#1 Ask a question. Many people don’t comment on blogs because there’s not much to say. The old, “Thanks for the information.” Becomes tired and feels unproductive most of the time. Unless you can actually contribute feedback or answer a question then what’s the point of commenting? So ask your readers to get involved, ask them a question.

#2 When people comment, ALWAYS respond to their comment and…ask a question. When subsequent reader see a dialogue going on they’re more likely to chime in and participate. This really works! Engage your commenter’s, they’ll become more active on your blog and you’ll draw others into the conversation.

#3 Leave something out. Depending on your readers, many times if you leave something out of your post, someone is going to feel compelled to let you know or to share the information. Of course once they do, go back to #2 and acknowledge their input and ask a question – get a dialogue going.

#4 Make it easy to comment. Generally, this requires skipping many of the hoops people have to jump through to comment, like logging in. This is a personal decision for you as a business owner because of SPAM issues, there are other ways to manage your comments.

#5 Some bloggers have found great success by letting people edit their comments. This has its benefits and drawbacks. You certainly don’t want someone to go in and later delete their comment however, it may motivate others to comment if they know they can edit themselves.

#6 Check out a few blogging widgets and plug-ins. There are many plug-ins that enhance the user experience like CommentLuv and the ability to subscribe to a blog post’s comments so you can actively participate in a conversation without having to stay on the page.

#7 Let readers create a profile that links back to their website. Yes, this is a double edged sword because you’ll undoubtedly get the comments saying “thank you for the post” simply so they can generate a link to their site but it does promote commenting and you can always block the folks who abuse the system.

#8 Pay attention to the posts people comment on. You may notice your audience has a preference for a certain topic or type of post. Tracking this information can help you generate a more active, and potentially useful, blog.

Remember that it takes some time to cultivate a following on any website or blog. Continue the strategies and tactics you’re using that are effectively driving traffic to your blog and try to utilize some of these points for getting more blog comments. As always, pay attention to what works for your audience and make the most of it!

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As a business owner they’re almost an essential tool to provide to your visitors, because they help you stay in connection with them on a regular basis. In fact, many people have readers that aggregate all the feeds they subscribe to and organize them so they’re easy to read and access.

Here’s how to set up effective RSS Feeds.

#1 Determine what content you want to make available to your visitors. What content do you want them to be able to subscribe to? For example, if you have an information-based website, you may want them to be able to subscribe to categories or to all new articles or to give them the choice.

#2 Create your feed. You can use an RSS channel editor to create your RSS feed; if you’re not comfortable coding then this is an easy step. There are a number of channel editors and you can do a quick search online to find one that meets your needs.
You can also create your feed yourself. It’ll look something like this:

<?xml version=”1.0″ ?>
<rss version=”2.0″>
<channel>
<item>
<title>Your Article Title Here</title>
<description>Your article summary/description here.</description>
<link>http://linktoyourwebpagehere.com</link>
</item>
</channel>
</rss>

#3 Upload your RSS file. You’ll cut and paste the code into your website code. Or if you’re using FTP, you’ll upload the file into your server.

#4 Validate the feed. There are a number of free validation programs available online. This is an important step because errors can be present if you’ve created the feed yourself or if you’ve tweaked it.

#5 Your next step is to let people know they can subscribe to your feed. Advertise. Place a button on your web page(s) and promote it. Many internet users love RSS feeds and take full advantage of them.

Make sure you update your feed as needed and stay on top of RSS technology. It has changed over the years; there are actually three types of RSS feeds and you want to ensure you’re giving your visitors the best you have to offer.

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#1 – Subscribe or RSS feed. There’s nothing more frustrating, as a visitor, than finding a blog you enjoy and not being able to subscribe to it. People are busy, too busy to remember to visit your blog on a daily or weekly basis. Cut them a break, and yourself, and offer an option to subscribe to your blog so each new post is delivered via email, sent to a reader or shows up on their iGoogle page.

#2 – Contact/About information. Have you ever visited a blog and thought, “I wonder who this blog belongs to? Where are they? Who are they?” Trust me, readers think this and they want to know. If they can’t find out a bit about you, determine your credibility or make some sort of connection, they’ll move along. Retain your visitors by sharing a bit of information about yourself including a means by which they can contact you.

