Blog to Success!

[Xeno]

Ok...now that I have everyones' attention... I thought I would post this here as I did in another forum I participate because I think this is going to become important.

It's no lie that Blogmania has exploded with popularity with people, but also for those who run adult business. Nothing wrong with jumping on the bandwagon and expanding and taking advantage of the pro's of it eh (lol...yes I'm Canadian)...

Well, I cannot really speak for other Link Directories or Link Lists, however, I am seeing a trend -- or more so, a series of problems beginning to arise. Don't get me wrong, I love seeing Blogs and blogs getting submitted and many of them offer something great. So what is the issue?

First Problem:
Just as it happened with Free Sites...webmasters got into using and submitting their sites with the same look, layout, style, colours...in other words, using the same templates. AS you probably seen with LL's and directories, they established Rules of submission of not wanting the same templates used over and over.

Why is this an issue? Well when a surfer enters a LL or Directory and begins to check out listed sites, the surfer will start to see a trend of sites that all look the same; only to decide to forget about looking at more sites because they think, "Well, the next one will be the same" or "Hey, these are all the same sites!" So the LL traffic goes down, surfers spend less time at them, in-turn, this also affects additional sites which you may have listed and would result in low to no affiliate sales if your site's purpose is to generate $$.

This phenomenon is now moving into the realm of Blogs....People are setting up multiple blogs but they have fallen into the trap of using the same old templates over and over and over and over. Surfers will begin to think they are all the same and will begin to move on.

Solution? As tempting as it is, and believe me, I can understand why you want to use something that is already there and easy to use and QUICK, try to go with something unique. You will have far better success with your Blog with surfers, Link Lists, and Link Directories....not to mention if you get high ranks in the search engines! But it also gives your Blog a personality.

I know some blog software makes it very very difficult to understand how to create something totally unique from scratch (I saw one the other day and I was horrified at their concept), but it can be done. Right now I have 3 Blog design requests....hence I do web design.

Second Problem:
Again, I know people are jumping on the bandwagon of "Blogamania" but easily getting confused on what a blog really is. Here is a simplified definition of what a Blog is:

A blog (short for Weblog) is a personalized website utilized as an online journal of thoughts, ideas, articles, and sorted in a reverse chronological order of an individual rather than an organization. Otherwise, why not just have a typical website? Blogs will often include pictures, or other media, and most have a column of links to specific resources or other websites. They also generally allow visitors to make comments, like having an advanced guestbook. Weblogs are also considered to be part of a community, all linking together in one way or form.

What we see happening now are people falling out of this concept and turning blogs into mini link lists, affiliate link farms, and mini tgp galleries. If you want to do this, that is fine, however, why not just make a website? Best advice? Maintain the concept of what a Blog should be and use it for this purpose. You can still take advantage of them to market your other network of sites, but lets keep it to what they are...otherwise, the net will just get flooded with crappy boring blogs.

I think sooner or later you will start to see LL's and Directories begin applying strict rules on Blogs...I already know of 3 big ones and a 4th who is about to place new rules in their submit form.

1. Think about if you REALLY do want a blog or if it's just to be like everyone else? Remember a blog is personalized and unique.
2. If you have something to say and want to share information, then start a blog;
3. Do you want to go maintream with your blog or keep it simple and basic?
4. If you are serious about it, grab some paper and pencil and make notes on what you want in it, what links will be coming in and exiting, among others...
5. If it's to be used as a gateway or mainstream, go for a custom unique design...not template;
6. Get a good domain name for it so it helps with Branding it;
7. Create a schedule of keeping it updated...a Blog is not "a create it and forget it kind of thing"

Weblog Design
I know its probably a hard thing to accept what I just said above, but if you REALLY want to succeed with your blog and fight for top search engine rankings now (and yes its going to get very hard fast because 1000's are jumping on the blog thing), I urge you to consider carefully how to proceed with one.

Need a starting point?
Most everyone will know where to get started with a blog script or provider, however, here is a tiny list but there are others out there:

1. Blogger
2. WordPress
3. Serendipity

If you need custom design work done for a Blog, there are a few designers at NetPond who might be able to do this work for you. I am one of them because I also have a mainstream web design business (but not limited to any specific types of sites)...PM if you have questions or need advice.

