Now that you’re making posts on your blog, you have to analyze exactly how you’re going to deliver them.

Quality

As I mentioned earlier, quality has everything to do with whether you’re going to attract 1,000 visitors per day or only 5. If you want to attract professionals, you have to write professionally. Don’t plagiarize posts or content from someone else’s site. If you’re posting well-written quality content on a consistent basis, visitors will increase.

Length

You must also take into consideration the average length of your posts. Much of this has to do with the type of audience you’re reaching out to.

Analyze some things about your target audience such as their average age as well as the average amount of time they spend online each day. By taking factors such as these into consideration, you will be more equipped to decide how short or how long your posts should typically be.

Frequency

How often should you post something new on your blog? Once a week? Once a day? Multiple times per day? Here’s an example:

Scenario A: Let’s say you have a blog in which you give information about legal issuespertaining to Wal-Mart. When Wal-Mart is getting sued, you want to tell people about it. Howoften do you think you should post? Possibly only a fewtimes per week.

Scenario B: You have a blog in which you share odd news stories and funny videos with your visitors. Do you think you would have strong reader loyalty if you only posted something new a few times per week? Probably not. Why? Because with as many strange things that get passed around the Internet nowadays, the content you would find on a blog such as this would be expected to change rapidly. A blog focusing on something such as this would probably make multiple posts per day. Think about your subject matter and your audience, then decide on a frequency that works best for you. The important part is that once you make a decision- stick with it! Nothing confuses your readers more than making sporadic posts.

Consistency

Many blog owners want to make that great first impression, so they’ll be posting tons of really valuable self-written content. Sometimes after a few weeks, you’ll notice the quality and frequency of the posts start to decline. Great self-written articles begin to be replaced by pulls from different RSS feeds. All of a sudden, posting YouTube videos seems much easier than coming up with new material. In the end, you will fare much better with 50 loyal, regular visitors than you will with 500 random one-time-only visitors. Be consistent with whatever you do on your blog. Otherwise, you will just confuse your visitors and they’ll go someplace else.

Give your opinion

Another way to attract more visitors to your blog is by being opinionated- borderline controversial at times. If you have something to say, then say it! That’s why you started a blog, isn’t it? Many people are afraid of stating their opinions because they feel that people will speak negatively about them- but, to a degree, negative talk about your blog is still talk about your blog! Not many people want to go to a blog to read straight facts and articles- there are plenty of resource websites and online encyclopedias for that! Whether readers believe this to be fact or not, I believe it to be true. If you state only cut-and-dry facts, you’re just passing around old news.

Response

When somebody takes the time to comment on your blog, be sure to quickly acknowledge it. Just a simple “thanks for your comment” will do fine. Say “thank you” to everyone who visits your blog! If you’re using the MyBlogLog plug-in for WordPress, you will have a list of avatars for all the recent visitors to your blog. If it’s their first visit to your blog, click on their avatar to be taken to their MyBlogLog profile page and leavthem a message thanking them for visiting your blog. I have been loyally doing this since day 1 of my blog being online, and it has helped me to build many loyal visitors who return to my blog often. Blogs are all about being approachable. If you do nothing but publish posts, you’re keeping yourself distant. By regularly communicating with and reaching out to your visitors, you make for a pleasant user experience and motivate your visitors to not only return to your blog, but to tell their friends about it as well. Even when you’re receiving 500,000 unique visitors per month and you have 10,000 RSS subscribers, never forget to be approachable! Respond to all your emails and blog comments.

Honesty

Always be open and honest with your visitors. There are thousands of other bloggers just like you trying to make a place for themselves online. Share your accomplishments by posting them on your blog. For example, in the beginning of each month, you might want to make it a habit to post a summarization of what happened on your blog in the previous month.

You can highlight any publicity you’ve received as well as any new blogging friends you’ve made. You can also display a chart, graph or report highlighting the amount of traffic your blog received and what you did to get it. Once you start reporting a sizeable amount of traffic, visitors will come to the conclusion that you must be doing something right, so they’ll keep coming back to your blog to find out what your trick is. Just be sure to remain honest about whatever you report. If you use Feedburner, you have another decision to make: whether or not to display the number of your RSS subscribers.