#3 – Comments. Some blogs intentionally do not allow comments and while they have their reasons, most people like to be able to leave a comment if they have something to say. If you’re considering not allowing commenting because you want to avoid spam, then check out a few of the spam blockers like Askimet, which is available for WordPress blogs. If you’re avoiding allowing comments because you don’t want to respond to them, consider outsourcing the job and having someone moderate your posts, or just set ten minutes aside at the end of each day to respond. People like the interaction and it draws more readers.

#4 – Archives, popular posts, popular comments, tags and other associated identifiers. People search and read blogs differently. Some simply read the most recent post and move on while others search by category or tag. Some people will want to read the most popular posts and others will want to sift through your archives post by post. Provide a number of options for your visitors to search by.

#5 – SEO plug-ins. One of the wonderful features about a blog is that it’s welcomed by the search engines due to frequent and easily indexed content. That being said, there are an abundance of quality search engine plug-ins, particularly for WordPress, which make optimizing your posts for the search engines quick and easy.

#6 – Social networking and bookmarking features. With Twitter, Facebook, Digg, Reddit, and other social networking and bookmarking sites growing in popularity, it pays to include options on your blog. You can ask people to tweet your posts, post or link to them on Facebook, Digg them and so on. It’ll draw traffic and subscribers.

#7 – Google Analytics. You want to know how many people are visiting your blog, where they’re coming from, how many posts they read and how long they stay on your site, right? Google analytics will tell you all that and more. To make good decisions about how to grow your blog, it pays to have the kind of information an analytics tool can provide.

Blogging is extremely popular and useful, and along with this popularity comes a bevy of useful tools. Take advantage of these tools and resources to grow your subscribers, profits and business.

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The Big Three and Beyond

A blog platform is essentially a product which a blog or website is based on. In many cases they’re the service you use to host and publish your blog. In the blogging world, there are three big players with a host of smaller platforms. The big three are:

* Blogger, owned by Google
* Typepad
* WordPress

There is also MoveableType.org, which is an open source publishing platform. Another is Joomla, which offers blogging capabilities but is considered more of a website platform than a blogging platform. There are many other website hosts which offer blogging functions; however, they’re not traditional platforms.

When you choose a blogging platform, you’re looking for a few key ingredients. You’re looking for:

* Ease of use – If you have to jump through hoops and read a 1000 page manual to get a blog up and running, you’re not going to want to do it. Intuitive interfaces and easy to find information are essential.

* Functionality – It needs to be user friendly for your customers and prospects, and that means easy to navigate and easy to use.

* Features – You want your blog to be able to do what you want and need it to do, including sell products and services, host contests, take feedback and so on.

* Price - Always a consideration.

* Customization – You want to be able to make your blog look and feel exactly like you want it to without a ton of work, time and money.

* Reputation – You want a platform that’s going to be around for years and years to come so you don’t have to switch your blog to a different platform.

Before you choose a blogging platform you’ll want to spend some time determining what you want your blog to accomplish. If for example you want to optimize your blog for the first page of the search engines, you’re going to want a blog that is easy to optimize and maybe has search engine optimization plug-ins. This means making a list of your requirements before you even begin comparing blogging platforms.

Another important thing to consider is where your blog is going to be hosted. TypePad and Blogger are both hosted blogs, meaning your URL will be http://www.yournamehere.typepad.com/

The same is true for blogger. WordPress gives you the option. You can host your blog on WordPress or redirect it to another host so your URL is whatever you want it to be.

Read everything about your blogging platform before you go through the work to customize it and set it up. Some hosted blogging platforms do not allow advertising, for example, and if that’s something you want to do then you’ll need to consider those restrictions before you sign on.

The good news is that blogging is free and unless you hire a professional designer to customize it then your start-up expenses are nominal. (There’s a $10 fee to redirect a WordPress blog to another host.) Choosing your blogging platform just takes a little time and research. Happy blogging.

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1) Give your readers a different point of view. Your blog is your opportunity to let others know your opinion, extol the virtues of your products, or inform the readers about things as they impact you. Allowing another view point or set of ideas allows your readers to things from a different point of view. It gives them a new way to look at things and can make a big difference in your sales. Offering a broader perspective of the products and/or services you offer to your readers may result in more sales for you.

