It’s Mostly About The Benjamins

One thing I have noticed about blogging so far is that it is easier to drive traffic to your blog than to your website. I have been blogging for several days and have already captured an audience (however small…and I thank you) whilst for the past month I have been developing my website the gains have been much harder to come by and the traffic is much less predictable, consistent and targeted. Yes the gains and hits are there, but they have come through much effort and some expense (albeit the expense has been relatively minor).Now blogging on the other hand seems to have a greater reward to effort quotient. In a relatively short time you can link up with people, other blogs, etc. This in turn creates much needed traffic, linkage and relevancy to your blog which in turn makes it monetarily relevant. Now I understand blogging is many things to many people…a place to write, connect with other people, share your thoughts and yes it is a place for commerce as well. I don’t think a blog has to be exclusively commercial or non-commercial to be relevant. Where I think this blog is heading…and might be interesting as that it is mostly about the quest for commercial viability but it is written in a very personal way. It has a little bit of soul. I’ve gone around and I have seen many blogs that I have enjoyed very much but they either seem to be very commercial or very personal. Maybe this will fill a niche.

Mark

www.xy35.com – Webmaster

This article has been reprinted from the blog of The XY35 Times

I was watching the TV the other night and one of the advertisements that McDonalds are currently running in Australia regarding their “make up your own mind” campaign got me thinking.

I’m vegetarian, for a number of reasons that I won’t go into here so automatically McDonalds is probably not going to be my friend (especially since they don’t bother with the vegie burger anymore – hey I know no one bought them but it’s nice to have the option!). Their ads have two extremely fake individuals who ‘work’ at McDonalds and are sick of their friends perpetuating the ‘myths’ regarding what goes into McDonalds food. They take to the road in their P plate cars and show up at various very clean packing facilities and are told by the managers there that the food is as pure as the driven snow.

I’d be interested in whether or not this is actually effective for them. Or are others just as jaded as I am and cannot believe the ‘fakeness’ of the whole thing.

The reason why this got me really thinking is how does a jaded market place effect the world of business blogging. I tell my clients and I genuinely believe that by having an honest blog where you do try and share your enthusiasm you can change public perception.

It’s important to address ‘issues’ that your cutomer base don’t like. Obviously if you were a logging company and someone has an issue with your cutting down trees there isn’t a hell of a lot you can do about that.

My advice in that situation would be simply to say something along the lines of ‘ yes we understand the concerns that you have about us cutting those trees down so in order to be responsible we also have this planting/environmental program running…’

Don’t ignore the negative but also try and highlight the positive – you won’t convince the truely angry members of the community but you may be able to let less radical elements know that you aren’t a heartless corporation!

Of course you could be environmentally responsible in the firstplace!!!! (which is my preference)

Best Regards
Lee
If you are interested business blogging consultancy you can contact me at Quit Your Day Job

Today I bring you Content…well sort of. I think it is something that you will enjoy and something that takes a little pressure off me. It’s a little thing called an RSS feed. RSS or Really Simple Syndication is basically a script where you have constantly updated content whenever the creator of the content updates their content. I choose to use the BloggersBlog.com is the source of my content. It seems to be an interesting blog and falls in line with my content. The only disadvantage is that I am forced to use Java Script versus PHP which makes it robot unfriendly…but lets not go there for now. If anybody has any tips as far as how to make this site more robots friendly I would love to hear them.

I know there are several ways to do this but what I did is went to www.rssfeedreader.com filled out the little form (don’t worry you won’t get spammed…I used a test email several weeks ago and it came out good…no spam) and you get a password and username. It’s pretty self explanatory. If you have your own website I would highly suggest using PHP because the search engine spider recognize that script versus Java. Next go to chordata.info, topix.net or countless other sites and grab free rss feeds that might be of interest to your readers. I hope your enjoy the tip and the content!

I have an idea/experiment that will get my hit count on my blog explode…I think it will be beautiful in its simplicity. Until then tuned and please go to my web page @ www.xy35.com (because if you have read from the very beginning this is what it is all about) and join my community at MyBlogLog.com

Mark

www.xy35.com – Webmaster

This article has been reprinted from the blog of The XY35 Times

I frequently see the question asked how can I receive more traffic to my blog? Whats the secret in getting traffic?

Here are some of the best and easiest ways to get traffic to your blog.

1. Traffic Exchanges

Traffic exchanges are the easiest way to promote your site if you have time. Most sites offer 1 view for 1 view. Each site you visit you will get one guaranteed. For my list of blog/traffic exchanges go here

2. Content/Keywords

To get repeat visitors, you must have good content and post almost everyday. The more you post etc, the more you are likely to get hits off of a search engine, usually Google. Your content should also include keywords related to your topic that people may be searching for.

3. Forums

If you are active on forums related to your topic, just attach your link to your signature. Don’t join a bunch of forums and spam, that may get you deleted and your posts removed.

4. Yahoo Answers, Mylot, Myspace

This is similar to forums but better. On these sites you can either create threads and discussions about your topic or respond. Make sure to leave a clickable link and good information to make people want to look at your site. On these sites you have the potential to get more people reading your replies or topics.

5. Link Exchange

Try to exchange a few links with blogs related to your topic or can somehow mesh well. It will be better for you to link with a more popular blog/site but thats not always possible.

6. Topsites

Its tough to get blog traffic, and I haven’t had much success with topsites in general. One particular topsite that has gotten me some traffic is Rhyswynne’s Topsite. It’s a nice little community, not an overgrown topsite where you only get traffic if you already have traffic.

7. Free Advertising

Free advertising?! Where? It does exist. It won’t cost you any money, but it may cost you time. Some places offer banner exchanges, or clicks for banner space. Whatever the case may be, it could bring you at least some traffic. Take advantage of any opportunity you find.

I hope these were helpful, if you have anymore questions feel free to ask!

Email me at ff_n_stuff@yahoo.com Thanks for reading.

Check out SoapBox Jury for the full review.

We got a decent rating: 6/10. I understand this to be mostly because we are newer and not a lot of content, but that is changing with several people posting per day.

Right now I understand his site to be a little backlogged, but definitely check it out and get your blog reviewed! Especially if your confident your blog will be getting a good rating, thats some nice easy traffic to your site.

Go give SoapBox Jury a visit and tell them Blog about your Blog sent ya!

Thanks Tom for the review, hope to see you posting on blog about your blog in the future!

TaGs: blog, review, traffic, Blog About Your Blog

I thought that today I’d like to introduce you to another of my blogs which I haven’t mentioned previously.

This one is Mike’s Business Articles and contains, as the name suggests, a few of my business articles. The subjects are varied, whatever takes my fancy at the time, and the lastest posts include:

How To Make A Presentation Or Talk
Self Hypnosis For Success
Time Management In The Workplace
Publishing Penfriend Magazines
An Introduction To UK Shares And Investments