativity need.

For this article I am going to use one of my websites as an example and actually write a blog for my site so that you can see its development. Feel free to comment, and make suggestions.

Finding the Right Place to Create Your Blog.

There are several websites out there that will allow you to create a blog, and almost all of them are free. I use a couple different ones, but for this example will us the simplest one. We are going to use blogger.com. This blogger program is simple and completely free. They are in conjunction with Google so you can use your Gmail account login to create the account which is nice. This way you don’t have to create another user name and password.

Creating the Blog

After you have setup the account all we need to do is come up with a domain name and topic. The domain name is usually very easy as most people use there existing website domain name. In which case your domain name would look like this yourdomainname.blogger.com. After this we just need to decide on a new topic, I am going to go with a controversial one to decide on this topic I would first look at my site and what I sell. My website sells website banners and logos, and it also has a page on E Commerce Business Articles. Looking over all of that information I am going to choose the topic “Is the Internet becoming to Saturated to make any money”. This is both a recent issue and a controversial one as well.

Writing the Blog Discussion

This can prove to be the hardest part of the process. You will want to be short and sweet as well as informative and encouraging. here is my opening statement. “This question is often asked, and could probably use a lot of attention.” After this I put in my opinion on the topic and then opened it up for questions. After that it is as simple as referring a couple of people there through other blogs or maybe a myspace or facebook account. Let the blog grow and make sure to come back and comment on other comments people have made. This way you will keep the blog on subject and fresh look. http://www.Goodrichlogos.com http://www.goodrichlogos.blogspot.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Andy_Goodrich http://EzineArticles.com/?Marketing-Through-Blogs&id=1090335

First off, the concept. A blog novel is a essentially a novel that a blogger writers in installments on their blog over a long period of time. Every day they will add 300-500 words or so to the novel and then wait for comments from their readers. These readers will off opinions, advice and comments on the nature of the novel and how well it is turning out. The blogger can host polls, ask for submissions or sponsor spinoffs to make their novel more exciting for the readers.

Essentially, it’s similar to a Choose Your Own Adventure style book, except the author still gets the final say. Of course that sounds like a fun format and for that reason, hundreds of people have tried to use it in recent years to gather excitement around their next project. That being the prime reason for the format, the blog novel is used by many writers to get a built in audience for a new book project. If they can gather steady traffic to their blog, they can become familiar with a series of steady readers who are almost guaranteed to read the novel when it is completed. These people will not only be extremely invested in the book, they will feel as though they had a say in writing it.

Secondly, a blog novel allows a writer to start making money from their novel right away by using the traditional means of advertising and money making on a blog. By using Google Ads or sponsored affiliated programs, blog novelists can ask their readers to help contribute to the process by visiting ads and links that will pay off big in the end.

Ultimately, with the right investment, a blog novel can be incredibly entertaining both the writer and the readers and offers a great chance for a writer to get a head start on their readership as well as a small advance for their writing efforts. What publisher wouldn’t be interested in a book that hundreds of people are already raving about?

Anthony Chatfield is the writer of two novels and several eBooks on blogging, social networking and making money while writing online. You can visit his most recent Blog novel project at [http://brutusweaver.blogspot.com]his newest blog, here

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Anthony_Chatfield http://EzineArticles.com/?The-Blog-Novel—How-to-Make-them-Work-for-You&id=709411

Once they are set up, blogs are easy to update. The typical blog entry is short and informal, making it easy for you to write - and easy for your customers to read. Because blogs are filled with a bunch of little blurbs, your readers are more likely to visit on a regular basis to read your latest commentaries. They also feature a search function, which your readers can use to find blog entries on a specific topic.

But like every form of marketing, a blog requires you to lead it in a strategic direction. Before you start your blog, make a decision about the blog’s theme and “voice.” Once you determine your goals, stick to the topic. You can weave your  personality and stories into the blog, but always keep these relevant to your target audience. Make your blog a tool that provides helpful advice, tips, and musings to your readers. A blog that is really a sales pitch or advertisement will NOT garner a wide audience.

Here are some examples of the types of business blogs and the various types companies that might benefit from them:

1) Consultant Blog: This type of blog is widely used by a variety of service-based companies including marketers, interior designers, event planners, financial advisors, and so on. In fact, this is the type of blog that I write. The Consultant Blog primarily features a single person writing about their advice and observations. It is a way of highlighting your expertise in an area and building an active readership who trust your opinion to guide them.

2) Tourist Blog: Every Bed and Breakfast can benefit from this type of blog. It features the local area with pictures of surrounding vistas and updates about upcoming events. It can feature links to local weather and favorite places to visit. The Tourist Blog can help sway people to use your business services over that of a competitor, as well as keep in touch with them until they visit your city again. It can also save your business time by providing people the answers to frequent questions. Other businesses that benefit from this style include rafting companies, ski areas, fishing guides, festivals, and so on.