2) Cross promotion. Not all guest bloggers offer products or services that are in direct competition with what you have to offer. In fact, the ideal guest blogger is one that offers a product that is related to what you offer but not in direct competition. This way he or she can promote products that may help your readers or at least that can build upon what you offer.

3) Reciprocation. Many times guest bloggers will return the favor and allow you to be a guest writer on their blog in the future. This allows you the opportunity to reach a wider audience than your blog may currently touch on a regular basis. More importantly, if you have a list, it allows you to reach out to new potential subscribers to your email or newsletter list.

4) Take worry free vacations from your blogging duties knowing that your blog is in good hands. The real beauty about getting guest bloggers for your blog is that they give you a little time off. You can be fairly certain that they are going to make every effort to provide quality posts that are going to inform and entertain your readers. They benefit from guest blogging in new traffic and subscribers for their blogs. This will not happen unless they do an excellent job or make a solid impact on your blog readers. Many regular bloggers schedule guest blogs during their vacations so that they do not have to pull double duty the week before and or after writing extra blog posts to make up for the lost time.

5) Giving a fresh voice to your readers. Sometimes it’s simply nice to offer your readers a new “voice” to listen to. After you’ve been blogging for a while on one topic you may feel as though you’re beginning to run out of things to say or new ways to present the same old information. Guest bloggers have a different way of wording things so that even if they are restating something you’ve said before it will sound fresh and new to your readers.

The next time you need a break, want to give your readers a little something extra, or just feel as though you need a change of perspective for a day or two, consider putting a call out for guest bloggers.

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There are millions upon millions of marginal blogs orbiting the stars of cyber space. If you want to be noticed, it’s important to pay attention to at least a few of the fundamentals of solid design. Keep these five tips in mind when either designing your blog or having it designed for you.

5 quick tips for beautiful blog design

1) Your site should be easy to navigate and intuitive for the user. Keep your links up top, or along the sidebar. Don’t assume your visitor knows where to go or what to do. Make your design like a guiding hand.

2) Keep your site clean of clutter. Simple navigation and a clean site can make any blog look infinitely better. If you walked into a business with stuff falling from every shelf, you would probably walk right out. Blog design is no different.

3) Learn the basic principles of color theory for your design. Certain color combinations = no no no. If you see a site using colors you like, you can use a color picking tool to find out what the colors are and implement them in your own design.

4) Don’t use giant honking graphics when a smaller graphic will do. Exceptions can be made when your site is centered around images, in which case, your readers will know what to expect. For everyone else, though, make your post images clickable so people readers can choose if they want to see the larger image.

5) When it comes to monetizing your blog, nothing can make a site look more blighted than a ton of ads! It’s the internet equivalent of a highway littered with billboards. Eventually your readers will either tune them or you out. Find the right mix for your readership between ads and content. If you aren’t making much money on the ads, you should probably consider going without ads and find another way to earn revenue.

A blog can be your online space to either make a living or share your voice. Make it as welcoming to others as possible.

Sean Platt is a ghostwriter who builds beautiful blogs at the Collective Inkwell dotcom.

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Some have considered blogging a lifestyle. It has become an outlet for people to express their feelings, their happiness and their frustrations. It has become a tool for therapy that has been encouraged by psychologists. Those who are old enough to write have their own personal blogs. However, one has to be careful and be conscious of what others will feel about what is written. In as much as we want to express all our angst online. We also have to be considerate of others. That is why there are blogging platforms that have privacy options so nobody gets to read that particular post. So before you decide on getting which platform to use, read up on all the blog software facts that you can get your hands on or just read up on the platforms that you are considering. You can actually do a comparison on each one so you will get the best one for you.

Actually, blog software exists so you can make and maintain your blogs easily. There are some that are more user friendly than others. While there are others that have more features. You can even moderate comments if you want especially if you have a lot of haters in your blog. Since you will be reaching people from all over the world, it is actually expected. So some features are more for your protection than for any other purpose.

So read up on it because blog software facts will be able to explain all the features that it offers, as well as, the limitations that each has.

Cheryl Forbes owns and operates the website http://www.blog-sofware-facts.com.

