Archive for the ‘Blogging’ Category

Blogging As A New Internet Marketing Tool

Friday, October 2nd, 2009

When people blog, it can be for many reasons. But blogging has also become a tool to do business online usually giving revenue to the blogger himself.

Why is blogging a craze on the internet?

  1. Blogging is simple.  The simplest way to get your piece on the net is through blogging.  No skills are necessary… an average adult can read and type, or at least click a mouse.
  2. Blogging is authentic. In blogs, real people share their real-life experiences, unscathed by paid advertising.
  3. Blogging is free.  Any opportunity for free webtime is definitely a bonus especially to businesses that are starting up. Needless to say, paid blog pages can generate more income for your seriously growing business.
  4. Blogging builds credibility.  As you get more and more into writing your experiences on a particular product or industry, your readers come to realize that they can depend on your posts for their own information needs.
  5. Blogging builds your market.  Unless you are a Hollywood star, chances are, only your Mom reads your posts.  Mom has a lot of friends, so she lets her friends know how interesting your blog site is.

Here are some ways to increase your market through blogging:

  • By using your e-mail. Let them explore your site by using a short e-mail message as teaser to your blog site.
  • By using subscription.  An easy way to get your readers e-mail is to give them an opportunity to subscribe to your blogsite.
  • By understanding your readers.  Conduct a simple survey for your readers to understand their profile and advertising preferences.  Ask consumers to give you feedback on a post, an ad link, or a trial that you shared.
  • By joining a blog network –A network of blogs maybe a collection of blog sites that share the same industry, interest, readership base, payment mode, etc.
  • By using RSS. RSS is the fastest growing technology on the Internet today.  As such, having RSS feeds to your blog is definitely another means of generating awareness for your readership base.  Having a variety of feeds can add interest to your blog site.

Increase Sales Through Audio Streaming

Friday, September 25th, 2009

People listen to the radio for entertainment, usually to listen to the latest music or to their favorite radio program.  In between the program, advertisements on products and services are being played.

It is then that the benefits of using music on websites were discovered.

However, there had been a problem with illegal music download in which artists, musicians and record companies have lost millions of revenues.

After that, internet radio streaming became popular. Radio streaming does not allow the music files to be downloaded.

How can we use audio stream for our sites?

First, is to stream a radio program from your site or blog.  You can find free affiliate programs that allow you to stream their radio content from your site.

This means that your site will have new audio content every time it is visited.  What’s even great is that the content is being updated even without much effort from you.

In this case, what you needed to do is to signup with an Internet radio station and have the link embedded on your blog or website.

Another way is to stream mp3s.  To do this, you just need to upload your mp3files on a server and add the files’ links to the page.  When the link is clicked, the browser opens a media player window and plays a file.  However, since the file is in mp3 format, it may also be downloaded.

A third way to add audio to you blog or website is to stream music through organizing playlists.  Playlists are m3u files, which if downloaded, will not play music if offline.

Here is a short instruction on how to do it.

  1. Save your mp3 or wma file on the server.  You may skip this step if you know that the file exists on another server and know the link to that file.  Make sure that the link has a .mp3 or .wma extension.
  2. Open your text editor and type the path to the file.   Include the http:// and the file extension.  Repeat this step until you have included all the links to the files that you would like to be included in the playlist.
  3. Save the playlist with a .m3u extension.
  4. Upload the m3u file on the directory where the music files are hosted or to your server.
  5. Open your html editor and embed the link to the m3u file.  Through this, you can also set if you want to have the playlist to autoplay if someone visits your site of if you want your visitor to control playing the music.  You can also set the volume level.

After the code is embedded on the html file, and whenever your site is visited, the songs in the playlist will be buffered, streamed and played one after another.  If your playlist has several songs, the user can skip forward or go back a song in the playlist using the media player controls.

Doing this setup works for many website owners.  Through this you can customize the type of music being played on your site.  You can even play recordings related to your product to boost product awareness.

