In this article, we are going to look into the profitability of a blog and set up a blog of our own at no cost! Interested? Read on!

First, we need to obtain a blog. There are several options – host a blog on your own domain or get a free blog. For starters, let’s talk about the free blogs. You can obtain a free blog at www.blogger.com or the newer (and better!) www.wordpress.com. If you are a techie, you must have heard of Wordpress, a free blog engine that is robust and infinitely expandable.

Blogger.com is actually owned by Google, so it will be detected on Google’s radar faster and you will be indexed faster. Wordpress.com, however, is a relatively new option so I have no comparison on the speed of getting indexed by search engines. However, Wordpress is better in the sense that it has more advanced features such as Trackbacks and Categories. You can also manage your sidebar links more efficiently (more about this later).

Get a free blog at either Blogger.com (http://www.blogger.com/signup.g) or Wordpress (http://wordpress.com/signup/). Then, familiarize yourself by posting your first post on your blog and tinkering around with the options and templates.

Here are a few common “blog-related” words to help you out:

1) Permalink: Permalink stands for permanent link, which is a URL (uniform resource locator) that leads to an individual post that you make in your blog.

2) Trackback: When you post about someone else’s blog post elsewhere, your post will show up in their “trackback” section. This feature, however, is not available with a Blogger.com account.

3) Pinging: Blogging seems to be paired with pinging almost every time either one is mentioned nowadays. Pinging is actually the action where a certain aggregator is notified whenever your blog is updated, so that the aggregator may show the newest post of your blog on their website. This is a useful way to gaining traffic, which we shall discuss later.

For now, I shall leave you testing out your new blog and the features that come included with it. In the next articles, we shall discuss the many ways we can gain profit from a blog, as well as tips on how to write posts that keep visitors glued and keep coming back for more!

PPC (paid per click) advertising is when you pay for clicks on your ad that takes a potential customer to your website. You can pay pennies to dollars per click, based on how well you want to market your website and product. Some ppc’s are running at over $80 per click that you pay to have some potential customer click on your link. The biggest keyword here is “potential customer.”

If you have decided to go the pay per click route with your advertising, you have to decide whether the click price is worth the effort. Not every potential customer will purchase your product from your website or spend any money while they are there. It is possible that less than 20 per cent of click throughs will generate a sale for you. This is where the costs of ppc advertising have to fit snugly into your budget. If the price you pay per click is too high, you will actually lose more money than you are making. If the price you pay is too low, you will rank lower on the search engines and get less click throughs to your website and thusly less customers onto your website.

Take caution when you are choosing ppc advertising and look at the overall costs of the campaign. It may be worth it to do a short campaign of ppc advertising to help give you a better idea if ppc advertising and the costs will work well for you.

More about: PPC

Well, first of all you are going to need some sort of blogging platform or software to create your blog in the first place. There are hundreds of options out there, so what you need to do is choose the blogging software that is best for you. Here are some tips on what to look for to get the best blogging software for you.

First of all you have to make a decision on what the reason for your blogging is. Are you doing it to try and earn some extra money, to record your own daily reflections, to polish your writing style, or for some other reason? The reason you are doing it will have a lot to do with what you want to accomplish with the site.

For instance, if you are doing it only for personal reasons, then you may just want to seek out the first free blog hosting website you can find that you like. On the other hand, if you are doing it to earn money you may be much pickier about what you want in terms of blogging software. You might want the blog on your own site, or on a site where they help you promote it. No matter what the reason ends up being, it is that which will most affect your choice of blogging software and which one is best for you.

Secondly, once you know why you are blogging, you need to figure out exactly which features are going to be most important to you on your blog. Are you going to want to be able to post pictures?

Or are you just going to be typing text as your content? You may also want to look at what tools are available like the ability to link, or to archive your posts. Once you know why you are blogging and what type of blogging you want to do you are that much closer to knowing what you need in blogging software. Keep in mind, though, that the more features that you are getting with your blogging software the more you will likely pay for that software. So, you must decide early on what you need and don’t need.