This is another one of those subjects that is left up to each individual, but I recommend (along with many others) to only display the number of your RSS subscribers once you have reached a predetermined minimum number. You may want to wait until 30, 50 or even 100 people subscribe to your feed before you share this number with others. The reason is that you might have the best blog in town, but if I’m a first time visitor and the first thing to catch my eye is the fact that you have only 2 subscribers, I might come to the conclusion that your blog has either been abandoned or the content is worthless, when the realreason may be that your blog is only a week old. Similar to sharing your traffic stats, when you show people that you have a sizeable amount of people subscribing to your RSS feed, anyone who isn’t subscribed will feel like they might miss out on something good unless they join in with everyone else.

An example of sharing the number of your RSS subscribers with others is found at http://InternetMarketingSucks.com/blog, where you will notice they proudly display the number of subscribers at the top right corner of each page, now numbering over 1,000! If they only showed 4 or 5 subscribers, you wouldn’t feel like you’d be missing out on much by not subscribing yourself. But, since they have over 1,000 RSS subscribers, it seems like you’re missing out on something great if you don’t subscribe!

You are embarking on a new adventure…your very own website! You may have something to sell, something to tell, or just might want to be on the Internet for some other reason, or just because everyone else seems to be.
Regardless of the reason, there is one thing that all web sites need, whether it is corporate or personal, and that is an “About” page.
If you have a corporate, or business web site, your “About” page will be about the company you have, or the products you are trying to sell. If it is a personal web site however, the “About” page is usually about YOU.
So, what makes a good “About”, or “About me” page? First of all, I think your audience needs an introduction from you, so I would start with telling everyone, just who you are, and something about your background, and that will include:

1. Where you came from?
2. Where you were born and when?
3. Who your parents were?
4. What they did (if relevant)?
5. How you were raised?
6. You can speak about your religious background if that is appropriate.
7. Where you are educated?
8. Did you go to university? If so, what degrees did you earn?

This provides your reader with some idea of where your currents thoughts/ideas might have been formulated.

Try to make these factual statements about yourself entertaining, or at least well-structured and interesting to read. Don’t forget, you are laying the groundwork for someone to read your biography. In doing so, they will continue on reading being interested in what else you have to say on your website.

Now you have provided the reader with your background, begin telling the reader:

• Why do you have this web site of yours?
• What are your goals in providing this information?
• Why information are you trying to impart?
• What audience are you trying to reach?
• What message are you trying to pass along to people who reach your web site?
• Are you interested in trying to convince someone of something?
• Do you have a cause you are promoting? If so, where in your background would you have reason to promote the cause?
• Are you published?
• Are you the creator of some wonderful invention?
• Are you the son/daughter of someone famous with a need to correct some misconception of your parents?

These are all questions you should ask yourself when writing an “About me” page. The length of the page will depend entirely on your depth of experience in life and what you are representing. I suggest you take a look at as any web sites as you can to get ideas. See what other people have to say about them selves. Check out the “About me” pages for the famous, and not so famous. Which do you like, which “About me” holds your interest, which speaks to you and leaves you with a longing for the life just led. These are the pages that spring off the screen and truly tell you something about the person. Yours should do the very same thing. Good luck and I can’t wait to read all about you!

If you are looking to update your blog and add features that will make it more appealing to your users, plug-ins are an excellent option for you. There are tons of plug-ins out there for use; here are some of the best:

Easy Paypal Payment for WordPress
A nifty little plug-in that makes accepting Paypal payments a snap. Use it for payment on products, services or even donations, this plug-in works for multiple currencies with just a click. Design your page as you wish as this plug-in works as a sidebar, in the post or your page.

Simple Shopping Cart for Paypal on WordPress
A clever plug-in makes shopping simple on WordPress. Allows the use of shopping carts as well as adding the ‘add to cart’ button on any page or post WordPress contains.

Integrate Thickbox on WordPress
An elegant way to display large images simply, this plug-in means never having to open a new window to view an image. Utilizing jquery and opening gallery images in something akin to a lightbox just use the ‘add an image’ button and your done. The ‘open in the same window’ option makes this plug-in a breeze.

