Bloggers R Us

Phyllis Zimbler Miller asked:


Publishing a non-fiction book will usually make it easy for you to write a blog dedicated to your book. The non-fiction subject of your book and related topics can provide ample blogging material.

For example, if you wrote a book on cooking low-fat diets, you could post one low-fat recipe a day along with insider tips to ensure the recipe turns out well. Or if you wrote a book on new social media platforms, you could write each post about one new social media platform and probably never run out of new posts.

The problem of writing ongoing book blog posts really presents itself to fiction writers. If you’ve written a romance novel or a mystery novel, what are you going to write about in your blog posts?

With a little imagination (and you are a fiction writer, aren’t you?) you can come up with interesting posts for your book’s blog. Let’s look at some examples:

You write a novel that takes place in 1970 during the Vietnam War (yes, such as my novel MRS. LIEUTENANT). Because the Vietnam War plays an important role in the novel, you could write posts about historical events that took place during that era or historical events that led to that era. And you could write about the military today fighting in Iraq or Afghanistan and about military families back home. There’s no need to mention your book in every post; the overall context of the blog is about your book.

Now let’s stretch our imagination farther. You write a mystery novel about a series of medical-related murders. You could write posts about deaths that were not murders but were actual medical mysteries. You could also write posts about new hospital procedures that are being implemented to reduce medical-related deaths. And you could write posts telling the family of hospital patients what to look for in suspected medical malpractice.

What if you’ve written a children’s picture book about family members learning to get along? Children are not going to read your blog and their parents aren’t going to read your blog aloud to their children. You could write posts about parent-child issues; if you’re not an expert, you can quote other experts. You could review other children’s picture books on similar topics. You could write posts about children’s literacy issues.

The truth is that you can cast your imagination net far and wide for subjects on which to blog. Just remember that every few posts you should mention your book in connection with that post. For example, if you were writing a post about children’s literacy issues, you could mention that a specific second-grader in your book could read long words but not short words and that her teacher suspected dyslexia.

Or you could quote an entire (short) scene from your novel to illustrate a point you’re making. And, yes, it’s okay that people reading your blog may not know who the characters and situation are. If you choose an appropriate scene, most readers will be able to understand the context of the excerpt.

Fiction authors should be as active as non-fiction authors in the use of blogs to market books. Give your blog readers interesting and well-written posts, and they will read your blog and hopefully buy your book.

Trond Lyngb asked:


General entertainment may be the most productive way for any site informing rather than selling. Some sites, on the other hand, do both selling and providing informative articles, including sites which sell products and ads like Amazon. Two preeminent examples of sites focusing on the entertainment niche are Salon.com and IGN.com, both highly successful websites. With blogging, the rules are somewhat different. This short guide explains the basics of making money online with an entertainment blog.

Blogging On What?

Usually you want to blog on the topics that excite you, because more often than not that will be your best writing. On the other hand, creating posts designed for high profit also works. Say you **** action TV shows, but actions shows are the rave. What do you do? It’s still up to you, but in the end you can honestly do this for pay and do this for fun. If it’s like pulling teeth, maybe you should ask someone else to do it (a guest blogger).

TV Show Reviewing:

Since TV shows were mentioned, let’s go over blogging on them. This can mean writing blog posts on new characters in the shows, upcoming seasons being released on DVDs, certain genres of TV shows like action or horror, or even a new writer’s strike. TV show reviewing is often the most lucrative field for entertainment blogging; few **** TV, many are hooked on it.

Other Reviewing:

Of course, entertainment sites like Salon and IGN also focus on books, anime, comics, and movies. Reviews take a special kind of skill to write, however, and doing them solely on your entertainment blog is a risk. Write on multiple subjects, and see what catches reader’s interests.

Commentary:

Commentating on the latest stories in Hollywood is also quite lucrative. This isn’t so much news, but offering what a newspaper opinion column does. News means “Just the Facts” while commentary lets you go into more personal experience with series. Say you’re in love with science fiction shows; “Battlestar Galactica” and “Star Trek” are addictions to you. You can tap this vein of interest to find similar fans across the world. You can write opinion pieces like “10 Reasons Science Fiction Shows are Hot!” or “Why the Sci-Fi Channel is Working Miracles!”

