Archive for March, 2008
What on Earth is Blogging?
I’ve mentioned how much blogging can help your business grow and help non-business owners earn money, but I haven’t really explained what blogging is. Blogging is contributing content to a web log (blog) that is usually published online and made accessible to millions of internet surfers worldwide. These blogs can be anything from simple online diaries to major, interactive, resource providers. Most blogs provide news and opinions on specific subjects that range from current events to celebrity gossip.
As of December 2007 over 112 million blogs with readers could be found online with new ones being created each and everyday. No longer is the world of blogging dominated by opinionated individuals with web knowledge, now many publications, entertainment companies, and miscellaneous businesses operate their own blogs.
Current major corporations that publish blogs on their business websites include, but aren’t limited to:
- Amazon
- Ford
- Marriott
- McDonalds
- Nike
- Southwest Airlines
- Time Warner
- Wells Fargo
- Wal-Mart
Blogging has helped these companies to establish more client/corporate interaction since many customers, and random surfers, will happily utilize a blogs comment features to share feedback on their experiences or ask questions. Blogs have often helped some major corporations with damage control. Blogs can let companies quickly, and publicly, make statements that will be read by millions.
These days almost every company with a web presence has some sort of blog available for surfers to read and comment on. A few companies that were late in jumping on the blog bandwagon have publicly acknowledged their regret at hesitating. Read the rest of this entry »
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How Can You Benefit from Blogging?
If you are already maintaining a web site, having a blog can add to, or enhance, your existing web presence. The ability to provide your customers, and readers, with fresh content on a daily, or weekly basis can keep your business running even during lean months. Blogging is also a great way for small business owners, with little web design knowledge, and small budgets to establish a professional, attractive, web presence. Many designers charge much less for a completely customized blog design and installation than they would charge for complete, traditional, html or flash website design.
When blogging first began becoming popular among businesses I was slow to notice the change. It seemed to me as though more and more of my competitors were shutting down their traditional websites and replacing them with well designed blogs. Other competitors kept their existing websites up, but added links to their websites that sent surfers to there companies newly created blogs. I decided to start learning more about blogging, but I didn’t want to change my entire website format until I was sure blogging was right for me and my business.
I played around with a few different blogging platforms on a personal level trying to find out what all the fuss was about. I set up a small personal blog on Blogger and later a weight loss blog on Typepad. After trying out all of the major blogging platforms I realized that using a blog platform to power my site rather than the current html design could do wonders for my business. In addition to being able to make my blogs look, and feel, professional with little design knowledge, I was also able to easily add photo and text content to these personal blogs with no assistance. This was something I would never have been able to manage on my traditional site.
While any of these discovers would have inspired me to turn my existing site into a blog, the deciding factor for me was a confrontation with my website designer. I needed my site updated to promote an upcoming concert my business was affiliated with but the designer would not be available to complete the update until after the concert was over. I immediately began researching how to create my own blog on my own domain so that I would no longer be dependent on a web designer. Read the rest of this entry »
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[WeBuyKidneys] Don’t forget to build your OWN network of friends
Whenever you StumbleUpon or Digg someone’s website, you can usually add them as a friend. This way, you can slowly build a large network of friends who will help you get your site to the top easily.
Some things to keep in mind while using services on the DigitalPoint forum are:
- ALWAYS cross-check that the poster is honest. Satisfied buyers usually post testimonials (unsolicited or otherwise) on the same thread and that is certainly a positive site. Also check out how long someone has been a member and what his/her recent posts have been like.
- Whenever you go in for reciprocal submissions, make sure you do submit the posters link in return. This helps you build a good reputation on the forum.
- Always follow the forum rules. One major requirement is for new users to have at least 25 posts to their credit before they can post in the Buy, Sell or Trade forum. Take part in the discussions on the forum, share what you know and learn new things. You are not there only for the submission services. By building a reputation of being a helpful user, you can get some unbelievable offers too!
- Every time someone submits your site, thank them and also add them as a friend on the said site. This way, they will be notified when you post a new site and they are more likely to help you bring it to the top since you are a friend.
For links to the forum - look at my last post…
That’s just the start of what I have to share with you. Web 2.0 sites can act as a HUGE traffic source if used correctly. The key is to provide useful information to the target users on these websites. As long as you’re doing that, you can be SURE that your websites will see a surge in traffic.
To Your Web 2.0 Success!
Onward and upwards
Steve
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[WeBuyKidneys] - How To Drive Traffic The Web 2.0 Way Without Doing The ‘Grunt’ Work
Till now I’ve shown you how you can take advantage of Web 2.0 sites in order to generate traffic to your website. Now I’m going to let you in on a secret which will allow you to generate even more traffic through these websites, without you having to do all the ‘grunt’ work of submitting and posting content to these websites.
All you need to do is get OTHER people to submit and vote for your website – EVERYTIME!
Just like you, there are other webmasters looking to have their websites submitted, voted and reviewed on these social websites. And if you do this for them, they are willing to vote for your website in return.
Your only job is to find such people. And how do you do that? That’s EXACTLY what I’m going to share with you here.
There are two ways you can get others to vote or review your website. Either you can buy a paid service that gets you a particular number of votes and/or reviews OR you can go in for barter services where you will have to vote for their link/website in return.
Either way, it’s a WIN-WIN situation for both you and the other webmaster.
My website of choice is Digital Point Forums at: http://forums.digitalpoint.com
This forum has a specific section for selling and exchanging Digg’s (or StumbleUpon’s etc.). You will usually be able to find at least FIVE such offers listed at any given time.
