TP Javeton WebNet

Category: Traffic

  • Defining the Blog – From Text to Corporate




    The blog defined

    For many years, blogs (weblogs) were defined as text-based websites that kept records of days, similar to a captain’s log on a sailing ship. However, this started to change as the group of people who kept blogs became more diverse. The more bloggers began to explore the limits of their medium and of the technology that made it possible, the more the boundaries of what could be called a “blog” expanded. That having been said, the definition of blogging is something which has been very much in flux for many years, as new technologies that appeared on a seemingly daily basis, redefined what a blog was, what a blog could be, and what a blog should be capable of doing.

    Blogging has evolved, taking with it the manner in which it is defined, but among the most challenging types of blogs to have emerged is the corporate blog which, for a significant period of time, struggled to gain legitimacy and acceptance in the blogosphere. In recent years however, corporate blogging has become more mainstream and has gained prominence in an otherwise individual-based medium which often has more to do with the day-to-day activities and personal experiences of an individual blogger than with a cold, “it’s only business” approach of the corporate entity; but there is little doubt that corporate blogging is here to stay, as we will discuss further in the following paragraphs.

    Corporate blogging, once considered a controversial marketing tool that might have created more problems than solutions, has turned out to be the kind of advertising strategy with which businesses can derive maximum benefits from their Web marketing efforts. The most practical description of corporate blogging, as indicated in the Brafton website article titled, Corporate Blogging, “is the practice of creating content that addresses industry updates, expert tips or best practices and company news from the perspective of a brand.” The article goes on to say that Corporate Blogging “is used by businesses of all sizes as a means of content marketing.”

    The corporate blog

    In view of the percieved benefits promised by this method of Web marketing, many corporations, companies and other businesses that were in search of ways to capitalize on the blogging trend, made a calculated determination that a great way to ride the blogging wave is to keep a blog on their corporate website. These unique blogs are often created to appeal to a particular demographic that the company needs to attract; and content published to such blogs may at times have quite a lot to do with activities of the corporation, while at other times, it may have very little to do with the company itself.

    A corporate blog will often focus on the kinds of content likely to attract a desired type of Web surfer even if that content is not related to the product or service provided by the company itself, because there are other benefits (advantages?) that can be gained. Such advantages might include, boosting the business’ web presence, which can be derived through one or more of the following coveted features:

    • SEO (Search Engine Optimization);
    • Visitor Engagement;
    • Brand Awareness;
    • Conversions;
    • Thought Leadership;
    • Lead Generation

    Some bloggers feel that corporate blogging is a kind of validation for the blogging movement, and shows that this exciting new medium has really infiltrated the mainstream, while other bloggers consider the kind of viral marketing that corporate blogs practice to be unethical or distasteful. In any case, having watched the evolution of corporate blogs and whether how survived and proliferated the Web, instead of succumbing to failure, neglect and extinction served as some interesting and insightful lessons into the habits, preferences and spending disciplines of the modern-day consumer.

    A constantly changing blog

    As enhancements to the growth and expansion of today’s blogging, there is an abundance of new blog types which include photo blogs, as well as video blogs; and mobile blogging devices may well change the definition of blogging entirely by making it possible for bloggers to create new kinds of posts. And as more companies hire writers to keep blogs with the sole purpose of creating a positive buzz about their brand, bloggers across the globe will debate about whether these manufactured blogs are really worthy of the name. But between all of these different forces that are constantly expanding and reshaping the blogosphere, it is difficult to imagine that the definition of what is, and is not a blog, will ever remain fixed for very long.

  • The Documentary Quality of Personal Blogging


    Blogs as documentaries

    There are plenty of blogs on the Web dealing with a wide variety of topics and vastly diverse functions; but many blogs primarily catalog of the life experiences of their owners; so from this perspective it can be said that personal blogging, when discussed in terms of genre, probably falls more frequently in the category of documentary than any other genre. And even though there are quite a number of blogs that focus on the collection of poetry and other forms of creative writing, the vast majority of personal blogs are most likely to be categorized as documentaries.

