Ask this question of any SEO expert and they will tell you “fresh content” and “backlinks”, other than Google took over Blogger. The last one is the favorite as no one can argue with that.

Search engines like fresh content as it is valuable for their users, and links show that other sites or blogs (and not just your own website) think that the information on your website is useful to their readers.

A blog can be an individual’s viewpoint, a life journal, a school girl’s diary, a poet’s space, an artist’s expression, or just about sharing your moments with family and friends. One can share information, pictures and even videos with no previous knowledge of designing and programming.

Companies use blogs to promote their latest products, introduce new services, announce upcoming events, share event pictures and videos, announce special offers/discounts, run opinion polls, introduce new team members, special announcements, build loyalty, and invite their customers to leave comments and give testimonials.

Bloggers believe that blogs are being taken more seriously as information sources. One in five bloggers don’t think that newspapers will survive the next ten years. Half believe that blogs will be a primary source for news and entertainment in the next five years.

Bloggers are most open to receiving marketing messages from other blogs. Even non-blog web content is more influential among this group than traditional media sources for brand information.

Home businesses and young entrepreneurs use blogs to increase awareness and attract traffic to their online business, new ventures, and daring expeditions into the unknown.

Professionals use blogs to brand themselves, create awareness and credibility, make money (yes that’s possible), and share their knowledge and experiences.

Housewives use blogs to share cooking tips and recipes, their children’s growing moments, travel log of the last trip, and shopping expeditions.

We SEO experts use blogs for achieving higher rankings for specific keywords. Unbelievable, and yet in many instances my blog link appears higher on search engines results page than pages that I optimize personally for the same keyword.

Getting started with blogging is relatively easy. You can sign up with blogger.com or other such blogging platforms.

If you don’t own a domain name for your blog, no worries, you can start with a free subdomain with Blogger.

Lets look into some interesting statistics on blogs.

The numbers vary but agree that blogs are here to stay!

comScore MediaMetrix (August 2008)
- Blogs: 77.7 million unique visitors in the US
- Facebook: 41.0 million | MySpace 75.1 million
- Total internet audience 188.9 million

eMarketer (May 2008)
- 94.1 million US blog readers in 2007 (50% of Internet users)
- 22.6 million US bloggers in 2007 (12%)

Universal McCann (March 2008)
- 184 million WW have started a blog | 26.4 US
- 346 million WW read blogs | 60.3 US
- 77% of active Internet users read blogs

Technorati’s State of the Blogosphere 2008 Report is now available. For a detailed report go to technorati.com/blogging/state-of-the-blogosphere/

The report states that Brands make up a major part of bloggers’ online conversations. More than four in five bloggers post product or brand reviews, and blog about brands they love or hate. Even day-to-day experiences with customer care or in a retail store are fodder for blog posts. Companies are already reaching out to bloggers: one-third of bloggers have been approached to be brand advocates. (ref Technorati 2008 Report)

But wait, that’s not all. The report also states that Blogs are an increasingly attractive platform for advertisers. The majority of bloggers we surveyed have advertising on their blogs. Marketers realize that bloggers are creating high quality content and attracting growing, loyal audiences. So there is potential for profit from blogging. (ref Technorati 2008 Report)

Well you are convinced, and you start writing periodically, uploading photographs and videos and have shared your blog link with many friends, but a few months down a nagging worry start to hit you (this is for those who don’t track their readers using tracking software’s like Google Analytics) that you are writing for “you” alone and your mum who thinks “my son is the best”.

While there is nothing wrong with writing, just for the pleasure of writing, I am sure you all want to reach out and touch someone else with all your hard work. The real challenge is to get your target audience to read your blog whether its family, friends, colleagues, or readers around the world who would be interested in what you are writing about.

Trust me even friends will betray you if what you write does not make them want to come back, so pay close attention to the questions below and answer them as honestly as you can.

-What would make your blog special to your audience?
-Why would they want to bookmark your blog?
-Why would they want to link to it and tell others?
-What is my ultimate goal for this blog?

While the first 3 questions require you to dig down deep inside your minds and hearts, the last question is most critical. What do you ultimately want out all the hard work, late nights and coffee cups invested into your blog?

Well, whether your blog is for the purpose of sharing knowledge, gaining credibility, increasing visibility and rankings, building customer loyalty, sharing information, making money, or assisting our fellow men in the journey of life, the bottom line remains search engines love blogs, and so should you.

So keep writing!

http://www.seo-optimization-experts.com/seoblog.html

It is believed by most experts that blogging is a financial mistake for most small businesses. Blogs are best used for news-oriented sites, or sites that feature “the latest” or “the thought of the day.”

However, blogging can also be a strong “add-on” to a successful, profitable website. For this reason, we will examine how to look at blogging vs having a website and how to know if you should start a blog.

Several companies offer blogging software, and Blogger is probably the most widely used free blogging platform available. Blogger, owned by Google, allows you to set up a blog quickly using its design templates. Other widely used blogging software include WordPress and TypePad.

