The primary goal of anyone who owns and/or runs a blog is to have it be popular. This is especially true whether your blog is designed to be your primary or a secondary source of income. Even if the blog is just for fun or distraction, what is the point if no one is coming to read your witty musings? There are millions of blogs online, why should someone invest their limited time in reading yours? There are many ways to get initial traffic coming to your blog, but what makes traffic stay there and then bookmark you so they come back? The one trait of a blog that can encourage this type of behavior is whether the blog has a credible appearance or not.

When the average web surfer comes to a blog, the first thing they notice is whether or not the blog appears to look professional or not. If a blog appears to have an amateur look to it, then the first reaction is going to be that the content is amateurish as well. Most people have only so much time to surf the web and look for blogs to read and they are not going to want to waste their time on the most amateur looking blogs. So the first step in making your blog have credibility is by making sure its design and overall appearance are professional, crisp, and clean.

One of the key things that goes into making a blog a success is that it promotes a feeling of community. Blogs allow the authors to publish their content and then allow the readers to submit comments in reply to that content. Soon other readers can comment too and they can direct their comments to either the original author or the other commenters, forming a kind of ongoing dialog. Humans do exhibit some herding mentality at different times in their lives. When most readers come to a blog that has no comments on it, they assume the content isn’t that great otherwise other readers would’ve commented on it already before them. Blog owners can increase the amount of commenters they get, thus increasing their blog’s credibility, by encouraging comments like asking for others opinions or running blog contests where the winner must comment on a post to enter.

The final factor that impacts whether readers will do their part in making a blog successful is if the blog they are visiting has quality content that is well written. Readers will only come back to a blog time and time again if they are either learning something new or being entertained each time, and the only way they will assume the author is educated and knowledgable in what they are writing is if there are no grammatical or spelling errors. If the reader is not getting value by going to the blog they will not return. Also, if the reader thinks that the writer lacks basic writing skills, they are going to lose faith in how smart they think the writer is. Even if there is quality information posted on the blog, if it is not well written then it will not appear to be credible.

When it comes right down to it if a blog looks professional, if it contains well written quality content that people want or need, and if it looks like others are reading and commenting on the blog showing that they are finding value in what is being posted, then your blog will indeed have a truly credible look to it. Only with this credible appearance will your blog reach the heights and goals that you have for it.

This post was generated by an RSS Feed from Website GoodiesYou may also like to read:

• Is Your Nofollow Blog Disappointing People?
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Making Sure Your Blog Exhibits Credibility is a post from: Build Me A Fab Website

Setting up a blog is easy but maintaining and promoting it in search engines needs specialized skills. You need to understand how blog functions and in what ways it can be promoted successfully to generate instant and constant stream of traffic.

Whenever you update or add posts to your blog, you can ping to let services (designed specifically for connecting blogs.) know your blog content have changed since last update. This is like telling others that you have changed. It is seen that pinging increases traffic to your blog.

With WordPress, checking for updates in your blog is done automatically and the changes are reflected usually by moving you blog links on top of bloggers blogroll list. This way you get more clicks to your blog.

If you want to increase more traffic to your blog, you can install additional pinging services. Its seen that pinging frequently increase traffic to your blog. Most of the blogging software comes with at leas one ping updates which pings every time you add a new post; but if you want to ping even if you edit your post to update it, you need to install additional plug-ins.

WordPress bloggers can add additional update ping services by simply login to there account and adding more update services in their list present at the bottom of the sub-sub menu Writing tab under Option menu. A long list if services to be added can be found here at http://elliottback.com/wp/archives/2004/11/21/a-list-of-rpc-and-rpc2-to-ping/ .

Besides pinging services, you will also need to submit your Rss feeds to various directories and search engines to increase traffic to your blog. One advanced tip (often missed) while making your Rss feeds is to carefully select keywords which are high on traffic but low in competition and use them in the text of the feeds. Also update your feeds more often to increase your chance of being found in the SERPs.

Nothing else can beat the power of adding keyword rich contents to your blog frequently. This has the major impact in attracting quality traffic to your website as more and more posts from your blog find their way into the search results. Usually it is seen that blogging frequency is most when you have newly installed your blog and after 2-3 months of blogging the frequency of blogging tends to decrease. So, it is the continual efforts that will get your blog the much-deserved traffic.

Happy Blogging!!

By Rakesh Ojha. Rakesh Ojha is a SEO specialist and Online Marketing Consultant with over 5 Years in SEM Industry. Contact him at rakesh@searchengineoptimization4u.com or visit his website at http://www.searchengineoptimization4u.com. Read latest SEM and SEO articles on his blog at http://semblog.searchengineoptimization4u.com

This post was generated by an RSS Feed from Website GoodiesYou may also like to read:

• Forget SEO, You Need SPO: Search Person Optimization
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Traffic to Your Blog is a post from: Build Me A Fab Website

by Stoney deGeyter

Whenever a new medium emerges and becomes the “it” thing. Everyone flocks to it until the next shiny thing comes around and then that becomes the new “it.” Inevitably, those on the cutting edge of “it” always decry the downfall of the previous “it” which then becomes “that”. “That” is obsolete. “That” doesn’t have long-term value. You need to give “that” up and put your money in “it.”

