Freelance Writing 101

You asked for it....Writing Info:

Learn First, Write Later:

Keywords ****Must read!
http://blog-guide.blogspot.com/2008/05/getting-your-blog-to-rank-highly-in.html
More on Keywords ***Must Read!
http://thehappyhubber.hubpages.com/hub/Using-Keywords-in-your-HUB-for-Search-Engine-Ranking
Blog Organization Using Labels as Categories
http://blog-guide.blogspot.com/2008/07/how-to-add-labels-or-categories-to-your.html
Blogger Gadgets in the top of the Post Column
http://blog-guide.blogspot.com/2008/07/blogger-gadgets-on-top-of-post-column.html

Getting Started:

1.  You need an account with Google Adsense if you don't have one already.

2.  I recommend Blogger (www.blogger.com) to write a blog on.  Blogger is owned by Google and makes it really easy to set up to work with Adsense.  Once you have an adsense account number, you'll see where you can add that into Blogger and set up ads directly within blogger.  You DO NOT need to set up ads in Adsense and paste code into blogger.

3. Now that you have a Blog set up, go back to adsense.  You can create a channel in AdSense for your blog.  If you have more than one blog, or you publish articles to hubpage (we'll talk about that later), then create a channel for each of these.  Then you can see which blogs and which articles are earning money and how much.  This will help you write more about the topics that earn you the most money.

4.  Next set up an account with StatCounter (http://statcounter.com/).  This is free. StatCounter will allow you to see how many people are visiting your blog, which pages they look at, how they found you (direct enter your site address or through a search engine), and what keywords they searched for to find you.  StatCounter will give you instructions on how to put their code on your blog.  Put a StatCounter on each and every blog you create.  This will allow to you know which keywords are bringing you people and which topics are the most popular.  Check it at least once a month.

5.  Hubpages (www.hubpages.com) - this site if free to join and allows you to publish articles on any topic you want.  You can earn ad revenue directly from Hubpages but also connect it to your Adsense account.  They do a profit share on the Adsense revenue but they're pretty fair about it.  The up side to this site is you can write on random topics and they help to drive traffic to your articles.  You can link to your blogs in your profile too.  You can also get ebay and amazon revenue but it's never done me any good and seems like a waste of advertising space.  This site is also very easy to use.

Submitting your Writing to Search Engines and Pinging:

Submit the URL for each article or blog post you write.  Not the site URL such as myblog.blogspot.com but full URL to get to just that article (such as the ones I provided above in the education section.)
Pingler
http://www.pingler.com/
Google
https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/submit-url?continue=/addurl&pli=1
Bing/Yahoo/MSN
http://www.bing.com/toolbox/submit-site-url

Tools:

Research Keywords to get ideas for similar keywords and phrases.  Also look for keywords that have a high search volume and/or low competition.
https://adwords.google.com/o/Targeting/Explorer?__c=1000000000&__u=1000000000&ideaRequestType=KEYWORD_IDEAS
Google Hot Searches:
http://www.google.com/trends/hottrends
Google Trends:
Shows you the search popularity of a keyword over time.
http://www.google.com/trends/

Finding Other Writing Jobs:

You will need a few good samples of your writing style and skill online before you apply to online and freelance writing work.
About.comhttp://beaguide.about.com/gdapplynow.htm
Blogger Jobs:
http://www.bloggerjobs.biz/
Search Tempest will allow you to search Craigslist over multiple locations at once.  Since Freelance Writing Jobs are not generally tied to a location, this is the best way to look.  You can find real writing work in here, and you can find a lot of scams.  Be careful.
http://www.searchtempest.com/

Improve Your Blog By Being Consistent

By Craig Andrews

Many blogs are successful for one main reason. They are consistent. In this article, I will explain why consistency is needed in your blog and how it will improve it.

How many times have you gone to your favorite blog with the anticipation of reading their next great post only to find out they have not made a post? What do you think when this happens? Does it irritate you?

