Getting Started (or RE-STARTED) Blogging!

Blogging. Ready to begin your own blog, but totally overwhelmed? Not sure where to begin or even what to do? Have no idea of how to get started (or restarted) on the right track? Well, dear friend, this article is FOR YOU! Let me take you by the hand and share some ideas that have worked for me…

1. Get a vision. First things first. Who are you? What are YOU all about? What is YOUR message? When others come to you, what do they ask you? Take some time to really think this one out.  Your blog will only be a success when you find YOUR voice. Pull apart and get a vision. Keep your blog simple, clear, uncluttered, and focused. Stick to who you are. Don’t change up every day. Don’t add in content that does not go along with your message. Get a vision for what you are to be all about and be ONLY that.

2. Set it up right. Don’t take short-cuts. If you want to build a successful business, invest in your “home on the web.” This is not an area to skimp by or put off. Read more

Time to Start a Blog for Profit!

An online presence is important these days for whatever enterprise you engage in. to connect with a wide variety of people there is no bigger forum than the Internet. If you are looking for a way to show off your expertise and also make a little money while doing it, consider starting a blog.

What is a Blog?

A blog is actually an online journal of sorts. With a blog you can upload daily posts about anything that you want. Some people create personal blogs as a way to keep in touch with family members. Pictures, videos and other information are uploaded so your loved ones are current with what is going on with you.

Here we are going to talk about business blogs. This is a blog that you begin to attract traffic in order to sell products or services. To be interesting to others, your blog will need to:

•    Have updated content for visitors
•    Be marketed to draw traffic
•    Register with search engines so it can be found in the rankings Read more

PREVIEW CHAT: From Author to Multiple Stream Entrepreneur with Milana Leshinsky

Join us as we record live tomorrow! Our guest for tomorrow is Milana Leshinsky. Her show is a MUST! Here are the details:

TOPIC:
From Author to Multiple Stream Entrepreneur with Milana Leshinsky

DATE/TIME:
March 3, 2009 at 1PM CST

Join Us Live Online:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Ultimate-Writers-Expo

Call-in Number:
(347) 205-9175

You will want to join us live for this one!

Get ready for a blast!

Get Started (OR RE-Started) Writing On the Right Track!
http://www.Ultimate-Writers-Expo.com/

Easy How-To’s: Add a Button to your Sidebar

Sidebar buttons are a quick and easy way to affiliate with, promote, or endorse a company or website you believe it.

How you add a button to your sidebar depends in large part on the type of site you have.  For example if you have a WordPress blog then it’s going to be a different process than if you have a HTML site.

Here it is in a nutshell –

First you’ll want to click on the button image and save it on your desktop.  If you’re using Blogger then you’ll have to upload the image into an image host like Photobucket or Flickr.
Read more

Help with WordPress Blog Look

Hey!

Sorry to be SO QUIET. I have been swamped with getting ready for the holidays, then I have taken family time the past two weeks—my soldier is HOME! We look like a family of geeks. We came to Elisabeth’s coffee shop to visit and the WIFI is soooo good that we have to succumb to the temptation to get online for a bit. LOL Read more

Guard Your Domain!

Any website owner knows how precious his domain name is.  It provides a way for visitors to get to the site, and in the case of a business domain, it contributes to the company’s brand.  That’s why we’re so careful to protect our domain names.  We choose them carefully, mark the renewal dates on our calendars, and check to see who is linking to us.

When you have a popular website, it’s important to protect your traffic and good name.  But if someone registers a domain name that is very similar to yours, he can profit off of the popularity of your site to your detriment.  He could set up a site that looks like yours in an effort to scam visitors who mistakenly end up there.  He could post derogatory statements about your business.  Or he could simply set up a site that is filled with advertising in an effort to make money. Read more

YouTube as a Marketing Tool

YouTube has only been online for a few short years, but it has quickly become one of the hottest destinations on the Internet.  Once a little-used medium due to slow Internet connections, the widespread use of broadband has made online video a popular attraction.  YouTube is one of the first sites to have been built around online video, and its ease of use and variety of videos has made it extremely popular.

Marketers were quick to catch on to the possibilities presented by YouTube.  They began to create “viral videos”, clips that were intended to draw interest and spark widespread distribution.  YouTube’s embed feature allows anyone to place videos on his blog or website, so by creating funny or informative videos, marketers could spread their message far and wide.
Read more

The Biggie: How to “Properly” Exchange Links with Others

Incoming links offer your business website two main benefits.  Incoming links increase your website traffic which of course means your conversions and sales increase.  Incoming links also increase your search engine ranking because search engine spiders from all the search engines including MSN, Yahoo, and Google, all use incoming links as part of their ranking and indexing algorithm.

One of the best and most popular ways to increase incoming links is to exchange links with other relevant and trustworthy businesses.  Relevancy and trustworthiness are both important not only to maintain and increase your own website credibility but also with search engine rankings.  Links which come from websites which are relevant and trustworthy have more weight than non-relevant links.  Read more

How to Check for Dead Links

A dead link, also known as a dangling link and a broken link, is defined as a link which leads to an error page or a web page or server which is unavailable.  While the occasional dead link may not seem like too much of a big deal all it takes is a single dead link to lose a customer.

A website visitor’s attention span is typically limited to about twenty seconds.  If you can’t capture their attention in those first twenty seconds – click, they’re gone.  They’re onto the next website or gasp – your competition.

Now imagine you’ve done your job as a webmaster and captured the attention of a visitor.  They’re reading your content and liking what they see.  A link or button captures their attention, they click it and oops, Read more

Branding Friend or Foe

Branding is the process of using logos, taglines, and marketing to get your product or service to become a household name.  we all know how branding works even if we don’t know that we do.  But, is branding a plus for your business or a liability?

When you think of certain products, a picture begins to form in your head.  Take, for instance, Nike.  “Just do it” comes to mind.  That is the result of product branding.  Now, if you hear a brand name and it conjures up an image of poor customer service the last time you called, that is also a result of branding but a negative one. Read more

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