But “that” doesn’t always go away no matter how much “it” gains in popularity.

Remember radio? Of course you do. We still listen to radio. Sometimes even listen to it on old fashioned radio tuners instead of over the internet or via satellite. But didn’t you hear? Radio is dead. Radio “died” with the invention of the TV.

Ah, the memories of old fashioned TV. Television died when the Internet came along allowing us to download programs on demand. But the television is still there, piping in hours of entertainment into our homes every night.

And then there was SEO. That died around 1992. Google killed it remember? Or was it social media that killed SEO? Oh heck, I keep forgetting because, well, SEO dies every year with some new proclamation of the new “it”. But then here we are, still helping people make their sites better so they deserve top placement in the search engine rankings.

Luckily the prophets of doom have been wrong more than they’ve been right. Heck, they are already onto their next death: the death of blogging. According to Wired Magazine, Twitter, Flickr and Facebook are the new “it” and blogging is on it’s way out.

We’ll file that right next to the death of SEO!

There is no doubt that Social media and micro-blogging platforms have diminished the need certain types of blogs and blogging. We no longer have to write long-involved posts about what we did last weekend, we can just twitter it as its happening. Pretty cool. But twitter and Facebook is hit and miss. If your followers are not there reading your updates when it happens, then as far as they are concerned, it didn’t, unless they go out of their way to read your specific history.

Think of twitter as live TV and blogs as your DVR. If you miss the live broadcast on twitter you’re SOL. But hey, if they blog about it, you can go back and get all the pertinent details on your own time.

Twitter, Facebook and even flickr updates only give you a small part of the story at any one time. It’s like trying to watch an entire movie in 3 minute chunks. Sure, it can be done, but it’ll take a long time and you lose a lot in the process.

I’m not against Twitter, Facebook or Flickr. I love them all. Each has their purpose and their place and they can certainly make it so you don’t have to blog as much as you used to, which can be a good thing for everybody.

The power of the blog

But blogging isn’t dead, nor do we want it to be. Especially for the small business. Blogs hold tremendous power that every small business needs to utilize.

Blogs bring traffic

Yes, people still read blogs. You’re reading one right now, so there is no reason to think someone won’t want read yours. It’s just a matter of having something valuable to say.

There are two primary ways people will come to read your blog. The first is via search engines. If you’re writing about your business’s topic, you need to be sure you’re doing keyword research. Find out what people are searching for that’s related to your industry. Then use those keywords in your blog posts. The more you write using keyword phrases the more opportunity you’ll have to bring in targeted traffic to your blog via search engines.

The second way people read your blog is through RSS readers. These are people who already found your blog, like your content and want to make sure they don’t miss a thing. Each blog post is imported into their feed reader which shows them all the new posts from your blog as well as other blogs they are subscribed to. From the RSS feed you can drive these readers into your site, whether it be your blog or your main business content areas.

Blogs promote your knowledge

Blog posts are a great way to share your knowledge. In any industry those that are viewed as the most knowledgeable tend to be the most trusted. Whether you are in a competitive field or a shallow one, you can make yourself–and your business–stand out by promoting your in depth knowledge of your topic.

Sharing little known tips, tricks, strategies, helpful tidbits, detailed instructions and tutorials all lend to your own credibility. Put enough of those together and you have your own e-book, or a library of e-books.

Blogs help people

Not an egomaniac? Fine, don’t think about blogging as a way to promote yourself or your knowledge. Just think of it as a way to help people. Because while you’re promoting your knowledge you’re also giving people valuable information that helps them in life, business or whatever. Your tips and tutorials are providing valuable information to people who otherwise may not have known. You are making people’s lives better by giving them an education.

Blogs build links

The more helpful your blog posts are the more likely they’ll be passed on or linked to. Twitter is great for passing around URLs. One good blog post can get a lot of distance through the social media platforms. As your resources get noticed you’ll start to build links. People will link to you in their blogs or websites or pass your information on via Facebook or twitter to other who may link to it. You’ll find your posts accessible from industry related websites and sometimes even direct competitors. People love sharing information and on the web, information is shared with links.

Blogs create customer and brand loyalty

The more you blog, and the more helpful your blog is, the more customer and brand loyalty you’ll be creating. Not every blog post is designed to get customers, nor should it be. But the more people who come to read your valuable information, the more likely they’ll be to become your customers when they need what you have.