Third, once you know why you want to blog and with what features you want to blog, it is time to start seeking out software. It is available all over the internet and even in computer stores now. You may first want to do a search because often times you can find web hosting and domain name registration software that will include blogging software applications with it.

If you want to blog just to blog, then you may want to look at some of the free applications that allow you to just create a free account and then immediately begin blogging. On the other hand, if you want something on a website you have already established, and then look at software that may exist directly on your computer or through your hosting company. Much of it goes back to the first tip: know why you want to blog.

Blogging is so popular now that many people feel like they are on the outside looking in if they don’t have their own blog. The problem is that you may not know how to get started in the world of blogging. Obviously you cannot have a good blog until you have figured out the blogging software you want to use. There are a few types out there including blogging platforms at websites, purchased packages, and some that even come with website hosting and allow you to include a blog on your website.

No matter what type you use, you need to make some decisions to help you figure out which blogging software is for you. If you decide why you want to blog, what blogging features you want, and how much you want to spend on it, this will help in the decision making. Once you have done all of that it is just a matter of sifting through the various blogging software packages out there and deciding which fits your needs the most. The search for blogging software that is best for you will become obvious.

More about: Blogging Software

Blogging tools and software can help both the writer and the reader of the blog. With easy to use tools such as hit counters and comment boxes, blog writers can see exactly how many people have visited their blog site and what they think of their entries. Blog readers can also benefit from these features because they can communicate with the writer and navigate through the site efficiently. Software offers great features for blog writers, too. A writer can customize their blog to fit their personality.

When you are ready to look into blogging tools and software there are a few tips to follow. The first thing you will need to decide before looking for tools to add to your blog page is to decide how your blog will be used. For example, you may want to use your blog as a personal online diary or you may not wish to share your writing with anyone else. You will need a blog that offers a password only feature that can block out anyone else from reading your blog.

The same goes for if you only want to share your blog with those that you invite. Some blog tools and software will allow you to set up a password so that only those that you give it to will have access to your site. If you want to make your blog public, then you may not need these types of features. If you have a large business, you may want to use blog software that will allow several bloggers from your company to use. These types of decisions should be made before looking into tools and software.

In addition, if you want to obtain blog software, you will need to understand the two main types of software used for blogging. One type is Weblog publishing. This type of software allows users to make and publish web pages that are static, or do not change often. This is an easy way to make many pages at once and publish them on the Internet. They are not necessarily for blogging.

The other type is a Weblog community. This type of software allows users to make customized dynamic or constantly changing web pages, such as blogs. This is the type of software that often works best when you want to write a blog. This kind of software usually offers features that are easily added to a blog such as comment areas, moderation, track back options, and hit counters.

When looking for the blog tools and software you want to use for your blog, you will then need to decide on how much you want to spend. Just like most things with computers, you can spend a lot or you can spend nothing. Most of the time, how much you will spend will depend on the type of features you need or want for your page. For most casual blog users, free blog sites offers most of the tools needed to maintain a functional blog.

The most basic blog sites offer hit counters, comment boxes and subject indexing. If, however, you need more tools and better software, you might need to download the tools or purchase the software. This is usually the case for businesses that need to maintain a large amount of blogs for their company. Other tools that can be downloaded might include quizzes, games or trivia, databases of readers that join, comment and discussion forums, link areas, picture hosting and search engine or keyword options.

A blog that is easy to use for any reader and is interesting can generate more readers. Added tools and software can help blog writers achieve this. There are many new and exciting blog tools and software that can be used to make your blog stand out from the crowd of many.

With PPC advertising, website owners bid a certain amount to PPC search engines, such as Google.com, on specific keywords or key phrases that they believe are relevant to their websites. These keywords or key phrases are what the website owners believe will be used most frequently to find what they are featuring on their websites. Whoever bids the most for certain key words and key phrases will have their websites ranked higher than other similar websites. This is where PPC advertising works best for website owners; you only pay when someone clicks on your website through the search engine.