Hot News:

One major aspect of all entertainment blogging is staying informed on not only what happened yesterday but what happened today. New TV series, new bestselling books from names like Stephen King or Dean Koontz, an action star like Will Smith or Bruce Willis signing up for the latest action film trilogy … these are all strong topics. You can find much of this out by simply opening up the entertainment section of a major newspaper, while also using the net for what it’s meant for.

Make Money Blogging-How?

So how do you make money blogging with entertainment blogging? Often the most lucrative way to make money is simple ad sales; there are thousands of potential markets, from selling ad space for new movies to taking small commissions from items you’ve reviewed.

Film blogging is the rich niche nr 2.

Truly, film blogging is a hot commodity online today, mainly because so many of us love to watch a good film. It’s the modern storytelling form, even more so today than the novel.

This guide not only offers clear topics, but some useful ways to make money blogging with an online career opportunity.

Choose a Genre, Choose Again:

Choosing a genre may seem simple to you. “I love horror!” Or “Anything with Johnny Depp!” First, remember there are likely film blogs on just about every topic you can imagine; it’s been done so you need to offer something new. That means experience in good and bad films, a unique way of grading a film, and the willingness to blog continuously on the same topic. Sometimes, for the more experienced blogger, it’s important to focus on a very specific niche. And actually, Horror Blogging or blogging on Johnny Depp are good examples.

The problem is the online world is full of them.

Unique Topics:

There are almost no topics left for film blogs. So choose one that you are willing to write on continuously, and one which will give you enough material to actually write on. Johnny Depp has only been in so many films, so if you plan to make money blogging, check that one.

On the other side, while there are hundreds of horror blogs, there are thousands of horror movies coming in from across the world, and a wide fan base. That’s a good pick. So are most genres, from science fiction films to the more thriller type films like “Rambo” or “Jurassic Park.”

Sidelines:

You still need more topics, because many of these films will be years old and have no interest. That’s why you may also consider using TV shows and even online shows which fall into your category of favorite films. Say you enjoy French films, and you start running out of the ones you’ve seen. France has television, France has TV shows. It’s just to create more possibilities for content creation.

Make Money Blogging:

As with all entertainment blogging aspects, film blogging is a huge market, especially if you focus the niche on a specific topic. Horror blogging would of course get a host of movies, many of which need small fan based advertising-that’s you. You can also sign up to be an affiliate with major sites selling movies, like Amazon and Barnes & Noble; this won’t make you rich, but you will often get steady streams of sales. If you establish yourself as a film critic, there is the opportunity to write feature articles on major sites.

Gen Wright asked:


Many online business owners spend way too much time planning for and developing their website. They put up killer content on their website, and come up with killer products. But when it comes to promoting their website, they are lost. It is not uncommon to come across a website every now and then with killer products, but it feels like a ghost town. There is no one visiting the site!

There are many ways to promote a website. You can choose to buy clicks, execute article marketing campaigns, or post on blogs. Your internet marketing strategy should encompass as many traffic generation methods as possible. This is because if there is a traffic source that dries up, that would not be the end of your internet business. So many new online business owners make this mistake. They have just one single traffic source and when that traffic source becomes saturated, they stop making any more money.

When you start an online business, you want your business to earn you income month after month. Therefore, you should seriously look at various traffic generation methods that will give you long term traffic. Article marketing and blog posting are two such methods.

Both article marketing and blog posting can give you long term results because all those links are already out there. Since your articles are published on various article directories and blogs, you won’t be so easily affected even if a few of these sites went offline. There are still others that will continue to bring you traffic month after month.

In addition, search engines will find those links, and find your websites. The more links that point to your sites, the better your sites will rank in the search engines. And that is a major traffic source!

The process of building back links with article marketing and blog posting is rather similar. First, you start off by creating an article. You will then submit your article to article directories, or offer them to other bloggers to post on their blogs.

The only difference between the two methods is that you cannot include your links in the articles that you submit to the article directories. Instead, all links should be reserved for the author resource box. Usually, for article directories, they accept up to two live links. For blog posting, blog owners tend to accept up to three live links.

However, you would probably have noticed by now that article submission or blog posting is a very time consuming process. Submitting a single article to hundreds of article directories can take up a few hours of your time. As an online business owner, your time far too valuable to be spent on article submission.

Fortunately, you can easily outsource these tasks to article submission or blog posting service providers. These are professional companies that will help get all the grunt work done for you, while you continue to focus on developing your own business. So seriously consider outsourcing article submission and blog posting, and watch your back links and traffic grow.

