Are you using a WordPress blog yet?

If not! Why not? Having a blog is a great way to run a business on the Internet. Having a blog helps to gain peoples trust and develop worthwhile relationships by creating interaction.

The blog platform I use is WordPress, Why WordPress, I hear you ask? Because it is so flexible. For those of you who have never used WordPress before it can take some getting used to. I struggled with WordPress, that is until I joined Alex Jeffrey’s coaching School. Alex has an interactive forum. It was in this forum where a young man by the name of Matthew Wolfe came forward and offered his services to all the new blogger’s who where struggling.

When starting a blog I would highly recommend buying your own domain name and host your blog with a good server. That way you are in complete control which is very important, especially if it is a money making blog.

WordPress allows you to upload plug-ins. Plug-ins are a third party application that “hooks” into a main application to extend its functionality which helps to make your blog more user friendly, appealing and useful.

A couple of must have plug-ins for your blog are,

* Akismet to stop spammer’s from bombarding you with unwanted emails.

* The all in one SEO pack, so the search engines can find you.

* Google XML site maps, to let Google know where you are.

All the other plug-ins are really just whistles and bells, still I have a couple of other useful plug-ins like Google Analytics which helps to keep track of your visitors. Some people over do selling on their blogs by littering their blog with adverts and banners.I always try to treat my blog like my home ” I do not like shiny wallpaper on the walls”

The best part of blogging for me is the Interaction. “Good blogging depends on Interaction.” I look forward to reading peoples comments, you can learn so much from how they have replied to your posts.

What I like to do is find other blogs within my niche and leave constructive comments on their blogs.

It is best not to leave one liner comments like “great post really enjoyed it.” Comments like that would be so insincere. Also it is always best to read the full post and leave a comment that is of some value.

Matthew Wolfe is very knowledgeable about WordPress. He has even started his own class on the Internet, teaching WordPress to people of all levels, beginners, intermediate and advanced. Matthew shows you how you can change the look and feel of your blog. You will be amazed how many good looking professional themes are out there “all for free” There are themes for every niche, from sports to business.

Computers are becoming ever faster, and a lot of people are turning to video. There is nothing easier than uploading a video straight onto your WordPress blog. You can make a video with your hand held Digital camera, put it on YouTube, take the embedded code from YouTube’s site and place it into one of your posts “It is so simple”

Having a blog can also make you money. Matthew shows you many ways to monetize your blog. Finally the most important ingredient of all, is to write good content and keep updating your blog on a regular basis, that is what blogging is really all about, giving your readers valuable fresh information.

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Technorati Tags: how to blog

You have your blog business running now. You are the CEO of ****.com. What next?

OK, you have probably posted some contents into your website. In addition, you have also read HowToBlog.org on SEO, creating contents and understand the initial journey into entrepreneurship.

Let me give you a simple advise. Move away from your blog, and step out into the real world. Go near any retail business in your friendly neighborhood and start observing.

As all of you very well know, blogs were started as an extension of personal’s journal. For those of us who wish to monetize our blog soon, the blog business is a mirror image of brick and mortar retail business. Simply put, you supply contents (merchandise) and hopefully, readers (consumers) took notice and visit your blogsite.

Although we bloggers always live by the mantra “Content Is King”, the sad reality is, your blog will never go anywhere if all you do is just to post content to it. Of course if you have the stamina to last, you could let your blog grows organically via slow trickling traffic.

However, if you want your blog to be a business, you have to manage her like a business. I will share with you on the management tip that I focus on when running my websites. Bear in mind all the tips I am presenting to you can not be a standalone experience and they are all linked in one way or another.

Tip 1: Frequency In Posting Contents

When you have just started, at the stage where you have got your domain hosted, you could actually focus 80 % of your time into creating contents. If you want to see results as fast as possible, you should post and publish your content everyday for the next 2 weeks.

After 2 weeks or more, I have decreased the frequency of posting content and begin to focus my time with equal importance on SEOs and in the marketing of my blog.

Tip 2: Perform SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

There is no right time for doing SEO for your website. For rapid result, you could actually do some basic SEO on the html of your WordPress theme from the first day you downloaded your WordPress.

