Posts Tagged ‘Blogging for Beginners’

Five Most Important Things You Must Do for Your New Blog

Sep 7, 2008 Blogging Tips, Blogging for Beginners

Now that you have decided what topic fits in for your blog, and have chosen which blogging software to use, it should not end there. There are a couple of ‘must do’ steps before finally launching your new blog.

  1. Make sure you’ve configured everything. There’s nothing worse than having done 99% of the work, only to be let down by the final 1%. Get done with your profile settings like your About Me page, or any blog addons such as plugins (in the case of WordPress-powered blogs). Many plugins and themes require some work to make them usable.
  2. Pick a theme and stick with it. There are many available themes that you can use – either for free or paid ones, but make sure your blog will stand out from the rest with that theme., it is one of the major steps in retaining traffic and building readership. Adding a theme also makes you appear less like a spammer – most spammers don’t personalize their blogs and just stick to the default themes. Moreover, they don’t add personal information on the splogs.
  3. Provide good content. When you’re ready to upload the content, you should set it up to create a great archive. Make sure you categorize your posts accordingly.
  4. Promote your blog. Once you’ve got a nice stock of content up, start promoting your blog. Practice article marketing, exchange link with other related blogs, add your site to bookmarking sites and encourage your readers to do so, too.
  5. Enjoy your new blog. Blogging is just like any other hobby. You enjoy it and the best thing about it is you may earn from it. Blogging is about connecting with other people of similar interests and creates a reader base to discuss your work with. It also allows you to express yourself, make friends, and spread your expertise over the web. All in all, blogging is being social and having fun! readers and will give you a reader base to discuss your work with – but it will also allow you to express yourself, make friends, and spread your expertise over the web. But most of all, blogging is enjoyable, so always keep it that way, and have fun!

Popularity: 41% [?]

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Keyword Research Tools in Choosing a Niche

Sep 4, 2008 Blogging Tips

When setting up a niche website, one must consider choosing those keywords that are frequently searched for and which is in high demand. However, the keyword density must also be considered, that is, the keyword is not being already used by many other websites and competitors, thus low competition exist for the keyword. This is when keyword research tools come in.

Wordtracker is one of the best ones available and probably the widely used one. There are some more equally important research tools that one can also use. There’s the Overture, Google AdWords Keyword and Guidebeam.

Overture’s keyword suggestion tool is free and much quicker to use than Wordtracker. It works more like the Wordtracker but doesn’t tell you how many websites are targeting each keyword phrase. For example if you type ‘Computer’, the Overture search suggestion tool will tell you that during the last month the word ‘Computer’ was searched, say for example 459550 times at Overture.Com. Similarly ‘computer game’ was searched 302210 times. Also, given one word it will tell you all relevant combinations of that word, which are based on actual searches done by people. If the word you keyed in is not a common search term then you will not get any results. It means that very few people have actually searched for that word during the last month.

Even Google Keyword Tool generates potential keywords for your ad campaign and reports their Google statistics, including search performance and seasonal trends. Features of this tool include,

  • Sorting the results of your desired keyword search by popularity, past performance history within the AdWords system, cost, and predicted ad position.
  • Easy keyword manipulation where you can select a few keywords here and there or add them all at once.
  • Searches for keywords present even in any webpage URL specified by your search. It can also expand your keyword search even further to include those pages that are linked to or from the original URL page.
  • More keyword results are generated based on regularly updated usage statistics database. This helps you to get new keywords or phrase

Guidebeam. When setting up a niche website, one must consider choosing those keywords that are frequently searched for and which is in high demand. However, the keyword density must also be considered, that is, the keyword is not being already used by many other websites and competitors, thus low competition exist for the keyword. This is when keyword research tools come in.

These softwares are useful for researching how people search the web and then optimizing your own web pages so that more people find your web site.

Popularity: 18% [?]

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Blogging Guidelines: Know the Do’s and Don’ts

Mar 22, 2008 Blogging Tips, Blogging for Beginners

Some basic guidelines on blogging, if you use a service blogger.com they have their own terms and conditions for posting content. You can’t just post anything, so always read the t&c’s. If you don’t follow their rules, your blog will probably get deleted.

If you host a blog on your own hosting account, using software like WordPress. You have full control over the content you post, so your blog won’t get deleted.

What are the DOs and DON’Ts of blogging?

First the DOs:

• Do put pictures and multimedia sources to enhance the content. Could either be a vlog, photoblog, etc.

• Do base your posts with a good category structure to make it easy to find content for a particular topic.

• Do put paragraphs and sub-ideas. It’s not entertaining to read one block of manuscript. Digest it into pieces.

• Do create mutual communication between you and your readers. Answer queries without leaving your readers hanging for an answer.

• Do make your article as simple and as understandable as possible. Avoid beating around the bush. Not unless you wanted to captivate your readers with your literary prowess. Write like your talking to a friend.

• Do respect your reader’s opinions. That’s the essence of being a blogger. Accept truths. Do away with the insults.

• Do update. If you make blogging a part of your life, post as often as possible with fresh content.

Second the DON’Ts:

• Don’t go against your host’s legal boundaries. Respect their terms and conditions.

• Don’t ignore the quality of your content. Be specific with posting information.

• Don’t provoke fights. Sometimes comments can be a pain. And sometimes, none of it is true. Let it go and don’t waste your energy.

• Don’t waste a post with inappropriate details that would just confuse your audience.

• Don’t copy the works of others. They might sue you for plagiarism for this. Produce something original. Imitations trigger criticisms.

• Don’t be afraid to advertise. It’s one way to make your blog famous among the masses. Go to other sites and leave your blog address. It’s a matter of give and take.

• Don’t attack individuals, companies or fellow bloggers. Show respect. If you disagree with an opinion, tell it with caution.

• Don’t disregard your responsibilities. Journalism still has its price. Being able to write in a liberated way doesn’t erase you of your obligations.

Most internet sites like Yahoo! and IBM publish their guidelines on blogging. It is intended to be read, understood, and accepted by the blogger. Obey certain rules and policies. It won’t do you wrong. Libelous materials could cause you problems, so better follow the rules.

Popularity: 24% [?]

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