Clifton Flack asked:


Advice Blog Launched by UK Insolvency Helpline

National Money Advice Counsellor, Akim Ali, today launched in Central London the UK Insolvency Helpline’s new online information resource, which aims to be the most authoritative source of news and information relating to debt, credit and money advice in the UK.

With current debates focusing on the “credit crunch” and the rise of debt-related problems in the UK, the launch of The UK Insolvency Helpline’s news site for has been welcomed by insolvency experts, the credit industry and the voluntary sector as playing a key role in helping to give a clear picture of issues relating to debt, credit, money advice and debt remedies in the UK.

The new debt advice resource includes information on levels of different types of debt: which approaches to managing debt are most widely used; how people in debt seek advice; the effectiveness of money advice, as well as vulnerability to debt and the advice needs of particular social groups.

Key Debt Advice facts:

* 89% of people said the effects of receiving advice had helped them stop getting into further debt.

* 74 properties will be repossessed today. Estimated to rise to 123 a day during 2008.

* 25,264 insolvencies in England and Wales in Q1 2008.    * 165,000 households in the UK are estimated to be using an illegal lender.

* Young people in mortgaged accommodation have average unsecured debt levels of £20,290.

* Comparative levels of debt for the over-50s are now almost four times higher than those of their counterparts in 1995.

* People with mental health problems are three times more likely than other people to be in debt.

Through promoting the benefits of knowledge and information sharing between the credit industry, government departments and the voluntary sector, this new resource should enable such agencies to support vulnerable people in an informed and effective way.

The Future of Debt Advice

The future success of the debt advice blog will depend in large part on the willingness of all stakeholders to share data. Ttere is already so much useful data and research on the hub about debt, credit and advice in all four parts of the UK, thanks to the dedicated staff and volunteers working in the debt advice team.

The UK Insolvency Helpline Debt Advice Process

The UK Insolvency Helplines’s vision is to help to reduce unmanageable debt in the UK and we all believe that this resource will enable us to work with others to achieve this. The information hub will prove invaluable in filling a large gap in the debt advice market and contributing to how the UK public understand and react to debt. As it evolves the news resource will be an excellent example of how sharing data among partnerships and being properly informed on all aspects of money advice can make a real difference.

The news blog will be regularly updated ensure that the resource is for the advice sector, the media, politicians, the credit industry and anyone who needs easy access to the latest debt statistics and research on levels of personal debt in the UK.

Nikki Q asked:


Would you like to make money blogging? There are a lot of people earning extra cash and even making a living blogging, and you can too. First, you need to come up with a topic people are interested it. The topic has to be one you know a lot about or enjoy. To become a successful blogger, you must provide useful content and update the blog regularly. You can either start your own blog, join a blog community or join a blog network.

Your Own Blog

If you want to start your own blog, there are many places to host your blog for free such as blogger.com. You can also buy your own domain from sites like godaddy.com and pay for hosting. I use hostgator.com and can highly recommend them. After setting up your blog, you can monetize traffic through Adsense, an advertising program by Google or other affiliate programs such as maxbounty or primaryads. You can also earn money by discussing advertiser products and services within blog posts through sites like payperpost.com, bloggingads.com and blogitive.com. To send traffic to your blog, you should submit it to directories, post on other people’s blogs, post on forums with your blog address in the signature, and exchange links with similar sites.

Blog Communities

The advantage of joining blog communities is that you can start getting traffic right away. Members of the blog communities will visit your blog if it appeals to them. You will be able to make money through Adsense. Your ads will be rotated 50% or more of the time while the owner’s Adsense ads rotate the other half or less. Some blog communities include blogfeast.com, bloggerparty.com, and blogcharm.com

Blog Networks

There are many advantages of joining a blog network. The blog network pays for your domain name and hosting. They setup/design the blog for you. You don’t have to work for traffic and are usually paid a specific amount each month. You can also earn a percentage of advertising revenue each month. You mainly have to focus on posting great content.

Blog Networks Currently Hiring

If you join a blog network, you’ll be able to earn a specific amount each month or a percentage of revenue generated from the blog. The following are blog networks currently hiring:

-Weblogs, Inc. is a large network with about 90 blogs. You may apply to blog on a pre-existing blog or suggest a topic for a new blog. There current blog categories include consumer, technology, travel, wireless, video games, media & entertainment, finance, and life sciences.

