Blogs
Introduction
In this article we will go over blogs. A blog (short for web log) is a website where journal like entries are made and publicly displayed in a reverse chronological order. We will show you how to set them up, why they are important and how they work. Blogs can be a fun, cheep way to get customers and better ranking on your web sites, as well as feedback from customers.
Discussion
Blogs are online public journals that comment on the news or a particular subject, such as food, politics, or life events. Typically blogs are a combination of text and links to other web sites and other blogs, but it is becoming more popular to include photographs (photoblog), sketches (sketchblog), videos (vlog), or audio (podcasting). Blogs give readers the ability to comment or add feedback to a subject and interact with what they are reading. The word “blog” can be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.
The good news is that Google and other search engines are beginning to understand the significance of blogs, and are awarding blogs high Google Page Ranks, and high search engine rankings. This means links you might get on blog sites through stealth linking are generally high-traffic and high PR links. These links can increase you websites page rank.
Three years ago there were two million blogs on the web, according to blog search engine Technorati. Today there are more than 70 million. The most popular blog web sites have huge numbers of people reading them. Engadget, for one, has more readers than most print newspapers and magazines.
Using blogs as a marketing technique can bring visitors directly to your site from the direct links, but another important result of using blogs is to build link popularity and page rank. This linking approach is a free and effective way of getting lots of links to you without being required to link back.
Application
Two methods of utilizing blogs are leaving your digital signature and adding a Blog to your site. To join other blogs you can visit any of the following web sites. You will also run into blogs frequently online if you spend time researching various subjects that interest you.
Find a blog that interests you or has something to do with your website. You probably are already visiting sites related to your hobbies or interests that have message boards and these make perfect targets. The newest log will be at the top and there will be some button that will say reply or post. Click that and type your replay. Be sure to follow the conversation of the Blog and include your digital signature.
Signatures
A signature or signature file is a "standard recurring close" to messages you write. You will want to create a signature file that includes your website address the name of your site and a very short description. We need to make two signature file formats: plain text and HTML. Some message blogs will automatically convert a web address into a link; others will only display the actual link if the HTML code is written. Create both formats and save them in notepad or a word processor so that you have them readily available to copy.Here are examples you can modify as you see fit.
Non-HTML Signature file
Captain Jack Sparrow
jack@pirategear.com
www.pirategear.com
Pirate Costumes, Replica Weapons, Jolly Rogers, Swag, Grog & More
HTML Signature file
Captain Jack Sparrow
<a href="mailto:jack@pirategear.com" mce_href="mailto:jack@pirategear.com">jack@pirategear.com</a>
<a href="http://www.pirategear.com/" mce_href="http://www.pirategear.com/">PirateGear.com</a>
Pirate Costumes, Replica Weapons, Jolly Rogers, Swag, Grog & More
<a href="mailto:jack@pirategear.com" mce_href="mailto:jack@pirategear.com">jack@pirategear.com</a>
<a href="http://www.pirategear.com/" mce_href="http://www.pirategear.com/">PirateGear.com</a>
Pirate Costumes, Replica Weapons, Jolly Rogers, Swag, Grog & More
Remember the issue here is not necessarily to find message boards matching the subject matter of your site. We are not posting advertisements. We will be participating in the Blog conversation as a genuine and sincere participant commenting on the subject at hand. We just so happen to have a signature file that includes a link to our site, which is fairly common for signature files, and will not cause concern from anyone.
The second way to get traffic to your site and get feedback on your site is by starting your own blog. You can talk about your products or any subject that has something to do with your website on this Blog.
Other people who join your blog will leave you comments and might link to your blog from other sites. Running a blog on your website takes time to become successful but can be very rewarding.
Storesonline has a built in feature for adding blogs.
To add them just follow these steps:
- Go to the pages tab and click on “Forum” on the right
- Click add
- Name the forum and put a check in “require audit” to make it a blog.
- Click in the box next to the “allowed group” you would like the blog responders to be in.
- Click on “Posts” on the right, and “add” your first post to the blog.
- Go to the page you would like your blog to be on, and click "chose element".
- Click on "forum" and then "add".
- Click the drop down menu next to forum and click once on the forum you just created.
- Then click "done"
Storesonline web sites require visitors to sign in to use the blog. See “Providing Usernames and Passwords for Password-Protected Areas” to provide these customers a way to sign up for log in information. (Click the Help button from any page within the Store Builder and then see Password-Protected section in the left margin.)
Since the only difference in a Forum and blog is that other people have more of a say in a forum, you can restrict what customers say to make it a blog. When you check the “require audit” option, you get to review everyone’s response before posting it on your site. This way you can make sure their comments are relevant and something you would like to display. After you finish accepting someone’s comments, or adding another one, publish your site. This constant updating of your web site is looked well upon with search engines.
If you would like to create a blog outside of your website you can do this as well. These blogs can get you some traffic, and if you create an interesting one, and get the right links to it, then it can be high ranking. This kind of blogging should generally be done if you have a personal reason to do it, or were going to make one with our without your Storesonline web site. It generally takes work and time to get going and you would only get ranking for one of your links back to your site. If you wish to use this method though you can set up your blogs using the sites referenced above.
Summary
Utilizing blogs can increase visitors to your website and sales. Adding a blog to your website or joining an existing one can get you feedback on your website, links to improve your ranking with search engines, and visitors that read the blogs and comment on them. Commenting on other blogs can be a fun and enjoyable way of building up the amount of incoming links to your website.
See ya next time!
Sean Guy
StoresOnline, Inc.
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