Most readers will tolerate inconsistency once or twice, or even a few more. But if you are consistently inconsistent all you are doing is training your readers to stay away.

What do I mean by this? Well just like Pavlov's dogs became trained to look for food when they heard a bell, your readers will start stopping by your blog every couple of days, if they see nothing, then it becomes longer between their visits.

Eventually your blog will fall off of their radar and most likely replaced with another and your readership will suffer. And we all know that no readers to your blog will destroy your blog, especially if you are writing your blog to make money.

To avoid all of this, just be, you got it, consistent. By that I mean if you make daily posts, then make sure you make a post each and every day. If you know that your are going to miss a post or two, take the time to write one ahead of time to fill in or have some spare posts available for just an occasion.
Most blogging platforms allow you to schedule a post ahead of time, so use it to your advantage.

I hope this article has helped you understand how important it is to be consistent with your blog. Although this alone may not make your blog successful, it will give you a great base for you work with and your readers and advertisers will see that.

Discover How To Properly Structure A Blog In Order To Harvest An Ultimate Income! Download it FREE here:
How To Properly Construct A Blog...

Do you want to learn how to develop a successful Internet Business with more profits, less work and true freedom? Click Here: Craig S Andrews.com

Do you want to learn how I make a lot of money with articles every day?
Click Here: Article Pro Software

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Craig_Andrews
http://EzineArticles.com/?Improve-Your-Blog-By-Being-Consistent&id=1036084

4 Ways to Be The Best At Blogging

By Craig Andrews

To have a successful Internet business today You have to have a blog. A blog is very important tool web masters use to get traffic to their websites and to get the word out about their product. If you follow these four tips, you will be on your way to being the best of the best blogs.

Create your own domain - Your domain name is a key element in creating your on line identity. Your domain name should not only reflect your business, be easy to remember, but should also contain keywords that will be easily picked up by the search engines. A tough challenge from the get go, but worth time spent.

Select the best blog platforms - It is tempting to start your blog off on a free platform, such as Blogger.com, and there is nothing wrong with that, just be sure it fits your business plan. For someone that wants better features then I would suggest WordPress.org to start off with. It is up to you, just make sure you are comfortable with your choice.

Back to the Basics - The design of your blog must be a natural fit for your topic. But, at the same time you want to stay with basic colors and nothing to flashy. You want to make your blog easy to read, that is hard to do with a million different colors flashing around your blog. Sweet and simple and relevant to your topic.

Content is king - I know you have heard that before, but it is really the truth. You aren't going to have visitors to your sports blog if you keep talking about what was on the soap operas today. Just make your content well written, relevant to your niche and easy to follow and understand.

Follow these tips and you will be the best you can be at blogging and you will be on your way to making money too!

Discover How To Properly Structure A Blog In Order To Harvest An Ultimate Income! Download it FREE here:
How To Porperly Construct A Blog...

Do you want to learn how to develop a successful Internet Business with more profits, less work and true freedom? Click Here: Craig S Andrews.com

Do you want to learn how I make a lot of money with articles every day?
Click Here: Article Pro Software

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Craig_Andrews
http://EzineArticles.com/?4-Ways-to-Be-The-Best-At-Blogging&id=1036086

6 Easy Tips To Continually Improve Your Blog

By Craig Andrews

While improving your blog may seem like a daunting task, I will show you 6 easy tips that will improve your blog in no time at all. These are just a few of many that can accomplish this task, but are ones that I use to improve my blogs and they will work over and over again.

Comment at related blogs - This is probably the biggest thing you can do to improve and promote your blog. It is very simple. Just make comments on other blogs that are related to yours. When you make a comment, it is standard to leave your name and URL. If you leave a relevant comment, maybe even with some free advice, other readers will visit your blog to see what you are all about.

Write a weekly "best of" post - It is fairly simple to do. Make a weekly post that spotlights the best posts that you have read on other peoples blogs. By linking directly to the post, you create trackback links on other blogs and this will result in new readers to your blog. This is sort of works like a backwards blog comment.

