Bloggers R Us

Ask this question of any SEO expert and they will tell you “fresh content” and “backlinks”, other than Google took over Blogger. The last one is the favorite as no one can argue with that.

Search engines like fresh content as it is valuable for their users, and links show that other sites or blogs (and not just your own website) think that the information on your website is useful to their readers.

A blog can be an individual’s viewpoint, a life journal, a school girl’s diary, a poet’s space, an artist’s expression, or just about sharing your moments with family and friends. One can share information, pictures and even videos with no previous knowledge of designing and programming.

Companies use blogs to promote their latest products, introduce new services, announce upcoming events, share event pictures and videos, announce special offers/discounts, run opinion polls, introduce new team members, special announcements, build loyalty, and invite their customers to leave comments and give testimonials.

Bloggers believe that blogs are being taken more seriously as information sources. One in five bloggers don’t think that newspapers will survive the next ten years. Half believe that blogs will be a primary source for news and entertainment in the next five years.

Bloggers are most open to receiving marketing messages from other blogs. Even non-blog web content is more influential among this group than traditional media sources for brand information.

Home businesses and young entrepreneurs use blogs to increase awareness and attract traffic to their online business, new ventures, and daring expeditions into the unknown.

Professionals use blogs to brand themselves, create awareness and credibility, make money (yes that’s possible), and share their knowledge and experiences.

Housewives use blogs to share cooking tips and recipes, their children’s growing moments, travel log of the last trip, and shopping expeditions.

We SEO experts use blogs for achieving higher rankings for specific keywords. Unbelievable, and yet in many instances my blog link appears higher on search engines results page than pages that I optimize personally for the same keyword.

Getting started with blogging is relatively easy. You can sign up with blogger.com or other such blogging platforms.

If you don’t own a domain name for your blog, no worries, you can start with a free subdomain with Blogger.

Lets look into some interesting statistics on blogs.

The numbers vary but agree that blogs are here to stay!

comScore MediaMetrix (August 2008) – Blogs: 77.7 million unique visitors in the US – Facebook: 41.0 million | MySpace 75.1 million – Total internet audience 188.9 million

eMarketer (May 2008) – 94.1 million US blog readers in 2007 (50% of Internet users) – 22.6 million US bloggers in 2007 (12%)

Universal McCann (March 2008) – 184 million WW have started a blog | 26.4 US – 346 million WW read blogs | 60.3 US – 77% of active Internet users read blogs

Technorati’s State of the Blogosphere 2008 Report is now available. For a detailed report go to technorati.com/blogging/state-of-the-blogosphere/

The report states that Brands make up a major part of bloggers’ online conversations. More than four in five bloggers post product or brand reviews, and blog about brands they love or hate. Even day-to-day experiences with customer care or in a retail store are fodder for blog posts. Companies are already reaching out to bloggers: one-third of bloggers have been approached to be brand advocates. (ref Technorati 2008 Report)

But wait, that’s not all. The report also states that Blogs are an increasingly attractive platform for advertisers. The majority of bloggers we surveyed have advertising on their blogs. Marketers realize that bloggers are creating high quality content and attracting growing, loyal audiences. So there is potential for profit from blogging. (ref Technorati 2008 Report)

Well you are convinced, and you start writing periodically, uploading photographs and videos and have shared your blog link with many friends, but a few months down a nagging worry start to hit you (this is for those who don’t track their readers using tracking software’s like Google Analytics) that you are writing for “you” alone and your mum who thinks “my son is the best”.

While there is nothing wrong with writing, just for the pleasure of writing, I am sure you all want to reach out and touch someone else with all your hard work. The real challenge is to get your target audience to read your blog whether its family, friends, colleagues, or readers around the world who would be interested in what you are writing about.

Trust me even friends will betray you if what you write does not make them want to come back, so pay close attention to the questions below and answer them as honestly as you can.

-What would make your blog special to your audience? -Why would they want to bookmark your blog? -Why would they want to link to it and tell others? -What is my ultimate goal for this blog?

While the first 3 questions require you to dig down deep inside your minds and hearts, the last question is most critical. What do you ultimately want out all the hard work, late nights and coffee cups invested into your blog?

Well, whether your blog is for the purpose of sharing knowledge, gaining credibility, increasing visibility and rankings, building customer loyalty, sharing information, making money, or assisting our fellow men in the journey of life, the bottom line remains search engines love blogs, and so should you.

So keep writing!

http://www.seo-optimization-experts.com/seoblog.html

Do you blog? I hope you do, because blogging can do a lot for your freelance writing career. For a writer, blogs are not only an instant-publishing tool, they’re also an opportunity to find great writing jobs.
Blogs are a phenomenon. Although many “A-list” bloggers have been publishing for years and have built up strong audiences, it’s only in the past couple of years that blogs have become mainstream.
Let’s get definitions out of the way. What’s a blog? A blog is just a Web site in which the site’s pages are (usually) published in chronological order. Blogs are based on templates, and have a simple navigational structure, based on chronology, and on categories.
The major benefit of a blog is that it’s instant. If I want to post a message to a blog, I can do it in seconds. Contrast the “instant” nature of a blog with publishing in a newspaper or a magazine. The other major benefit of a blog is that it can be free.
How to Get a Blog Job
Top blogs are usually written by a group, rather than by a single individual, because high-traffic blogs are updated several times a day. This means that many, many blog jobs are available. All you have to do is look for them.
However, before you start looking, create your own small blog first. Anyone who hires you will want to know that you understand the nature of blogging.
Your blog should be in an area in which you want to be hired to blog. For example, if you have experience in health topics, then create a blog on a health topic. Or perhaps you enjoy celebrity gossip. This is a very popular topic in blogging, as it is in magazines, so create a celebrity gossip blog.
With your own small blog created, it’s time to find blog jobs. Yes, that’s plural. Most professional bloggers blog for a stable of blogs. Several colleagues blog for ten to 20 blogs. One friend blogs for many businesses. At last count, he was blogging for 30 blogs, and making an extraordinary income.
There are many ways you can find blogs jobs. The most common way is to approach a business which as a Web site, but which doesn’t have a blog, and to propose a blog to them. If you’re new to blogging, you may find this approach a little intimidating, so let’s look at other ways suitable for new bloggers.
Here are three ways:
1. Use the out-sourcing sites
There are dozens of out-sourcing sites, and you’ll find blog jobs advertised there. Bid on projects, but don’t under-price your services. All writing takes time, and if you under-bid, you’ll be too busy blogging to look for better paying blog jobs. So bid a sensible amount. Genuine buyers will hire you.
2. Approach other bloggers
Another easy way to get blog jobs is to approach other bloggers. This is simple and it works, but although I’ve been blogging since 2001, I’m rarely approached. Maybe such a simple solution doesn’t occur to people.
Since businesses who want to hire bloggers do approach me, I’m happy to make introductions, as are all bloggers.
So politely approach bloggers, and ask that they keep you in mind to recommend for blog jobs.
3. Advertise your availability on your own site
Please remember to advertise your availability on your own site. Again, this method is so simple that it’s often overlooked. I’ve lost count of the numbers of blogs I’ve seen of people I know are looking for blog jobs – but there’s no mention of this on their own blogs.
So go and get some blog jobs – they’re widely available, they’re fun, and they’re profitable too.