Contact Form Seven
An easy to add and implant contact form, this plug-in makes collecting contact information a snap. Supports multiple languages and Ajax submitting, it filters out bots and other non-live attempts to fill out the form

Google Translator
This is an awesome plug-in for bloggers with multi-national readers. This plug-in allows for simple text translation utilizing the same functionality of the Google translator. This plug-in does a fair job at translating, although nothing is as good as a properly translated blog.

WordPress Gallery Flipping Book
This clever plug-in allows your users to turn your pages just like they would books. Please note, this plug-in comes with author branding. It can be removed by paying a small fee for the paid version of the plug-in.

XML Google Sitemaps
This plug-in will automatically inform Google when you make any changes or add any content to your WordPress site. This plug-in is indispensable for bloggers with multiple blogs that are changing constantly.

Showcase and Theme Changer
For those bloggers who want to allow their users to change the theme when they visit, this nifty little plug-in is ideal. With a drop down list as well as thumbnail views, your readers can easily customize their view of your webpage.

AX Sidebar
This plug-in allows for a few extra fields in post administration. Add content and title utilizing plain text or HTML and it will show up in the sidebar associated with that post.

Page Peel by Pageear
A tested marketing tool, page peels are an excellent idea if they are not too overwhelming. This nice little plug in is not. Very easy installation and lots of features make it a nice addition to any WordPress Page.

New plug-ins are created every week, keep abreast of the changes with research and implement plug-ins you like to keep your website looking fresh and up-to-date.

It seems like everyday, another new blog site or blog purpose is appearing. Originally used as a simple form of communication between one person and many, blogs have taken on a life of their own. With uses ranging from personal reflection and information dissemination to product marketing and promoting social causes, everyone is jumping on the blog band wagon. Many new bloggers are unsure how to create and maintain a successful blog. Beginner’s mistakes can lead to a bombed blog, so it is important to take the time to do it right by following a few simple tips.

Post Promptly
One of the best things a blogger can do to increase traffic to his blog is to post often and promptly. Posting a schedule and adhering to it will make readers more likely to return. Whether posts are done daily, weekly or monthly, let readers know when the next post is coming and stick with it.

Experience Excites
When writing a blog, use first hand experience. Blogs were meant to be a personal experience medium and readers are much more likely to connect to the material and its writer if it comes from a real or true place. Use the first person and simply talk to your readers. For example, when blogging about a new restaurant in the neighborhood, a good blogger will relate his or her own experience at the restaurant and not rely on generalized impressions or information from critics. Keep it real.

Find Your Place
In blogging, communities of bloggers interested in a particular topic are called niches. Find your niche and use it. Make sure to read the blogs of other niche bloggers and comment on their blogs in a timely and relevant fashion. In this way, bloggers familiarize others with their material and blog, thus driving traffic to their blog.

Write Right
When posting a blog, it is important that proper grammar and spelling are used. This does not mean a conversational tone cannot be used, it just means that bloggers should take time to treat their readers with respect by producing quality writing that is easy to read and adheres to accepted writing standards. Blog writers who use poor grammar or spelling are likely to lose readers as bad writing tends to make the writer appear ignorant. No one wants to take advice from someone who appears ignorant. Take the time to proofread and edit a blog.

Make a Splash
It’s ironic that a blog, often used as a marketing tool, needs to be marketed as well, but it does. Social networking sites are an excellent way to do this. Use MySpace, Twitter, Facebook and other social networking sites to market blogs.

Run a Tight Ship
Neatness counts and a clean, simply designed blog is sure to go far. With all the tools and add-on available, it is easy to lose sight of the actual blog, so be careful not to overdo it. Keep it simple and clean and filled with good content!

Following these simple techniques is an excellent start to a well received blog. Just remember, it takes time for anything to take root and flourish, so do not be surprised if it takes several weeks to develop a strong following!

Themes? Just what are we talking about here, a blog theme? Web site theme? Social network page theme? What, exactly?

If you have a page on the web and that page is owned by you, or represents you, you can present a “theme” coupled with the content. This will separate you from the masses and provide some stamp of uniqueness that represents you, or what you are trying to convey.