Be sure to link - A very important persona of your blog is the links that you provide. The more link outs you have the more your readers perceive it as more authoritative and valuable. It also shows that you are not trying to hide something and also show that you put credit where credit is due.

Improve your blog's look - Why use the same templates and designs that many other blogs are using? Use a design that is totally different than everyone else and people will remember "that cool looking blog" that they had seen earlier and come back to it. If you can not find a unique template or don't know how to change your design, consider outsourcing to have it done.

Know your readers - Just because you have a blog, don't put yourself on a pedestal above everyone else. Get to know your visitors by responding to their comments, become friends with them and in return they will spread the word about you and your blog.

Create reader friendly content - Make sure that your content speaks to all of your potential audience. Make it entertaining and interesting for all to read. You want your content to be shared, if it reads like a tech manual, readers are going to give up on it let alone share it.

Remember that blogging is supposed to be fun, for you and your readers. I hope this will help you improve your blog and take it to the next level.

Discover How To Properly Structure A Blog In Order To Harvest An Ultimate Income! Download it FREE here:

How To Properly Construct A Blog...

Do you want to learn how to develop a successful Internet Business with more profits, less work and true freedom? Click Here: Craig S Andrews.com

Do you want to learn how I make a lot of money with articles every day?
Click Here: Article Pro Software

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Craig_Andrews
http://EzineArticles.com/?6-Easy-Tips-To-Continually-Improve-Your-Blog&id=1050438

Illustrating Your Blog For Aesthetic Value

By Craig Andrews

Imagine if you were standing 10 feet away from your computer screen and could not read the writing on the blog. Instead, all you could see was a huge page of single spaced text. Can you guess what the blog is about? Would this blog look inviting? Now, imagine performing the same exercise with the only difference being that a cool picture of Spiderman was prominently featured in the middle of the text. Clearly, the addition of this picture makes a huge difference in terms of improving the aesthetic value of the blog and making it much more inviting than it would without.

Let it be known that the quality of the writing of a blog is usually the litmus test of whether or not the blog is a quality one, but sometimes writing needs a little help and it can come in the form of illustrations or graphics. Now, that does not mean that you need to be overly creative. It simply means that adding a few pictures to your blog will do wonders for making it look interesting and inviting.

Adding pictures to a blog can be done the easier way or the even easier way. The easy way involves adding HTML image code where you place the URL of the image (right click on an image you want and copy the image location and then place it into a bracketed code(< >). (It looks something like this: img src="http://ONEGENERICEXAMPLE.jpg") The easier way of doing this is saving the image on your hard drive and then selecting the "add image from your gallery" function that is found on pretty much every blog both free and paid ones.

Now, some may say that illustrating a blog is not important, as there are a number of successful blogs that lack illustrations. Honestly, this is true and the intention here is not to pigeonhole blogs into the notion that only illustrated blogs are of value. It simply points out that illustrations can only improve the look of a blog and anything that can aid in improving a blog certainly is not going to be harmful. So, experimenting with illustrations on your blog is worthwhile. It is not too tough to do and brings with it a host of benefits. Give it a try!

Discover How To Properly Structure A Blog In Order To Harvest An Ultimate Income! Download it FREE here:
How To Properly Construct A Blog

Do you want to learn how to develop a successful Internet Business with more profits, less work and true freedom? Click Here: Craig S Andrews.com

Do you want to learn how I make a lot of money with articles every day?
Click Here: Article Pro Software

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Craig_Andrews
http://EzineArticles.com/?Illustrating-Your-Blog-For-Aesthetic-Value&id=1187718

Starting a Blog that Isn't a Time Sucking Money Pit

This article, Starting a Blog that Isn't a Time Sucking Money Pit, is probably one of the most comprehensive how to start a blog articles I've ever read. If you are new to blogging, or even if you just want to make sure haven't missed anything important, this is a must read!

