Making money from your blog is a popular discussion theme.
There are as many complaints about an inability to monetize blogs, as there are...well...bloggers.
The idea of making a few blogging bucks is discussed on a number of well known, and less well known blogs.
Here are two examples. One is from both a heavy traffic blog. The other is from a relatively new blog.
Darren Rowse at Living Room often openly discusses ways to create income from your blog. And who can blame him. He has heavy traffic flow, regular and loyal readers; yet not a lot of income from his blog.
Darren has discussed donations to his blogging cause. He openly discloses (to his credit too) that he is an Amazon.com affiliate, earning a commission from sales through his blog. Many other bloggers, and indeed, static websites fail such an open admission.
I always have respect for those who play their cards face up, like Darren does, in regard to his revenue sources.
Another possible blog revenue producer, from on the blog advertising, went by the wayside recently.
Javaman at A Random Act of Blogging announced the failure of blog advertiser Skoobie.
Skoobie's business model was to pay bloggers for ads placed on their blogs. Skoobie would receive its revenue from the paying advertisers. Things obviously didn't go as planned.
Javaman didn't consider his loss, estimated at a vault breaking $1.25 USD, to be irreplacable as income.
Despite the failure of Skoobie, and other blog advertisers, the quest continues for blog income sources.
My income (disclosure time) from Blog Business World is from freelance writing, and from search engine optimization for other sites.
I would like to develop other revenue streams as well.
Like other bloggers, the problem of monetizing a blog continues.
Over time, we will find some good reliable ways to generate some cash from out blogs.
As the idea of blogging becomes more mainstream, the money is sure to follow.
I hope. :)
Saturday, January 10, 2004
Friday, January 9, 2004
Google algorithms: SEO made fun and easy
Search engine optimization techniques, are one of the major requests I receive daily, in my e-mail.
Along with linking, content creation ideas, and promoting and marketing your blog, getting search engine high rankiings, is a very popular request.
Enquiring bloggers want to know.
Search engine optimization (or SEO for short) is potentially a very boring topic. My friend David St. Lawrence, in his wonderful and thoughful Ripples blog, said it made his head hurt.
I can sympathize with David, and with others who feel the same way. SEO is usually presented (and I am guilty too) as a mystery to be guarded. After all, I SEO sites for a living for those who require it too.
For those who simply want the basics, here is a...I hope...not too boring a voyage, aboard the SS SEO.
Internet seekers of websites and information, turn to search engines for help, in supplying the right sources. For simplicity and to avoid confusion, I'll use Google as the stand in for all search engines. Google powers the vast majority of internet searches, so it will do to serve our needs quite nicely.
The web searcher enters words, called keywords in the SEO trade, into the search box. Press enter, and voila, results appear. Why those results, and not others?
Google uses a complicated (and very secret and often changing) mathematical formula, called the Google algorithm. Its purpose is to calculate the most relevant results for a web query.
Algorithm is such a boring word. Who dreamed it up anyway?
For interests sake, I've decided to call it the "Google Beagle"; sniffing out the best results. I hope no one minds.
What does the Beagle look for exactly?
The Beagle looks for keywords on the page, that match or closely match, the ones you entered into the search box. It examines how recently the page was updated. It considers the number and quality of incoming links to the blog or website. Along with about 98 other calculation variables, our trusty Beagle produces the results.
Here is where blogs have a major advantage over static websites.
Blogs are updated regularly. Check.
Blogs have lots of keywords, as bloggers discuss their main topics. Check.
Blogs have tons of incoming links, from related blogs. Check.
It is only natural, that blogs are going to return high placements, in the search engine results. No matter how the Google algorithm.....I mean the Google Beagle....is changed, those three variables will almost always remain important.
They are what a search is all about.
Blogs are ideally suited, to what the search engines, are looking for in a relevant site.
To take advantage of that relevance, you can write more posts about the topics, where people are searching and finding you.
That is not manipulating the search results. In fact, its good marketing for your blog. You are responding to the reader's asking for more information on the topic.
As a bonus, you get to write even more about your favourite subjects. And you thought I was going to make this hard, didn't you!
By writing more posts on the subject, that just happen to have the keywords and their stemmed variations, you are better serving your readers, present and future.
As David St. Lawrence recommends, "just write from the heart", and your keywords will appear on your blog. After all, you are writing what pleases you and your readers.
The Beagle finds your keywords tasty morsels in his dish too.
The keywords will later appear in searches, as they are what the Google Beagle is calculating. (He is a mathematical doggie, after all).
While that approach may not get you to the top of the first page, for all keywords, it will certainly get you ranked a lot higher.
Going for top of the first page seach engine rankings require more complex ideas and techniques, it's true. However, these simple ideas will get you some very high rankings all by themselves.
Painlessly.
Just by doing and writing what you love.
SEO as a fun idea. That's a rarity, isn't it!
I hope that was a nice voyage, with a friendly puppy at your side, over the oceans of search engine optimization.
I hope no one got seasick!
Along with linking, content creation ideas, and promoting and marketing your blog, getting search engine high rankiings, is a very popular request.
Enquiring bloggers want to know.
Search engine optimization (or SEO for short) is potentially a very boring topic. My friend David St. Lawrence, in his wonderful and thoughful Ripples blog, said it made his head hurt.
I can sympathize with David, and with others who feel the same way. SEO is usually presented (and I am guilty too) as a mystery to be guarded. After all, I SEO sites for a living for those who require it too.