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By Daegan Smith

Blogging is easy, blogging is fun. And what’s more…it can help your business in a lot of ways. A blog is a frequent, chronological publication of personal thoughts and web links in the cyberspace. You could call it an e-diary where you can register your thoughts, opinion and comments on anything and everything under the sun that interests you. Though people had been ‘at it’ long before the term blog was coined; it has gained currency as an effective medium of communicating over the Internet only recently. The introduction of automated published software like “Blogger” at www.blogger.com has been instrumental in blogging success. A blog or a weblog’ is conceptually similar to a website and is accessible to anyone on the Internet.

There are millions of bloggers in the world today blogging away to glory. But blogging can be more than just chatter in the cyberspace. It can be a great tool for boosting your online business’s profitability once you’ve understood how it works and what are its limitations. Take a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weblog#Corporate for some more information.

How to become a Blogger?

The key to learning how to become a blogger is to start blogging! Easier said than done? Not really. There are several websites that can give you information on how to be a blogger. Blogger.com is one of them. You have three options here to choose from:

- Have a hosted service like Blogger allows you to set up an account and fire away in a matter of minutes.

- A remotely installed blog like movabletype allows you to install on a server for a small fee.

- Desktop blog programs like Radio Userland are installed on your desktop and then uploaded to a host. These are usually desktop programmes that include hosting and upgradation for a certain period of time and charge you a small fee.

You can get more information on blogging resources from http://www.blogroots.com/resources.blog.

Also see: http://www.blogger.com/start

Once you have decided what option you want for setting up your weblog/ blog you are ready to start blogging. It is that easy. It could take a while before anyone will notice your little blog in the corner and take you seriously. But you can cut down this time with some great ideas at: http://help.blogger.com/

offers some great ideas on increasing your blog’s readership.
There is a Chinese saying, “ It’s a wise man who learns from others’ mistakes”. Read others blogs to see what works and what doesn’t, what are their writing styles etc. It’s a great way to teach yourself and fun too…. you are learning on some one else’s expense.

Guidelines for the greenhorn blogger

Here are some simple guidelines for a newbie blogger. Take a chance with these to increase your chances of success.

1. Get Blogging: Like I said earlier, the best way to learn blogging is to start blogging.
2. Recognize your motivation: Why are you blogging? What do you hope to achieve?
3. Link to other blogs: the best way to popularise your blog is to link to other blogs. So link you must!
4. Develop a unique style of writing: Developing a writing style is an evolutionary process. Try different approaches and formats until you find one that fits your message, audience, and personal motivations.
5. Express your personality… let your humour, your perspective on life, and your values shine in your writing.
6. Be regular with your posting: readers will quickly wander away from blogs that are not updated regularly. So this is very important.

More blogging resources are available at: (www.lights.com/weblogs)

How to profit from Blogging?

Now that you have understood what a blog is and how to get blogging, its time to make it pay. Blogging is a great way to enhance your online company’s bottomline. It is a popular and an easy medium and has potential of reaching millions.

Here are some tips for you to turn blogging into a serious profitable strategy.

1. Customer Interaction: A blog is a good means to keep in touch with your customers regularly. You can keep them updated on new events, happening in your company, new products and services and other developments. the best part is that you can do it more cost effectively and in much less time than other methods like newsletters, customer updates and customer meetings. The elements of interactivity, community and collaboration are key here. Your blog can also serve as a platform for advertising, promotion and even internal communications. One well-known business example is software company Macromedia’s use of blogging to keep customers updated on what’s happening with its products.

2. Query management: With a blog you can receive and answer to customer queries more quickly than an email. For potential customers it is very important to have a sharp turnaround and you can do that easily with a blog.

3. Link to other sites: Linking your blog to other similar, but not competing, sites is a great way to get some free publicity and traffic for your online business. It is also one big reason why Search Engines will grab your site in their result pages. Ask any online entrepreneur what getting quality traffic to a website means and you’ll know what I am talking about.

4. Get Feedback: Getting feedback from your customers on your products and services, on your company practices and other things is one of the most valuable resources you can build. With a blog, it is not just easier but also time saving for customers to leave feedback for you without filling complicated and mile long forms.