Removing Blogger’s Block

Your typing along in your blog just fine, when one day, nothing. You have run out of ideas to write about. You can not just write nothing, what would happen to your loyal readers, your coveted search engine ranking, your advertising revenue?

Never fear, inspiration is here!

Trigger ideas to write about hot topics by visiting Twiigs (http://www.twiigs.com/). Twiigs is a survey site. People can go to Twiigs and set up their own survey, participate in other surveys, or just find out what people are thinking about. This resource can be valuable to in two ways. The first is to create your own survey about a potential topic idea and find out what people think about it. The second is to find out what others are talking about and interested in to trigger new post ideas.

For even more targeted ideas about what your readers want to read about, ask them directly. Skribit (http://www.skribit.com/) offers a free tool to put on your blog that allows your readers to request more information about various topics. With this tool, you will never again be left wondering if anyone cares to read about what you write.

Finally, the icing on the cake, is Zemanta (http://www.zemanta.com/). Zemanta is a tool that assesses your post as you write it and provides suggestions on images, links and tags that you can add to enhance your writing. Get instant research on your topic with links to similar articles, use these articles for additional information and ideas when you get stuck half way through your post.

Never create sub-par, boring, or worse, non-existent posts again.

Want to Start Blogging?

Blogging is a great way to share your life, expertise, likes and dislikes with friends, family, co-workers, customers, clients and the world at large. You can blog for fun, credibility, or even money. But how do you get started blogging? Where do you blog? Is it hard?

How To Start Blogging covers all the basics. Take a look and then pop back here for tips on how to get traffic to your blog and how to earn money.

Use A Web 2.0 Blog As A Marketing Avenue

By Terry Madigan

A lot of you will know what a blog is, while some of you are sitting there scratching your head wondering what I am talking about. So for those that still do not know what a blog is I will give a brief explanation before moving on as to the differences between traditional blogs and Web 2.0 blogs.

A blog is basically an online journal that you can create and post entries into. The difference is that in most cases a blog is open to the public so others can read what you have entered, where as a journal or dairy is a private book that you keep hidden. That is the simplest explanation there is for what a blog is.

Traditional blogs and Web 2.0 blog sites differ in a large way. Traditional blogs allow you to create the blog and post the entries, but unless you market the blog no one is going to see it. Now once the search engines pick up on it, then you may see a little traffic trickle into your blog from it but not much. Therefore, you will need to do some major promoting to get people to your blog. Now with a Web 2.0 blog site you can create your own blog and post your entries but people will see your blog entries almost as soon as you post them.

Web 2.0 blog sites are a social site that does a lot of the promoting within for you. Other users or people surfing around on the site will see your blog entries and can visit your blog from there or read just that individual entry that interests them. Most blog sites such as this allow you to not only place your blog in a category that fits the blog but also allows you to place each entry into an appropriate category.

I use Tblog for one of my marketing avenues with Web 2.0 blogs. I use them because they have a few features that quickly allow me to get my blog entries seen. First off when I place a new blog entry in my blog that entry automatically appears at the top of the list of other entries from other users under that category. Therefore it is in a prime location to be seen. Also on the front page of Tblog is what they call a tblurt box. I can type in a tblurt telling other users that I have a new entry on my blog. This will appear on the front page for everyone to see. Both quickly allow me to drive users to my blog entry and from there try to get to them to the website I am promoting in that entry.

A good way to gain a little more traffic is to take the time to read other people's blog entries and place an appropriate comment on their entry. Most blog authors will return the favor and go and look at your blog. I have converted traffic somewhat from this practice.

For effective marketing, you need to leave the comment section open on all of your entries on any of the social blog sites that you use. The comment section can give you an idea as to what marketing tactics are working and which ones are not. Feedback on these comments are one of the best ways to judge what consumers or potential clients are thinking about what you are offering.

For those that are marketing a website that sells products you need to showcase those products. Most of these sites allow you to upload pictures and even videos to your blog. Upload some product pictures so that people can see what you are talking about.