For those who simply want the basics, here is a...I hope...not too boring a voyage, aboard the SS SEO.
Internet seekers of websites and information, turn to search engines for help, in supplying the right sources. For simplicity and to avoid confusion, I'll use Google as the stand in for all search engines. Google powers the vast majority of internet searches, so it will do to serve our needs quite nicely.
The web searcher enters words, called keywords in the SEO trade, into the search box. Press enter, and voila, results appear. Why those results, and not others?
Google uses a complicated (and very secret and often changing) mathematical formula, called the Google algorithm. Its purpose is to calculate the most relevant results for a web query.
Algorithm is such a boring word. Who dreamed it up anyway?
For interests sake, I've decided to call it the "Google Beagle"; sniffing out the best results. I hope no one minds.
What does the Beagle look for exactly?
The Beagle looks for keywords on the page, that match or closely match, the ones you entered into the search box. It examines how recently the page was updated. It considers the number and quality of incoming links to the blog or website. Along with about 98 other calculation variables, our trusty Beagle produces the results.
Here is where blogs have a major advantage over static websites.
Blogs are updated regularly. Check.
Blogs have lots of keywords, as bloggers discuss their main topics. Check.
Blogs have tons of incoming links, from related blogs. Check.
It is only natural, that blogs are going to return high placements, in the search engine results. No matter how the Google algorithm.....I mean the Google Beagle....is changed, those three variables will almost always remain important.
They are what a search is all about.
Blogs are ideally suited, to what the search engines, are looking for in a relevant site.
To take advantage of that relevance, you can write more posts about the topics, where people are searching and finding you.
That is not manipulating the search results. In fact, its good marketing for your blog. You are responding to the reader's asking for more information on the topic.
As a bonus, you get to write even more about your favourite subjects. And you thought I was going to make this hard, didn't you!
By writing more posts on the subject, that just happen to have the keywords and their stemmed variations, you are better serving your readers, present and future.
As David St. Lawrence recommends, "just write from the heart", and your keywords will appear on your blog. After all, you are writing what pleases you and your readers.
The Beagle finds your keywords tasty morsels in his dish too.
The keywords will later appear in searches, as they are what the Google Beagle is calculating. (He is a mathematical doggie, after all).
While that approach may not get you to the top of the first page, for all keywords, it will certainly get you ranked a lot higher.
Going for top of the first page seach engine rankings require more complex ideas and techniques, it's true. However, these simple ideas will get you some very high rankings all by themselves.
Painlessly.
Just by doing and writing what you love.
SEO as a fun idea. That's a rarity, isn't it!
I hope that was a nice voyage, with a friendly puppy at your side, over the oceans of search engine optimization.
I hope no one got seasick!
Thursday, January 8, 2004
Stemming and keywords in blogs
My columns on stemming and on keywords in blog posts, as part of the Google algorithm, has caused some confusion.
My friend Tristam Bielecki of New Meeja and Blogopoly has alerted me to a possible contradiction in my posts.
My thanks to Tristam for keeping me alert to any misunderstanding my posts might create.
In one of my posts, I pointed out that Google is possibly employing "stemming", in their calculation of which websites are most relevant to a search for entered words.
Stemming means other forms of a word.
In my post, I used the example of "blog". Stemmed searching would include "blogs", "blogging", "blogger", "blogged", and so on. Speculation in search engine optimization (SEO) circles, is that stemming is also extended to include synonyms (words with the same meaning), of your main keywords as well.
Take note of the following, and remember it well.
If anyone tells you they have all the answers for getting high rankings in search engines, let's just say they are.....well....exaggerating. What we are quite sure does work, is fresh keyword (and perhaps stemmed) content, and adding lots of good quality incoming links to your blog or website.
Everything suggested by everyone, including me, about how to score high search engine placements, is an educated guess. What is recommended by SEO experts are their best ideas, about what works in the search engines (mainly Google), and what might not get as great results.
No one knows everything about search engine optimization.
The search engines prefer to keep it that way too!
Digression over, and back to business.
In my following post, I recommended using keywords related to your blog content, to score high rankings in the various search engines.
The idea of sprinkling a lot of keywords around your blog posts, and the concept of stemming, are not mutually exclusive.
In fact, they work together very well.
Since you write about your main topic, let's say it's blogging, you can include many forms of the word "blog" in your post. Without stemming, the word had to match the search, as "blog". Now, you can enrich your writing, and add many more potent keywords in stemmed form.
It improves your writing, by introducing some variety in your choices of wording. That is always great for your readers.
You benefit in the search engines by having more keywords.
You benefit in the search engines by having more stemmed forms of your keyords.
The two concepts work together, to your benefit, and for your readers as well.
This is my best educated guess on the subject, combined with the best testing and understanding of search engines, of other experts in the field of search engine optimization (SEO).
SEO is partly an art, and partly a science. The art is in the interpretation of the search engine results, and understanding how to achieve them. The science is in testing the possible variables, and seeing which ones give better or worse search engine placements.
Over time, it has been discovered that fresh, keyword rich content has worked in a site's favour.
So has incoming links from quality blogs and static websites.
Of course, the search engines (notably Google) are given to changing their calculation algorithm all the time.
That fact makes keeping up with what works, and what fails, a major challenge for anyone involved with search engine optimization.
As bloggers, you can adapt to any changes in the search engine results calculations very quickly. After a few days of heavy posting, your blog has changed its form entirely. It can then become highly ranked (or not) depending on the algorithm employed by the search engines.