-Creative Weblogging is also a large network with over 90 blogs. Their current blog categories include business, economy & finance, digital media, ecommerce & internet, dreams & celebrities, technology, family & home, recreation & sports, wireless, education, life sciences, and gaming.

-b5media is a network to over 170 blogs. Their current blog categories include arts & crafts, beauty & style, business, celebrities, entertainment, family & relationships, home & dining, science & health, sports, team blogs, technology, travel & culture, video games, and writing & literature.

You can also check out 451press.com, knowmoremedia.com and blog-republic.com.

Phyllis Zimbler Miller asked:


There are thousands of ways to market your book. And after months of marketing my book MRS. LIEUTENANT: A SHARON GOLD NOVEL, I’ve come up with a list of what I’ve found to be the most effective and important tips for getting the word out on a limited budget about your book.

Tip #1 – Get a website:

Have a website ready to go the moment your book is out. And then connect your website directly to your book’s page on Amazon (and other sites too). (For example, see www.mrslieutenant.com.)

Tip #2 – Write discussion guidelines:

Have discussion guidelines available to download as a pdf off your website. And if you’ve written an adult book, consider including a section of questions for teens.

Tip #3 – Provide free chapters:

Have the first few chapters available as free pdf downloads off your website. This is a great way to get readers “hooked” on reading the rest of the book.

Tip #4 – Do read some books on promoting your book:

Some of the books I found particularly helpful are:

Sell Your Book on Amazon by Brent Sampson (terrific ways to establish a presence on Amazon)

Red Hot Internet Publicity by Penny C. Sansevieri (you can sign up for free email info at amarketingexpert.com)

Plug Your Book by Steve Weber (subtitle: Online Book Marketing for Authors)

1001 Ways to Market Your Books (sixth edition) by John Kremer (huge book so for now I only read Chapter 12 — “How to Sell Books Via Computer”) (you can sign up for free email info from him at bookmarket.com)

Tip #5 – Collect all the publicity tips you can and jump on any opportunities:

Joan Stewart the Publicity Hound (sign up for free email info at publicityhound.com) has great pr tips. And sign up on helpareporter.com to get email updates for story sources that reporters need.

Tip #6 – Start a blog as soon as possible, preferably before your book is published:

Unfortunately I only learned this wisdom right before my book was published, but I did jump right in once I did learn. (See www.mrslieutenant.blogspot.com.)

Tip #7 – Optimize your Amazon presence:

Make sure you take full advantage of author tools on Amazon, including having your blog feed into your AmazonConnect feature on your book’s page.

Tip #8 – Ask book bloggers to review your book:

And if they say yes, be sure to give them a free copy for themselves as well as a free copy for a contest in connection with your book. Book giveaways on book blogs are major attention-getters for people who read. (And if book bloggers really like your book, they’re often willing to post the review from their blog on Amazon and other book sites.)

Tip #9 – Take a virtual book tour:

I used pumpupyourbookpromotion.com to take a month-long virtual book tour (your book is featured on blogs with either a review or an interview or both), and I found the experience extremely effective for developing relationships with book bloggers.

Danny Wirken asked:


In the recent past, a news story came out that Yahoo! has begun testing a blog search application in its Korean blog site. Yahoo!, a leading global Internet company offers a range of features making it a one-stop shop for all the popular activities of the Internet. These features include Yahoo! Mail (a web-based e-mail service), Yahoo! Messenger (instant messaging client), online gaming, chat, news and information portals, online shopping and online auction facilities. Add to this array of features, the Blog Search. Yahoo! seems to be ready to challenge industry leader blog search site, Technorati.

The blog search technology is designed to let bloggers sign up to publish their weblogs. The technology boasts of various search tools that will enable blog visitors to retrieve content and images within weblogs, latest blog postings or pages marked as favorites.

Blogs are currently the rage in the Internet. Anybody with an Internet connection can publish a blog for the worldwide audience to see. At the beginning of 1999, there were only an estimated two or three dozen blogs in existence. As of July 2006, Technorati counted more than 50 million and still growing. In fact, 75 000 new blogs are created everyday.

A blog, short for weblog, is an interactive, personalized web journal for posting articles or anything one wants to share with the general public or a select few. Articles or posts are arranged in reverse chronological order, that is, recent addition is at the top of the page. A blog is updated regularly and contains links to other articles (posts), blogs or websites. Posting comments is another feature. Many blogs focus on a specific topic such as politics, sports, technology, health, news, etc. Others are more like personal diaries detailing the author’s (blogger) rants, raves and musings.