3) Industry Blog: There are a number of companies that specialize in a very narrow area of their industry. For example, many manufacturers are highly specialized in what their company produces. These companies often sell to other businesses. In this case, it is often helpful to blog about new products lines, materials, trade shows, equipment innovations, industry news, and shipping news. Examples of industries that would benefit from these blogs include fabrication, machining, printing, engineering, insurance, and stamping.

4) Specialty Blog: Many businesses, associations, and hobbyists enjoy this type of blog. It focuses on a specific subject. Examples include golf, sailing, stamp collecting, dog breeds, wedding planning, weight loss, and so on. The Specialty Blog can be written by one or multiple contributors. It is a wonderful way to build an online community and encourage comments because the readers share a common interest.

5) Feature Blog: I primarily see this type of blog being used by people who are in a creative type of business. It incorporates lots of pictures of recent projects and how-to entries. Sometimes there are video posts or audio recordings. It often has links to an online store where a visitor can purchase the project or sign up for an event. A Feature Blog is very useful for artists, designers. musicians, performers, illustrators, quilters, and writers. Another type of business that could benefit is one that produces custom products such as a furniture maker or a bike builder.

When you are writing a blog, don’t be bland. The key is to be yourself and to reflect the core personality of your company. If there are things that make you mad or get you excited, your blog can be a place to post these things. If you don’t keep your blog on topic, lively, and engaging, your readers will quickly get bored. Write in your blog regularly - I recommend at least once a week or more.

To drive traffic to your blog, list it in blog directories such as Technorati. You should also incorporate keywords in your entries to help people find you via search engines. For example, an insurance company in San Francisco should incorporate the terms “San Francisco insurance” into their posts with a link back to their website. In this way people can easily get more information. Be sure to set up an About page with your contact information so people can get in touch.

Action Tip: So, ready to start blogging?  You can set up a blog easily with Blogger, Typepad, and Wordpress depending on your marketing goals and level of technical knowledge. This week, sit down and decide on your Blog Type, who in your company will write it, and how you will schedule regular blog updates. When you are ready, contact a designer to create a blog header and set up your blog. Then…Blog Away!!!

Wendy Maynard of [http://gomarketingmaven.com/]GoMarketingMaven.com created the Maven Marketing System specifically for small business owners, coaches, consultants, and solo-preneurs. She also publishes a free weekly marketing ezine. Subscribe at http://www.gomarketingmaven.com/ezine_3.html

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Wendy_Maynard http://EzineArticles.com/?How-a-Blog-Can-Help-Your-Business&id=664712

Many bloggers have blog posts less than 200 words, while others prefer 500-900 word posts. Blog posts with 350-450 words are more common.

The number of words really doesn’t matter, if you have something to say, and you can say it clearly and completely. The length of the blog posts can affect the perception of readers to the blogger.

Do you prefer a 100-200 word quickie or 700-900 word long posts? The quickies appear too short and the longer ones appear too long.

The shorter posts also have another problem; readers can think you don’t put in the efforts to write something meaningful.

Bloggers also quickly set a pattern - about everything in their blog. When the readers see more 100-word posts in a blog than it used to be, it creates some confusion in the minds of readers. The reverse is also true.

If you have set a pattern of long posts, there is nothing to worry about an occasional quickie. A one-liner is enough while introducing a new blog, an interesting blog post or a new product or service. The link you put to the resource makes your post a complete one. Word count does not matter.

It is not always how much you write. It is about conveying the idea clearly and completely. Write 1000 words if you feel it necessary to convey an idea. If you think you can convey the idea in less than 100 words - that too is fine.

In conclusion, it is not the number of words use, but what you say is what matters.

Now tell me, is this a quickie?

Qualified Journalist and Web-Content Writer since Sep. 2005, Prince John writes for businesses and provide them with quality articles, product/service descriptions and sales letters to enrich their websites.
Now on a hobby blogging project, he invites businesses and bloggers check his blog out at [http://afpj.blogspot.com/] [http://afpj.blogspot.com/]http://afpj.blogspot.com/. A [http://afpj.blogspot.com/2007/07/get-paid-to-review-my-blog.html] get paid to blog and a [http://afpj.blogspot.com/2007/06/link-exchange-invitation.html] link exchange invitation for bloggers are also on.

Copyright © Prince John 2005-2007
You may publish this article in your website, blog or newsletter - provided you agree not make any edits, leave the links in clickable form and leave this notice intact.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Prince_John http://EzineArticles.com/?Length-of-Posts—Short-or-Long&id=641405

Blogs can come in all different styles, formats and settings, depending on the users preferences. Many blogging sites, offer built in features such as hyperlinks, pictures, mp3’s, videos, etc. Some bloggers choose to make their blogs more audio friendly, by using spoken word entries. This is called audio blogging. There are also video logs.