5. Get Google to work for you: Selling ad space is one of the most popular revenue streams for online businesses. With Google’s free AdSense service it just got easier www.google.com/adsense. AdSense allows bloggers to display up to three content-specific “ad units” (boxes that can hold up to four ads each) per page. Each time a visitor clicks these ads, you get paid. Need more convincing?

6. Become an affiliate: Your blog can become a cash cow by using the simple idea of becoming an affiliate for other websites. An affiliate basically carries a link to the other site and each time some one clicks on that link, you get a small commission for it.

7. Donations: If you are running a blog that people love to read and keep coming back in hordes, why not ask them for some monetary appreciation?

Put on your thinking cap and let your imagination run unbridled. You will surprise yourself with the number of ideas that will make your blog less of a personal e-diary and more of a digital cash cow. Blogging is a relatively new marketing arena for webpreneurs, but has immense possibility and potential. Be sure to get on to the bandwagon early in the game and reap your benefits later.

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Blog marketing will keep you very busy. If you have more than one blog going that you want the highest and the best rankings for, you may have to hire some help. However make sure that you have good content. If you do not have good content, there is no reason for your readers to come back to your blog after their first visit. Keep writing good content as well. If it starts to go down hill, you may find that your reader status does as well and that could hurt you in the long run. Good content is key.

Something else that many blog owners do not realize when they are marketing their blog is that it needs to be updated. Post content in your blog regularly for the best results. Maybe once a day is good for you? Perhaps you are more comfortable with one post a week? Whichever it is, be consistent with it and know that it will pay off to continue posting as you should.

Just having a blog about anything, or random subjects is not always a great idea. You have to have a niche market in order to market your blog successfully. For example, lets say one day you made a blog post on the current news, and the next day it was on your current marital situation. You will not be able to keep a blog audience posting off the wall things time after time. Find your area of expertise and run with it. You can be an expert on that market in your blogging community. Readers will go to your blog daily to find out what it is that the expert is going to say next. It really does work this way.

Make sure that your blog design stands out. You don’t want your blog to look and feel like everyone else’s, so make it different. Having your own look is a huge plus in the blog marketing world. You will find that most blogs all look the same and you can have your own look by just using HTML and adjusting the code to suit your taste. You are going to see that this will truly make a difference with your blog as well as your readers. Try to get a theme that is going to match the market that you are promoting in your blog. Doing so will make it look even more professional.

Do you know SEO? SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. If you are not familiar with SEO, you need to get that way and fast. Using SEO will help you to market your blog to the fullest extent possible. Optimizing your blog posts as well as the HTML will get you results that you will love. Studying everything that you can find on SEO will help you immensely. You will find that there is so much more to bog marketing than just making a post on your blog everyday.

If you don’t all ready, be sure that your blog has the RSS feeds. Having these feeds will allow others to be able to link to you blog. Having many links a huge part of blog marketing that you want to take advantage of as well. When someone uses the RSS feeds from your blog, they are able to get the posts that you make, and will give you a link back from their blog, or website, whichever they posted it on.

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Blogging for Ad Revenue

Some bloggers choose a niche they are interested in and instead of featuring products, they blog about the subject to inform their readers. The premise of this type of blog is to attract readers to your blog who may then click on ads placed on the site by Google or other companies who share the revenue the ads generate with the blogger. In this kind of Internet marketing system, visitors don’t have to purchase anything for the blogger to earn money. The blogger earns when the ads are clicked on even if no purchase is made.

Update Your Blog Daily

It takes a lot of clicks on those ads to generate much revenue for the blogger. Many bloggers make only pennies from revenue sharing ads on their blogs. A slim few claim they make thousands per month. It is possible to make good money blogging for ad revenue but it takes thousands and thousands of clicks on the ads to make any real money. Because of this, bloggers need to update their blogs daily with fresh, new, and exciting content in order to attract more readers and to keep readers coming back.

Another Stream of Income

Blogging doesn’t have to be the only thing you do in your Internet marketing business but it can be another stream of income. You can update your blog on a daily basis and then work on your website. In addition, you can include a link on your blog that leads to your website and that can help drive additional traffic to your site. Some bloggers maintain several different blogs at once and make blogging their entire Internet marketing business.

If you have a talent for writing and you like to blog, this can be a great opportunity to either start your Internet marketing business or to enhance it.

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