Because of the rapid growth of blogs, keeping on top of them is quite challenging. Industry players like Yahoo! is well aware of the increasing power of blogs and their ability to provide a wealth of information online. Yet, there are only a few blog-specific search tools to go through all the information in real time.

Two months after Yahoo! began testing the blog search feature on its Korean blog site; it has finally unveiled its blog search tool. The launch came at a time when the United States was still reeling from the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina. During that time, millions of people logged in to Yahoo! News for in-depth and accurate information. Simultaneously, bloggers were posting first-hand accounts, pictures, opinions, personal experiences. But due to lack of mainstream exposure, much relevant information was not disseminated. This further highlights the role that a blog search tool can play – a channel to bring information to the public in the shortest time possible.

Instead of launching a stand alone feature, Yahoo! has integrated blogs in Yahoo! News Search. When a user conducts a search in Yahoo! News, blog results as well as news from trusted news sites will be displayed simultaneously. Yahoo! acknowledges that the opinions, stories and experiences published on blogs make a great complement to mainstream news people read everyday. Blogs have proven to be an effective medium for anyone who wants to be heard in the public forum. A lot of times bloggers have even beaten mainstream media to newsworthy stories.

Traditional media recognize that they do not have the time and resources to cover all the events and happenings in the world. By incorporating the blog search into Yahoo! News, Yahoo! desires to offer an alternative perspective on news aside from what mainstream media can offer. Yahoo! wishes to bring professional journalism and amateur or citizen journalism together to provide the users with a wider array of information. Yahoo assures the users and the general public as well that there will be enough distinction where the information is coming from.

Yahoo! aims to learn from users and publishers. The expanded news search gives users more chances to find relevant information that matters to them from leading news stories, commentaries, citizen first-hand reports, pictures and images that mainstream media may not have covered. It will be to the utmost benefit of the millions of people who wants to be informed of what is going on around the world if Yahoo! News can bring mainstream and personal or grassroots media together. The people are then assured of greater variety of sources and viewpoints from all corners of the world.

When a user conducts a search on Yahoo! News, results from mainstream media partners of Yahoo! will be displayed on the left side of the page. On the right side, in a side-bar type area will be relevant blog search results. When the user clicks on “all blog results”, the user will receive Flickr (Yahoo!’s photo sharing service) photo thumbnails related to his search on the right hand side of the search results page. By integrating global grassroots media into the News Search results, users can enjoy analysis or opinions thru blogs but also related photos from the Flickr community that will provide a visual context to content as reported by the citizens. In addition, My Web links will also be displayed on the right hand side of the search results page together with Flickr. My Web is Yahoo!’s social search engine that utilizes the combined knowledge of the My Web community. My Web provides important links to information related to the user’s search topic.

As to which search results to display in its blog column, Yahoo! does not give specifics but suffice it to say that blog search results are based in part on the popularity of the blogs within My Yahoo!, as measured by a computer algorithm. At first, only blogs registered with the My Yahoo! RSS directory will be included in the search but will eventually scan the millions of blogs outside the My Yahoo! sphere.

Yahoo!’s Blog Search will complement Yahoo! 360, its social networking and blog publishing service and Yahoo!’s recently launched advertising service for small publishers.

Whether you are looking for political commentary on the Israeli air strikes in Lebanon, Superman movie reviews, iMac G5 specs, sumptuous Vietnamese recipes, Louis Vuitton’s latest bag collection, or anything else, Yahoo! Blog Search will help you find out what people are saying on these subjects of your choice.

raam rahim asked:


Once you start building Web pages, you will want to learn the languages that build them. HTML is the building block of Web pages. CSS is the language used to make those Web pages pretty. And XML is the markup language for programming the Web. Understanding the basics of HTML and CSS will help you build better Web pages, even if you stick with WYSIWYG editors. And once you’re ready, you can expand your knowledge to XML so that you can handle the information that makes all Web pages function. The information on this page will help you learn the languages that make up the Web.

1. What is HTML?

2. HTML Tutorial

3. HTML Tag Library

4. Reviews of HTML Editors

5. What is CSS?

blogging, blogger,blogspot,make money from blog

6. CSS Tutorial

7. Style Properties

8. What is XML?

9. XML Tutorial

10. XML Specifications

What is HTML?

