How to Write a Famous Blog

Blogs, or web logs, are one of the fastest-growing means of mass communication. Articles about blogs, a form of online public journal, have appeared in the New York Times, Time, and Newsweek. The "blogosphere" has affected elections and corporate policy, and some blogs have thousands of readers a day. Moreover, they are fun to read, and writing them can be enjoyable too.

Steps: Go to a simple blog creation site. A few common sites for blogging are: MuseCrafters.com, vox.com, wordpress.com, Inthewire.com, Blogger.com, livejournal.com, journalhome.com, freeopendiary.com, or the ever popular Myspace.com. You can also try using a Google search for free blog hosting sites, and you'll easily find one that fits your needs.
Choose one that appears to be "User Friendly" for you. I've known a lot of people who start a blog not knowing a single thing about making their site individual to them, and, let's face it, HTML codes are a hard trick to learn, so check it out. If it looks a little too hard to create, and navigate the blog site and you're confused, then don't use that site. I tend to use Inthewire.com, because even though it may go down for a few weeks at a time, it's the most user friendly.
Choose what type of blog you want to create. Carve out a niche and pick a catchy title that captures the essence of your blog. Remember that a blog, like your clothes, is an extension of you. For most people your blog site may be the only thing they identify you with and you want to be sure that who you are on the inside is reflected on the outside...er...inside of net...you know what I mean.
Some claim that posting at least once every day is best; Some also say that three quick posts a day are far more effective than one long post every three days. Others claim that when they update a blog every other day they get more readers than when updating two or three entries in a single day. Whatever you do remember that for most bloggers, it's all about reading and many of them would prefer content rather than quantity. Once you get started you'll find that you attract a certain readership, and you may have to adjust how you work your journal to appease and keep the readers you've obtained.
Some recommend putting together about a month's worth of material before you tell anyone about your blog. I recommend that you just start writing and fame will come in time. Feel free to go back and rewrite entries to make everything just the way you want before or after you "go public." You can edit any entry at any time with most blog sites. Writing a popular blog doesn't happen overnight. The essence of the blog stems from journaling which means the blog is FOR YOU. Work it how you feel most appropriate.
When you're ready, tell close friends about your blog and ask them to tell their friends. Often if you use it as another way to network with those people around you, you'll get a better response. If you push it too hard don't be surprised if they ignore your blog because they feel you're fishing for compliments and attention...remember, blogging is about you, and the more attention you put into yourself, the more people are going to notice.
Look around the Internet for blogs you love. Read and post to them religiously. Leave a note that actually has something to do with their site so that they know you actually took the time for pay attention to the material posted; do not expect anything back in return. Just commenting will cause others to be more likely to visit your and do the same. Often when you make comments to sites a link to your own personal site will already be included with your comment, unless you are posting from one hosting site to the next. If your at ITW and you read a blog on Myspace then it would be appropriate to include such a link.
Build a network with other people in the blogosphere - make friends online. This is the best way to get readers and a great way to meet people you would otherwise never know. If you get one thing from blogging, this will be it.



Tips: There are different types of blogs, but the majority fall into these three categories: personal/journal, collaborative (more than one author), and topical (based on a particular subject or niche). There are also photoblogs and link compilation blogs. Successful blogs find a niche and stick with it. Is there some aspect of your life you're burning to share? Are you an expert in some field of knowledge? Are you obsessed with current events? Find your passion and your reason for starting the blog, and go for it. Again the key is: it's for you; others will not be willing to read if they sense you're trying too hard to be popular.
A personal blog is sometimes the hardest style to do. Even if you're a brilliant writer and profoundly funny, you have to remember that people who know you "IRL" (in real life) may be accessing your journal. Some bloggers have found many quarrels have started because of information that was published in a personal blog. The key to this is: a) Only use first names if permission is given; if not, use the first initial of the person, and never use last names. b) If the information you share may get someone into trouble or hurt some feelings, then make the entry private (so only you can read it) or don't post it at all. c) Remember that the blog is about you, not about gossip or what your mother's uncle's baby's momma did to the guy across the bar last week...we don't care, and I'm sure that person doesn't want everyone on the world wide web to know either.
HTML, the language used to design websites, is your friend. Learning basic HTML is far easier than the foreign language you studied in high school. The Help section of Blogger.com can teach you all the HTML you need to learn in order to manipulate your site, add links in text and anything else you need to make your site exactly the way you want it.
Remember you can be anonymous to most of your readers. This is one of the best aspects of blogging. No one has to know who you are! If you prefer, you can even invent a blog personality to use. Nonetheless, always consider that you should be nice and polite so everyone has a handy-dandy time online.
A good way to make a popular blog is to make other blogs popular. That is, visit, read, and thoughtfully comment on other people's blogs. On most blogger sites, a link to your own blog will be automatically included in your comment. So the more blogs you post on, the more people will be driven to visit your blog. Of course, don't just go on and post one-word spam, because that might keep people away.
For any new or advanced blogger, it would be wise to pay attention to those English classes and look for ways outside of your blog to expand your writing experience and expertise. Part of blogging is kind of like writing for a newspaper. Remember to keep your blogs well spaced, and if you can title them, be vague but attention-getting with the titles.