Oh yes, stemming and keywords work together.
So far as we know!
My friend Tristam Bielecki of New Meeja and Blogopoly has alerted me to a possible contradiction in my posts.
My thanks to Tristam for keeping me alert to any misunderstanding my posts might create.
In one of my posts, I pointed out that Google is possibly employing "stemming", in their calculation of which websites are most relevant to a search for entered words.
Stemming means other forms of a word.
In my post, I used the example of "blog". Stemmed searching would include "blogs", "blogging", "blogger", "blogged", and so on. Speculation in search engine optimization (SEO) circles, is that stemming is also extended to include synonyms (words with the same meaning), of your main keywords as well.
Take note of the following, and remember it well.
If anyone tells you they have all the answers for getting high rankings in search engines, let's just say they are.....well....exaggerating. What we are quite sure does work, is fresh keyword (and perhaps stemmed) content, and adding lots of good quality incoming links to your blog or website.
Everything suggested by everyone, including me, about how to score high search engine placements, is an educated guess. What is recommended by SEO experts are their best ideas, about what works in the search engines (mainly Google), and what might not get as great results.
No one knows everything about search engine optimization.
The search engines prefer to keep it that way too!
Digression over, and back to business.
In my following post, I recommended using keywords related to your blog content, to score high rankings in the various search engines.
The idea of sprinkling a lot of keywords around your blog posts, and the concept of stemming, are not mutually exclusive.
In fact, they work together very well.
Since you write about your main topic, let's say it's blogging, you can include many forms of the word "blog" in your post. Without stemming, the word had to match the search, as "blog". Now, you can enrich your writing, and add many more potent keywords in stemmed form.
It improves your writing, by introducing some variety in your choices of wording. That is always great for your readers.
You benefit in the search engines by having more keywords.
You benefit in the search engines by having more stemmed forms of your keyords.
The two concepts work together, to your benefit, and for your readers as well.
This is my best educated guess on the subject, combined with the best testing and understanding of search engines, of other experts in the field of search engine optimization (SEO).
SEO is partly an art, and partly a science. The art is in the interpretation of the search engine results, and understanding how to achieve them. The science is in testing the possible variables, and seeing which ones give better or worse search engine placements.
Over time, it has been discovered that fresh, keyword rich content has worked in a site's favour.
So has incoming links from quality blogs and static websites.
Of course, the search engines (notably Google) are given to changing their calculation algorithm all the time.
That fact makes keeping up with what works, and what fails, a major challenge for anyone involved with search engine optimization.
As bloggers, you can adapt to any changes in the search engine results calculations very quickly. After a few days of heavy posting, your blog has changed its form entirely. It can then become highly ranked (or not) depending on the algorithm employed by the search engines.
Oh yes, stemming and keywords work together.
So far as we know!
Blogs and search engine optimization
The very term search engine optimization is probably enough to make you roll your eyes twice, yawn, and drop off to a sound sleep of boredom.
Even the commonly used (at least among those who stay awake to think of such things) is SEO.
That abbreviation also sounds somewhat uninviting. It reads like a government department that demands to know everything about your life in triplicate; or something your school health nurse strongly hinted you should avoid.
For those of you still awake, it's not all that bad....really....it's not!
The goal of SEO concerns helping your blog appear high in searches on search engines (usually spelled Google). When someone enters some words or a phrase, into the search box, the results that the Google algorithm considers most relevant appear.
It's not magic. It's math.
Google uses a mathematical formula called an algorithm, to search and calculate the relevance of some three billion indexed documents, to your query.
The results don't simply appear by chance. They are arrived at through calculations of 1's and 0's.
Still awake?
Good. It gets better. Trust me on this one.
Well, maybe not. But I'll tell you anyway.
You can help your blog appear higher on the search engine results. You can use the formula (without knowing any math. Now that had to make you feel better.
What is needed to be done are just a few basic things.
Here are two ideas (there are more but two is enough for now) that will really make a major difference to your search engine rankings.
Since you do them now, it's not too much of a stretch.
One part of the calculation involves links.
Google and the other search engines love to see incoming links. The more incoming links to your blog the better. Even better than that is incoming links from blogs (and other traditional websites) that have lots of incoming links themselves.
Since most bloggers love to link out, and to exchange links, that part is fairly easy. And no, you are not "helping your competition" in the search engines. Every blog, even ones that appear the same, have a different emphasis, on slightly different topics and search terms.
Your main competition, for high search engine rankings, is not other bloggers. It's the traditional static websites that you have to work against. There are a lot more of them, than there are blogs!
Of course, since you can out link them, you have them half beaten already.
The other way to gain high search engine placements is by posting a lot of fresh content to your blog. Search engines love fresh content, and regularly updated blogs certainly provide it.
Hey, that was easy too. You do that already, right?
Well, then all we have to do is tweak it a bit. If you have a visitor counter, check the visitor traffic logs, and look for referrals from the various search engines. The search engine referrers will include Google, MSN, Yahoo, AOL Search, Inktomi, Alltheweb, and AltaVista.
Look closely at the words, used by the searcher, that found your site as a result of the query. Web counters like Extreme Tracking (free by the way) keep records of the keywords entered into the search box.
Click on the log entry of your web counter. It should take you to the search engine results page where your blog was found. What you will see is the page where your blog was found, and the position of your blog on the page.