HTML

HTML, or HyperText Markup Language, is the basic building block of a Web page. These articles start with the basics of HTML. Even if you have very little experience with computers, if you’re willing to take the time, you can learn HTML and start building your own Web pages.

* Building a Web Page for the Totally Lost

* What is HTML?

* 8 Cheap and Easy Ways to Learn HTML

* How to Build a Basic Web Page

* Five Easy Steps to Starting Your Web Page

* Why are There Different Versions of HTML?

* HTML Glossary

HTML Tutorial

If you want to learn HTML, you can take an online course or follow the steps in this tutorial to learn HTML.

blogging, blogger,blogspot,make money from blog

* Write HTML in Windows Notepad

* Write HTML in Macintosh TextEdit

* Basic HTML Tags

* HTML Tags for Text

* How to Add Headings, Bold, and Italics in HTML

* Using HTML to Make Lists

* Linking to Other Pages

* Adding Images to Web Pages with HTML

* Uploading Your Web Pages to the Internet

* Free HTML Course

HTML Tag Library

HTML tags are the basics of HTML. Once you understand how HTML works, you’ll want to know more about the tags and elements that you can use in your Web pages. The About.com HTML Tag Library provides information about HTML 4.01 tags and XHTML 1 elements as well as tags outside the specification. The HTML attributes covers all the attributes you can use in the tags. And the HTML codes let you put special characters into your Web pages.

blogging, blogger,blogspot,make money from blog

* HTML Tag Library

* HTML Attributes

* HTML Codes and Special Characters

* HTML Tag References and Information

Reviews of HTML Editors

While many people use text editors to write their HTML, there are a lot of great software programs out there to help you write HTML.

* Choose an HTML Editor

* Before You Buy an HTML Editor

* Business Case for Editor Types (WYSIWYG vs. Text)

* The Best Text Editors for Windows

* The Best Text Editors for Macintosh

What is CSS?

CSS

CSS, or Cascading Style Sheets, lets Web designers affect the look and feel of their Web pages. CSS is the way that you implement most design features in your Web pages. These articles explain the basics of CSS and how you can start learning to add style to your Web pages.

* What is CSS?

* Your First Style Sheet

* CSS Step by Step

* 10 Tips to Learning CSS

* CSS Tip of the Day

* CSS Glossary

* CSS Editors

* More Beginning CSS Articles

CSS Tutorial

There is a free short course on learning CSS. This course takes you through the basics of CSS in 5 days. But if you want to go deeper into CSS or at a faster or slower pace, use this tutorial to walk through all the elements of Cascading Style Sheets.

* Learn CSS in 5 Days – Free Class

* The Basics of CSS

* CSS Syntax

* How to Add Styles to Web Pages

* Modify Fonts with CSS

* Adjust Text with CSS

* The CSS Box Model

* Backgrounds and CSS

* CSS and Lists

* CSS Positioning and Layout

* Styling Tables, Frames, and Forms

* Advanced CSS Topics

* More CSS Help

Style Properties

Style properties are like tags in HTML. They are what make CSS do what it does. Once you understand how to put CSS in your documents, then you can start learning the many different properties in CSS versions 1, 2, and 3.

* CSS 1 Properties

* CSS 2 Properties

* CSS 2 vs CSS 1 – What’s The Difference?

* CSS 2 Selectors

* What is CSS 3?

* CSS 3 Selectors That Work Right Now

* CSS Pseudo Properties

* CSS Selectors

What is XML?

XML

XML, or eXtensible Markup Language, is a way to bring your HTML skills to a whole new level. By learning XML you learn how markup languages work. These articles explain the basics of XML and take you through why you might want to learn more about the eXtensible Markup Language.

* What is XML?

* Frequently Asked Questions about XML

* Write Your First XML Document

* Who Uses XML?

* Origin and Design Goals of XML

* XML Resource Center

XML Tutorial

The free XML class teaches you all about XML in a weekly email course over ten weeks. Or you can go through the articles here to learn more about XML at your own pace.

* Free XML Class

* Elements in XML

* Attributes and XML

* Making an XML Document Well-Formed

* What is a DTD or Document Type Definition

Matt Helphrey asked:


okmarking can provide your home business with many benefits. Traffic though is the major benefit of bookmarking all of your blog posts. Many beginners are not familiar with the social bookmarking process. Here’s a few tips to help.

