But the blog is nothing new, and is certainly not the creation of the social networking site. Blogging, in fact, has been going on for well over a decade, and was originally called journaling.
The term ?weblog? was actually coined in 1994, and was transformed to blog in 1999 by Peter Merholz, when the early blogging hosts appeared. http://Blogger.com, which now belongs to Google, showed up at about that time. In the early days of blogging, most bloggers limited themselves to recording the details of their daily lives.
But blogging has now become an important tool for politicians, entrepreneurs, charities, and almost anyone who needs an inexpensive way to reach a big audience.
Blogging is ideal for those who have a lot to say and not much time in which to say it. Free blogging platforms like Blogger and Wordpress enable the busy blogger to post even while he or she holding a conversation or watching television.
Blogs let anyone communicate over the Internet without knowing a thing about .html or any other sort of code. If you can type with your PC's keyboard, you can blog.
Blogging is a way to establish an instant and ongoing dialog with others who share your interest in a topic and comment on your posts. Read the blog devoted to political candidates during a campaign, and see how quickly they grow. It's almost impossible to keep up with the traffic which a popular blog can generate in a single day.
While blogs on politics or religion, or those whose authors try to serve as investigative reporters are often called controversial, the vast majority of blogging is devoted to socializing.
And that is why Myspace and other social networking sites have taken the Internet world by storm. In a world where their busy lives don't afford people the time and energy to get out and about as much as they'd like, social blogging is a pleasant, if not perfect, substitute.
Blogging is simply the 21st century version of the written correspondence which, a hundred years ago, took months to reach its audience and months more to provide an answer, and friendships which took months to build can now happen in hours!
There is no doubt keywords are vital. They are the words folks might use to locate your information.
For example, a person researching cell phones might use the following keywords typed into Google, Yahoo, Metacrawler or any number of the available search engines.
When choosing keywords for a business the first step is to consider what terms people will use to find you. To accomplish this, a three step approach is often recommended.
1. Brainstorm ideas. Sitting down with a pen and paper to brainstorm keywords may seem silly at first however brainstorming is a successful strategy. The brainstorming exercise will be a success if you are creative and think like a potential customer. Challenge yourself to come up with 50 potential keywords. Remember that people often misspell keywords, like the 'cellphone' example used in the list above.
2. Consult with associates, friends and family, current customers. The next step is to ask around. Find out from people what keywords they would use to locate information on your business idea. Friends, family and associates are generally the best place to go however if a business has a close relationship with their customers, then asking a few key customers may be beneficial.
3. Keyword popularity tools are used for research. This third step is where business owners often skip right too however if you don't attack a keyword popularity tool with a plan, you can end up with thousands of potential options ' a real mess. Take keywords you have complete confidence in and use the keyword tools to examine how often they are used. This will help business owners determine what their primary keywords are and what keywords to use in their content or on secondary website pages.
There are free keyword tools available such as:
a. https://adwords.google.com/select/ Keyword Tool
b. https://www.wordtracker.com/trial/ Free trial
c. inventory.overture.com/
d. http://keywordspy.com Free Trial
That leads us right into a very frequently asked question...where are keywords used? Several places actually...The home page and index page of a business website is where the primary keywords are located. This is the page people land on when they come to a website. Maybe it has sales copy, maybe it tells a bit about the company's products or services, or maybe it offers informational copy. The general rule of thumb is to focus on one or two primary keywords. They should be placed in the headline, first and last paragraph and then distributed throughout. Keyword stuffing or jamming your copy full of you keywords makes the copy read like a phone book and the search engines don't like it.
Secondary keywords can be used on subsequent website pages, articles, press releases, press releases, advertisements, blog posts and so on. Using the example from earlier a primary key word might be "cell phone" or "cell phones" and a secondary keyword might be "cell phone reviews"
Keyword hype is justified. They are a huge influence on a company's profitability. Future customers use keywords to locate products, services, and information. Your business is found with them. Traffic will come to your business website if you set up the right keywords and most commonly used keywords on your site. More traffic and bigger profits are the end result.
Both Matt Garrett & Joan Finholt are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Matt Garrett has sinced written about articles on various topics from Limited Liability Company, Family Concerns and Marketing. Author: Matt Garrett ? 2007 www.BlogTactics.com | Blog Tutorials & Videos Grab Your Free Step By Step Guide to Setting Up Your First Blog Now!!