    When you think about it over the span of many years, making a documentary was meant to be an objective act of reporting the sights and sounds that the filmmaker, writer or photographer encountered. However, in contemporary times there was movement towards embracing that degree of subjectivity inherent in the documentary form. This means that modern documentaries often reflected the distinctive voice and sensibility of their creators, making today’s documentaries to revolve around personality, thereby – more often than not – blurring the lines between documentary and memoir.

    Blogs fall somewhere between these two genres, muddying the distinctions even further, an indication that the personal blog, documentary and memoir are now irrevocably intertwined for better or for worse. Although few bloggers think of themselves as making documentaries in any formal sense, every time someone sits down in front of a computer and types up a record of their day, s/he is documenting a personal historical moment. Examples of this kind of blogging are those things we take for granted in our daily lives.

    Fascination-driven

    Things like the way we use specific modes of transportation, or the kinds of products we buy, which may seem quite fascinating to people who live outside our environments, and are therefore fascinated with our lot is at the heart of many documentary projects. When people think about blogging, documentary is not very likely to be the first description they envision, but a few decades down the road it is very likely that todays blogs will be seen primarily as very subjective documentaries of our era. People of tomorrow will almost certainly look to the blogs of today for insight into our historical moment.

    Documentary may not be the aim of most people who spend time posting their thoughts and ideas on the Web; but in some ways, the documentary aspect of blogging is more of a side effect than a primary goal. However, the fact that so many people are interested in publishing these public Web diaries shows that personal blogs are about more than just rumination. The fact that bloggers are so stimulated by, and interested in, sharing their ideas with each other reinforces the idea that personal blogs are – in some ways – documentaries meant for public consumption.

    A perspective-based niche

    An undeniable truism is that documentaries appeal to people who are curious about alternate ways of life, and many people who regularly read personal blogs written by others are looking for this same kind of new perspective. However, this is not to say that vocations such as poetry and other forms of creative writing are deemed less appealing to blogging audiences worldwide; but rather, that each niche commands the attention of a specific section of the marketplace, with documentaries occupying the single largest share.

  • A Look at the Money-Making Aspects of Blogging


    Business blogging models

    With respect to making money via blogging, there are basically two types of business models used by Web marketers, enterprises and other entrepreneurs to generate money through their blogging activities. The first model, considered the most common method of turning a blog into a profit-making machine, is to sell advertising to different companies and brands that want to reach that blog’s readership. The second model helps a single brand to improve its image by creating positive associations between the blog and a particular product in the mind of consumers.

    Both models of money-making business blogs are capable of generating huge sums of money, especially if the blog owner/publisher has a an average to good understanding of Web marketing basics. In other words, it will help a great deal if you are a blog owner/publisher who already know which business model you prefer to employ, based on your writing style, your content type (text, photo, audio, video) and your targeted audience, since this preliminary information will go a long way in launching your blogging business in the most effective manner.

    Passive earnings

    That having been said, if you are blogging with a goal of selling advertising, there are a couple of ways you can go about it. Either recruit sponsors who want to put ads on your site, thereby letting someone else do all of the legwork; or do the work yourself and keep all of the revenue. Opting for the first method will place you among those many people who make money blogging by selling space through Google’s AdSense program. The advantages of this program are numerous, as it will require very little effort on your part to set the stage for income opportunities.

    Should you choose the Google AdSense method, however, it is important to understand that the increments of, and frequency of payments you receive may not be as large or fast as you might expect, since most people already participating in this program discover that they make less money through this method than they had hoped their blog would earn. The increments tend to be in mere cents as opposed to dollars; and the frequency could end up being semi-annually or annually, instead of monthly. Keep in mind that the more traffic you attract to your blog and click those AdSense links, the bigger and more frequent your payments are likely to be.