PPC advertising helps website owners stay within a budget, and also helps them decide whether certain key words or key phrases that they bid on are bringing them the traffic that they want. With PPC advertising, you don’t pay a large fee up front to have your website listed high in the search engine rankings – you pay for every successful click on your website link in the search engine. With the PPC advertising method, website owners can change course and bid on different keywords if they think that the ones that they are currently using aren’t producing the results that they want; all while staying within an acceptable budget.

Whether you are into PPC advertising to make money or you need exposure for your website you will find this type of marketing very lucrative. Google has really made a name for itself with pay per click advertising with its Adsense program and there are many programs that have followed on its heels. Web publishers like the idea of PPC advertising because the links are relevant and they get paid for each web visitor that clicks on the link. Advertisers like the PPC advertising scheme because their ad is placed on relevant web pages. Because the idea is to make the web page and the advertisement relevant to one another more people will click, benefiting both parties.

PPC advertising is simply genius, no matter what side of the business you are on. It works because if people don’t find all of the information they need in one place they will click on the links on that page. Also, people trust web pages that provide good content, so they assume that the links on the page are worth clicking. All around PPC advertising works because it is set up to work! This is a truly flawless advertising plan.

There are some important things to know as you begin to consider pay-per-click advertising. First, it’s important that you choose the keywords best suited to your site. Your advertising dollar will do you little good if the people who find you through your ads are not looking for whatever it is you sell. PPC advertising can be a very successful marketing tool, but you must maximize the efficiency of your ads in order for it to work well for your business.

PPC advertising can typically take one of two forms. The first is the ads you see spread throughout the Internet. They may be obvious or may be more effectively merged into the site construction and offer a short blurb describing your business and a link to your site. The other common form of PPC advertising is paid search engine rankings. This strategy allows consumers searching for your keywords to find you at the top of the search engine listing, even if your site ranking wouldn’t place you there.

Is PPC advertising suitable for you? If you’re looking to add to your customer base, increase the number of hits on your website, or become a more recognized online presence, the answer is yes. With thought and care, PPC advertising can be a profitable and beneficial venture for your business.

Giveaways: What can give away to promote your business?

Pens – Wherever you go, someone asks to borrow a pen to write something down, and then forgets to give it back to you. Why not take advantage of this “natural” tendency and use it to your advantage? Check to see if your direct sales company has pens with the company name on them that you can purchase.

Better yet, spend a little bit of money and have them printed with your business URL. The next time someone asks to borrow a pen, you can give them one with your name and website on it. They will see this web address each time they use the pen and it might help generate a sale. The pens aren’t that expensive, so why not give them several? They can give them out instead of their favorite pen, and in that way they’ll have done advertising for you.

Mouse pads – If you work on a computer, you use a mouse pad. What better thing to give away than something that will be useful and that you know will be used? People sit at computers all day long with their hand resting on their mouse pad. If you have your website address printed onto mouse pads, and give them away, you’re keeping the name of your business before potential customers. Choose something that’s visually appealing, as well as functional. If the person you’ve given the mouse pad to has many people visit them during work, they may ask where to get one, too.

Contests: Use them to generate leads.

One way to generate leads is to have a contest that people will be eager to participate in. Choose an item, such as a gaming system or the newest MP3 player, as a prize and you’ll have people beating down the doors to your direct sales website to enter. Make sure the rules are clearly stated so people know what to expect and know when a winner will be announced.

Of course, for a chance to win, they’ll have to leave their name, address, email address, and telephone number. Make sure to advertise the contest with a press release, and you’ve increased the possibility that more people will sign up. Don’t forget, however, to issue another press release when the contest is over; you need to announce the winner.

Using giveaways and contests to bring traffic to your website accomplishes two things:
1) It promotes your business by giving people a reason to come to your website.
2) By providing these items, not only will you bring potential customers to your website, you can also take the price off of your taxes as advertising costs.

Take advantage of people’s desire to get free items, and you’ve taken a step into a new realm of marketing your business. Remember to choose wisely when to hold contests and what items to giveaway to advertise your website. You might generate so much buzz about your direct sales business that you won’t lack for customer and direct leads for quite some time.

More about: Promotions

How do you make your website search engine friendly? Following are some hints to make your website easier to find.