So head on over to the “Buy, Sell or Trade” forum at http://forums.digitalpoint.com/forumdisplay.php?f=24 and browser through the offers available there. Some would be paid, others would be reciprocal offers.
The main sub-forums you have to look at are the “Freebies” forum (for barter offers) and the Services forum.
Look out for titles of posts that say something like “1:7 Stumbles” or “Social bookmarking packages” etc.
The ratio 1:7 means that you will have to StumbleUpon 1 link for the poster and in return, he/she will StumbleUpon 7 links for you. These are the kinds of deals you must look for.
In the Services sub-forum, you would be able to buy a considerably higher number of submissions to a particular Web 2.0 site (say, Digg.com). This would help you in getting your website on the homepage. Or you can buy submissions to a lot of Web 2.0 sites at once instead of concentrating on one site.
No matter which service you take up, always be weary of scammers. Most of the posters are authentic but you never when you get to meet a black sheep. Try to ask for proof of submission (these are usually already provided). You can also check with other users who have used the service and ask them about their experience.
Onward and upwards
Steve
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[WeBuyKidneys] - Using Stumbleupon To Drive Traffic To Your Site
StumbleUpon (http://www.stumbleupon.com) lists websites on a particular topic and ranks them based upon the opinions of its huge user base. This helps others (you & me included) to find relevant websites in our field of interest by taking away the effort involved when searching for information using search engines.
StumbleUpon adds a toolbar to your browser that features a “Thumbs up” and a “Thumbs down” icon. Whenever users like a site, they give it a thumb up (just like a Digg). The more votes a site gets the higher rankings it can reach.
The basic fundamentals to driving traffic to your site from StumbleUpon are quite similar to Digg. You must provide informative and helpful content in your article or website. However, there are some important things to keep in mind:
- Rate websites submitted by others. When you do so, you’re more likely to attract users to websites submitted by you and give it a thumbs up in return. And as with Digg.com, the more thumbs up you get in a short span of time, the more traffic you get.
- Add more friends. Find people who share the same interests as you and add them as your friend. This will ensure that they are notified when you submit a new website, giving you more exposure.
- Select your tags carefully. The tags you use to mark your submissions can make or break your success on StumbleUpon. If you don’t select the proper tags, it would be impossible for users interested in the information you’re sharing to find it in the first place!
StumbleUpon (http://www.stumbleupon.com)
Onward and Upwards…
Steve
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[WeBuyKidneys] - Del.icio.us Traffic
Delicious (http://del.icio.us) is another social bookmarking website that’s hot at the moment. The “hotlist” on the home page of del.icio.us is a list of links that have been made popular by the users of the site.
As is obvious, any site listed on the home page is bound to get HUGE amount of traffic because it is displayed millions of times in a day to a wide audience.
Many internet marketers are using it to drive traffic to their site and now you will be able to do the same!
When posting your site to Del.icio.us, you must understand what kinds of sites are usually popular there. If you can tune into what the huge community at Del.icio.us, you’re bound to get a lot of traffic.
Articles providing “How-To” information are very popular among users on Del.icio.us. Share some techniques or unique methods to achieve something and make sure you include the words “How To” in your title. This will increase the chances of your link appearing on the home page. For example – “How To Write Articles in 5 Easy Steps” etc.
Another popular topic is lists. You can create a numbered list of things, say – “10 Worst Celebrity Moments of the Year” or “10 Tips to Buying the Right Car for Your Son” etc.
If your post or article includes something that can motivate or inspire the readers, you can easily make it to the hotlist. All you need is a good enough story and a compelling and attractive title. For example, you can share a story of a person’s life struggles or how someone had a narrow escape from death. These kinds of stories go a long way on Del.icio.us. However, you must always have authentic and true content.
I updated the links to take off the www. - del.icio.us doesn’t need it 
Delicious (http://del.icio.us)
Onward and upwards
Steve
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[WeBuyKidneys] - Social Bookmarking With Digg
Digg (http://www.digg.com) is by far one of the most popular Web 2.0 sites.
The concept behind Digg is simple – it enables its users to submit news stories that they find interesting. Other users then vote on the submitted story. If they like it, they will “digg” it. Otherwise, they will “bury” it. The more diggs a story receives, the more popular it becomes and is ranked higher. The highest ranking stories or articles are featured on the homepage of the website.
So, how can you use the power of Digg to drive traffic to YOUR website?
The basic fundamental rule is to submit content that is useful, informative and interesting to the Digg community. This makes sure that your story gets more diggs and gets more views. More views translate to more traffic for your website.
To submit a story to Digg, you will need to register a new account. Then, follow the steps below:
1. Click on the “Submit New” link at the top.
2. Enter the URL of the article or post or news item you want to submit
3. Select a proper category and sub-category for your article
4. Enter a title and description that is interesting and pulls in readers
5. Click “Submit Story” – THAT’S IT!
If you submit an interesting story that grabs the attention of the whole community, you will get a lot of views to your submission.
A high percentage of those viewers will click through to your Digg profile where you can provide a link to your website. If you’ve read through the above carefully, you must have realize just how powerful Digg can be. The more people click through to your profile (or story), the more traffic you can generate to your website.
Another method of generating traffic through Digg is to comment on stories submitted by other people. Digg allows users to post their comments and thoughts about other submissions. If you comment upon relevant stories that relate to your website and leave a link back to your website, more people are likely to click through to see your website.
So I’ll say it again - Digg (http://www.digg.com) is by far one of the most popular Web 2.0 sites.
Onward and upwards…
Steve