Subsequently, when posting your content, ping your url to pingler.com. Via pingler, you are announcing to the 91 search engines in pingler that you have updated your content. Remember this, Google and all search engine love bloggers who update their contents regularly.

Tip 3: Divide Your Time Wisely

If you are still holding a full time job like me, be fair with your employer. Always give all your effort into your day’s job when you are suppose to. After all, it’s your employer who has given you the resources to invest into the blog business.

As I am a part time blogger, I have only limited time left for managing my blog business after reaching home. The fact that I am staying in this beautiful island called Penang has actually contributed a lot to my ability in running my blogs effectively. As compared to other cities, the travelling distance in Penang is considerably shorter than KL for example. In addition, traffic jams are also less rampant here, rendering me enough quality time for my family and meaningful ventures.

Tip 4: Building Backlinks

Currently, I would post contents at twice or thrice a week, depending on my ability to churn out quality ideas on that particular day. On days I am not researching for contents, I would build backlinks for my blogs by submitting my articles to reputable article directories like EzineArticles.com and Articlebase.com. My advise to you is to concentrate only on 1 or 2 article directories for your link building campaign because, submitting articles takes up a lot of our time.

Apart from article directories, also submit your content’s URL link to social bookmarking sites like Digg.com and Reddit.com. Again, I only concentrate on two sites so that I could have more time for other important tasks.

Tip 5: Social Media Marketing

Now, I have got my blogs up, I will be spending more time on building my followers in Twitter. Engaging in social media marketing sites is a necessary evil when we build our blog traffics. Imagine building your retail of selling plastic ware in the corner of your town and not doing any advertising for it.

In our Word Press blog, there are plugins for installing tweet widgets. What we have to do is just to mingle with our fellow twitterers and try to garner as many followers as possible. Retweet what others have to say if you found their tweet to be of value.

Tip 6: Monetizing Your Blog

Now, this is tricky. The fact is, I haven’t really started to put AdSense or any other affiliates into HowToBlog.org. You see, search engine especially Google appreciate websites that aren’t there purely for monetizing purpose. As a result, if you want your website to rank favorably by Google, put aside the idea of monetizing your website too early.

Build your blog business until the traffic becomes more significant, then we’ll talk about the money part!/

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Technorati Tags: how to blog

Ok so 3 more posts today that I’ve dug up – I’m an information JUNKIE on this stuff lately. Give em a browse and let me know what ya reckon. They’re just from a few different sites I’ve been surfing lately that are generally good for information like this…

On the PlayStation 3: Here’s your silver platter

Judging from the blog, the PS3 community is a disaster. 90% of people on here are noobs asking retarded questions over and over again, 9% of people are here to trying that start a flame war or are here to discredit George's work. …

Chromium Blog: Encouraging More Chromium Security Research

We look forward very much to issuing our first reward and featuring it on our releases blog. We're happy to take questions at security@chromium.org. Alternatively, feel free to leave a comment. We will update this blog post with answers …

kanYe West : Blog :

If you have and wonder for what reason I would go through this, and finally result in posting on your blog with the slim hope that you might see it, check my info and email me. google the company i work for, if you are further …

Hope you enjoy the read as much as I did and please if you have something to say, use the comments form below to let everyone know your thoughts.

Have a great day!

Technorati Tags: blog

Ok so you might find the next few links interesting. These are from around the web, just random snippets that I’ve picked up in my reading, but I found some very cool information in them. You might too. Here goes…

Pope tells priests to blog for God

Pope Benedict XVI used YouTube to urge priests to blog, tweet, use Facebook and otherwise harness the power of online communications for the kingdom of God. …   Read More…

Live blog: Serena, Henin in Aussie final

Follow all the action with our game-by-game blog. Australian Open women's final 1 2 3 1 Serena Williams 0 Justine Henin 0 Good morning, everyone! …   Read More…

SportsNation Blog Archives Matt Leinart

They said all week long Kurt Warner wasn't the type of guy to call a press conference to announce he was returning next season. They were right. …   Read More…
That’s all the news for today guys, so until next time, thanks for stopping by.

Technorati Tags: blog

NASA: No word from Phoenix Mars lander; scientists say it may not have survived winter – Yahoo! Canada News

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Thu Jan 21, 7:19 PM

By The Associated Press

ADVERTISEMENT

PASADENA, Calif. – NASA says there’s no word from the Phoenix lander that is presumed to be frozen near the Martian north pole.

