Blog

Web Log.  A blog is a website maintained by an individual or group that is characterized by a persistent record of old content and the regular addition of new content.  A typical blog will present these entries in reverse chronological order.

Blogroll

A list of recommended blogs that is typically displayed in a persistent sidebar

Blogosphere

The whole of the blogging world, including all blogs and those who write them

Embedding

Placing a pre-written piece of code into your blog or website so that you can display a video, widget, banner, or content block created by someone else.  …

There’s a reason why old sayings become old sayings: Their pithy truth.

The cobbler’s children have no shoes because the cobbler is just so darned busy stitching up shoes—for everyone else.

I’ve been busy writing web copy—for everyone else. I enjoy the work: With each customer, I met a new and interesting person and learn about a new and fascinating business. The earning a living part is very nice, too.

But I want even more work, and I’ve decided that updating my web site will be the best next step toward expansion. Making that decision wasn’t hard. Making …

You’ve probably heard that earlier this month the Federal Trade Commission released new rules regarding blog disclosures.  What should you look for if you regularly write on blogs and forums and you want to make sure that you are in compliance?

First ask yourself the following two questions:

• Do you use your blog, forum, or other social media accounts to write reviews?
• Do you receive anything for the reviews you write (for example, special rebates, free samples, or cash payments)?

If you do not write reviews, or if you use your own money to acquire the products that you review without receiving any other …

When you write a blog entry it’s like you’re writing newspaper columns for the ‘net.   To be effective new entries must be a regular feature of your online presence.  Blogs are also more effective when they are driven by the personality and explicitly stated opinions of the author(s).

When starting or reinventing your blog, you should take a moment to think about what sort of voice you would like to write in.

Wikipedia identifies five distinct types of columns.

• advice columns
• critic reviews
• editorial opinions
• gossip
• humor

None of the column types should act as a straightjacket, but each is worth examining for inspiration and organizational themes.

Advice Columns

Advice …

One of the types of reproduction that is allowed under the United States’ Fair Use laws is duplication for the purpose of parody, and as today is the 43rd anniversary of “Paperback Writer” reaching #1 on the American charts it also seemed an appropriate time to roll out this caution against banal and derivative blogging.

SEO writer

SEO writer (SEO writer)
Dear Sir or Madam, will you read my blog?
It took me hours to write, will you give a slog?
It’s based on some posts by a man named Cutts
And I need a job, so I want to be a SEO writer,
SEO …

Read More…

Over the past couple of decades, Internet users have learned that not all websites are created equal. There are a few things that the web savvy browser will look for without even realizing it. If you do not provide the answer, your visitors will come to their own conclusions.

Who wrote this page?

Remember that not everyone will find your website by typing it’s URL directly into their web browser. Most new visitors will follow links from search engines or other sites. One of the first things they’ll want to learn upon arriving is whom they are …
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You have heard of blogs and think they are not for you. Maybe your business doesn’t really suit the type of back and forth communication a blog thrives on, or maybe you simply don’t have enough time to write articles several times a week. Or, maybe you don’t like to write at all.

Don’t dismiss a blog just yet!

A blog site may be just what you need. A blog is really just a website. It just has the added functionality that allows visitors to comment on what you have to say or post. In addition to these posts people comment on, …

Watching baseball teaches me about business.

I love running my own business and being my own boss. I also love baseball.  Oh, I hate to play it (“Don’t hit it to me, please don’t hit it to me…”) but I truly love to watch the game.

From baseball, I’ve learned some excellent business practices:

Barry Zito taught me to consider one batter at a time. Barry’s doing well this year: I read that he’s taking a batter-by-batter approach,  rather than letting his mind wander to how badly the game is going, …

How are blogs different from other websites? To understand how blogs work, we need to describe the features that make them unique. A typical blog will include:

Posts. Posts are content entries presented in chronological order, with the newest ones on top. Each post will also be archived at a permanent URL to encourage other bloggers to link to your posts. Each post will display its author’s name, date, and category it belongs to.

Comments. Each post will have a reader section to allow readers and other bloggers to carry on a conversation. Although there are risks to making comments public, the …

As business owners, we all know we need to keep marketing during these tough times. The key is to focus our marketing efforts to yield more results without increasing total dollars spent. One of these marketing efforts should be your website. In my experience developing websites for over 13 years, most businesses do not use the internet to its fullest potential.

It’s easy to decide to invest on your website. It’s more difficult to determine exactly what to do and how much to spend.

First, you need to answer the question: do you have a traffic or a conversion issue to solve?

A …