Blogging can really be somethng for everyone. Overall, it can be fun, simple and easy to do. Basically, a blog will contain these features at a minimum:

archive- list of older articles,

title- where you label your post,

body- the content of your post,

blogroll- other sites can be linked back to your blog,

comments- this allow readers to post comments on your blog.

Unlike other websites that are made up of numerous individual pages, blogs are usually made up of only a few templates making it easier for blog users to create new pages. This can be very helpful for beginners, since they can start blogging right away once they’ve set up their account. One of the appeals of blogging is that it creates a community of people sharing similar ideas, thoughts, and comments with each other.

The most popular blog type of all is the personal journal. This is the type that is normally used by first time bloggers. Individuals who want to document the daily struggle of their everyday lives, rants, poems, writings, ideas, and opinions find that blogging offers them a medium in which to express themselves.

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, mobile technology, web design, pets, etc. These blogs focus on their specific themes. In this way blogging becomes a medium where people can share their knowledge and opinions about a variety of themes and topics.

There are a lot of other things you can do with a blog. Some bloggers use their blogs as a means to advertise and earn money. Some authors advertise their books or products on their blogs while other bloggers use their blogs to shed light on currents issues, news, family issues, personal thoughts and discoveries, events or catastrophes.

A lot of entrepreneurs benefit from blogging by promoting their products and businesses on their own blogs. With millions and millions of people logging onto the net each and everyday, blogging has become a lucrative move. Some bloggers who run online businesses promote their merchandise online. Others profit through advertisements placed on their blogs.

Blogs can also play an important part in education. Professors can use blogging to document the lessons that they have previously discussed and taught. This is one way students who missed class can easily catch up with their assignments.

Want to learn more about blogging in general or a topic in particular? Blogs varying in topics, themes, and set-ups, and 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 kinds of directories. This way they can get an idea of what these blogging communities, and blogging in general, are all about.

Want to find out more about blogging? Go to Google and search for blogging directories. You’ll get a list of a lot of blogging sites that are available on the net. In this way you can find exactly what you are looking for or are interested in. After that you could easily decide for yourself whether or not you want to enter the world of blogging to share yourself with the rest of the world.

Debbie Ray, owner of [http://www.the-website-doctor.com/]http://www.the-website-doctor.com  , [http://www.pedigreedpups.com/]http://www.pedigreedpups.com    and [http://www.total-german-shepherd.com/]http://www.total-german-shepherd.com   is a lifelong dog lover , web designer and teacher. Interested in more internet or dog related information? Let me teach you more.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Debbie_Ray http://EzineArticles.com/?A-Beginners-Guide-to-Blogging&id=625898

It is fun. Yes, blogging can be great fun. Just open you posting window and go for it without the restrictions of corporate style guides and other impediments to creativity.  Got something to say? Just say it. The other fun aspect of blogging is that people can post comments about your blog posts. You posts plus reader comments all become valuable food for the search engines.

It’s cheap. The most powerful blogging systems are free. Wordpress seems to be the blogging standard and now comes standard with many cheap web hosting packages. For less than $100 per year anyone can get their own domain with blogging included.

I wouldn’t use one of the free blogging services unless you are really desperate. You can’t be sure if they will always remain free and your posts will be building up someone else’ asset rather than your own.
It’s fast and easy. If you can use notepad you can blog. The user interface is very intuitive and allows you to add and edit, text, pictures, videos, whatever you want. Want to change the look and layout of your blog? There’s literally hundreds of themes available that take less than a minute to upload and install.
It gives you products and services personality.  People like to do business with people they like. By blogging you show your target market that there is a real person behind the company you represent. By reading you blog posts thet get an idea of what you’re all about - warts and all. The personal aspect of blogging is one of it’s most powerful characteristics.
Your blog site becomes another Internet asset.  Some blog sites get thousands and thousands of readers each day.  This traffic can be converted to hard, cold cash through Google Adsense advertising, affiliate programs and straight advertising space sale. Once you blog increases it’s Google PageRank, you also get the benefit of linking out from your blog site to other web sites you want to promote.
Search engines love blogs. It is said in many SEO forums that Google staff are great bloggers and subsequently Google spiders and indexes blogs more frequently that normal web sites. This may just be a rumour, but I have found it to be true in my case. If you blog every day there’s a good chance Google and the other major search engines will spider your blog every day looking for that new content.
Convinced?  Give blogging a try. There’s stacks of free resources listed in article directories like this one that will help you get into blogging.

John Hacking is Marketing Manager for a Brisbane web site design company and Product Manager for a Brisbane  SEO firm. He has just started an
SEO blog.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_Hacking
http://EzineArticles.com/?Six-Reasons-To-Build-A-Blog-For-Online-Marketing-Success&id=594851