The ultimate goal is to be in Position Number One on Page Number One. That is the Holy Grail of search engine optimization. Of course, you can add a lot of visitor traffic without obsessing over being at the very top. The first three pages of a search are your realistic initial goal.
If your counter doesn't take you there, don't remove your old counter, simply add another one to your site that does travel to the search engine pages. More than one counter is not a bad idea. I use two, as do many other SEO oriented bloggers.
Look carefully at the most used words that found your blog. Examine the next nine or ten as well.
When you post to your blog, try to use those frequently searched words in your posts. Use them fairly often (but not too much....think common sense and readibility here), and early in your posts. You won't have to make your posts "artificial" at all.
Simply use the terms that you have already been using. They are what searchers enter into their queries to find you.
By adding links and touching up your posts, you will rise in the search engine results. You will get more readers, and they get to enjoy your words of wisdom.
Win-win situation.
Even the commonly used (at least among those who stay awake to think of such things) is SEO.
That abbreviation also sounds somewhat uninviting. It reads like a government department that demands to know everything about your life in triplicate; or something your school health nurse strongly hinted you should avoid.
For those of you still awake, it's not all that bad....really....it's not!
The goal of SEO concerns helping your blog appear high in searches on search engines (usually spelled Google). When someone enters some words or a phrase, into the search box, the results that the Google algorithm considers most relevant appear.
It's not magic. It's math.
Google uses a mathematical formula called an algorithm, to search and calculate the relevance of some three billion indexed documents, to your query.
The results don't simply appear by chance. They are arrived at through calculations of 1's and 0's.
Still awake?
Good. It gets better. Trust me on this one.
Well, maybe not. But I'll tell you anyway.
You can help your blog appear higher on the search engine results. You can use the formula (without knowing any math. Now that had to make you feel better.
What is needed to be done are just a few basic things.
Here are two ideas (there are more but two is enough for now) that will really make a major difference to your search engine rankings.
Since you do them now, it's not too much of a stretch.
One part of the calculation involves links.
Google and the other search engines love to see incoming links. The more incoming links to your blog the better. Even better than that is incoming links from blogs (and other traditional websites) that have lots of incoming links themselves.
Since most bloggers love to link out, and to exchange links, that part is fairly easy. And no, you are not "helping your competition" in the search engines. Every blog, even ones that appear the same, have a different emphasis, on slightly different topics and search terms.
Your main competition, for high search engine rankings, is not other bloggers. It's the traditional static websites that you have to work against. There are a lot more of them, than there are blogs!
Of course, since you can out link them, you have them half beaten already.
The other way to gain high search engine placements is by posting a lot of fresh content to your blog. Search engines love fresh content, and regularly updated blogs certainly provide it.
Hey, that was easy too. You do that already, right?
Well, then all we have to do is tweak it a bit. If you have a visitor counter, check the visitor traffic logs, and look for referrals from the various search engines. The search engine referrers will include Google, MSN, Yahoo, AOL Search, Inktomi, Alltheweb, and AltaVista.
Look closely at the words, used by the searcher, that found your site as a result of the query. Web counters like Extreme Tracking (free by the way) keep records of the keywords entered into the search box.
Click on the log entry of your web counter. It should take you to the search engine results page where your blog was found. What you will see is the page where your blog was found, and the position of your blog on the page.
The ultimate goal is to be in Position Number One on Page Number One. That is the Holy Grail of search engine optimization. Of course, you can add a lot of visitor traffic without obsessing over being at the very top. The first three pages of a search are your realistic initial goal.
If your counter doesn't take you there, don't remove your old counter, simply add another one to your site that does travel to the search engine pages. More than one counter is not a bad idea. I use two, as do many other SEO oriented bloggers.
Look carefully at the most used words that found your blog. Examine the next nine or ten as well.
When you post to your blog, try to use those frequently searched words in your posts. Use them fairly often (but not too much....think common sense and readibility here), and early in your posts. You won't have to make your posts "artificial" at all.
Simply use the terms that you have already been using. They are what searchers enter into their queries to find you.
By adding links and touching up your posts, you will rise in the search engine results. You will get more readers, and they get to enjoy your words of wisdom.
Win-win situation.
Tuesday, January 6, 2004
Stemming: It's not just for plants anymore
In the recent Google update, known throughout the search engine optimization community, as "Florida", there was a storm of controversy about how Google located websites in web searches.
Previously high ranking sites (those sitting proudly on Page One for their chosen search terms) found themselves booted unceremoniously to the Google cellar.
Or lower.
Lost in all of the noise and uproar was a new method Google uses in searches.
It's called stemming.
Stemming is the practice of searching for other forms of a word.
In the past, if someone was searching for the term "blog", only pages containing that exact word, would appear in the search results. A problem resulted from that precision.
Website copywriting became bland and keyword laden, as the search word was targeted (some say saturated). The result spewed out was copy that was not pleasant to read.
With Google's introduction of stemming, other forms of the word "blog" are now considered, by the Google search algorithm (the formula used to determine the most relevant sites for your search).
Instead of searching only for "blog", Google now considers "blogs", blogged", "blogging", "blogger", and other forms of the word, based on sufixes. Because web searchers often type in other forms of a word, the Google returned results often missed some very good web pages. The new process changes all of that.
Stemming is great for your blogging.
You are free to use all forms of words, and not be penalized by Google for doing so. You have no need to specifically target one form of a word, to the exclusion of all others. You can now write freely, and let your prose flow......cliche time...like a river of words on an artificial screen. Ugh. Sorry.