But until your readers become your customers, you’re building up your brand. Brand recognition is extremely important as it plays toward perceptions… which are also passed along. Brand loyalty builds word of mouth, which in turn, builds more customers

Blogs increase sales

Building customers means one thing… you are increasing sales. Yes, your blog will have a lower conversion rate than your main areas of the site, but again, it’s primary function isn’t to directly build sales. But in the long run, that’s exactly what will happen. The more links you get, and the more your blog posts are passed around and/or read, the larger your reach becomes. As your reach grows, your sales grow.

There is no doubt that blogs are a lot of work. It takes time to decide what to write and then put your information together in a compelling way. In my next post I’ll discuss ways that the small business can manage it’s blogging schedule in order to maintain a healthy blog while not ignoring their business.

If you haven’t started blogging for your business you need to start. If fact, if you’re not blogging or twittering I’d say start twittering and work your way to blogging. If you are blogging, start twittering and promote your blog! But you need to get to blogging. A blog can be set up in a matter of hours and ready for your first blog post. Start building your audience today.

This post was generated by an RSS Feed from Search Engine GuideYou may also like to read:

• How Small Business Owners Can Build a Blog Without Blowing the Business
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• Blogging To Help Search Engine Ranking
• Six Reasons Marketers Love Blogs
• Six Reasons SEOs Love Blogs

How a Little Blogging Can Make a Big Difference for the Small Business is a post from: Build Me A Fab Website

by Stoney deGeyter

I don’t consider myself a real blogger. To me, real bloggers don’t have jobs, they just get paid for writing about their opinions. Kinda like journalists.

I’m just a small business owner that happens to blog on a few times a week. But since my source of income is my business blogging takes a back seat to business needs. Most small businesses can’t afford to hire a full-time blogger or ghost writer so they have to work blogging into their many business-owner duties. And because those duties are so heavy on the business owner, blogging generally falls by the wayside as more pressing matters are attended to.

Many small business owners are out there thinking “Blogging? That’s just one more thing to add to my already over-booked work schedule. No thanks.” I feel you.

There is no doubt that sitting down to write a good blog post takes time. Add in artificial deadlines and blog posting schedules, that’s why most small businesses simply don’t do it.

But blogging is an important aspect of growing your business. The key to good blogging is understanding how to work it in, prioritize it properly, and not to feel obligated to anybody but your family and customers.

Establish your blogging priority

Many small business that blog find themselves torn between business obligations and feeling like blogging is one of the most important things we can do to grow their business. It is important but it needs to be prioritized properly.

Looking at the big picture, blogging isn’t just about communicating with our audience. Blogging, when done effectively, helps us improve our reputation, build a brand, get customers, increase search engine rankings and, ultimately, grow the business. Yet, missing a day of blogging here or week there certainly isn’t going to cause your business to fail or turn your customers against you.

As with everything else, you have to keep your blogging time in perspective and prioritize it properly. You don’t have to blog every day. You can set time aside on a weekend, or on your typically slow days and write several posts at once and publish them later. If your designated “blogging time” gets interrupted by more important issues, take care of what’s important. It’s not the end of the world if you don’t get your post(s) completed on schedule.

Know when to stop writing

All of our time is limited so when writing a blog post sometimes we find it taking a lot more of our time than we anticipated. And BLAST!!! you still have two more posts to write today! Ok, stop for a second. Think about this. Can your really long blog post be broken down into several short posts? Snip here, cut there and you just met your blog quota for the week!

You can also break your blog writing time into several shorter periods. Write one post a week, spending 15-20 minutes a day until it’s done.

Change your blogging patterns

It is often not so much a matter of how much you blog but a matter of the content you provide. Not every blog posts has to be 1200 words. Some can be a few hundred, so long as the information you provide is valuable.

If you didn’t get time to sit down and write your typical blog posts, just think of something that you can share in a couple of quick paragraphs. Write it, post it, move on. You can always go back later and revisit on and expand the topic it later.

Short posts can often be just as good, if not better than, long posts. Quick bits of information can be fantastic to readers who don’t always have time to invest in reading long pieces.

Create a blogging schedule

How and when you blog is up to you, but I recommend that you work blogging into your schedule. Have certain times of the day or days of the week or month that is designated as blogging time.

It’s also a good idea to stay a few weeks ahead of yourself. I like to keep 4-6 weeks worth of blogs posts ready to go. This gives me a chance to 1) write a post and go back to it later for proofing, and 2) have blog posts ready to go should something interfere with my normal blogging schedule. Then you never have to worry about not having a blog post ready.

Blogging can be very important to the success of your business. There is a lot of value and potential growth you can get from it, you just need to make sure you set time aside to make it happen.

This post was generated by an RSS Feed from Search Engine GuideYou may also like to read:

• How a Little Blogging Can Make a Big Difference for the Small Business
• How To Write Articles For Blogs Or Websites
• Blogging To Help Search Engine Ranking
• SEO 101: Everything You Need to Know About SEO (But Were Afraid to Ask) – Part 1
• Search Engine Optimization Tip: Adding Content to your Web Site

How Small Business Owners Can Build a Blog Without Blowing the Business is a post from: Build Me A Fab Website