Warnings: Don't be rude when blogging because that will make you unpopular or popular with rude people. You don't want rude bloggers or readers participating in your site.
Don't post your blog link everywhere because it can actually seem rude if you appear extremely desperate to have visitors.
Be careful with your identity. It's so easy for someone to find you through the net or to find those you talk about. Protect the people you know and, unless they give you permission, don't use their names or other personal information in your blog.

Tips For Getting Your Local Business Found In Local Searches

by Chris Crum Small Business News


Tuesday, Jan 29, 2008
While it is always good to get customers from around the globe, your goal should be to have a dominant presence in your hometown. While local search marketing can certainly be beneficial to eCommerce businesses, it is especially important to Brick and Mortar businesses that need customers coming in off the streets.

Following are a few pointers to keep in mind.

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Local Keywords

While this one may seem fairly obvious, you need to think about terms a local searcher would use to find your business. They'll most likely use the city and state in their search, so you'll want your site to be optimized for those as well as business-specific keywords.

For example, if you run a record store in Nicholasville, Kentucky, you'll want to optimize for phrases like "Record Store, Nicholasville, Kentucky", "CD Store, Nicholasville, KY", "Music, Nicholasville KY", and so forth. If your business is located in a small town, you may also want to optimize for the nearest larger city.

Pay Attention to Local OneBox AND Google Maps

There is more than one method of capturing local searches on Google and it is important not to only utilize one of them. Bill Slawski of SEO by the Sea has a wonderful SEMMY-nominated article on this matter I would suggest reading.

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By the way, Slawski also has a wonderful glossary for local search on Google that could prove extremely helpful.

Trust and Authority

Of course links are important in any SEO campaign, but if you want to rank up there with the big boys, you need quality ones. You may have submitted your site to a slew of business directories that can get you links, but are the ones you’re submitting to authoritative?

In an interview with Michael Gray, SEOBook author Aaron Wall says, "Before a local business spends money submitting to any of these business directories they should make sure they submit to the Yahoo! Directory, DMOZ, and get at least a few other links so they have enough link equity to outrank the general directories for their own brand specific searches, and hopefully some more general local ones as well."

Of course these points are just the tip of the iceberg. There is a ton of information out there that can help you on your way to getting your local business found by people in your area. What other tips come to your mind?

AdWords Aimed at MySpace Users

By Janet Meiners - Fri, 01/25/2008 - 8:29pm.

Reaching demographics
This is an exciting development . Google is testing a new feature to allow you to target ads to specific demographics on MySpace and other web sites. So it your web site sells NY Yankee tickets and your main demographic is men aged 30-45. Your ads can show up just on profiles of men who are in that age group.
You can then adjust your bids accordingly. The ads will be filtered by age and gender demographics and you can get reports to further refine your results.
Many people are blind to ads on social networking sites, but assuming you’re great at capturing your audience’s attention, this could be huge. People spend a lot more time on MySpace than a regular web sites. Recent data put the average time people spend on MySpace as a whopping 29:36 minutes. Plus they return to the site more frequently.
This feature is for Google’s content network. That means your ads can be targeted to display on other’s web sites - this feature isn’t available for the ads that show up next to a Google search. The feature will apply to contextual or placement-targeted campaigns (with CPC or CPM bidding). Only certain sites in the Google content network will participate (see below).
Here’s where it gets interesting. Advertising on social networking sites. Why? Because people give you their age and gender when they sign up. Sites provide this information to Google (if they have the user’s permission) in bulk. Note: you can’t target people under 18.
Here is the initial list of social networking sites that advertisers will be able to target (I can’t wait until blogs are added to this list. It’s interesting that dating site Plenty of Fish is on the list.):

myspace.com/friendster.com/hotornot.com/blackplanet.com/imvu.com/plentyoffish.com/

miss34.com/aooa.degesichterparty.degazzag.com/wolke10.deinvisionfree.com/flodeo.com/

picturetrail.com/beltrano.com.brmigente.com/cupidbay.com/unister.deasianave.com/glee.com/

faithbase.com/flirtbox.com/sexyono.com/parperfeito.com.br

Not only can you target specific groups but you can exclude them also. As Google’s AdWords blog notes: “…you can modify your bids for a particular audience segment, such as increasing your bid for 25-34 year-old males by 230%. Second, you can ask that your ads not be shown to certain demographic groups if they aren’t meeting your ROI goals.”
You’ll know if certain demographics work because of detailed Google reports. You can see how your campaign performances (impressions, clicks, CTR, and conversion data). based on gender and age. I wonder how long until this feature is open to everyone. No word on that yet.
Google will test the feature over the next few weeks with selected advertisers in the U.S. and U.K. Want to be a tester? Sign up here.