Let me first start by explaining what social bookmarking is and why it is important to social bookmark all of your blog posts. Quite simply stated, social bookmarking will bring your blog more traffic. As internet marketers, that it exactly what we are all after. Social bookmark sites allow us to share our favorite sites with others who might be interested as well as increasing our back links at the same time.

All the links that you leave have the potential to bring traffic back to your blog. As you begin to regularly submit your link to authority social bookmarking sites, like Digg, Twitter, and Stumbleupon, your blog will benefit greatly by moving up rank rapidly in the search engines for your selected keywords.

Now just a quick tutorial on how to easily social bookmark your blog posts.

Finding a list of social bookmarks to submit to is your first item of agenda. There are plenty around, just do a Google search or go to SocialMarker.com.

Next you have to sign up at each bookmarking site. This process may take up to an hour but keep in mind that you are only going to have to go through this process one time.

Once you have enrolled in all 40 or so social sites it’s time to submit your first blog post. The easiest way to do this is to type out your blog posts url, title, description, and tags in a separate window, preferably in Notepad, Article Notepad, or Wordpad. Any of the above will work.

Once you have the info typed out, go ahead and cascade the notepad and your browser so that they are side by side on your monitor. (If you are using SocialMarker you won’t have to use this method.)

Make sure the list of social sites is up and open on your browser, then right click and open the first ten or so sites in a new tab. If your computer is fast enough you can go ahead and open all the sites. If not, just open as much as your computer will allow.

Now all you have to do is click and drag the required info when submitting your blog post.

Close it and move to the next once you include all of the needed info.

That’s it! That’s all that is involved with social bookmarking. A simple little task like this may take an hour a day but will greatly increase the amount of traffic you receive to your blog.

Keep in mind though that some social sites will penalize you for submitting too many of your own blog posts. Find some friends or peers and take turns submitting each others posts.

Whatever you do, do not under estimate the power of social bookmarking. Try to make it a point to submit one blog post a day. Doing so will really make a huge difference in the traffic you’re going to see as a result.

Emmanuel Mba asked:


What is a blog? Blogging is a term which is used to describe the action of publishing content to a blog. The word blog is derived from the term weblog. A blog is a website that is upheld by an individual, which includes the consistent addition of entries. Blog entries can contain numerous different types of content. Some bloggers use their blogs for commentary, graphics, audio, or videos. The use of blogs is diverse. Some individuals use their blogs as a way to display their creative flare by displaying poems, lyrics, music, or other creative forms of expression. On the other hand, some individuals use their blogs as a journal or diary. Other blogs are used to express opinions or to discuss different subjects. The entries of the blog are normally placed in reverse chronological order, meaning that the most recent blog entry will be displayed first. The first entry that was created on the blog will be the last entry shown.

With the continuous growth and popularity of blogging, there are numerous different types of blogs. These blogs include:

Personal blogs: a blog maintained by an individual who uses their blog as a journal. Corporate blogs: can be private or public for business reasons. Used to increase communication and modern culture in to the corporate setting. Question blogs: a blog that offers answers to numerous different questions. Normally, question blogs provide a question submission tool for readers to ask various questions. Video blog: A blog made up of videos is referred to as a vlog. Link Blog: blog composed of links is referred to as a linklog. Sketch blog: blog displaying sketches is referred to as a sketchblog. Photo blog: a blog used to display photos, referred to as a photoblog.

Blogs can also be categorized by how they are posted. For instance, they can be categorized by the device used to post the blog. If you use your mobile device to manage your blog, the blog is referred to as a moblog. Blogs are also categorized by genre. If your blog focuses on a particular subject, you have a genre blog. These blogs include; politic blogs, fashion blogs, travel blogs, education blogs, or project blogs just to name a few.

Blogs have grown to an enormous amount of popularity over the past couple of years. Today, there are numerous of different websites dedicated to hosting blogs. These websites are known as blog communities.

For some people, the act of blogging has caused them unwanted attention or caused them to have unwanted circumstances. Blogging has resulted in numerous individuals becoming terminated from their jobs because of the content that their blogs contained. Content posted in your blog about your job, co-workers, products, or financial subjects pertaining to your place of employment could put your job in jeopardy. In other aspects, if you put too much personal information in to the content of your blog, you may be risking your own personal safety.