The space agency said Thursday the Mars Odyssey spacecraft passed over the Phoenix landing site 30 times during the last three days and did not hear anything.

Scientists have said it is highly unlikely that Phoenix survived the Martian winter. It landed on Mars in May 2008 and operated for five months.

NASA will listen for Phoenix again next month.

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Space

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Technorati Tags: word press

How To Get Your Toddler To Eat Well
 by: Adwina Jackson

Toddlers are notoriously picky eaters. Not a parent exists that hasn’t worried about their toddlers eating habits at one time or another.

Some worry their toddlers aren’t eating enough, others worry that their toddlers are eating too much, and still others worry that their toddlers aren’t eating a wide enough variety of different foods.

The good news is that if you do things right, you can set your toddler on a path to good eating indefinitely.

How do you do it?

First and foremost, know that when it comes to eating most toddlers are just learning about food, and just starting to develop habits.

You don’t want to force food on your toddler at any time, or suggest that they clean their plate or take just one last bite of anything.

Why? This may set them up for a lifetime of food struggles.

Rather, the best way to support good eating habits is to have available at all times a variety of healthy foods in your home.

Generally as long as toddlers eat one or two items from each food group within a 2-3 day time frame, they are doing well.

Here are some other things you can do to encourage healthy eating habits:

Eat as a Family – This may not be possible every day of the week, but at least 1-2 days per week you should encourage your family to gather together around the table for a good, wholesome meal. Include lots of different foods that are healthy and nutritious. Toddlers learn by example, and watching other family members eat and interact in an inviting environment will encourage your toddler to do the same as time goes on.

Don’t Require Your Toddler to Clean His Plate – This is a common well intentioned mistake some parents make. Toddlers eating habits are peculiar, but they do know when they are hungry. Forcing them to finish food they can’t or won’t eat will only result in power struggles and potentially problems with food later in life.

Keep the Refrigerator Stocked with Healthy Snacks – If you don’t have dozens of cookies laying about the house your toddler will be less likely to eat them. That said allow your toddler some sweet treats when they are visiting relatives or a friend’s house. Just remember to keep sweets to a minimum at your house.

Cook a Variety of Foods – If you normally cook fish twice a week, your child will become accustomed to it as part of their routine.

It will be much easier to convince your toddler to try new things if they are an ordinary part of your diet, then if out of the blue you decide to try new foods that are unusual or generally unappealing.

As your toddler grows and develops they will eventually develop more routine eating habits. In the meantime simply providing healthy alternatives and variety in their diet is a great way to jump start a healthy diet.

About The Author

Adwina Jackson is a wife and mother of a young boy. She’s also the editor of Inspiring Parenting, an online source of valuable parenting information. Please visit http://www.InspiringParenting.com for helpful and free parenting info. Observe your children’s health, growth and development by clicking the website.

Earn Money From Blogging – Blogging To The Bank 2010

Blogging to the bank 2010 is your way to earning extra money from blogging.
Write a title that attracts attention to your readers and make sure you include the correct keywords. That is very important! people need to find you. This title is something that would catch your eye and includes the keyword phrases i have used “How to Grab Peoples Attention and Earn Cash From Blogs,” always make sure that you don’t give your readers false hope, write a title relevant to the blog OR READERS WILL BE DISAPPOINTED AND STOP READING and you dont earn cash.

Sign up for networking websites. A few popular ones are Delicious, Twitter, and Stumble Upon. You can search for people with similar blogs as you. If you are blogging about making money, search for people who are also blogging about how to make money. Add them to your network, and some of them will add you back to their network. Don’t expect everyone you add to your network to add you back into their network. Also, visit these people’s blogs and make some intellectual comments. Do not just say, “great blog!”.

Freelance writing – If you love to write, you can earn cash and make money online easily! There are thousands of people looking for someone to write their articles, blog posts, website content, etc. Why don’t these people write their own content? They either don’t like writing or simply aren’t good at it.

Make sure you have an e-mail address up top somewhere in your blog because once you get a lot of traffic to your site, there will be people trying to contact you about advertising on your site. This is very imporant! If people cannot contact you, you will be missing out opportunities to make money. After all, your blog is about making money. Sign up for Google Adsense for additional income. Set it up to be somewhere up top in your blog, but don’t make a giant billboard Google ads because viewers find those annoying. Just a little box would be fine.

