Open Journalism For All - News, Documentaries And Information Services

The dark circles under his eyes are evidence that he has been pecking away at the keyboard again. Night after night he sits, mesmerized by the computer screen surfing forum after forum filling the blank spaces with his comments and opinions about senseless issues, political debates, religious matters, business strategies and shopping options. All the while his marriage is deteriorating, his children are growing up and away, his business is wavering on the brink of bankruptcy, spiritual matters are being neglected, all to which he is oblivious.

One day he happens upon an internet forum about blogging. “What in the world is blogging?” he wonders.

Suddenly he becomes enthralled with a new mission. He has to get to the bottom of this. With all the time he has spent on the internet communicating with people throughout the world, he has never heard of blogging. He wants to learn everything there is to know about it…

Blogging is a relatively new phenomenon that is truly undefined due to the fact that it is not yet what it will become. Currently weblogs teeter on the edges of interactive journalism vs. personal archiving and information sharing. Different bloggers have varying purposes and goals. Some aim to record their thoughts, some to share resources and information and some to tell stories. Blogging has also been used as a tool for educating readers and for providing customer service and communications as well as serving as a tool for self-expression.

With Google’s introduction of the AdSense content-targeted advertising program, you can even generate some revenue from your blog as you get paid per click for Google Ads accessed from your blog. Don’t create a blog on the premise that you’re going to get rich from advertising payments or you may be sorely disappointed. Rather, view the ad program as an added bonus for the time spent filling your blog with useful content, or as getting paid a little for doing something you enjoy.

The best way to get started blogging is just to jump in and get your feet wet. Decide what you want to accomplish through your blog. Is it a tool for getting things off your chest? Sharing your thoughts and feelings? Providing information? Tracking events?

Reading through various blogs will provide you with some ideas for your blogs purpose and for developing your writing style.

Find a blogging medium that you are comfortable with. There are some options out there for free blogs and there are some paid services that are very reasonable, some for commercial and some for non-commercial use.

Probably the quickest and easiest way to start your own blog is to use a hosted service like Blogger - http://www.blogger.com. Getting started with Blogger is a three step process that you can take care of right now. You simply create an account, name your blog and choose a template and you’ll be ready to get started making blog entries. Once you get comfortable with the basic process of blogging, be sure to visit the “Help” section of the Blogger website to learn more about advanced uses and blogging options.

Jason Tarasi publishes the reciprocal links newsletter “Elite Links” Learn HOW thousands of other Elite Links members generate FREE traffic and increase their search engine rankings by swapping links. Grab your free lifetime subscription now at: www.freeclassifiedlinks.com

There seems to be a huge craze lately with everyone trying to blog and ping to get their websites indexed into the search engines. Although this can be a great tool, all marketers should first understand exactly what they’re getting themselves into before starting.

This article is to serve as a beginners guide to getting started with blogging and pinging.

1. What is a blog?

A “blog” is short for “web log.” A web log is an online diary or journal. The main aspect blog is that it is frequently updated - at least once a week, sometimes every day or even more.

Since blogs are regularly updated, they tend to carry more value than regular static HTML pages (in some cases).

2. What is a ping?

A ping is a program that sends out a brief request for a response from another computer or server. When you ping on the Internet, you send out a program to see if a remote server is responding.

3. How do bloggers use pings?

Two main reasons to use pings with blogs: First and foremost is to let the search engines know that you have updated your website so they can send their spiders.

Secondly, pings also update the websites on the internet who are using your blog on their site (through a feature called RSS feeds, they are displaying your messages on their site).

4. So what is the big deal about blogging and pinging?

Smart affiliate marketers use blogging and pinging to help get their sites crawled and indexed by the search engine spiders a lot quicker than they normally would.

They set up a blog either on their main site or on a sub-domain of their site. They then post links to their product pages on their blog and send out a ping to all the major servers on the Internet.