    The more lucrative aspect

    Selling advertising directly to companies who want to put banner ads or sponsored links on your blog can take quite a bit of time, but it is often fairly lucrative. If you have a lot of contacts in industries that are related to the topic of your blog, you may want opt for this route. People who have a strong background in sales and are experienced at pitching proposals can make quite a bit of money by renting blog space to interested companies. The most serious problem with this model is that you often have to build quite a sizable readership before you can attract advertisers; and this can mean that you’ll have to do several months of work before you start to make money blogging.

    As blogging became an increasingly lucrative business, many established companies considered how they would get a piece of the action; and one way some companies have capitalized on the blog movement is by having blogs that provided a kind of friendly face for their corporation. A company would often employ an established blogger to create a weblog designed specifically to appeal to that company’s customers and to create positive associations with the brand in the minds of consumers who they wished to attract as customers.

    A course of action option

    More than one writer who never even dreamed that they can make money blogging have been approached by various companies and offered substantial sums of money to do blogging for these companies. So think about which money-making model of business blogging you’d prefer to employ in your own space, do your research on the available sponsors, customers and audiences that best suit your blogging method and get started blogging. But don’t expect overnight success, and don’t expect to see huge amounts of money to start rolling in, despite which model you use; because you have to put in the work, time and – in some cases – advertising money for maximum blog exposure, before you can reap the rewards. Good luck!

  • Increasing Business Exposure Via the Blog


    Blog: Practical for business!

    The business blog has become a practical Web marketing tool that can save its owner thousands of dollars, while providing excellent and unique business opportunities with just a simple click of the mouse. Blogs have come to be known as user-friendly, customized and flexible media for disseminating useful information and posting effective propmotions of the owner’s products, services and/or brand cognizance.

    Companies that engage in business blogging are considered to have a definite edge over their competitors, although that edge is not always immediately evident; but some of those advantages that can be recognized and sufficiently described are evidenced below.

    Word-of-Mouth is the first such advantage and was identified in a survey conducted in the early years of blogging. It was determined at the time that 14 million blogs were in existence and 80,000 more were being added each day; but perhaps most stunning revelation during those years, was the finding which indicated that about 30 percent of the 50 million Web users at that time were blog readers.

    Essential to the business blog

    Of course the Web-use growth rate has exploded since those early days, but can you imagine how much benefit your company would have derived if your products and services were advertised through blogs even back then? And today, as was true then, information spreads so quickly via the Web that the advantages are even more pronounced, especially if an impressive write-up accompanies a particular product or service. Word-of-Mouth, if used strategically smart can ensure that your blogs will be shared with hundreds of potential customers.

    Awareness and loyalty is another of those advantages of business blogging, but is dependent on open communication with the business’ customers, if that business expects to create trust and loyalty among them. In other words, being there (available) to provide prompt and satisfactory responses to customers’ questions and comments make them all the more willing to sample the business’ products and services.

    Feedback is of course, a valuable resource of any business, and feedback from the readers of a business blog might be even more of an asset to that business because blogs have been proven to be good for product research and reviews in that regard. If you own a business, it would be easier to improve on your products by observing your customers’ thinking and behavioral patterns via your business blog; and you would also be able to take immediate action to allay your customers’ concerns.

    The daily trade show effect

    The community halo-effect, although not as distinctly identifiable as feedback, is nonetheless a desired result of the business blogger; because, as has been said on more than one occasion, bloggers are reasonable, friendly and helpful people who are more than willing to create a blogosphere of comments regarding any product they like, and if the product is yours, you get that benefit. The only thing you have to do is embrace ongoing events and take an active part in the culture which should lead to product being considered in their next stop to the supermarket.

    For better marketing results, actively promote your business blogs by submitting them to blog search sites and directories; but be mindful to paste your blog URL in with the title and description of your blogs; and be sure that your blogs contain exclusive information with value and are kept updated so as to keep readers visiting your site and reading your blog; and before moving on to the next site, clicking again for updates.