Remember to add some text in to that entry as well. It has been proven that a picture entry with little to no text does not seem to convert very well. Do not forget to link that picture to your website, so that anyone who clicks the picture will be taken to your website. It is preferable that you link a product picture directly to that products description page.

For those that are offering a service, your posts do not have to always be just about what you are offering exactly. Let us use this as an example so that you understand what I am talking about. Say you are offering a service to custodial parents to help them get their past due child support from the non-custodial parent. Now you can post entries on the services that you offer and such, but you should also post statistical entries as well. Do some research and post on the effects of failure to pay child support and the laws surrounding child support. Then remember to make mention at the end how your company can help.

For videos placed on your blog you need to keep them short. It is recommended that for the internet that videos be no more than five minutes long. Internet surfers do not want to spend a lot of time on one particular video and will tend to leave before the end if it is too long. Also make sure that your point is made during those five minutes. Do not leave the viewer at the end still trying to figure out what you were talking about.

The same can be applied to text as well. You do not want a long drawn out blog entry. The average internet surfer does not spend a lot of time reading one blog entry before moving on to something else. While it is important to get the readers attention and give them useful information to get them to your website, it is more important to do so in as brief a post as possible. Therefore, brief and to the point along with some pictures or a video every so often and you should have people heading from the social blog site right to your website. Also if you are offering a service, place your company phone number at the bottom of your blog posts.

T J Madigan has been established in online business since 1998. He is one of Australia's leading search engine optimization - SEO practitioners and is director of OnlineBusiness.net.au - a new website offering Free Online Business Tips, Tools, Resources & Information for Internet Entrepreneurs. T J has also directed a number of other successful online projects.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Terry_Madigan
http://EzineArticles.com/?Use-A-Web-2.0-Blog-As-A-Marketing-Avenue&id=1183850

Blog Writing Tips - 2 - Acknowledge Your Target Market

By Christo Fox

When you are writing a blog it is important to understand who your target market is and to acknowledge them whenever you can. Hollywood producers have been doing this forever! Blog writing is no different. You are typically writing a blog to get fans. Fans are people who read every single post you write and usually leave a comment. It doesn't matter if the fan is being positive or negative, as long as you have people reading your blog and commenting, they can be considered as fans. Some blogs are literally held together by these unrelenting fans who stick with the blog writer until the very end. Think of your fans as your most loyal customers and treat them as such.

If you don't know who your target market is, then you really should not be writing blogs. If you have a rough idea about who your target market is, but can't narrow it down, then try a variety of references and see which one the market responds to. For example, if I am writing a blog about a violent video game there is a high chance the readers will have an interest in violent movies. I might use this piece of information to include a reference to an upcoming Tarantino movie. This does 4 things. It lets the readers know I am just like them, that I understand them, that I am up-to-date on current events and it will also get my blog into search results when the movie comes out. The latter is another little tip that I'll chuck in as a bonus for you loyal article readers.

Any kind of blog can have references that their target market will respond to. Someone who blogs about new ways to cook chicken might include a reference to a related episode of Oprah. This is where creativity comes into play. These "references" could even make your blog stand out and reach a wider audience. Writing a blog about a boring book review might put readers to sleep, but if you throw a reference to the possibility of that book being turned into a movie starring Tom Hanks, then you instantly have some great reading material on your hands. The references you include in your blog can be funny, informative or just plain silly. The type of reference you include will typically be on par with your style of blog voice (see Blog Writing Tips 1).

Finally, when you make a reference, it's a good idea to add a hyperlink (if you got the information online). The link shows that you are not just making stuff up, as well as crediting the original sources, which is quite possibly the most important rule of the blogworld.

In conclusion...

- Identify fans of your blog. Whether they be positive or negative. Treat them as loyal customers.

- Throw in as many relevant references to culture, news or current events as possible to keep the target market interested. If you can't work out what references to use then try different ones and see which one the readers respond to the most. Make sure these references are in line with your blog voice style. i.e. A funny blog writer will include funny references that are often silly and trivial.

