What Is A Blog? Millions of people are doing it, from CEOs and business owners to stay-home mums and students. I like the definition used by Blogger: “In simple terms, a blog is a web site, where you write stuff on an ongoing basis. New stuff shows up at the top, so your visitors can read what’s new. Then they comment on it or link to it or email you. Or not.” I think of my blog as my online journal, a place to record my thoughts and experiences and to share them with a few, or with many. It’s a lot easier than building a website, and best of all, it’s free (if you use free hosting platforms like Blogger or WordPress). Why Blog? Blogging has at least 3 great benefits. An easy way to establish your web presence with minimum cost Unlike a website, a blog is easy to set up, even if you are new to the Internet, and it doesn’t have to cost you a cent. (Okay, maybe it might cost you .95 a year if you want it hosted on your own server with your own domain name, which absolutely looks more imposing than having [...]

What is a blog, you ask? Short for “Web Log,” it’s an increasingly popular way to self-publish online. You can actually syndicate your articles, making this a great way for experts to showcase their specialized knowledge. Think of a blog as a form of an online journal, with frequent postings and observations on items of interest. Most blogs focus on a narrow subject area, which is ideal for experts. Hyperlinks to articles, websites and other blogs make this a very interactive medium that encourages audience participation. The Pew Internet Study estimates that about 11% of Internet users – translating to 50 million people – are regular blog readers. Technorati, which claims to be the authority on what’s going on in the world of weblogs, tracks almost 42 million blogs. Lawyers are active bloggers. According to an online survey conducted by Blogads.com late last year, 6.1% of bloggers work in the legal profession. The Litigation Section of the American Bar Association discovered that the majority of section members surveyed read at least one blog regularly and almost 20% publish their own blog. The best way to understand a blog is to look at a few. The Google Blog has a very [...]

1) Consultant Blog: This type of blog is extensively used by a variety of service-based companies including marketers, interior designers, event planners, financial advisors, and so on. In fact, this is the type of blog that I write. The Consultant Blog primarily features a single person writing about their advice and observations. It is a way of highlighting your know-how in an area and building an active readership who trust your opinion to guide them. 2) Tourist Blog: Every Bed and Breakfast can benefit from this type of blog. It features the local area with pictures of surrounding vistas and updates about upcoming events. It can feature links to local weather and favorite places to visit. The Tourist Blog can help sway people to use your business services over that of a competitor, as well as keep in touch with them until they visit your city again. It can also save your business time by providing people the answers to frequent questions. Other businesses that benefit from this style include rafting companies, ski areas, fishing guides, festivals, and so on. 3) Industry Blog: There are a number of companies that specialize in a very narrow area of their industry. For [...]

So you’ve decided that you want start a blog but are not sure where to start? Don’t worry too much because the fact that you reading this right now means that you care about the overall end result. Let’s get to the brass tacks! According to a new study, there are literally over a hundred thousand blogs created each and everyday. I’m not sure what percent of these are actually serious about maintaining one, but you have to admit that it’s a pretty large number of new blogs born daily. What’s important, is that this gives immediate insight that blogging is a powerful tool that is likely here to stay. Getting started with a blog is relatively easy, but giving some thought to its overall strategy, utility, and execution can go a long ways. Although this article is not intended to be all inclusive, it will give you some basic guidelines and steps in how to start blogging like a pro out of the gates. Choosing a Domain Name For Your Blog Probably one of the most fun of all the tasks in starting a blog is choosing a domain name. But don’t act to rashly, because you make overlook [...]

• Keeping it natural Your blog is a way of conveying your ideas and opinions. Try not to write it in too formal a manner like you are writing a report or it may turn readers off. One thing I found was that readers love a conversational style of writing. • Captivating Headlines Headlines may be one of the most important components in your blog posts. This is because an eye catching headline relevant to the topic will immediately capture the attention of the readers and make them want to find out more by reading the body of the post. A mundane headline on the other hand has the opposite effect. You can check out the top newspapers to see how they do their headlines. • Keeping your entries simple and concise Get your point across in an interesting but concise manner. If you have a long entry, break up the text with paragraphs. Using images that is relevant to what you are talking about is always a good idea. Take note to edit the image’s size so that it fits well into the general layout of your blog. Too much droning makes your blog boring. Also remember that you [...]