Blog Content Provider .com

Blog marketing is really nothing new. It’s been hitting the mainstream pretty hard for the last two to three years, however. But we’ve still got years to go before we saturate the Web with too many blogs. Every minute a new blog is started and probably three times as many are abandoned. What can you do to make sure yours isn’t one of those left high and dry?

For starters, you need a plan. You need to define your blog’s purpose and hit it strong. Who is your target market? What do they want? And how will you move them to being customers?

While a blog is not the answer to every problem, it can become an integral part of your online marketing strategy. But you shouldn’t miracles. A blog is a pre-sales tool. It isn’t your primary closer and you shouldn’t expect it to be. A blog can, however, be used as an SEO tool as long as you don’t overdo and use it to spam the search engines with useless content. First and foremost, you’ve got to provide your human readers with valuable and helpful content. When you do that you increase your visitor count and you can drive traffic to your most important landing pages. But first you have to capture the traffic.

That’s where a professional writer comes in. To make sure your blog attracts traffic and drives traffic to your most important landing pages, you need an experienced blogger who understands SEO and sales strategies to get your blog to perform its mission. Do you have one your team?

One of the most common mistakes people make with blogging is expecting too much too soon. You aren’t going to get a wave of orders overnight from your blog. If you’re lucky (and a lot of people are lucky in this regard) you’ll get your blog crawled and indexed at the search engines rather quickly (like 48-72 hours). There is no guarantee, of course, but I’ve seen it done.

Even then, if you get your blog indexed that soon, you won’t see any real results from it right away. You’ll get traffic, but you won’t get any sales until people trust you. To do that they’ll need to subscribe to your blog over a period of time and get to know you. When they feel comfortable knowing they can trust you, they’ll buy from you. But it may not be from your blog.

People don’t generally buy from blogs. They’ll read a blog every day if it’s on a topic that interests them. But they won’t buy anything. They’d much rather buy over the phone, in person, or through a static website. But what you say on your blog can lead a person to that decision to buy from you on your website. You just have to give it time.

By Jeff Schuman

I think everyone understands the importance of keeping fresh content coming into your blog on a consistent basis. At times this can be difficult to do and brings up the question, should you use other peoples articles in your blog?

My opinion is that you are better on a consistent basis to post short articles of 200 or 250 words of your own, as opposed to using other peoples articles.

Maybe once in awhile if you come across a really good article you would want to post it in your blog and give credit to the author.

Because blogging can be excellent search engine bait it is important that you target a specific keyword phrases with fresh content of your own. This will help your blog posts to create traffic from the search engines as well as social directories if you bookmark to them.

Joining a private label rights program can be a way to come up with a fairly unique content. Infogoround.com is one example where you could take articles from them and post them on your blog if you did not feel like writing that day.

This would be better than going to an article directory and taking an article that is being used by other bloggers, webmasters, or e-zine publishers.

The other thing on this is 200 to 250 word articles are not hard to write. If you approach your blog articles and try to write them this way you will not feel as overwhelmed when you sit down to write.

You can get good article ideas at article directories, or discussion forums, and then quickly write a short blog post that will do the trick.

If you’re looking to make money from home, visit JV With Jeff for free training and inside tips anyone living anywhere in the world can use to make money!

Author: Jeff Schuman is a six figure income earner and full time internet marketer. His Team-Schuman.com is on page one of Google for over 1500 unique keyword phrases and has over 20,000 backlinks to it. He is offering to teach you how make money on the internet with paid surveys, starting a internet business, and using article marketing when you subscribe to his free ecourse JV With Jeff.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jeff_Schuman

Jeff Schuman and I disagree a great deal on what is possible on your blog. Yes, you can use other people’s articles. In fact, getting articles from article directories is better than going the PLR route. If Mr. Schuman didn’t think so then why does he offer his offers through article directories? This particular article was picked up at one.