- If you got the reference from an online source, please add a hyperlink and properly credit your source. The referenced website will see your link and hopefully network with your blog.

http://www.mobgizmo.com

http://www.mobileactive.com

http://www.youtube.com/chrisg276

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Christo_Fox
http://EzineArticles.com/?Blog-Writing-Tips---2---Acknowledge-Your-Target-Market&id=1177340

Blog Writing Tips - 1 - Have a Voice

By Christo Fox

1 - Have a Voice
When you are writing a blog it is important to try and imagine you are in a room of highly opinionated, loud and arrogant people. To be heard you must have a unique, distinct and dynamic voice; this is the key to success in the blogworld! Blogs are meant to personal expressions or opinions about a news topic, event or piece of information. People love to read blogs usually because they connect with the blog writer in some way or they have conflicting views about what the blog writer has written.

Anyone can find information on the Internet, it's just a matter of typing in a few keywords on Google and the information will usually present itself in a matter of minutes. However, finding someone's opinion on that piece of information is a lot harder. People who seek blogs are usually highly opinionated and are only looking for a blog to either agree or disagree with it. This is where having a voice is important.

The sole reason people write blogs is to generate activity. If they wanted nobody to read what they had written, they would write the blog offline. The only way to generate activity is to stand out from the millions of bloggers by having a unique voice that can be heard all through the Internet jungle. When writing a blog the best way to distinguish your voice is to either side positively or negatively with whatever you are writing about. The goal here is to make readers either agree or disagree with what you have written. If they do this then chances are they will leave a comment.

When a person comments on your blog, this can often lead to a chain reaction of comments that could potentially catapult your blog into the upper echelons of the blogworld. People will comment back and fourth until the issue is resolved, whatever that issue may be. In fact, it's very common to find a comment writer who has a louder voice then the actual blog writer. This person will usually write a controversial comment that is so powerful it essentially takes over the blog. All comments after this will typically be directed at the comment writer, instead of the blog writer.

Technorati is currently tracking almost 115 million blogs and there are reports of close to 73 million blogs in China alone. In comparison the Australian population only just breaks 20 million. When you are in a crowd of people like this in reality and you want to be heard, the average person typically screams loudly to attract as much attention as possible, but often this doesn't work and just seems to add to the "noise". To really be heard you must project a sense of authority and direction. Some natural born leaders can simply stand up on a chair, in a sea of people, and command their undivided attention, with nothing more then a hand gesture. The point here is that "screaming" in blogs is not the correct way to create a buzz and stir up some activity. Screaming strains your blog voice and will only keep people amused for a limited time. Anyone can write controversial rubbish, stick it up on the Internet and hope for the best, but the trick is doing it in a such a way that it makes you stand out and gives you an online voice that is so clear, it can be identified by the text itself. The good bloggers are so unique they no longer have to put their name on the blog, the writing speaks for itself. People can read a blog and automatically know it was written by their favourite blogger just by the way the blog is structured.

In conclusion...
- When using your blog voice try and side either positively or negatively with what you are writing about. Do not sit in the middle; nobody likes a fence sitter.

- When projecting your blog voice, remember you are actually talking to people. You are not having a conversation with yourself. If you do this correctly, chances are they will comment back and this activity will spark a chain reaction.

- When using your blog voice, do not scream. Nobody likes the loud person who shouts over people. The key here is to build up your voice so that it demands undivided attention. You should be able to get your point across constructively, without shouting.

http://www.mobgizmo.com/
http://www.mobileactive.com/
http://www.youtube.com/chrisg276

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Christo_Fox
http://EzineArticles.com/?Blog-Writing-Tips---1---Have-a-Voice&id=1174048

Blogging Advice For New Bloggers

By Tony Pang

When I was a child, the only place I would ever think to put my most private thoughts was in the locked diary that I kept hidden, or at least I think was hidden. Even then, there was much I would not write there for fear that someone would find it. Today, there are many that share those same personal thoughts with the entire world through a blog. This is like an online diary that is accessible by anyone who finds it. Before you begin such an endeavor, you should get some blogging advice.