    A business blog is like a setup booth set up daily in the biggest trade show on earth with marketing possibilities just around the corner waiting to pump up sales volume. Add to that the Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds, which are as important as anything else mentioned already; and when used in conjunction with your blogs, RSS feeds will likely improve your business bottom line. Use effective keyword phrases to generate high ranking status in the search engine traffic, which will also help to improve the chances of people finding your website leading to your blog and increasing traffic which means more potential sales.

    Setting up the blogging project

    For this aspect of business blogging to be successful, you can use RSS for news update feeds, which can be read through the RSS reader application. This is a very useful tool for business blogs as well as internet marketing blogs. But if you are already convinced of the potential of a business blog for marketing and targeting sales increases, your company’s readiness for blogging should be complete. However, you must be in tuned with your company’s business objectives and determine if blogging will really help you achieve them.

    Consider the following when setting up your business blogging project:

    1. Many blogs are dedicated to teaching people the do’s and don’ts of blogging, so include in your reading materials blogs that are consumer-based to get a better idea.

    2. Setup several test blogs right away.

    If your initial effort with blogs worked well, you can start to set up your blogging enterprise along the lines of these modest suggestions:

    Blogging setup considerations

    1. Study blog design – Blog hosting services provide pre-designed templates. But if you opt for paid blog service, you can ask your graphic designer to create a design and layout your blog site to match the company’s identity and needs.

    2. Choose a topic – Its good to have a line-up of topics you want for your blogs, but be sure they are relevant to your business objectives. This would be a test of your flexibility and open-mindedness, since results could go contrary to those objectives.

    3. Remember the following safety measures in blogging:

    • legal issues are sometimes involved in blogging; it is safer to include disclaimers and limitations of liabilities;
    • corporate communication and legal department are responsible in educating the senior management on how blogs might affect business;
    • create blogging policies; set limits on who gets to blog and what information are allowed to be made public;
    • avoid outright marketing blog or you will shy away your readers;
    • make content updated, relevant and fresh;
    • reinforce the company’s core values; and,
    • encourage employees to use it.

    4. Start blogging – complete 20 posts before going to marketing.

    5. Regularly monitoring – Keep tabs on the coming ins and outs of readers and get updates. Then, measure your results.

    6. Adjust if needed – You can always play with your designs in the blog site as long as it remains to match the company’s identity.

    7. Strive to be great – Be consistent with your topic at all times.

    8. Topic variation – Try to have unrelated topics with general and broad appeal.

    9. Schedule updates regularly – Monday, Wednesday and Thursday would be best to update blogs.

    Once you have done all these things, you can then ultimately enjoy the benefits of business blogging.

    As a token of our appreciation the free e-book titled, Storytelling Marketing can be yours if you have any interest in the art of storytelling. All you have to do is download it here, enjoy the reading and learn how storytelling can be a powerful ally in any business or marketing pursuit!

    Digital & Electronic Products – Unbeatable in Quality and Price!

  • About Blog Designs and Increased Readership

    Blogs have evolved

    Blogs have increased in popularity over the past years due to a number of reasons, including their ease of use, improved technology and the low out-of-pocket cost associated with starting one; and many people have created personal blogs to express their thoughts and feelings, as well as to publish business-related content. Web-based companies have also started blogs to inform consumers on the latest product news and reviews.

    Because of their popularity, blogs are also being used by major corporations as Web marketing media, a departure from the pattern of how Web marketing was done before, which is the placement of banners and links on popular websites, such as news and information sites. These banners and links were also included with newsletters and marketing materials sent to members of the company’s mailing lists.

    The truth is that many people spend time reading blogs; whether they be their friend’s blogs, their favorite author’s blogs, blogs on topics in which they are interested, and/or blogs on product reviews; and with the continued popularity of blogging, some established news entities even fear that people will rely on blogs more and more to get the latest news.

    While getting news reports from blogs isn’t always reliable, some people look for product reviews published to blogs, because in some cases, this is more dependable than a traditional marketing website or Web page, both of which are designed strictly to making the sale. While it is true that some media persons are being paid to write good reviews about certain products, blog writers blog about their actual experiences with products and services from particular companies.