Stemming is also thought to be occurring for synonyms of words too. Along with "blog", "online diary", and "online journal", may also be considered by the algorithm. Should that indeed be the case, you can write different words, yet express the same (or at least similar) meaning. You also get some benefit from Google for your efforts
Stemming is yet another great thing for blog writers. Once again, bloggers will leap to the forefront in the search engines; without even trying!
I do not recommend specifically writing your blog postings, with only search engines rankings in mind. Think of your readers with good quality, and well written content, first and foremost. On the other hand, you do want your blog information to be included in Google searches, so web searchers can enjoy your blog's information and content.
Embrace stemming. It will help improve your blog content. It will also help your blog in the Google search engine results.
What could be better than that!
Previously high ranking sites (those sitting proudly on Page One for their chosen search terms) found themselves booted unceremoniously to the Google cellar.
Or lower.
Lost in all of the noise and uproar was a new method Google uses in searches.
It's called stemming.
Stemming is the practice of searching for other forms of a word.
In the past, if someone was searching for the term "blog", only pages containing that exact word, would appear in the search results. A problem resulted from that precision.
Website copywriting became bland and keyword laden, as the search word was targeted (some say saturated). The result spewed out was copy that was not pleasant to read.
With Google's introduction of stemming, other forms of the word "blog" are now considered, by the Google search algorithm (the formula used to determine the most relevant sites for your search).
Instead of searching only for "blog", Google now considers "blogs", blogged", "blogging", "blogger", and other forms of the word, based on sufixes. Because web searchers often type in other forms of a word, the Google returned results often missed some very good web pages. The new process changes all of that.
Stemming is great for your blogging.
You are free to use all forms of words, and not be penalized by Google for doing so. You have no need to specifically target one form of a word, to the exclusion of all others. You can now write freely, and let your prose flow......cliche time...like a river of words on an artificial screen. Ugh. Sorry.
Stemming is also thought to be occurring for synonyms of words too. Along with "blog", "online diary", and "online journal", may also be considered by the algorithm. Should that indeed be the case, you can write different words, yet express the same (or at least similar) meaning. You also get some benefit from Google for your efforts
Stemming is yet another great thing for blog writers. Once again, bloggers will leap to the forefront in the search engines; without even trying!
I do not recommend specifically writing your blog postings, with only search engines rankings in mind. Think of your readers with good quality, and well written content, first and foremost. On the other hand, you do want your blog information to be included in Google searches, so web searchers can enjoy your blog's information and content.
Embrace stemming. It will help improve your blog content. It will also help your blog in the Google search engine results.
What could be better than that!
Monday, January 5, 2004
Blog links lists and blogrolls: Discoveries
Have you ever looked at the number of outgoing links most blogs display?
Whether placed in a long unsorted list (like mine!) or divided into related sections, most blogs have lots of outgoing links.
I often enjoy exploring other bloggers' lists of favourite places. Some delightful discoveries can be made along the way.
When you first see the list of links, it's fairly intimidating. There is the title of a completely unknown blog, and nothing more. Rarely is any information about blog link content given, outside of the main blog posts. The content behind the blog title is like a strange unexplored land.
What lies byond that mouse click?
The only way to find out, is to surf on over!
I have discovered and read some very interesting, and I suppose some not really my cup of tea blogs, in my travels. My preferred method is to check the links, on my regular reads, for blogs I have yet to find. I click over to that blog, and do the same thing randomly from that person's list.
Sometimes the "six degrees of separation" theory returns you to your starting point!
The excitement is often more in the discovery, than the reading itself. As a result of my wanderings, through these strange and exotic locales, I have found a few real gems.
More than a few, actually!
I like to think friends of other bloggers are my not yet discovered friends too.
While it would take too long to name even a few here, and your tastes may vary from mine, I'll leave the voyages of discovery up to you.
Stange blogs are no longer unknowns after you visit them; even one time.
You may want to link to them, and return again and again.
Other blog surfers can find the blog, from your blog links and blogrolls, as a result of your journey of exploration.
Whether placed in a long unsorted list (like mine!) or divided into related sections, most blogs have lots of outgoing links.
I often enjoy exploring other bloggers' lists of favourite places. Some delightful discoveries can be made along the way.
When you first see the list of links, it's fairly intimidating. There is the title of a completely unknown blog, and nothing more. Rarely is any information about blog link content given, outside of the main blog posts. The content behind the blog title is like a strange unexplored land.
What lies byond that mouse click?
The only way to find out, is to surf on over!
I have discovered and read some very interesting, and I suppose some not really my cup of tea blogs, in my travels. My preferred method is to check the links, on my regular reads, for blogs I have yet to find. I click over to that blog, and do the same thing randomly from that person's list.
Sometimes the "six degrees of separation" theory returns you to your starting point!
The excitement is often more in the discovery, than the reading itself. As a result of my wanderings, through these strange and exotic locales, I have found a few real gems.
More than a few, actually!
I like to think friends of other bloggers are my not yet discovered friends too.
While it would take too long to name even a few here, and your tastes may vary from mine, I'll leave the voyages of discovery up to you.
Stange blogs are no longer unknowns after you visit them; even one time.
You may want to link to them, and return again and again.
Other blog surfers can find the blog, from your blog links and blogrolls, as a result of your journey of exploration.