You can make mistakes when you post in your blog, and that is why blogging advice is so important. You may not think that anyone is reading, but you never know who may stumble upon what you have written in your blog each day. The problem is that you may be putting personal information out there that can be used against you, or you may be telling things about others that they do not wish to be public knowledge. This blogging advice would tell you to keep others out of it, at least in any identifiable way, and to remember anyone could read at any time.

Some of the newest career advice has to do with blogging and just about anything else you may have about yourself online. This includes social networks like Myspace and FaceBook as well. This blogging advice tells you that you should think of your profession when you post. If you are a doctor or a nurse, pictures or stories about your wild party nights are not going to reflect well. Those hiring new people often use search engines online to find out more about those applying. If they find things in your blog that they do not like, you are not going to get the job.

Other types of blogging advice would be to monitor any blogs that your children may have. You can tell them they can not have one, or you can tell them that you must approve what they are writing. This is because children often talk about things that can lead a predator right to your front door, and they don't know that this is what they have done. Blogging advice includes knowing how to keep personal details from being out in cyberspace, and some adults have problems with this. It only makes sense that children need help. Monitor what they do and say for their own safety and your peace of mind. That might be the most important advice on blogging that you can find.

Explosive Traffic For Your Online Business. Visit Online Business Profit to see how you can drive traffic to your websites and profit from it.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tony_Pang
http://EzineArticles.com/?Blogging-Advice-For-New-Bloggers&id=1184460

Blogging To Promote An Internet Business

By Craig Andrews

If you operate an Internet business you are probably always looking for new and innovative means of promoting your product or service. Of course, cost always is a factor as it would be in any type of marketing plan. This is where starting a blog can prove helpful as it has the ability to promote a business in an extremely cost effective manner. After all, there are a number of free blogging formats out there so right off the bat you are promoting your online business without an initial expenditure. You can't beat that!

Here is a common means of using a blog to promote a business. Let's say your business sells sporting goods. Obviously, it would be wise to launch a blog that covers sporting goods and the content of your blog will provide news, tips, product reviews and other interesting entries that will also include photos of products you are selling as well as links that direct to your site. For example, you can review a Wilson catchers mitt and include a picture of one as well as a link that leads to the sale page for that particular catchers mitt. Does this sound pretty easy? If it does it's because...it is!

If there were any trick that could make this venture successful it would be consistency and volume. That is, you would greatly benefit by adding three short blog entries (150 - 200 words) five days a week. Be sure that these entries are interesting and well written because if the value and quality of the writing is poor, well, the whole plan is doomed to failure. Also, it is absolutely CRITICAL to optimize your blog and pull in as much traffic as possible. After all, if no one sees your blog then no one is going to click your links! One of the best ways of boosting traffic to your blog would be writing 1 - 2 short articles for article directories that link to your blog. If this seems like a lot of work you may even wish to outsource some or all of the blog writing because consistency is absolutely critical for success with this type of promotional blogging venture.

Discover How To Properly Structure A Blog In Order To Harvest An Ultimate Income! Download it FREE here:
How To Properly Construct A Blog...

Do you want to learn how to develop a successful Internet Business with more profits, less work and true freedom? Click Here: Craig S Andrews.com

Do you want to learn how I make a lot of money with articles every day?
Click Here: Article Pro Software

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Craig_Andrews
http://EzineArticles.com/?Blogging-To-Promote-An-Internet-Business&id=1118048

Read Other Blogs To Improve Your Blog

By Craig Andrews

Bloggers, both old and new, are always looking for ways to continually improve their blogs. One of the simplest ways to improve your blog is to read other blogs.

How is reading other peoples blogs going to help you improve your blog? Just read this article and I will explain how this will happen.

