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 check out a few others, supported with my hosting company.  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.  Read the rest of this entry

Technology continues to advance and nothing has grown more quickly than blogging. A blog, which is essentially a weblog or web log, is a basic website where new entries are made on a continual and frequent basis.

The new posts, or entries, appear on the blog in reverse chronological order so readers will see the most recent posting first. Blogs started out as a type of journaling for many people but they have rapidly grown in popularity and many people actually make a lucrative living through their blogging efforts.

One of the biggest differences in a blog and a typically website is that blogs offer the opportunity for two-way conversations and interactions with other people.  When people read a blog, they also have an opportunity to comment on the posting and forward the links to other sites where more people join the conversation. Blogs can quickly go ‘viral’ if the blogging content is interesting, valuable, and unusual.

Blogging has taken on a life of its own over the past decade, with over 100 million blogs on the Internet today. People use blogs to promote a cause, convey a message, or drive readers to their website. Many people will visit a website after reading blog entries they find interesting. This can quickly lead to new sales for the blogger if he/she is able to engage visitors and encourage them to visit a website with products and services for a fee. Read the rest of this entry

You’ve heard a lot about blogging and you may even keep up with a few online blogs yourself. There are millions of blogs on the Internet and they include a range of topics on virtually every topic imaginable. But just why do people engage in blogging anyway and what is the allure of an online diary?

First of all, it’s important to understand that blogs have become much more than glorified diaries or journals. They have become a major driver for online marketers who are using the blog as an innovative approach to increasing traffic to their website. Blogging has become much more popular today than ever before.

The following is a list of the top eight (8) reasons people blog. Take a look at these popular reasons and you may find that this is something worth pursuing for your own personal or business needs:

1. A person has something to say and they want hundred, thousands, and even millions of people to hear what they have to say. They want to get a message across or promote a ‘cause’ and blogs are the perfect way to do that across a huge audience.
2. Online marketers use blogs to promote a product or service. It is an easy and affordable component of an online marketing plan and it is a great way to promote a business, products, or services.
3. People create blogs to connect with other people who share a common idea, thought, or cause. They want to find people who feel as they do about a particular topic and they seek to engage others in conversation about their topic. People who are passionate about their blogging topic will find a huge following throughout the blogosphere. Read the rest of this entry