It requires knowledge of html to be done.  But if it will be the best way to increase traffic to your site, why not request assistance from programmers.  After all, having audio on a website is a proven way to increase sales.

Top 5 Tips for Profitable Problogging

Monday, August 3rd, 2009

The following are a few things that you need to consider if you want to be successful in problogging:

  1. Be patient. Problogging requires a lot of time and effort, not to mention a long-term vision.
  2. Know your audience. Targeting a specific audience or group is a key to building a readership.
  3. Be an ‘expert’. Focus on a specific niche topic and strive to be the “go-to” blogger on that topic.
  4. Diversify. Experiment with various add and affiliate programs that enable you to make money online (aside from blogging).
  5. Do not bore your readers. Focus on the layout. White spaces, line spacings, and bigger fonts make a blog welcoming to read.

Certainly, it is possible to earn money from blogs. One just needs to take risks, the passion, and the right attitude in order to be a successful problogger.

Problogging for Money

Saturday, August 1st, 2009

Blogging is typically done on a regular (almost daily) basis. The term “blogging” refers to the act of authoring, maintaining, or adding an article to an existing blog, while the term “blogger” refers to a person or a group who keeps a blog.

Today, more than 3 million blogs can be found in the Internet. This figure is continuously growing, as the availability of various blog software, tools, and other applications make it easier for just about anyone to update or maintain the blog (even those with little or no technical background). Because of this trend, bloggers can now be categorized into 4 main types:

  • Personal bloggers – people who focus on a diary or on any topic that an individual feels strongly about.
  • Business bloggers – people who focus on promoting products and services.
  • Organizational bloggers – people who focus on internal or external communication in an organization or a community.
  • Professional bloggers – people who are hired or paid to do blogging.

Problogging (professional blogging) refers to blogging for a profit. Probloggers (professional bloggers) are people who make money from blogging (as an individual blog publisher or a hired blogger).

Below are just some of the many money-making opportunities for probloggers:

  • Advertising programs
  • RSS advertising
  • Sponsorship
  • Affiliate Programs
  • Digital assets
  • Blog network writing gigs
  • Business blog writing gigs
  • Non blogging writing gigs
  • Donations
  • Flipping blogs
  • Merchandising
  • Consulting and speaking

Beginners Guide to Blogging

Thursday, July 30th, 2009

A blog is basically an online journal where you can write your thoughts, sent5iments, ideas and opinions etc for people to read.

Many blogging sites, offer built in features such as hyperlink, straight texts, pictures etc. Some blogging sites, even allow you to put video and mp3’s on your blog.

Basic Features of A Blog

  • Title- which allows you to label your post
  • Body- this is the content of your post
  • Trackback- other sites can be linked back to your blog
  • Permanent link- every article that you write has a URL
  • Comments- this allow readers to post comments on your blog.

Advantages of Blogging

  • Only few templates are to be used. This means that it is easier to use and create pages.
  • By becoming a member of of a blogging website, they become a part of that particular blogging community. They can browse through other bloggers pages, and link them back to their own blogs. They can also make comments on other members’ blogs.
  • It is not only for personal use.
  • You can use it as a means to advertise.
  • For teachers, they can document their lessons that they have discussed, making it easy for the students to catch up.

But by far, the most popular blog type is the one that takes the form of a personal journal. This is the kind that is usually used by first time bloggers. Individuals who want to document the daily struggle of their everyday lives, poems, rants, opinions, find that blogging offers them a medium in which to express themselves.

Bloggers usually communicate within themselves. This is one of the appeals of blogging. It creates a community of people sharing their ideas, thoughts, and comments with each other.

Blogs varying in topics, themes, and set-ups, 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 directories. This way they’d get an idea of what these blogging communities are like.

Just search any blogging directory and you’d get a listing of a lot of blogging sites that are available on the net. It’s easy to search a blogging directory, because it is organized according to category. This way you would get exactly what you are after. Blogging is really for everyone. It is fun, simple and easy.