Blogs must be updated frequently — several times a week, if not daily or even several times a day — in order to hold readers’ attention. Bloggers must scrupulously adhere to the golden rule of blogging: “Thou must update frequently.”

It is a time-consuming process because people who read blogs expect a certain amount of fresh content on a regular basis — at a minimum, weekly — preferably several times a week. This is not true of a theme-based website.

Blogging should definitely be used in combination with other marketing methods and not in isolation. They should NOT be used to build career momentum because they are not right for everyone — especially if you don’t have a strong viewpoint or valuable information to share.

Blog posts, in contrast to conventional websites, do not have a specific order. The software lacks what businesses do need to actually make money (which is the ultimate goal). They interlink to each other with gusto, creating what they call “the blogosphere.

Ultimately, they merely keep adding new posts, one after another, without editing out the old and without pulling related posts together into cohesive and fresh articles whereas, theme-based content sites develop and update the content into more complete, useful, cohesive articles called “web pages.”

Bloggers rave about how blogs are “more dynamic” and “promote conversations,” but many prominent bloggers turn commenting off! This communication medium is heavily covered by both online and offline media because they “get” the concept.

Bloggers, of course, form part of the online media and is actually for a very small percent of the population. It has become very popular in the last few years and even the most non-technical of netpreneur are now using a blog to promote their businesses.

Blogs have come a long way in a very short time, but again, they’re not for everyone. A lot of people don’t want to read their own company blogs. It has to fit into the corporate culture.

Blogs about your company and your products may sound interesting to you, but people rarely tune into a “commercial” blog unless there is additional information of real value.

Blogging may not be suitable for all small businesses, say blogging experts in a New York Times report. However, they do provide a simple way for family and friends to stay connected from different parts of the world by sharing stories, photos, videos and more.

Blogging may be something you have heard so much about but have not paid much attention to because maybe you find it boring and Some people are even afraid of showing their ignorance and do not want to ask what a blog is.

So What are blogs?

Blogs are simply web logs that are regularly updated, some even daily by a blogger. They consist of information that is related to a certain topic. In some cases, blogs are used as daily diaries about people’s personal lives, political views and commentaries too.

Simply put this way, blogs can be made into topics whatever the author want them to be.

What is the history origin of blogging?

Blogs can be traced back in the 1990’s. but till now Who started them is not known. Although it started during that time, it was in the year 1999 that people got into blogging.

The first blogs were just personal commentaries and mostly web tours. It is ironic that these blogs were initially thought of as diaries or journals online made by the blogger. But now, they have already turned their blogs topic into the latest web content that is being done by just about anyone who wish to become blogger.

What is the importance of blogging?

For the individuals, blogging is a trendy and classy thing to do. You get to write what you want, add some pictures into it and put links that are related and useful to the message you are writing about. Sharing it to your friends.
But for businessman or internet marketer, they found blogs to be the answer to getting back the customers that they used to have by presenting them with new and fresh contents not seen anywhere else.Thus,blogging is one of their startegies to promote and maintain their business

It is a fact that content is very important for an online business or internet marketer who runs online business. Not only because they are the ones being found by search engines for site optimization, but also they give visitors a reason to come back to get more information.

What are some types of blogs?

1. The professional blogs. These kinds of blogs allow businesses to tell their customers or potential customers about the latest news or updates in their industry. This is also where they can catch up on the development being done in their business and also they try to make them subscribe on something to make sure they maximise thier chances on having their e-mail address to stay in touch with them.

These blogs are updated daily to be able to increase the chance of search engine to spider them. This also increases the page rank of a certain site because they are submitted to blogging directories.

2. Personal blogs. Just about anyone can write this kind of blog. This is where people get to share their ideas, thoughts and everything else they want other people to read about. Some of these blogs are not into page ranks and search engine optimization due to not keyword targeted because they may be just for fun or informational purposes.
What is the most widely used type of blogging?

The most widely used blogs are the business blogs. It seems that companies and businesses have already realized or discovered the benefits they can gain from blogging and is making them a substantial part of their business growth.

To use blogs for business purposes, you first have to know how it can benefit you and what is your objectives. It would be best if you design or write a schedule made and try to stick with it. Let your readers know what your blogs are all about and when to expect them.

Blogs can give valuable supplemental content and attention to areas of businesses that you want to highlight your business whether it is online or established companies.

What are the things needed in creating a blog?

Making blogs are as easy as typing an email.In blog service such as blogspot all you need is to put in the content and send it to the web server. Once done, it is directly printed on your page and displayed there for an amount of time.

If you are keen to learn how to make a niche blog that will maximise your chances of getting blog traffic or If you want me to guide you step by step and give you tips and strategies in blog marketing for free please do not hesitate to visit my blog at http://increaseblogtrafficdirectory.blogspot.com.
I hope you find this article useful. Have a nice day!!!