These are just a few examples of ways that you can earn a living from your own home. Many people use all of the above methods – multiple streams of income is what this is called. Are you interested in learning more about how you can earn money from the comfort of your own home? There are many legitimate opportunities to work for yourself and be your own boss. Want to learn h
1000
ow to earn money from blogging? Visit the link below.

By: Louis Castro

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

Grab your copy of blogging to the bank 2010 and lear the art of blogging for money.

Technorati Tags: blogging

Technorati Tags: blog

RSS & Blogging – Yahoo! News

Is blogging a slog? Some young people think so

CHICAGO – Could it be that blogs have become online fodder for the — gasp! — more mature reader? Full Story;

Blogs Just Aren't Cool Any More, Teens Say

Blogging is slowly becoming the domain of adults, as a recent Pew study shows more teens abandoning the medium for social networks. Full Story;

Sleuthing for an iPad Camera

After Steve Jobs' unveiling of the iPad last week, the chatter about the product didn’t go away. Instead, it just shifted: instead of questions of “what’s it going to be?” blogs and media outlets all over started asking, “what’s it missing?” Full Story;

Comments getting out of hand, Engadget turns them off

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Popular US technology blog Engadget pulled the plug on comments Tuesday saying the tone of the remarks had “really gotten out of hand.” Full Story;

Oracle Unplugs Sun's Virtual World

Oracle is dropping support for Sun Microsystems' Project Wonderland, a Java-based platform for developing 3-D virtual worlds, according to a Jan. 30 post on the project's official blog. Full Story;

PKI Flaws Open Apple iPhone to Attack

An anonymous entry on the CryptoPath blog describes how flaws in the iPhone OS's “chain of trust” management could allow an attacker to install their own trusted root certificate in the phone's certificate store. Full Story;

Microsoft Windows Azure cloud reaches general availability stage

San Francisco – Windows Azure, Microsoft's public cloud computing platform, became generally available in 21 countries on Monday, Microsoft bloggers said. SQL Azure, offering cloud-based relational database capabilities, also became available. Full Story;

Running Windows 7 RC? Prepare for Shutdowns

If you're running Windows 7 Release Candidate (RC), the end is near. Starting Feb. 15, people using Windows 7 RC, the free pre-release version of Microsoft's latest PC operating system, will receive a notification that their trial software is about to expire, according to a post today by Microsoft blogger Brandon LeBlanc on The Windows Blog. Full Story;

Apple iPad Reviews: The Critics Weigh In

Now that the mania of Apple's iPad (such
a bad name) announcement has begun to calm and people are checking bank accounts instead of RSS feeds for more information, big-name critics are pulling out their swords and taking swings at Apple's latest creation. The overall reaction has been, in a word, underwhelming. What was hotly anticipated has mostly turned into cold soup. So what happened and what is being said? Full Story;

Google Lets You Track Friends' Posts with Social Search

Let's say you wanted to find out what your friends or your business associates think of a new product. Google Social Search, now available in beta form to general users, lets you search for that information in the blogs, Twitter tweets, Facebook public pages, and other musings by your social circle. Full Story;

Um, Apple — About That 'iPad' Name

Apple's chosen name for its new tablet device–iPad–is drawing sneers and jeers from the blogosphere, mostly from female pundits. Is this a Venus vs. Mars issue? Perhaps in the male mind, “iPad” conjures up images of a sleek, slate-like device. Women, however, may focus on feminine hygiene products. Full Story;

CoverItLive Explains, Apologizes for Blog Crash

Keith McSpurren, chief executive of the CoverItLive blogging software, said he left his office about the time the Apple iPad event began on Wednesday. Five minutes later, he added, all hell broke loose. The failure brought down several live blogs following the launch of the Apple iPad. Full Story;

Technology blog TechCrunch hacked

WASHINGTON (AFP) – TechCrunch, a leading Silicon Valley technology blog, was attacked by hackers overnight, it said Tuesday. Full Story;

Tune in to Gearlog's Apple Live Blog

Not to contribute to the overflowing cauldron of speculation and hype, but this is the product announcement of the year. Gearlog and PCMag.com will be covering it live, as always. Full Story;

