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Blogs have replaced websites as the best way to have visibility on the internet. I think of my blog as my home online. People find me by using my keywords when they are searching for information on my topic, or else they find my blog because I have commented on another blog, written something in a forum or in a social networking site, or given out my business card when I was speaking to a group.

The most important thing is that they now have a place on the internet to find out more about who I am and what I can do for them. I set up my blog in an organized way from the very beginning so that it would be easy for readers to quickly get what they need.

Having an opt-in box at the top of the blog is important in order to build your list. I ask for the person's first name and email address, and offer a free teleseminar in exchange for this information. This gives them the opportunity to hear me on a call and ask any questions they may have, and allows me to begin sending them regular email messages with tips, ideas, free reports, and information about upcoming courses I will be offering. This makes it a win-win situation for both of us. If they decide they are no longer interested, they can simply click on the unsubscribe link at the bottom of the email.

Categories are another feature on your blog that will help readers to find the information they are looking for. When I started my blog I created about 10 categories. These are the topics that I discuss in my blog posts. This number has now expanded to 32 categories, but it makes it very simple for someone to click on a particular category and see all of the posts I have made on that specific topic. You will want to think about your categories from the very beginning of creating your blog so that you can also benefit from the search engine optimization that goes along with having your keyword phrases listed on the first page of your blog.

It is also important to have a way for people to share your post with others through social media sites such as StumbleUpon, Digg, and others. You can set this up on your blog so that your readers can help you to be known on an even wider basis throughout the blogosphere.

Blogging is the very best way to get your message out to the world. You share your knowledge and expertise with your readers and promote your products and upcoming events in a conversational way. I encourage you to begin blogging in a serious way to build your online business.

And now I invite you to join me for free weekly teleseminars that will teach you how to write, market, and sell your articles and ebook to increase your visibility, credibility and passive income by visiting http://www.EbookWritingandMarketingSecrets.com and also learn the technology needed to run an online business.

Did you know that for some people blogging is what they consider to be their full time job. And I'm not talking about the people that sell products or have ads running on their blogs. I'm talking about people that don't make any money on from there blog. But still spend hours upon thinking up content and posting it for there users to read.

Before blogging became popular, a political activist favorite tool was a picket sign(sometimes a firebomb, but that's a different conversation), now activist are changing the world with blogs, even the Taliban has a blog!

So what make blogs so popular? It's not like they offer stunning visuals, or are places to go to play the latest games on the internet.

The key to blogs popularity is the interaction between bloggers and there visitors. Blogs encourage conversation and give everybody a powerful voice. No matter what they look like, or what there occupation is in life, anybody can become a star with a blog.

That's why young teenage girls everywhere who don't feel like they get enough attention are starting blogs. Blogs give them a place to express there opinions and become the center of attention. Even if there just raving and ranting about there favorite singer they can still build up an audience.

But blogs aren't only used by people looking to change things in there lives or others for the good. Blogs can also be used as an evil tool to viciously tear down people. Almost all celebrity gossip originates somewhere on a blog. Whether it's true or not doesn't matter to some bloggers, they just do whatever they can to draw visitors to the blogs. So if that means ruining somebodies image, then so be it.

A good blog on the other hand, can add value to a persons life everyday. Numerous self-help blogs provide there visitors with helpful tips to make there everyday life better. And some people even credit blogs with saving there lives.

It's this kind of "one-on-one" interaction in blogs that is making them the dominant force on the internet. With a blog, the owner of it can interact directly with visitors in real time. And they can use there blog like a traditional website. But on a website you would have to install a forum in order to interact with your visitors in real time.

To get started blogging visit - http://wordpress.org/

Most Bloggers will tell you that blogging helps you relate with your customer on a very personal level and that is really good for business and it drives sales. But what if you already have so much business you cannot possibly handle any more? Don't laugh, I have been in this position many times in my entrepreneurial career. Well then, a business blog can still help you train your current customers on how to do business with you in a way that's most efficient for you.

Indeed, it will also help them understand exactly how busy you are so they can help lift some of the burden by doing business your way. But let's say that, you only have a few customers and they love you and you talk to them on the phone quite often all the time, should you still have a blog, what good would a business blog be?

Well you could use blogging as a way to find super star employees or use it to help you serve your customers even better thus more efficiently, presenting you with a higher profit at the end of each month or quarter. Some say that a business blog in is the best way to find superstar employees that will make your company great, it puts the word out in online social networks.

What Type of Blog Posts Do I Need to Put Up on My Blog to Attract Star Employees?

First, you need to explain all the benefits to working at your great company, how employees feel satisfied about their careers and how they can help others, such as your customers enjoy your products or services. You see, employees like the positive feedback from the customers that they serve and they want to know that they will have good benefits, so explain this in the blog posts.