Now that you have decided that a theme is something that you want. You have the choice of a free theme, or a customized theme. A free theme, of course, is just that, free, and usually comes with the web page, or site you are dealing with. It will be limited in scope and will vary from single color backgrounds to multi-colored backgrounds, but it usually stops there. It may be quite sufficient for you and you need not look any further to get added impact. In fact there are some rich, and warm colors with free themes and you might want to stay with something simple. This will depend on the type of page the theme is going on.

If the page is very shallow in terms of showing the theme, then you do not need to be elaborate. If there is a dearth of space that needs to be filled up, or your entire page background is covered, then you might want to consider something with a little more pizzazz, a little more artistic flair. This you will get from a customized theme.

Now, not all customized themes are created equal. You might only get a choice from a limited package. A theme might be just a “skin”, or it might be more involved and provide buttons, motions and secondary actions when hitting links for instance. So it pays to shop around and look for the best choices based on the theme you are trying to project.

You will almost certainly have the choice of many customized themes when you make your decision.

A contributing actor when making the decision for free or customized is obviously price. A free theme is just that, no cost, and there are a lot of nice free themes available. Some are equal to, or better than premium price themes. For custom, or premium themes, you will get a multitude of choices ranging from a few dollars up to $100. You have to decide whether it is worth paying the premium, and that decision will be based on the audience you want to keep once they get to your site. Premium themes will generally give a clean and more professional look and will likely provide more functionality. The theme developer will usually be able to support the theme, especially the higher price ones. So although there is a cost involved, it may dividends to have that extra professionalism and functionality.

Make your decision based on your need. Don’t throw money away, but neither shy away from paying for a very professional look and feel. You are presenting yourself, your company, or an idea to a global audience. Make it look good and give the visitor a great experience!

Any new blogger can tell you that one of the most difficult decisions you have to make as a beginning blogger is what platform to use. There are several ‘free’ blogging platforms available as well options that cost a little money. Choosing the platform that is right for you depends on many factors, your purpose in blogging, your financial situation and your familiarity with blogging in general. By carefully considering these factors and the platforms available, you will be able to pick the best platform for your needs.

New Bloggers
People who are new to blogging may want to consider using an ‘out of the box’ platform. These platforms do not allow for a lot of flexibility in design, but have simple to use interfaces, making for an excellent first time experience for new bloggers. WordPress is an excellent example of a blog platform that is somewhat customizable but has a very easy to use interface. New bloggers using WordPress often have a very high success rate with their blogs and rate the experience as very easy and excellent for the first time blogger.

Blogging for Profit
For the more experienced blogger who is it for the money, it might be best to pick a platform that has a small fee. GoDaddy and Hotgator are excellent chooses for the blogger looking to make a little money with their blog. They are somewhat more customizable while still having an easy to use interface. As is often the case, spending money gets you more features. Consider paying for a blog platform if you have experience and want to customize your page or if you are planning on using a money making scheme through your blog.

There is no Such Thing as the Best Blogging Platform
Because people use blogs and blogging platforms for such a wide range of activities, it is impossible to definitively say which blogging platform is the best. Several excellent options are available, making for a lot of diversity when choosing a platform. Review the options and features of each platform and decide which is best for you. What works for one blogger may not work for the next. Blogging platform choose is as individual as blogging itself. Some of the best platforms out there are: LiveJournal, WordPress, Blogger.com and typepad. Read reviews for these sites while keeping in mind your specific needs. Just because one critic doesn’t like platform, doesn’t mean it isn’t best for you. Keep an open mind.

Choosing your blogging platform is one of the most important decisions you make when starting to blog. Visibility, customization and a simple user interface are all important when picking a platform. Remember to pick your platform based on your level of experience in blogging as well as your intended blogging purpose. While you can opt to pay for a blogging platform, many of the free sites work very well for new bloggers and allow for ease of use, good visibility as well as some additional features. Think carefully before choosing a blogging platform.

As blogging became more and more popular, it was inevitable that someone would come up with a way to make money off of it.  Over the past several years, many bloggers have developed methods to make money off of their blog.  Many of these methods are cumbersome and tiring, but almost all of them will work if given the proper support and dedication.