Google offers HTML APIs and browser extensions in Chrome

San Francisco – Google's release Monday of a “stable channel” update of the Google Chrome browser for Windows features HTML and JavaScript APIs as well as browser extensions, according to company blogs. Full Story;

For God's sake, blog!, pope tells priests

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – For God's sake, blog! Pope Benedict told priests on Saturday, saying they must learn to use new forms of communication to spread the gospel message. Full Story;

This Week in Geek: 3D HDTV, Music Gadgetry, and A Bright Networking Idea

Here at GeekTech, we're all about trying new and exciting things, so we're trying a new weekly feature called This Week in Geek, where we round up our favorite blog posts from the past seven days. Liked a post that didn't makes its way into the collection? Let us know in the comment section below! Full Story;

Quake relief: The culture of now v. the real world

More than a week after an earthquake leveled swaths of the Haitian capital, the recriminations are circulating faster than clean water. From CNN’s Anderson Cooper to blogs and social networks, questions echo: Why is help taking so long? Why can’t the relief process be streamlined? Can’t this thing go any faster? Full Story;

Technorati Tags: blogging

15 Tips To Drive Traffic To Your Blog
 by: David Riewe

There are many factors that make blogs much better than normal WebPages including the speed at which blogs are indexed, ability to submit to blog directories & normal directories, pings and track backs. All these little things can help drive more traffic to blogs. Here are 15 popular techniques you can use:

1.) Create at least four keyword posts per day. Most of the top blogs such as Boing Boing, Daily Kos, and Instapundit (with literally tens of thousands of visitors per day) publish an average of 30 small 100-150 word posts per day according to “Secrets of the A-list Bloggers: Lots of Short Posts” by http://TNL.net

2.) Submit to My Yahoo! When you submit your own RSS to My Yahoo it is indexed by Yahoo.

3.) Submit to Google’s Reader. When you submit your own blog RSS to Google’s Reader the Google Blog Search will index your site.

4.) Add a relevant link directory to your blog and trade links like a demon possessed! Although it may take more time than simply submitting to a search engine one time, this method is perhaps the best way to drive traffic to your site. Use software such as Zeus to speed up the link trading process.

5.) Use ping sites like ping-o-matic. Ping your site every time you add a new post.

6.) Submit your blog to traditional search engines such as AltaVista, and MSN.

7.) Submit your blog to traditional directories such as DMOZ. Directories (particularly DMOZ) increase relevance with Google. DMOZ is very picky, but what do you have to lose by trying?

8.) Submit to as many RSS Directories and Search Engines as possible. This is a simple but repetitive process that can be done with software such as RSS SUBMIT.

9.) Comment on other blogs. Do not just leave short, lazy comments like “I agree.” Leave well thought out replies that will force readers to wonder “who wrote this?”

10.) Use track backs. If there is a blog that you refer to or quote and it is highly relevant to your subject, leave a track back. It increases your link popularity and may even score a few interested readers from the linked site.

11.) Go offline. Use newspaper ads, public bulletin boards, business cards, even stickers to let as many people as possible know your blog exists.

12.) Ad a link to your blog in your e-mail signature block.

13.) Use Groups (Usenet). Find a relevant group on Google groups, Yahoo groups, MSN groups or any of the thousands of other FREE group services and find like minded people and talk with them. Make sure your use your blog URL like it is your name.

14.) Use Forums. Forums are one of the best places to go for advice. Go to forums and find problems to solve. Make sure you leave your blog name, but be tactful about it; some forums get annoyed with those who selfishly drop a few links to their own site and leave.

15.) Tag your website. Tagging is a new idea that has erupted across the web. Sites like http://Del.icio.us, Technorati and many others have a social feature that allows you to place your article under keywords or “tags” that everyone interested in that tag can see.

Although these are some of the most popular ways to drive traffic to your blog, do not limit your self to tips and lists. Use your imagination and you will come up with thousands of ways to drive traffic to your blog!

About The Author

David Riewe – Internet Marketer and Publisher – Try his FREE Ezine “The Ultimate Marketing Tips” that that will Make Your Business An Outstanding Success! http://www.riewe.com.

Technorati Tags: blog