What Is A Blog?
Blogging Traffic - Adding a blog to your website is a fantastic way to increase traffic and sales. The word blog is short for weblog and is a type of website that
shares it's content in a journal like-format. When you add content to
a blog it's called a post, and the posts are arranged in a chronological
format with the most recent entry at the top of the page.
Blogs are a big part of a new generation that is emerging on the web.
’Web 2.0’ is the new buzzword and Web 2.0 sites offer more interactivity
with their visitors. On a regular website it is a one-way conversation, the
webmaster puts up information and the readers view the info. On a blog,
readers are encouraged to contribute their comments and get involved in
the conversation.
Blogging is becoming extremely popular. Between March 2006 and
September 2006 the number of blogs being published went from 30 million
to 55 million… in only 5 months!
The Advantages Of Business Blogging
One of the biggest advantages of blogs is that they are very easy to use.
Blogging requires very basic computer skills. If you can send emails and
cut and paste, than you have what it takes to be a blogger. It's also much easier to get traffic to
your website when you have a blog because of their interactive
nature.
One of the problems with conventional websites is that the content isn't
constantly being updated. On the web things are changing very fast and
information that was relevant last year may be outdated already. With a
blog, you know exactly when the content was published.
Business blogging is a very powerful concept and is growing rapidly.
Blogging in general is focused more on sharing information than on being
promotional. blogs are more personal than websites. People are getting
tired of all the blatant advertising and promotions and are craving a more
human touch. Having a blog allows you to be more personal as you can share with people in a more personal way, than being all business. Building relationships with your customer-base will increase sales and refferals. Sharing links with other bloggers in your industry is an excellent way to get free traffic.
Here are some interesting facts on blog readers:
• *Blog readers are 11% more likely to earn more than $75,000 a year
and 11% more likely to have a high-speed Internet connection. They
also spend more time and MONEY online!
• *Blog readers spend approximately 23 hours a week online
(compared to the 13 hours the average Internet user spends online).
• *Blog readers are 30% more likely to buy products or services online
than the average Internet user.
(Source: ComScore's Media Matrix)
An Introduction To RSS
RSS, an acronym for 'Really Simple Syndication' or 'Rich Site Summary' is
new way to deliver information. Every blog has a built-in RSS Feed which
simply means that all the information on the blog is converted into a
special electronic language. Each blog's RSS feed can be read on a special
reader (aka RSS Aggregators). Don't worry if this is sounding a bit
technical here, it's like electricity - we don't really know how it works but
that doesn't stop us from using it.
RSS is a becoming a very popular way to transmit information. Until now we have been using
Email, and the problem with email as everyone knows is spam. The
amount of spam has been increasing heavily in the last few years and
spam filters are very busy "fighting spam".
Using RSS technology, the customers choose which feeds they want to subscribe to and because they can choose the feeds, there is no spam. This is starting to
change the way we communicate online in a big way .
Many people are subscribing to RSS feeds now instead of giving out their
email. Now is a great time to develop your blogs and take advantage of all the blogging traffic.