Long story (tutorial) short....try to stay within the concept of what a Blog is, and try to be unique with them. Remember, these kind of sites are personalized to the creator...why be like every other blogger out there. Make a name for yourself and get known! That is how it's done and how your blog will stand tall and rank high not just in the search engines, but in user reviews!

[Lunatic]

Nice post. Thanks for taking the time.

[Surfn]

I started my first blog 4 years ago no script. Now I want to do something different with a scripted blog.

The net changes completely every 18 months you either stay ahead, stay up, or fall behind...

[Greenguy]

Boogie tells me that I started mine 5 years ago

http://www.link-o-rama.com/greenguy/daily00.html

[guitar riff]

another thing people need to realize is they need originality in their posts.With over 12 million blog sites out there if you really want to make it in blooging you need something that surfer hasn't really seen, something original, not just design but content etc... the plain jane blogs with the FHG LINKS, FHM Links, Overused content, plain general content blogs do not do well. The markey is too big and surfers know now they have a choice and they will surely move along without clicking a damn thing if they dont have something they like when the page loads. There is good money in blogging if its done right. I know people with 500 - 1000 blogs YES thats right 500 -1000 but they have a huge network of updates setup and alot of workers I would imagine the avg 700-1000$ a day combined so thats not really that great for all the work involved. Now on the other hand I know a few WM's with 2 or 3 Niche Blogs that make 500$ a day Lot less work but more time generated on concentrating on a specific Niche.
And when you blog use RSS Feeds to your advantage. Get them rss feeds out there I see people biching in a few posts like he stole my post via rss yadda yadda but if you have your links in a post you'll make money fom that linkback in the RSS Sooner or later.

Now The secret to Yahoo Listing Fast and Easy is as Follows. Follow to the letter and your blog will be spidered in 1 day or so Iv'e done it on 7 blogs and it WORKS.

1. Get yourself a Yahoo Mail Acct if you do not already Have one.
2. Login to Yahoo and Click the MY Yahoo Button On The top of the Page.
3. In the My Yahoo Page You will have an +add content link Click That then it will open a new window there will be a box that says find content on the riht you will see Add RSS By URL click that link there ya put your feed URL in like so http://yourblogurl/feed/ or sometimes http://yourblogurl/atom/ once ya click Add then click the My yhaoo Hom button on the top and you will see your feed in there on your My Yahoo Page.

This is a Proven Method It Works

[Boogie]

this is a great thread. Excelent post and advice and I love it.

Greenguy did in fact start the first blog i've ever seen, daily updated personal entries dating back to 2000. I've always loved that about his site. I'm sure the surfers do too.

I disagree that a link farm, affiliate farm, etc cannot work. But they wont work as well as a good hybrid site that includes these types of things and much, much more to go with it. I concur that if you just want to blast a ton of links somewhere using a blog script can make it a simpler process but less rewarding, i believe, than if you'd done it another way.

ultimately i like to think of MY blog as a type of news channel, or a talk radio show. What is boogie looking at and viewing and doing today. If people like me, or my sites, they might like what i like as well. right?

each page and each entry is designed to bring some personality to the page so it doesnt look like, well, every other site out there.

I believe that was the heart of your post and I hope that all people adopt that philosophy when blogging.

[ronnie]

I agree, great post. I've seen another big problem. While searching for blog link trades, I see a great majority of blogs that do not get updated, or updated very rarely. Sad thing is for those that trade with the site, while they might update on a daily basis, their trades partners dont.

Think we all know, so many jump on the bandwagon, but either get bored with posting or finding it to time consuming.

ronnie

[Xeno]

That is true too ronnie.....there will be a lot of people who do that not realizing that they need to keep things updated for any or all of their blogs, not just a few.

I think one of the issues is that many are finding that the templates can be complicated for most and they get discouraged and end up leaving it as is (in some cases, possibly walking away from it). Some of the blog scripts can be very intimidating to those who are not 100% with even basic html...let alone, php, css, xml...Blogs, as they are very simple to setup at start, come with the side effect of difficult template modifications (custom themes). Which is probably why I am starting to see requests for personal custom themes.

Still...blogs still have a lot of potential if not abused.