Successful Blogging Strategies - Part 1

You’ve heard about blogs, and you’ve been told if you want to make an impact on the web for your business one of the best ways to do it is with a blog. But you have no idea what a blog is, or how it is supposed to help you.

So I’m going to tell you all about blogs - What they are. How to set one up. What to write about. How to get more readers, and how to get your blog noticed by the search engines like Google.

For starters let’s just put it this way. Creating a blog gives you a chance to put your story in front of a lot of people. And not just that. It’s also the perfect way to develop an online personality… and it gives you a cool way to interact with your readers and stay in touch with them from day to day or week to week.

So the first thing you should try NOT to do with your blog is to be concerned with writing award winning articles. For sure you want the stuff in your blog to be interesting to your readers. But just as important, you want your personality to show through. You want this to be your blog - not just a collection of boring old articles.

If you can do that you’ll be well on your way to creating a successful blog.

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Daily Search Forum Recap: January 5, 2009
Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web….

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What Could Save The Yellow Pages? 10 Ideas
It’s something of a “perfect storm” for the embattled yellow pages companies right now. Not only has the usage of print yellow pages books declined in recent years, but they’re also facing heavy competition in the online space from each other in addition to other local business directory providers and the big search engines. With [...]

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Visit the original post at: Search Engine Land: News About Search Engines & Search Marketing

Wordpress 2.7 Update Worth Doing

One of the nice things about Wordpress is that it is constantly being updated. This is also one of the most aggravating things about it. It seems like no sooner do you install the most recent update than there’s another one sitting there waiting to be installed.

In many cases the improvements from upgrade to upgrade are minor, and sometimes do not seem to justify the hassle involved in doing the upgraded.

But version 2.7 - the newest upgrade released near the middle of Dec. 08 - has some important improvements that make it worth doing. Most of these improvements are to the user interface. They’ve made it easier to get around inside of WP, easier to install plugins, and added some things that give it greater functionality.

For a somewhat comprehensive discussion of these improvements see this article called “16 Must-Know Features in Wordpress 2.7″.

What I consider to be the most important improvements are:

1. The user interface is nicer. It is easier to get around in WP and faster.
2. Plugins can be added right within the admin area of WP. No need to upload via FTP and then activate.
3. The StickPost plugin has been built right into WP. This allows you to put a post in a specific spot (usually the 1st) where it stays while other posts fall in below as they are added.
4. Updating Wordpress has been made easier with the built-in Wordpress Upgrader - The WordPress Upgrader will give you the option of downloading, installing, and upgrading to the latest WordPress version right from your Administration Panel.

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Will Google Book Search Help Or Hurt Libraries And Book Sales?
The NY Times runs a longish article about Google Book Search, its outlook and some fears surrounding its further development. Book Search was freed from legal entanglements when Google settled a class action suit against it. That opened the door for a range of new services and the expanded scanning of out-of-print and copyrighted material. [...]

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Visit the original post at: Search Engine Land: News About Search Engines & Search Marketing

Choose Your CMS With Care
The best time to start working on SEO is before you start building your site. It goes back to that old saying: “If you don’t have time to do it right, will you have the time to do it over?” And, of course you don’t have time to do it over. One of [...]

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Marissa Mayer Denies Rumor She’s Leaving Google, Comments On Search Being “90% Done”
In some ways the “future of search” is a tired topic that has already seen hundreds (maybe thousands) of speculative articles. But it’s also a topic of critical importance for search leader Google, whose entire franchise is built upon doing it better than anyone else.
Just as Microsoft didn’t anticipate the rise of search and search [...]

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Visit the original post at: Search Engine Land: News About Search Engines & Search Marketing

Google & Baidu Fail China’s Pornography Test, May Lead To Penalties
The Associated Press reports China has begun the process to “purify the Internet’s cultural environment and protect the healthy development of minors.” This has resulted in the Chinese government finding that both Google and Baidu have failed to take “efficient” actions to remove content from their results after being notified of issues.
The AP added [...]

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SMX West: Exceptional Value & Price - Register Before Jan. 10…Save $400
Attending Search Marketing Expo - SMX West is a sound investment. Implement what you’ve learned and you’ll see more qualified visitors to your site. Awareness, consideration, lead generation and, most important, sales will increase.
Attending SMX West could be the best investment you make this year.
Register for SMX West now and save $400 off the on-site [...]

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Top Googlers Donate $150,000 To Obama’s Inauguration
Google execs among big donors to inauguration from The San Francisco Chronicle reports that several of Google’s top executives have donated significant amounts towards Obama’s inauguration galas, dinners and receptions.
The max allowed contribution is $50,000. A total of six Google executives gave $150,000 in total to the special day. CEO Eric Schmidt, co-founder [...]

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Visit the original post at: Search Engine Land: News About Search Engines & Search Marketing