PLR articles make you have to rewrite in order to obtain original content benefits. If you’re going to rewrite an article then why not just write it from scratch? It takes about the same amount of time, or in some cases even less to write an original article. He does have a point, though, when he says that a 200-250 word blog post is easy to write. You can read articles in the article directories and write a fresh, original article on the same topic very easily. As long as you are not copying verbiage verbatim then you aren’t guilty of stealing content. It’s just like rewriting a PLR article, only easier. You are actually writing from scratch your very own original article.

I read an article title recently that caught my attention: “Can a Blog Replace Cold-calling?”

As you might guess, the article was about sales. Cold calling has been around a long time. Every sales person who has done any sales at all for the past 50 years has used it. But has it run its course?

One of the most interesting statements in the article, I thought, was in the first paragraph:

If you’re cold-calling me then you probably need me, not the other way around.

That’s an interesting comment because it’s not something you’d expect to hear from a salesperson. If you are cold calling prospects then you likely believe that they need what you have to sale. Otherwise, why are you calling them?

A blog is a different vehicle altogether from cold calling. It serves a different purpose, although there is some overlap. Both blogging and cold calling, for instance, can be used to great effect to generate leads that might lead to a sale. But the methods used are quite different.

With blogging, your hope is that your prospects will find you. Internet marketing puts the consumer in the driver’s seat and not the marketer. But that doesn’t mean the marketer can’t close the sale or get the business. It just means that he has to be a bit more savvy than just throwing mud on the wall and hoping it sticks, which is more what cold calling is. Nevertheless, while I believe that blogging has its place in the marketing pantheon, I also believe that cold calling has its place. In fact, you can use cold calling to drive traffic to your blog.

The problem for marketers in the 21st century is that old methods still work, but not as effectively as they once did. It isn’t time yet to replace traditional marketing methods with online marketing completely. But you don’t want to use blogging and other Internet marketing methods to compliment your current marketing strategies, even cold calling.

By Angela Booth

If you enjoy writing, blogging is great fun. You can even turn your love of blogging into a great career. Blogging is a great “work from home” opportunity - you work the hours you please, you work from home, and you’re your own boss.

Blog jobs are springing up everywhere like mushrooms after rain. In this article, you’ll discover five easy tips which will help you to land all the blog jobs you want.

Here are the tips.

1. Focus on your own blog first - build your name and reputation

Your own blog is not only your “portfolio” showing your blogging skills and expertise, it’s also a way to get known. Please don’t just aim to be a generic blogger or writer. In blogging, you need to build your name and reputation. Once people know who you are, you can charge the rates you want.

Don’t forget to let people know you’re available for blog jobs on your blog. Create a “Hire me” page.

2. Use the blog job boards with caution - the best jobs aren’t advertised

Once your blog’s established, check out the blog job boards. However, use them with caution. Check out job posters on Google. If you can’t find anything on them - be very wary.

3. Write guest posts - for free - on other blogs to get known

Writing for free - to get known - is the key to being paid well to blog. Remember, you need to get away from the generic “blogger” tag as soon as possible. Spread your name and writing skills around. You’re laying the foundations of a great career.

4. ASK! Propose a blog to sites which don’t have one

Here’s a big tip. When you see a site which doesn’t have a blog, but which would benefit from one, propose a blog. Your proposal can be just a short note to the site’s contact email address, or it can be a full-blown business proposal.

I suggest a message of a couple of hundred words for your proposals - you’ll be amazed at the results you can get. One blogger is now happily blogging for a large corporation, both publicly, and privately, for the company’s internal blogs. He’s making three times his previous salary.

5. Use the free classifieds sites to spread your name

The benefit of the free classifieds site is that they’re free, and that they spread your name far and wide - remember, the more you get known, the more blog jobs you’ll get, and the more you’ll be paid.

Enjoy blogging: you can turn it into a fantastic career when you know how to get blog jobs.