Sunday, January 4, 2004
Bloggers get married
While you may not be avid readers of their blogs, well known blogging types Deb Yoder of The Accidental Jedi and Jay Solo of Verbosity are tying the proverbial knot.
I have been a reader of The Accidental Jedi for quite some time. I also look in on Jay Solo's writings as well, although I have never got around to adding his blog to my links section.
Until now.
My friend Jeremy Wright of Ensight, has already spilled the beans, so to speak. He keeps up on the latest news, on my behalf.
What does the marriage of two bloggers have to do with business blogging you ask?
Good question!
Many people consider blogging to be a community that brings people closer together. While others disagree, about the community aspect, most agree that bloggers do have a level of interaction, not experienced by static website owners.
Outside of the various internet forums, there is little visible interplay between static website owners. They know one another from their forum discussion posts.
Bloggers are different.
With their personal lives, often played out in full public view, bloggers may have reached the fringes of the modern celebrity culture. Celebrity is often defined as being well known by others, who have never met you in person. They know of you by your public activities; in this case, it's blogging.
While it's possible to become well known, at least in internet circles, by having a website, being a blogger achieves that notice much faster.
By posting your thoughts and comments on various matters, in your daily blog posts, people begin to know you as a person. The amount of your inner thoughts and personality you choose to reveal, is entirely up to you.
As your present and potential clients and customers read your business blog, they start to know you a bit better as a person. Since you are already known to them, they are much more likely to become future customers of your business.
The function of having people get to know you better was formerly the domain of the e-mail newsletter. It's main purpose is to develop a bond of familiarity between the sender and the reader. The end result would be a customer relationship built on long term trust.
The blog adds another dimension to the familiarity process. An e-mail newsletter is sent to its mailing list every two weeks to a month. A blog is posted and read, by its regular readers, almost daily. The chances of developing a strong relationship are even greater.
Sometimes the relationships develop into long term customers.
Sometimes those relationships result in marriage.
Congratulations to Jay Solo and Deb Yoder on your marriage.
I have been a reader of The Accidental Jedi for quite some time. I also look in on Jay Solo's writings as well, although I have never got around to adding his blog to my links section.
Until now.
My friend Jeremy Wright of Ensight, has already spilled the beans, so to speak. He keeps up on the latest news, on my behalf.
What does the marriage of two bloggers have to do with business blogging you ask?
Good question!
Many people consider blogging to be a community that brings people closer together. While others disagree, about the community aspect, most agree that bloggers do have a level of interaction, not experienced by static website owners.
Outside of the various internet forums, there is little visible interplay between static website owners. They know one another from their forum discussion posts.
Bloggers are different.
With their personal lives, often played out in full public view, bloggers may have reached the fringes of the modern celebrity culture. Celebrity is often defined as being well known by others, who have never met you in person. They know of you by your public activities; in this case, it's blogging.
While it's possible to become well known, at least in internet circles, by having a website, being a blogger achieves that notice much faster.
By posting your thoughts and comments on various matters, in your daily blog posts, people begin to know you as a person. The amount of your inner thoughts and personality you choose to reveal, is entirely up to you.
As your present and potential clients and customers read your business blog, they start to know you a bit better as a person. Since you are already known to them, they are much more likely to become future customers of your business.
The function of having people get to know you better was formerly the domain of the e-mail newsletter. It's main purpose is to develop a bond of familiarity between the sender and the reader. The end result would be a customer relationship built on long term trust.
The blog adds another dimension to the familiarity process. An e-mail newsletter is sent to its mailing list every two weeks to a month. A blog is posted and read, by its regular readers, almost daily. The chances of developing a strong relationship are even greater.
Sometimes the relationships develop into long term customers.
Sometimes those relationships result in marriage.
Congratulations to Jay Solo and Deb Yoder on your marriage.
Saturday, January 3, 2004
Business blogs: Oklahoma Wine News
When you think of Oklahoma, the first things that spring to mind for many people are cattle, oil and football.
Wine making is not something usually associated with the Sooner State.
In a great example of using a business blog, designed to promote the state's wine industry, try a sip of Oklahoma Wine News.
The Nuyaka Creek Winery in Oklahoma is the first of many business blogs I want to examine, as we look at some real business blogs in action.
The Oklahoma Wine News blog is an offshoot of the Nuyaka Creek Winery website.
The best thing about the Nuyaka Creek Winery's business blog is its purpose. It's not simply a blatantly self promoting advertising blurb for the winery. As you are probably aware, that is an easy trap to fall into, if care is not taken with the blog.
Instead, the blog focusses on the entire Oklahoma wine making industry, and on general wine news.
The blog does a great job of maintaining that direction.
Some recent posts focus on the health benefits of wine, sales of wine products on the internet, and news about the Oklahoma wine harvest.
Another positive feature of the blog is its almost daily updating. Fresh new posts are very important in a business blog, especially a recently established one like Oklahoma Wine News.
The frequency of posting will certainly help to add and retain visitor traffic. It's a must for business blogs.
Freely using, links to other Oklahoma wineries, and other industry sources makes the blog a useful and friendly site for visitors as well.
I have often said that bloggers are very generous linkers.
Oklahoma Wine News certainly is not hesitant to link to other blogs and static websites.
As an added feature, the blog has an RSS feeder through Feedster. An RSS feed helps complete the user friendliness of the blog.
While the blog doesn't offer a comment system, the main Nuyaka Creek Winery website includes a guest book and a discussion forum instead.
