What are Blogs?
Having heard the term previously but not having paid much
attention most are just to afraid to show their ignorance and ask
the question, what is a blog? Lets face it; the term blog does not
conjure pleasant images.
Blogs are web logs that are updated regularly, usually on a daily
basis. They contain information related to a specific topic. In some
cases blogs are used as daily diaries about people's personal lives,
political views, or even as social commentaries. The truth of the
matter is that blogs can be shaped into whatever you, the author,
want them to be.
Where Did Blogs Come From?
The roots of blogging can be traced back to the mid 1990's. Who the
very first blogger actually was is unclear, as the art of blogging
did not really take hold until 1999. The original "weblogs" were
link-driven sites with personal commentaries. The very first blogs
were human guided Internet web tours. While initially thought of as
diaries or online journals, blogs have evolved into the latest fresh
web content.
The Future of Blogs
A buzz word in techie circles, "blogging" is the wave of the future.
Whether its a fad, or proves to be a new way to communicate with
existing and potential customers it deserves at the very least a
cursory look.
Why is Blogging Helpful to Businesses or Individuals?
Just as animated .gifs were once cool, blogging is the trendy thing
to do. That does not mean that it is not beneficial to businesses.
Webmasters struggling to keep fresh, attractive content on their
websites to lure visitors back, have found blogs the answer. Content
is a necessity for online businesses, both for purposes of being
found by search engines but also because it gives visitors a reason
to come back.
Now that we have established that blogs are not only trendy but
also beneficial to businesses, its important to understand how they
can be used to your advantage. We currently manage and update two
blogs on a daily basis. The first is our new business blog at:
http://www.notepage.net/blog.htm
This professional business blog allows us the opportunity to tell
potential, or existing customers industry news, updates, or
generally how mobile or paging software can be used in specific
situations to alleviate problems. The bottom line is we control the
content. Its updated daily, which increases the chances that search
engines will spider on a regular basis and it helps with page rank
because it's been submitted to all the blogging directories.
Initially started on a whim we've found it beneficial to report
tips, tricks or make visitors aware of new regulations related to
the mobile or paging industry.
The second blog we manage is at:
http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/blog.html
This blog is less formal and contains marketing tips, or
promotional advice for software developers or online marketers. We
found that we had overflow from our monthly newsletter. Generating a
daily blog would require very little effort and would assist us in
creating fresh content which our readers told us was of significant
interest.
Blogs & Your Business
The bottom line is you need to determine how a blog will benefit
your business, determine a schedule and adhere to it. Let your
readers know what to expect and when to expect it. Blogs provide
great supplemental content and direct attention to areas of your
business that you want to showcase; you direct the content but let
your readers guide you.
Creating a Blog
There are numerous online tools that can be used to create a blog.
We found that because of security concerns, it would just be best to
use a standard html program. In our case we used Dreamweaver and
create daily posts. Its really not much more complicated than typing
an email. The content is then sent via FTP to a web server. If you
want to test the waters there are online web-based tool that helps
you publish to the web instantly. The most popular web based tool is
likely Blogger
http://www.blogger.com.
Other Advantages to Blogs
While you may initially create a blog for your existing customers,
you may find that you can attract new customers by illustrating your
expertise in a specific field. There are numerous websites that act
as "blog search engines", be sure to submit your sites to these
websites to increase your exposure. This will also help with your
page rank and possibly increase the likelihood you will receive
decent ranking with Google. You can also create an RSS feed in order
to syndicate blog content and gain additional exposure.
About the Author:
Sharon Housley manages marketing for NotePage, Inc.
http://www.notepage.net a company specializing in alphanumeric
paging, SMS and wireless messaging software solutions. Other sites
by Sharon can be found at
http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com , and
http://www.monitoring-software.net
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