Secondly, you need to explain your compensation package and the bonus programs to prospective employees. Thirdly, you need to explain your philosophy about teamwork and how you value employees in your company above all else. And lastly you must be honest, because anybody who signs up to work in your company will eventually know the truth and if they feel they've been misled this will add bad will and like a virus spread to other employees. Any blog post you put up on your business blog to attract star employees must be done as a honestly as possible.

"Lance Winslow" - Online Blog Content Service. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; http://www.WorldThinkTank.net/.

Because blogs originally started as online journals, many people still believe there is only one type of blog, the personal blog. That belief was overtaken by events long ago. Today, there are many types of blogs and bloggers in the blogging world (or blogosphere).

When you are starting your own blog, it's important to consider what type of blog you desire. This will affect your choice of a blogging service or program and even the content you create.

Personal Blog or Online Journal

This is a blog on which you post your thoughts and opinions for others -- perhaps for the entire world, or maybe just for your friends. You may desire a full-blown blog solution, such as WordPress.com or Typepad. However, many personal blogging solutions today are inexpensive and easy to start up. You can set up a simple blog on Tumblelog to see how you enjoy blogging. Or, you can add a blog to your individual page on MySpace or Facebook. With Facebook, for example, you can control who can view your blog, and trick it out with many free and fun widgets. Personal bloggers today are moving into blogging on the go from their cellphones using the Twitter "micro-blogging" service.

Blog to Enhance Your Professional Reputation or Business

Blogging is a great way to position yourself as an expert and enhance your professional reputation. If you are blogging for a business, you can raise your business's profile and use blogging as a simple way to communicate with your prospects. You even use a blog as a way to pass along simple customer support information.

For example, Google engineer Matt Cutts operates a well-known blog that gives public insights into Google's services and policies. Yahoo operates a blog (http://ymailupdates.com/blog/) that gives useful customer service updates.

Business bloggers will want a professional appearance. WordPress.org and Typepad are both popular solutions, with many templates available, and many designers who can adapt a template or craft a custom design to give highly customized look. Both of these solutions also include features to enable bloggers to syndicate (i.e., distribute) their content via Really Simple Syndication (RSS) data feeds and to write postings to be published later at set time. For extra convenience and speed, both solutions permit blog posting just by sending an email. Typepad is an easy solution to set up, with a very professional look.

Blog for Traffic

Some bloggers desire the internet traffic that a blog can create. Many search engine optimization (SEO) experts believe that blogs are an excellent way to generate web traffic, because frequent blog postings will attract the attention of search engines such as Google and Yahoo, who will spider or crawl the blog often, and give favorable search results positioning to the blog content. One such blogger is Rosalind Gardner, an author and columnist on affiliate marketing, who blogs in order to bring web traffic to her web sites. WordPress.org and Typepad are popular solutions for them, but WordPress.org is the leader because it provides more search engine optimization capabilities.

Blog for Money

Blogging directly for money is the most difficult approach. It requires a large amount of traffic for success. Although smaller bloggers try to get by using Google AdSense alone, many of the most successful bloggers combine several methods of making money on one blog. Noted blogger John Chow uses at least eight methods. Likewise, Darren Rowse, who writes about how to make money by blogging on ProBlogger.net, uses a combination of income sources, including affiliate programs (such as Amazon Associates), private advertising sales, and several -- not just one -- ad networks (including Google AdSense, Chitika and Text-Link-Ads). Consultant and coach Yaro Starak supplements his blogging with traditional email list marketing.

Bloggers for money need robust blogging solutions that can be highly customized and search engine optimized. Many of them use WordPress.org due to its flexibility.

Blog as the Starting Point for an Emerging Media Company

Blogs with the highest levels of traffic are emerging as media companies in their own right. They may have more visitors and readers than traditional mainstream media. BoingBoing and TechCrunch are consistently leaders in Technorati's index of top blogs. Political blogs such as Huffington Post, Daily Kos and Instapundit have large exposure and influence. Nick Denton's Gawker Media has assembled a network of over 10 blogs, including Gawker, Gizmodo and Lifehacker. The emerging media blogs generally rely on a team of bloggers to post several times a day on a single blog, or even several blogs. They also have more sophisticated advertising sales, and are run like true media businesses. It is not too late for new bloggers to start small and hope to grow to this ultra-elite level.

Tom Canyon writes about bloggers and blogging. For tips and information on how to start your blog, visit the site http://www.CreateABlogToday.com Get a free report on blogging and sign up for updates at http://www.CreateABlogToday.com/newsletter.html