Here's a toast to Oklahoma Wine News on a great business blog!
Wine making is not something usually associated with the Sooner State.
In a great example of using a business blog, designed to promote the state's wine industry, try a sip of Oklahoma Wine News.
The Nuyaka Creek Winery in Oklahoma is the first of many business blogs I want to examine, as we look at some real business blogs in action.
The Oklahoma Wine News blog is an offshoot of the Nuyaka Creek Winery website.
The best thing about the Nuyaka Creek Winery's business blog is its purpose. It's not simply a blatantly self promoting advertising blurb for the winery. As you are probably aware, that is an easy trap to fall into, if care is not taken with the blog.
Instead, the blog focusses on the entire Oklahoma wine making industry, and on general wine news.
The blog does a great job of maintaining that direction.
Some recent posts focus on the health benefits of wine, sales of wine products on the internet, and news about the Oklahoma wine harvest.
Another positive feature of the blog is its almost daily updating. Fresh new posts are very important in a business blog, especially a recently established one like Oklahoma Wine News.
The frequency of posting will certainly help to add and retain visitor traffic. It's a must for business blogs.
Freely using, links to other Oklahoma wineries, and other industry sources makes the blog a useful and friendly site for visitors as well.
I have often said that bloggers are very generous linkers.
Oklahoma Wine News certainly is not hesitant to link to other blogs and static websites.
As an added feature, the blog has an RSS feeder through Feedster. An RSS feed helps complete the user friendliness of the blog.
While the blog doesn't offer a comment system, the main Nuyaka Creek Winery website includes a guest book and a discussion forum instead.
Here's a toast to Oklahoma Wine News on a great business blog!
Friday, January 2, 2004
Business Blog Predictions 2004: Not!
Business bloggers, political blogsters, and almost every other manner of blog writer, are making predictions for 2004.
I have decided to sort of avoid hopping on the prognostication bandwagon. I made some predictions on my other roller derby blog. I figured that's enough playing a Nostradamus wannabe for anyone.
I won't bore you with my cliched predictions for the coming year. I'll let the specialists in crystal balls and tea leaves do that for you. That's what they are paid to provide. On the other hand, if you have divined the winner of the Kentucky Derby, or the World Series, let me know!
Blogging became mainstream, to a large yet still uncompleted degree, in 2003. That trend will continue in 2004. Some pundits are already counting the gains made in the blogging community. Even the word "blog" made the 2003 new words lists.
Instead of giving you a series of misinformed and half baked ideas, about what to expect in the new year ahead, I'll continue to help you create better business blogs in the here and now.
The future will be upon us soon enough, as we already notice how fast the years whiz by us. After all, it was only a short time ago that the Y2K non-event was all the rage. Predictions of massive computer failures never translated into reality. Predictions can be wrong.
In the new year, one thing I do want to see from you, is more linking. Your blogs benefit from adding incoming links from other blogs and static websites.
Don't hesitate to exchange links with sites that are related to your areas of interest.
If a site, while not exactly on topic interests you, link with them as well. Don't worry about things like PageRank, or traffic levels of your link trade partners. Think first and foremost of providing helpful and interesting links for your readers. Your visitors should always be your first concern.
Be sure to keep updating your content. Post often, and regularly, to your blogs. As you add more fresh information and articles to your blogs, you will add new visitors. You will also maintain your current traffic flows. Your readership will grow. The key to success is to provide strong content.
Always has been. Always will be.
That sounded strangely like a prediction. If you provide great content, and freely exchange links, you will add visitors to your blog.
Don't forget to market and promote your blog too. A baseball diamond, built in an Iowa cornfield, may have had them show up for Kevin Costner in the movie Field of Dreams.
You need to work a bit harder, at gaining visitor traffic, than what happens in the movies.
Post in forums, using a signature link back to your blog. Write articles and provide guest blogs for other bloggers, when invited.
Submit your blog link to all of the available blog directories. Don't forget to add your link to the other many free directories either.
If you do even a few of these things, I have one more 2004 prediction.
Your blog will have more happy readers, and be much more successful, in the coming year.
And I promised not to make any forecasts.
Well, resolutions were made to be broken!
I have decided to sort of avoid hopping on the prognostication bandwagon. I made some predictions on my other roller derby blog. I figured that's enough playing a Nostradamus wannabe for anyone.
I won't bore you with my cliched predictions for the coming year. I'll let the specialists in crystal balls and tea leaves do that for you. That's what they are paid to provide. On the other hand, if you have divined the winner of the Kentucky Derby, or the World Series, let me know!
Blogging became mainstream, to a large yet still uncompleted degree, in 2003. That trend will continue in 2004. Some pundits are already counting the gains made in the blogging community. Even the word "blog" made the 2003 new words lists.
Instead of giving you a series of misinformed and half baked ideas, about what to expect in the new year ahead, I'll continue to help you create better business blogs in the here and now.
The future will be upon us soon enough, as we already notice how fast the years whiz by us. After all, it was only a short time ago that the Y2K non-event was all the rage. Predictions of massive computer failures never translated into reality. Predictions can be wrong.
In the new year, one thing I do want to see from you, is more linking. Your blogs benefit from adding incoming links from other blogs and static websites.
Don't hesitate to exchange links with sites that are related to your areas of interest.
If a site, while not exactly on topic interests you, link with them as well. Don't worry about things like PageRank, or traffic levels of your link trade partners. Think first and foremost of providing helpful and interesting links for your readers. Your visitors should always be your first concern.
