Blogging

[Andy]

I just searched for the title of my blog "webmaster in Japan" in Google.com and found it was #1. This search term is not in my URL so not as optimized as it could be. However, I do update the content regularly, like every few days. Also, I'm using WordPress which does a good job in making posts search engine friendly. Also, I have installed a plugin to make the front page only show snippets of posts rather than the full articles.

Anyway, I am pretty convinced that blogging is one of the best ways to start a new site these days to stand a chance of decent search engine positioning and traffic. One of the main reasons I think is that the content is unique and fresh. Just some of the attributes that the SE's love.

The results for this new blog are startling compared to a complete content website I built on the theme of "Wood Turning". Even using very specific search terms such as the site name "woodturning wizard" gets no result at all from Google  Even so, this site makes enough money to be profitable, because it costs me so little to set up sites now I have a system in place.

This first blog I started was like a hobby and a way to get to grips with Blogging, an area I hadn't taken seriously for a long time. But now I see the potential I have decided to regard Blogging as an ideal way to make new sites. Building on my experimental hobby blog that ranks #1 on Google I have started another about weight loss to generate affilate income.

I would love to hear other people's experiences and tips about blogging your way to a fortune....

[Andy]

Does anybody else run a blog?

[johnhask]

My experience is for a business blog. It should 'work' along with the business site in marketing. One generates the services and the other the ideas and thoughts of the current events in the industry. I still feal the business site is at the core of the revenue stream.

[Andy]

Sure, a blog to complement your business site with commentry on business trends is a great way to go.

But, blogs monetized by affiliate partnerships is another. For example by reviewing products based on personal experience.

Any more people running blogs? ...

[Andy]

Based on what JohnHask mentioned....

It seems like a great idea to complement your main site with a blog. Then, customers can leave comments and the blog can help build traffic to the relatively static pages of your main site.

Another way of thinking about it is, if you already have an established site, you can attach a blog to it to enhance the site and leverage the blog via your existing site. This is what I did by creating a sub-domain of my site url for the blog and cross-linking them in the navigation. I have read some people's opinion that a sub-domain is the equivalent of a new domain that has to start from scratch but I don't personally believe it based on my results.

[Andy]

Say you start a new site with a blog with the intention to add more website features later such as a forum and ecommerce. Is it best to locate the blog on a subdomain or in a directory of the site?

[Mikey]

Ive had thoughts of starting my own blog from time to time.  Its good for talking about every day events and whats going on with me.  I could also use it for site information such as announcements and perhaps ideas I may use to help improve my site in the future.  I just never really got around to doing it and if it's anything like having your own journal, ill hardly ever have the time to write in it. lol.  But i guess its worth a shot.  I should try that out sometime.

[Andy]

I decided the best way to start a new site from a Blog is to host it on the main url at the home page. There is no point in proclaiming it's a blog IMHO.

Even when the site grows beyond a blog, the blog posts will serve up news to the home page where they are most needed.

[Andy]

I found some interesting articles on blogging at http://www.bloggersblog.com/seniors/

It mentions 3% of online seniors Blog so if you visit your Grandparents and they use the web, expect the visit to be blogged!

Another

34% blog to increase their visibility as an authority in their field. 32% blog to create a record of their thoughts. 20% blog to connect with others.

Less than 5% blog for money. So that should keep the free blog services in business for a long time.

Incidently, if you wonder what happens to free services, my experience of FreeServers.com is they let you build lots of nice content pages then they start charging you for FTP and cover your site in ads. once they made it difficult for me to publish I moved on. Today I checked back and my site is still up some 5 years later but with some disgusting ads all around it. Big animated ads, vulgar ads etc. So I just pasted some of my ads into the code and left ASAP.

[Angle]

I have my own blog. Is about teens and how we deal with life. It is kool and fun.

[Andy]

Hey Angel, nice to hear you have a blog that should be a popular subject for teenagers. Why not add the url to your forum sig and get people nosying around your site?

[Andy]

It's nearly a month after my last post on blogging.

I am still a firm believer in Wordpress as the ideal way to build a new site from scratch. Why is this?

Well, content is king and blogs release you from the pain of maintaining your navigation structure. So you can add posts, categories, pages and images then change your mind and shuffle things around easily. The script takes care of all the headache. You can easily add new pages of content daily if you want.

To make your blog look like an original website you just edit the default Kubric theme and upload it as a new theme. This is the tricky bit though, but you could always get your designer buddy to do this and credit them with a link.

Download the script from http://www.wordpress.org - it needs php and mysql to run.

[Andy]

Another free Blog closed down...

The blog was hosted on his site. He was using Blogger to manage
the posts.

Now, he told Revenews, he's switching to WordPress.

This is yet another warning that if you're using Blogger you run
the risk of having your blog disabled, whether you're doing
anything wrong or not.

from Alan Gardyne's newsletter.

I reccomend WordPress, why risk being closed down?