Reading other peoples blogs will help you by giving you ideas to use on your own blog. I am not endorsing you go and steal content from somebody's blog, no not at all. What I am suggesting is to look and see what they do to make their blog so popular.

For instance, preceding every post they place a blurb for readers to sign up for their RSS feed. Wow! what a brilliant idea you think to yourself and then you incorporate that to your blog. That is an example of how to improve your your blog by reading another blog.

Reading other blogs will also give you ideas to write about or give you insight to a trend that is developing in your niche. You can also find ways to make your blog look better, like a combination of colors that make the page easier to look at or a type font that is easy to read. It will also make you want to be like them, successful!

Now, don't just read all of the good blogs. Take time to read some of the bad blogs too. What this will do is instill in you the importance of doing things correctly. A big no-no bloggers do is forget to spell check in their rush to get the post out. This, along with other mistakes(you will know when you see them), will become self evident when you read some bad blogs and they will guide you to be perfect.

I hope that this article has shown you the importance of learning and reading other blogs, both good and bad. So set aside twenty to thirty minutes a day to do this and soon you will be improving your own blog and setting the standard for others.

Discover How To Properly Structure A Blog In Order To Harvest An Ultimate Income! Download it FREE here:
How To Porperly Construct A Blog...

Do you want to learn how to develop a successful Internet Business with more profits, less work and true freedom? Click Here: Craig S Andrews.com

Do you want to learn how I make a lot of money with articles every day?
Click Here: Article Pro Software

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Craig_Andrews
http://EzineArticles.com/?Read-Other-Blogs-To-Improve-Your-Blog&id=1061315

Secrets to a Reader Friendly Blog

By Craig Andrews

You don't have to be a professional novelist or an English major to be a blogger. In fact some of the better blogs are from just regular Joes, like you, as they relate to others better than the trained writer. If you have average writing skills then you should be able to create a very reader friendly blog.

Blog entries tend to be better when they are short and to the point because most of your readers give each of the blogs they read, and some have hundreds, a short time before they go on to the next. So to attract that reader to stay and read all of your posts and come back, you need to make your blog read friendly for them.

It is not that hard to do and will become second nature after a while. The following tips will help you accomplish this task and reward you with a happy audience.

Create Catchy Headlines - This is the first thing the reader sees, therefore you need it to leap out and grab the readers attention and make them want to read the whole post. Just don't over do it and stretch the truth to get the readers to read the post.

Be Up Front - Right from the beginning of the post, tell your readers what the rest of the post is about. Don't make them read ahead to see what the post is about.

Help Save The Eyes - Reading on computer screens can be made easier by making lots of white space with the proper contrast and a large enough font to be pleasant on the eyes of your readers.

Break Your Post Up - Outline the post by using bold headlines and bullet points throughout the post. This gives the reader a guide to follow as they read.

Picture This - While all content may not be suitable for pictures, they do help bring a flair to your blog. Add more pizazz by using your own drawings or pictures.

Talk to Your Readers - You want to write to your readers just like you were talking to them. The writing style should be relaxed and conversational.

Spelling and Grammar - Most blogging programs now have spell check and grammar check. Use them. You and your readers will be thankful.

Don't Run Out of Bullets - Use bullet points and lists whenever possible. A reader will be more apt to finish a post of yours if they do not have to struggle through it.

It's the Readers Blog Too - So let them share their thoughts and comments by allowing comments after each post.

These tips should make your blog more reader friendly and promote it at the same time. You will be rewarded ten-fold later for taking the time to do this now.

Discover How To Properly Structure A Blog In Order To Harvest An Ultimate Income! Download it FREE here:
How To Porperly Construct A Blog...

Do you want to learn how to develop a successful Internet Business with more profits, less work and true freedom? Click Here: Craig S Andrews.com

Do you want to learn how I make a lot of money with articles every day?
Click Here: Article Pro Software

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Craig_Andrews
http://EzineArticles.com/?Secrets-to-a-Reader-Friendly-Blog&id=1061335