    Traffic-pulling blog content

    Since there are Web users who read and start their own blog-sites, blogs are considered today as a good medium in which to market a product; and with the increasing blog traffic comes increasing product sales. Blog traffic can be increased by joining affiliate programs and sites, which will list your blog under a certain search category or name; and a blog owner can also have his/her blog advertised on popular websites. This, however, will cost some money and is not advisable if you have just started blogging.

    A writer who has just launched his/her blog will want as much traffic as possible in order to increase advertisements on the site; and it is important to attract the right businesses, because some advertisers pay every time their link is clicked, or the page that has their link is viewed. And when you, as a blog owner, have increased traffic on your blog, you should try to keep your visitors coming back as well as recommend your blog to friends, relatives and colleagues.

    Part of attracting a large readership to your blog is by having informative and, sometimes, amusing content and good blog layout and design. You can develop your own content or you can acquire the services of a web-based content writer to provide you with the most interesting and compelling blog articles. The blog’s layout and design also plays a big role; but most companies that offer free blog hosting provide pre-selected templates, even though there are a few that allows customization which, if you utilize this feature correctly, can increase your blog’s traffic.

    Blog-growth tips and designs

    The few tips provided below can be used to make your blog stand out from the millions of blogs out there that have standard designs.

    Customize the banner, which usually have the most generic designs common to blogs from a blogging company or service; but you can personalize this banner by having your graphic meet the required dimensions of the banner. You can also edit the graphic so that it will include the title of your blog also. In this case, you can create your own graphic or you can purchase professional looking graphics online for less than $10.

    Personalizing photos will certainly help, and most of the photos you’ll be posting are likely to be your own – not necessarily of yourself, but photos you have taken of other people and objects. However, if you don’t customize the photos before posting them, you may miss maximizing the enhancing benefits graphics can add to the page. Adding photo borders can help the photo stand out from the page, which can add to the design of your blog. You can choose a standard border or you can create your own border which might be associated with your blog’s templates.

    Adding a favicon to your blog has wide appeal among blog users and owners. Do you agree with those who think that sites with icons on the address bar before the website’s URL are cool? Many people share this belief. These favicons add a professional look to the URL, and its easy to do using photo or graphic editing software.

    Blog template additions

    Check out blog templates, layouts, backgrounds, textures and skins from sites, since there are a number of sites that offer free blog templates, layouts, backgrounds, textures and skins. You can make use of these so your blog will not look generic like most of the blogs hosted by the service provider.

    Include RSS feeds, since this inclusion is really a cool way to inform people with newsreaders about your blog headlines. You can find tutorials on RSS feeds and how to create and install them on the Web.

    Audio makes your blog more personal, not only from a standpoint of personalizing the blog, but it can also keep your visitors coming back. You can try to utilize streaming radio stations, mp3 files or playlists loading with your blog.

    Advertisements are excellent sources of income for blog owners who are committed to growing their audience; and one such advertising source is Google AdSense. So if you have signed-up with Google AdSense, which many blog and website owners have done in an attempt to monetize their sites, make sure that the ads are conveniently practically placed so that they will not hinder your readers’ ease in accessing the information on your blog.

    Etc., etc., etc.

    These tips are provided to help you increase and retain traffic on your blog; but they are only good and effective when being used correctly and appropriately; so do your research, get as much information as you can about these elements of blogging and make sure you understand clearly what you are supposed to do before proceeding the implementation of the them.

  • Software and Hosting for the Topical Blogger


    Blogging: The adaptable medium

    The Internet has certainly made great strides since those heady days of the “dot com boom;” so much so that today anyone who has writing ability, or aspirations of being a writer has probably already written a blog on the Web. This is because there are various types of blog software are simple to learn and easy to use; and this means that both the individual who is technically proficient, as well as the one who is technically challenged, can easily regularly.

    For some individuals, blogs serve as projects about every day living, as they talk about their daily activities and make tributes to friends and family. Furthermore, blogs assume a profound meaning when written to compose and assemble political statements, endorse a product, provide information on research, and even offer tutorials. Chances are that any subject which is of interest to you has already been written about in a blog.