 Big Blogging Bucks

A time consuming venture, the big blog money making route can also be the most profitable.  By focusing on only a few blogs and making them very visible in their niche category, ‘flagship’ blogs have enormous followings and generate daily traffic.  Combining highly visible blogs with direct advertising sales can make for a very profitable blog.  This money making scheme is perfect for bloggers with good social networking skills as well as marketing experience.  Unfortunately, this is very time intensive process so bloggers looking for quick case should stay away from this scheme.

Get Paid to Post

Simply put, there are several website that will pay out a set amount of money for each reader of a blog.  Websites such as Review Me, PayPerPost and Blogitive are good examples.  By creating several blogs each day and submitting them to all of the pay per read sites, you can make a tidy profit.  This is a pretty good method because you don’t actually need a lot of readers to make a profit.  Its downfall is that you will need to spend a lot of time writing many different posts and spend time maintaining them.

Splogging

By setting up blogs to pull content automatically from search engines, RSS feeds and news outlets, very little time is needed to create new blogs with quality content.  By combining this method with Google Adsense or other contextual ad site, your blog can produce profits.  Unfortunately it is difficult to turn a large profit with this.  Even the best sploggers have difficulty gaining more than $5 – $10 per site per month, so multiple blogs would be required for a decent profit.  Also, splogging is considered a gray hat technique and is frowned upon by many in the SEO community at large.

Link Selling

By developing a blog and developing an affiliate relationship with websites and small business owners, a blog can turn a profit.  Simply put, an affiliate partner will pay you each time a customer buys something from them after they follow a link from your site.  Search engine ranking and niche markets are a  huge part of a successful link selling blog, so bloggers with talents in those area’s could do very well with this type of blog.  Be aware there may be a cap to the number of links you can sell, meaning you can only make so much money
 rich articles on the topic, optimize it for search, set up Adsense or affiliate programs and then leave them alone

These methods and several others may allow you to make a respectable income via a blog.  Do your due diligence and make sure you understand what you are getting into before attempting to set up a business making money using blogs.

The abilities you need to create a great blog, and one would hope, lead to be known as a great blogger, are many and varied. They are not always driven by you. They may be driven by the topic, the audience, or the events of the day. Most people are interested in the topic and nt who is doing the writing. This may change as you become the famous blogger you hope to be, but for now, lets stay in the real world!

As you strive to reach the pinnacle of bloggerdom, you will need to understand some basic needs to become effective and as a consequence, well read.

So let’s start out with some things to consider before you venture off into the blogosphere:

• Why are you writing this blog?
•  Taking the time to get it right?
•  How is your blog received/perceived?
•  Why will they come back?

 Why are you writing this blog?

 Is it thought provoking? Is it relevant? Is it topical? Does it have a historical bent?

These among other things, should be though of before you begin submitting your blog. You want people to find you interest in some manner.

Taking the Time To Get It Right

Okay, so you are typing away all “hell bent for leather” to get it done so you can post your masterpiece! Hold it right there! Have you really though about what you are saying. Are you rambling on using long, poorly constructed sentences, which no one can understand? Is the point of the blog clearly stated somewhere at the beginning?

You will quickly loose you reader if you bury your point at the end of your blog. There are many words wasted because of this trait in writers.

How about your title? You need one that will grab the attention of your audience. This is sometimes the only thing they will see in a blog list, so you need to spend time on it. Make it eye catching, intriguing, so much so that the reader will want to see what you have to say. It is your first impression on the reader, make it count!

How Is Your Blog Received/Perceived

Who is your audience? If you try to be objective, how do you think someone will react to what you are saying, or how you are saying it. If you are angry, you will certainly attract an audience, but it may not be the audience you want and anyway you will end up preaching to the converted. If you are constantly sour, you may turn people off. So think about what you write and get your strong point across, or your information relayed, but do it good taste and with a certain amount of reasonableness.

Will They Come Back?

Good question!

The answer is “yes”, if you have something useful, entertaining, and/or informative to say. The answer is likely “no” if you use profanity, you slight other cultures and efforts, you don’t have a point and state it early, and you repeat yourself over and over and so become a bore.

Remember, take some time, make it interesting, capture your audience at first glance, and make your point early. You’ll be on your way to being a great blogger!