Discover how to make money online by blogging with Angela Booth’s Sell Your Writing Online NOW at http://sellwritingnow.com/Home/training.html Not only will you discover how to blog, you’ll get complete training in how the Web works, so you can take advantage of the unlimited opportunities.

For free weekly writing information sent to your Inbox, subscribe to Angela’s Fab Freelance Writing Ezine at http://fabfreelancewriting.com/ezine/fab-freelance-writing-ezine.html and receive “Write And Sell Your Writing: The Power-Write Report” immediately.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Angela_Booth

If you’re looking for a way to earn some extra cash and you like to write, put in your application for a blog writing job to Blog Content Provider.

Many bloggers try to make money blogging and they do this in a number of ways. If you have affiliate advertising or sell private ad space then you should never be stuck for blog content.

Affiliates are a prime example. You will only earn an income if your visitors click on the links and actually deliver the required action, normally make a purchase. As a publisher you can help to boost your own sales.

If you are a little stuck for content, write about your affiliate - sell the product. You are the sales person and unless you tell your visitors about the product, they will most likely not even register the existence of an affiliate banner - known as banner blindness.

Likewise, whilst you may not earn any commission, promoting any of the paid advertisers on your site may prove to be good PR. The advertisers of course will not mind at all. The more promotions they can get the better.

If you are comfortable with the product or service then chances are your readers will be as well. There is nothing wrong with a little promotion and over time, your sites ability to make money blogging will grow - you have added extra value to their paid ad - this adds to your reputation as a professional blogger - overtime you can increase the return from running ads.

When writing reviews or recommendations, use the nofollow in the URL’s to ensure that none of the search engines accuse you of paid links.  Private ads and affiliate programs provide a ready source for content whenever you feel a little blank.

Get more information on blogging.

As writers we sometimes get caught in writing to an expected style, this can be detrimental to the current piece you are writing. Often you are better just sitting down and letting the words flow and worrying about categorizing the post once you have completed it.

Even those with a reputation for serious informative writing styles occasionally break out with a humorous streak, or vice-versa. Even professional writers understand the need to write in a natural and unforced way. The moment you start to force your writing style you can lose focus and the flow of words becomes stilted and uncomfortable for the reader to read.

Letting the words flow onto the paper is a natural way to write. You do not have to publish your post immediately. If you are not happy with the way you have written the post, save it and come back later. A re-read will often surprise you.

Writing is an art that comes naturally to almost everyone. When someone says they are not a writer and have difficulty in putting words onto paper, the reality is that they suffer from lack of self belief - if you can talk you can write. Writing blog posts is not about writing to college standards, it is about writing for the average everyday reader.

Write naturally without trying to force the words. If the words are not there just now, come back when they are. Your natural writing sets the tone - your knowledge establishes your credibility. There are many bloggers who have English as their second language and it is quite obvious at times. It doesn’t make their writing any less valuable - it does make it a little more natural.

Once you’ve blogged for awhile you’ll start to cover the same material. No matter how broad your niche, and we recommend narrowing your niche as far as you can without getting too narrow, eventually you’ll start writing about the same topics again. You might even inadvertently come up with duplicate blog post titles for some of those blog posts that cover the same topics. But how will the search engines deal with that?

Well, if the blog post titles are exactly the same then that could pose a problem for the search engines, depending on the structure of your permalink.

WordPress’s default permalink is a funky structure that uses a question mark followed by a string of syllables ending in the culmination of the number of your blog post. It looks like this:

http://www.blogcontentprovider.com/?p=123

That’s no good because you have no keywords in that permalink and keyword-based URLs are better for you in the search engines than a number. The ?p=123 follows your website’s main URL preceded by a forward slash (a / symbol).