That ping says “This site has fresh content, time to go add it to your database!” It’s a trigger that sends the search spiders looking for updated pages on your site. When they find the new pages, search engines tend to index them much faster.

Blogging and pinging will not get you into EVERY search engine overnight. As of this writing, it is most effective with getting into Yahoo. But often MSN, and even Google, will follow in short order.

Combine blogging and pinging with good link recruiting for the best indexing.

Also, blog and ping on a regular basis if you want to “stay” indexed in the search engines.

6. Is blogging and pinging a requirement to get indexed?

No. You can get indexed quickly by getting plenty of natural backlinks. But for backlinks to be most effective, they have to appear as if they were natural and this can take weeks if not months. Blogging and pinging does seem to drastically shorten the process.

7. Is there a downside to blogging and pinging?

Yes, some marketers are starting to abuse this strategy and the engines are getting wise to it! If you go over-board you risk getting your website completely banned and removed.

Also, many marketers are blogging and pinging for a few days and then forgetting about the website – your website will likely be de-indexed if you do not continue to naturally blog and ping.

The bottom line is that blogging and pinging is a great strategy right now to help you get your website indexed faster. However, the old natural way of getting incoming links is still the best and most assured way – not to mention the long-term benefits of having incoming links.

If you have not yet started blogging and pinging, I suggest you start with a practice website first, not your main website.

Copyright 2005 Kurma Group

This article has been authored by Anik Singal, an extremely successful and young internet entrepreneur and affiliate marketing consultant. Anik has developed his own affiliate marketing system that helped him earn over $10,466 in 60 days – he is now training select students on his system.
http://www.AffiliateClassroom.com/free-course.html

The number one question I see raised in blog forums is “How do I get people to visit my blogs?” There are lots of things you can do to drive traffic to your site but, really, it’s not getting people to your party that’s a problem. It’s keeping them there. All the traffic generating tips in the world will do you no good if you lack the content to make your visitors stick around.

Below are a few tips to help you create good, solid, fly-paperesque content that’ll will keep your visitors glued to your blog.

1. Stay on topic. Actually, let’s back up a step. What is your topic? Think of your blog as a show on public access television. What is it that your readers are going to tune into every week? Deciding on the purpose and focus of your blog will help filter out content that is irrelevant to the subject. Readers often luck on to your blog often via a specific search and will continue to visit as long as you offer more of the same.
2. Brush up on writing 101. Your posts should have a beginning, a middle, an end and a point firmly planted amidst the whole thing. Rambling can be cool but writings with no purpose is just plain drivel. Also, make your posts reader friendly by running them through a grammar and spell check program. Many a good idea have been lost in unreadable writing.
3. Put your stank on it. Translation: Give your posts a personality. Yours. Some of the most successful bloggers out there let their brand of quirkiness ooze through with every word. This, perhaps, is the most important tip as people are attracted to a product’s packaging as well as the benefits of the product inside.
4. Be willing to mix it up occasionally. Variety is the spice of life or something equally clever like that. While your posts should conform to the theme of your blog, try adding a few quirky tidbits such as a meme, trivia, or even a poll to keep things interesting.
5. Keep post length between 500-1000 words. The average attention span isn’t what it used to be as we’ve become a society of surfers and skimmers. Readers are more likely to stick with you if you keep your posts at easily digestible words counts. Now this is subject and personality dependant. Some blogs beg for longer posts and some do well with shorter ones. Experiment to find your best word count.
6. Provide links to your research. If you write an informational post, chances are your readers will be interested in learning more. Be sure to edit the link so that it opens in a new browser window. This will allow them access to the referral without leaving your blog.

The creation of quality content takes time and effort and the best way to go about it is to follow that old Nike slogan and “Just do it”. With patience and persistence, however, you will be rewarded with a host of regular readers.

Happy Blogging

Indigo Black is a freelance writer with an innumerable number of interests that include: writing, blogging, erotica, mythology, philosophy and web design. Currently, she operates two resource sites, one for bloggers and one for erotica writers and is penning her first novel.