Be sure to keep updating your content. Post often, and regularly, to your blogs. As you add more fresh information and articles to your blogs, you will add new visitors. You will also maintain your current traffic flows. Your readership will grow. The key to success is to provide strong content.
Always has been. Always will be.
That sounded strangely like a prediction. If you provide great content, and freely exchange links, you will add visitors to your blog.
Don't forget to market and promote your blog too. A baseball diamond, built in an Iowa cornfield, may have had them show up for Kevin Costner in the movie Field of Dreams.
You need to work a bit harder, at gaining visitor traffic, than what happens in the movies.
Post in forums, using a signature link back to your blog. Write articles and provide guest blogs for other bloggers, when invited.
Submit your blog link to all of the available blog directories. Don't forget to add your link to the other many free directories either.
If you do even a few of these things, I have one more 2004 prediction.
Your blog will have more happy readers, and be much more successful, in the coming year.
And I promised not to make any forecasts.
Well, resolutions were made to be broken!
Thursday, January 1, 2004
Business Blog Resolutions 2004
Everyone spends an inordinate amount of time, on New Year's Day, creating a gaggle of resolutions.
I'll do that too. Who am I to break with such a grand tradition!
After all, I usually resolve to never resolve...or is that dissolve?
In any case, without further ado, here are some business blog resolutions for 2004.
Resolve to update your business blogs on a regular basis. I like to add daily posts; but at least three times a week is fine. For those of you, who update multiple times a day, all I can say, is you certainly must have a lot to blog about.
Make a committment to add links, and to engage in link exchanges with other bloggers, and with other static websites. Trading links adds entirely new visitor traffic to your blog. If your blog is interesting and informative, the new readers will return often.
Get your blog ranked higher, in the Google (and other search engines) listings, for your most important keywords. Those are the terms people enter into search boxes, to find information on a topic. By writing posts, that contain those keyword terms, your blog will be found regularly on the search engines.
Write interesting articles for other bloggers, wesbites, and newsletters. Build your traffic, by letting people see your writing and expertise, in many differnet online and offline locations. Don't forget to link back to your blog.
Add an RSS feeder to your blog, for ease of spreading your words to others.
Post regularly on internet forums. Visit and participate often on Blogger Talk and Blogger Forum and Yahoo Groups: Blogging Community. Ask questions of other bloggers. Answer their questions openly and honestly too. You will learn a lot that way.
Send a press release to the news media, letting them know about the stories on your blog, and about your business. Keep in close contact with the media, and not just when you have a story of your own either. You may be asked to comment on news, about other businesses, in your field of endeavour.
Get your blog listed in the many great blog directories. Many of those blog directories are listed in my Resources section. Be sure to add your blog to the very important internet directories like The Open Directory Project (DMOZ). For information on getting included in that major directory, see my SEO Chat article on how to get listed in DMOZ.
Make new internet friends, with other bloggers, and webmasters. The contacts not only open up new business relationships, but are wonderful for enriching your personal life. In the end, that's much more important.
Help other new bloggers gain knowledge and experience, with writing and promoting their freshly minted blogs. Be of assistance to long time blog writers too. Share your information and know how freely, with those who request your guidance.
Be a friend to other bloggers.
All my best to you and your families in 2004.
Blog Business World
Wayne's Derby World
I'll do that too. Who am I to break with such a grand tradition!
After all, I usually resolve to never resolve...or is that dissolve?
In any case, without further ado, here are some business blog resolutions for 2004.
Resolve to update your business blogs on a regular basis. I like to add daily posts; but at least three times a week is fine. For those of you, who update multiple times a day, all I can say, is you certainly must have a lot to blog about.
Make a committment to add links, and to engage in link exchanges with other bloggers, and with other static websites. Trading links adds entirely new visitor traffic to your blog. If your blog is interesting and informative, the new readers will return often.
Get your blog ranked higher, in the Google (and other search engines) listings, for your most important keywords. Those are the terms people enter into search boxes, to find information on a topic. By writing posts, that contain those keyword terms, your blog will be found regularly on the search engines.
Write interesting articles for other bloggers, wesbites, and newsletters. Build your traffic, by letting people see your writing and expertise, in many differnet online and offline locations. Don't forget to link back to your blog.
Add an RSS feeder to your blog, for ease of spreading your words to others.
Post regularly on internet forums. Visit and participate often on Blogger Talk and Blogger Forum and Yahoo Groups: Blogging Community. Ask questions of other bloggers. Answer their questions openly and honestly too. You will learn a lot that way.
Send a press release to the news media, letting them know about the stories on your blog, and about your business. Keep in close contact with the media, and not just when you have a story of your own either. You may be asked to comment on news, about other businesses, in your field of endeavour.
Get your blog listed in the many great blog directories. Many of those blog directories are listed in my Resources section. Be sure to add your blog to the very important internet directories like The Open Directory Project (DMOZ). For information on getting included in that major directory, see my SEO Chat article on how to get listed in DMOZ.
Make new internet friends, with other bloggers, and webmasters. The contacts not only open up new business relationships, but are wonderful for enriching your personal life. In the end, that's much more important.
Help other new bloggers gain knowledge and experience, with writing and promoting their freshly minted blogs. Be of assistance to long time blog writers too. Share your information and know how freely, with those who request your guidance.
Be a friend to other bloggers.
All my best to you and your families in 2004.
Blog Business World
Wayne's Derby World
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