WordPress does allow you to change the permalink structure, but it involves several steps and to do it correctly you’ll need access to your server through FTP so that you can alter your .htaccess file. Among the options that you have for changing the permalink in WordPress are:

• Day and Name structure (ex: http://www.blogcontentprovider.com/2008/06/18/sample-post/)
• Month and Name structure (ex: http://www.blogcontentprovider.com/2008/06/sample-post/)
• Numeric structure (ex: http://www.blogcontentprovider.com/archives/123)
• Custom structure

To change the permalink structure for your WordPress blog you’ll need to select the structure that you wish to use and save your changes, but the permalinks of your blog posts won’t be changed right away. In fact, if you click on a blog post then you won’t even be able to see it. You’ll get an error message. That’s because your .htaccess file has to be updated.

Save your changes and copy the code in the box at the bottom of the permalinks page inside of the WordPress admin area. Paste that code into your .htaccess file. If you don’t have one you’ll have to create one. But once you do that then you should be able to see your blog posts. Note that if you have been writing to your blog for any length of time before changing your permalink structure then you will have to 301 redirect all of your previously written blog posts to their new URLs. That will take some time and work so it’s best to change your permalink structure before you start blogging.

To make sure that your blog post titles do not create duplicate content issues for the search engines, choose a permalink structure that allows you to include the date of your newly created posts. That way, if you do have two blog posts with the same exact title, the date of the post will distinguish from each other and you won’t experience any duplicate content issues with the search engines.

One of the things that makes life interesting is that every human is different. Different likes, different dislikes, different attitudes and different opinions. Believe it or not we all have different learning and different reading styles.

Over the years these reading styles have been refined to four basic ‘learning styles’ and those learning styles affect how you absorb what you read. The four styles are:

Active:
Active readers are the people most likely to comment on your post. These readers prefer to see things in context and in a discussion. You will often find active readers in forums. Write to create a discussion and you will engage these readers.

Reflective:
Reflective readers are the least likely to comment. They prefer to read and ponder your point. They will often seek out other opinions so providing links to associated content either within your blog or on other blogs will appeal to them. Reflective readers are more likely to comment on posts when they appear as a series.

Visual:
As the name suggest, visual readers like pictures, graphs and videos. They like to ’see’ what you are trying to tell them in words. Include visually suitable content in your posts to catch their attention. If you cannot use pictures or graphs, use text enhancements like bold, color or size.

Verbal:
Verbal readers like the facts so posts that are written in list format will appeal to them. Verbal readers are also attracted to summaries. Short paragraphs that are to the point will also appeal to this type of reader.

Those are the four reading styles. The trick now is how to write in such a way that you can capture all four reading styles in the one post.

The inclusion of graphs of pictures will take care of the visual reader. Keeping your paragraphs short and concise and to the point will capture your verbal readers. Write your posts either as a series or with links to related content and you have your reflective readers covered whilst creating content that stimulates a conversation will appeal to your active readers.

Of course, what is also important is having content that is actually of value to your readers. That’s your job - find the content, write to connect with those four reading styles, and you will have a very satisfied reader base.

If you’re wonder whether blogs or websites are easier to rank in the search engines, consider these attributes of blogs that make them easier to rank and allow you better marketing opportunities:

1. Daily posting invites search bots more often - A daily blog post will keep the search engine spiders returning to your website to crawl it every day.
2. More opportunities to rank in the search engines - For every post that you post on your blog, that’s one more way a visitor can find you.
3. Ping services keep your blog posts visible - By pinging the various ping services every time you post to your blog you are keeping your blog visible in the blog directories and ping services such as Technorati.
4. Ping services also build your links faster - As more people read your blog they will link to it.
5. Social bookmarking drives more traffic and links to your blog - By using social bookmarking services to promote your blog, you attract more visitors and more links and the social bookmarking links sometimes act as inbound links that drive up your PageRank.
6. A well-optimized blog post can rank faster - Since the search engines are visiting your blog more often any activity that you do on that domain will get your blog ranked faster for the keywords that you are targeting.

Even though a blog has the potential to get you more traffic and get you more visibility in the search engines faster than a static website, you still don’t want your blog to be your primary website. People don’t buy from blogs. They read them for information. They will then visit your website and make their purchase there.