Simply put, a blog is a website, generally maintained by one person and containing regular entries (blogs) of information, descriptions or commentary. Utilizing text, video, graphics and links to other blogs or websites, blogs typically appear in reverse date order. Some blogs are maintained as a sort of on-line diary, while others are used to express opinions on everything from computer games to politics. A unique and important feature that almost all blogs share is the ability for other readers (bloggers) to leave comments pertaining to the original message. This allows for a lively discussion to occur. There are several different types of blogs.

Corporate Blogs
Corporate blogs are used in two separate ways. First, a company may have an internal blog used to disseminate information to their employees as well as support the business culture. Second, external blogs are used for public relations, branding or marketing. These external business blogs are known as corporate blogs.

Personal Blogs
Often written in a stream of conscious or reminiscent of a personal diary, this is the typical blog and the most popular form. Used in many cases as an informal way to communicate with friends and family, it is also not uncommon that no one reads the personal blog other than the writer. In this way a blog can become a source of reflection for the writer. It is important to note that some personal blogs become quite infamous and have extensive followings. Social networking sites such as Twitter and MySpace have made the art of personal blogging into an obsession for many people.

Question Blogging
Used to answer questions from submittal forms, email or other methods, Question Blogs (Qlogs) are a popular means of internet communication.

Video Blog
As one might assume a video blog (vlog) is a blog using video as its main medium. With the rise in popularity of sites such as YouTube, vlog’s are becoming more and more common. Mobile phones with video capabilities have allowed vbloggers to record and present the sights and sounds of their lives very quickly.

Other Media Blog
As blogging gains in popularity, the methods and modes used to produce them are changing. Linkblogs, sketchblogs and photoblogs are all gaining in popularity. Using links to direct readers to other sites, these new blog types are quickly becoming the fastest way to disseminate information on the internet.

Blogs are further categorized by the devise used to produce them (mobile phone, PDA, webcam) and the genre of their subject. Travel blogs, project blogs, fashion blogs, political blogs and others are quickly gaining in popularity as more and more high quality blogs are turning up all over the internet.

The power of the blog has become evident. Corporations use blogs to promote brand recognition, home based businesses use them to drive traffic to their website, and personal vblogs are often the focus of media attention. Whether a blog is used for business or personal reasons or in support of a social or moral cause, they are the easiest and quickest way to communicate with the world community via the internet.

 If you are planning to sell your blog sometime soon, you should be prepared. This means that you need to analyze several different parameters and find out its true value. You should know how much you can expect from selling it, or how much you can negotiate and what your limits are.

When trying to estimate the value of your blog, you will figure out that there is not a typical or standard gauge, but there are some tips and hints that you can consider. Some of them are:

1.  Some people tend to evaluate the domain name; however this is too vague, because the value of the domain names is strictly associated to its overall use and functions. There is a small number of domain names which can generate traffic easily, when people simply type the name in the URL bar. If your blog’s name is not a big brand name you probably cannot afford being that speculative.  

2. What you should consider seriously is an array of objective metrics: The number of page views, the number of unique visitors, the ad revenue (if you use AdSense you should also estimate the AdSense revenues), the search engine rankings, the page Rank in Google, the comments left by visitors, the pages that are indexed in the various search engines, the feed-burner circulation. 

3. If you have been promoting your blog you need to consider several additional metrics, such as the Technorati Links, the number of Diggs in Digg.com, the number of friends in social networks such as Facebook or MySpace and Twitter.

4.      Google’s PageRank is a very valuable tool for all websites and blogs. The higher your page rank is, the higher it appears in search engines, thus, you need to use the Google tools so as to check how your page rank for the different keywords you are using.

5. Traffic level is a crucial denominator in estimating your blog’s value. If your blog is heavily trafficked, then you obviously have better potentials when selling it.

6. Direct links, back links and the number of subscribers can also give you an idea of your blog’s readability and popularity.

7.  Some people tend to estimate that each subscriber costs 10$. This is an average price which is quite commonly used in valuations, however it is still quite vague and you cannot really count on that, unless you want to go with the flow. In any case, try to count in all parameters and metrics.