    Modern-day blogs are now being written by musicians, politicians, sports figures, novelists, newscasters and actors, as well as other known figures. However, (fever?) that existed at the onset of this newfound vocation has also raised its share of controversy. The fact that anyone can compose a blog post regarding any subject matter under the sun invites complaints about certain write-ups that are at issue. In many blogs people’s names have been mentioned in not-so-flattering ways, and this is often the source of such consternation and threats of legal action.

    It is therefore important to keep in mind that, although an individual may have the freedom and tools to write anything that interests him/her in a blog, it doesn’t mean that s/he should not be responsible for the manner in which s/he put content in the public domain, especially when that content includes information about others. In other words, bloggers should avoid making statements which can become controversial, unless those statements are fully sourced by other reputable media. So be prepared, and be very careful about the content provided in .

    Why people blog

    Some folks blog for personal reasons which might include their acquaintances and relationships, while others blog as a hobby. An individual can write a blog about his/her daily activities, and about things related to his/her life as a way of telling family and friends certain things that s/he might not have been able to express verbally (in a face-to-face talk). Likewise, an individual may also just so s/he can express certain feelings about self, or about a certain subject matter that is of interest to him/her.

    Other bloggers prefer to be more topical, in the sense that the blogs they maintain are committed to a specific topic, which could be as broad in range as it is different; and might be about computer hardware, religion or politics like magazines, and similar to print media they have a regular and devoted following.

    Then there are those who by using their blogsite as a marketing tool. This category of bloggers might also include corporations, which also into blogging; and when these blogs are well written and implemented, they can be powerful instruments for business communications, thereby creating eagerness and anticipation about the their products and services they offer. The corporate blog have also been used as tool within the company to keep employees well informed about company issues and news.

    The choice of software

    A typical Web designer or software developer might get a chuckle at the notion of utilizing software developed by someone else. This is because most software developers, while knowledgeable in the field of digital technology and computer science, often adhere to the architecture and fundamentals of their own software platforms, especially when software features and platforms that a client may have differ greatly from that of the developer’s. When it comes to a Weblog software, however, there is no reason for concern when using a package that is pre-written, as most packages were developed through years of study; not just shuffled together over a couple of days.

    In addition, one may study a platform’s feature set; but for a developer, it would take a lot of time and effort to write and compose from scratch, every single feature in the of today. For most people, a blog is there for one main reason, and that is to publish or make known his/her literature and content that exist on the Web, which means that the blogger can spend more of his/her time creating and writing content, instead of coding, if s/he has the ability to code.

    Hosted services

    Finding a Web hosting service for a blog is perhaps one of the easiest and most affordable (many are free) of all the tasks a blogger might do when s/he decides to start broadcasting on the Web; so not having web host to provide space for your blog should not be a deterrent to blogging. In fact some of the services that s/he might consider looking into, are Web hosts that include Blogger, TypePad, Live Journal, and WordPress (the hosted version) in their hosting packages.

    These services are operated or handled for an individual, so there is no need for a new blogger to concern him/herself one about ; instead, s/he can concentrate on the blog’s appearance and content. In just minutes, after signing up for a hosting account, the blogger can actually start his/her own blog. Many of those services, such as blogger, are offered free, except TypePad, which charges a minimal amount for monthly service fee.

    Self-hosted services

    When a blogger has Web hosting on hand, or is eager to buy hosting, in which s/he feels that the advantage will prevail over the problems of keeping up his/her own blog connection and installation, then s/he may want to consider a package that is self-hosted. These platforms include Movable Type, Text-pattern and WordPress (“5 minute installation”).

    Other hosting companies did construct processes of making installation easier, by permitting installation with just a click from a control panel that is browser-based. It is important that a blogger checks with the hosting company so that s/he can determine whether or not this function is offered. Similar to hosted services, some self hosted packages are made available either for free or for a small fee which is dependent on the type of , as well as the basis upon which s/he is using it.