1. Submit your direct sales website to the largest directories and search engines. Concentrate on the Yahoo! and Open Project Directory directories. Google and AOL would be good choices for search engines to target.

2. Submit just the main page of your website, not each individual page. The other pages will be found by following the links from the main page. Creating a “site map” might help the search engines find all of your links, but there’s no guarantee.

3. Choose keywords that are as specific as possible. If your direct sales companies sells educational toys, you’ll do better by using “educational toys” than you would using “toys and games” as your keywords.

4. The more websites you have linking to yours, the better your site will rank on the search engines. To get links back to your website, consider a “link exchange” campaign. Find other websites in your same niche and ask them if they would exchange links with you. If they do, both websites should benefit.

5. Your title page tag is the first thing a search engine displays, so you’ll want yours to be good. Take your time and come up with something that will explain your website.

6. Search engines, while important, are not the only way to drive traffic to your website. Consider adding a signature line to your outgoing email that includes your business email address. Write articles and submit them to various free article sites; make sure to include a bio box with your URL at the bottom. Find and post at related forums, posting your link in your signature line, if it is allowed.

7. Don’t forget about offline marketing. Have pens, business cards, and flyers printed with your direct sales business email and website. Bumper stickers might be another good bet, as well as magnets.

Creating a website isn’t that hard to do. Take some time, think things through, make a plan, and then follow it. If you have problems, you can always ask at different forums for ways to improve your search engine results. People are generally willing to help make your direct sales website search engine friendly.

More about: SEO

Gather Ideas

The most difficult part about writing anything is deciding what you want to write about. Blogs are interesting because you can use them in several ways. You can use them as a personal online journal of sorts if you wish. You can also use them as a place to post your opinions and views. Lastly, you can use them as a place to put short articles of interest for others to read.

If you are choosing to use your blog as a journal, you might not need much planning. You will probably simply want to begin writing and see where it takes you. If you want to use the blog for your opinions or for articles however, you will need to gather ideas. Create a list of topic ideas that interest you. Use them to determine what your topic will be. After choosing a topic, make a quick outline of main points you want to include. This step may seem tedious, but it will make the other steps go much more quickly, so be sure not to skip it.

Choose a Tone

After you have chosen your topic and created your short outline, you will need to choose your tone. The most successful blogs are written in a casual tone, which is a welcoming idea to most non-professional writers. Don’t worry about grammatical rules. Simply choose a tone that is like the one you would use when speaking with your spouse or a great friend. The tone should be friendly and stress-free.

Write Your Post

When you sit down to write your post, remember the tone you chose for your piece. Keeping the tone in mind put your topic idea and outline in front of you and begin writing. You should keep your blogs posts pretty short. They should contain your main point within the first sentence or two. Don’t ramble on and on or you will risk losing your reader somewhere in the middle. You can strive to keep your posts between 300 and 700 words altogether.

This may sound like a lot, but once you start writing, you will see that it will not take a lot of time to get to this point. Don’t forget to write in a casual tone. Write exactly like you would speak. Avoid large words that some people may stumble over. Create interesting, yet simple posts for everyone to enjoy.

Use a Signature Ending

A signature ending is important for any blogger. You can choose to end each post with a specific quote or phrase. You can add your name to the bottom with a special symbol nearby. It really does not matter how you choose to end your post. Be sure to choose a signature ending however. A signature ending is a great way for regular readers to see that your post is ending. It can be a comforting sight for many readers as well and make your blog seem more personal.

Edit Your Work

After all of the writing is said and done, you should always edit your work. Editing is not always a fun thing to do, but if you want your blog to be taken seriously, you should go back over your work. Look for misspelled words and other common mistakes. Although you are not worrying about grammar, you should not misspell words. When you are certain your text is mistake-free, you can move on to the last step.

Submit Your Update

The final step to creating a blog post is to submit it to your blog. This is typically done via the blogging software. There is a spot where you can paste your text and click on the “submit” button. The software should do the rest. After submitting, visit your blog as a reader and check out your new update.

More about: blogging