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Beginner’s Guide To Blogging: Get Started on the Right Foot!

Here is a basic beginner’s guide to blogging, terms, and uses. Maybe it is time for YOU to start a blog!

What is a blog?

A blog is basically an online journal wherein you can digitally pen down your thoughts, ideas, opinions and practically anything that you want people to read. Blogs come in different styles, formats, and settings, depending on the preference of the creator. Many blogging sites offer built-in features such as a hyperlink, straight texts, pictures etc. Some blogging sites even allow you to put video and mp3’s on your blog.

Instead of writing text, some bloggers choose to make their blogs more audio-friendly by using spoken word entries. This is called audio blogging. You may have also heard of video blogging, or vlogging.

Basically, a blog post contains these features:

title- which allows you to label your post
body- this is the content of your post
trackback- other sites can be linked back to your blog
permanent link- every article that you write has its own unique URL
comments- this allow readers to post comments on your blog.

How do I get started?

One of the advantages of blogging is that it is made of only a few templates, unlike other websites that are made up of numerous individual pages. This makes it easier for bloggers to create new pages because it already has a fixed setting that includes designated slots for title, a body of the post, category, etc. This is especially useful for first-time users. They can choose from a number of templates that blogging websites provide and get started right away.

Anyone who wants to start a blog can do so by becoming a member of a blogging website of their choice. Once they’ve become members, they automatically become a part of that particular blogging community. They can browse through other bloggers pages and link them back to their own blogs. They can also make comments on other members’ blogs.

Why start a blog?

Blogging is not just limited to personal usage. There are a ton of blogs that follow a theme such as sports, politics, philosophy, social commentary, etc. These blogs shed light on currents issues, events, news, and information. This way blogging becomes a medium in which people can share their knowledge and opinions about a variety of themes and topics.

Nowadays in education, blogs also play an important part. Professors use blogging to document the lessons they discussed and taught. This way, students who have missed classes can easily catch up with their assignments.

Some bloggers even use their blogs as a means to advertise. A lot of entrepreneurs benefit from blogging by promoting their businesses on their blogs. With millions and millions of people logging onto the net every day, blogging has become a lucrative move. Some bloggers who run online businesses promote their merchandise online. Others profit through running advertisements on their site.

By far, the most popular blog type is the one that takes the form of a personal journal. This is the kind that is usually used by first-time bloggers. Individuals who want to document the daily struggle of their everyday lives, poems, rants, opinions, personal victories, etc find that blogging offers them a medium through which to express themselves.

The Blogging Community

Bloggers usually communicate amongst themselves. This is one of the appeals of blogging. It creates a community of people sharing their ideas, thoughts, and comments with each other.

Blogs varying in topics, themes, and set-ups, can be found in blog directories. First-time users who want to get an idea of what the blogging world is all about can browse through a number of blogs using these directories. This way they can get an idea of what these blogging communities are like.

Blogging is popular all over the world. ‘Blog’ is short for the term weblog. There are no rules when it comes to blogging. Bloggers have the freedom to express themselves however way they want, and the best thing about blogging is that most blogging sites are free!

Search any blogging directory and you’ll find a listing of different blogging sites that are available on the net. It’s easy to search a blogging directory because it is organized according to the category. This way you can get exactly what you are looking for. Blogging is really for everyone. It is fun, simple and easy.

Hey, come and check out our Facebook page and give us a like! We love to know what people are looking to learn in WordPress world! Our group, The Bloggers Bistro is filled with an amazing group of Female Entrepreneurs learning how to blog to promote their business, their passions and their voices!

5 Ways to Increase Traffic to Your Blog

Blogs are very popular ways of promoting your product or service. They are easy to install, easy to administer, and easy to update. Search engines love them, too! But what is a blog without traffic? Exactly. Here are five quick ways to increase traffic to your blog and start seeing those big sales as a result…

1. Build a list of blog services to ping

There are a lot of blog services you can ping. You notify the service that you’ve updated your blog, they list your new posts, and you get the traffic from them. I’ve made a list of 10+ ping blog services. These lists are also available if you search Google or any other search engine for them. This in itself should be enough to give an initial boost to your traffic.

2. Add buttons to popular news readers
What does this mean? Well, there are sites like Yahoo, Google, Bloglines, etc which have a members area where you can select sites with RSS feeds to fetch the latest updates from different blogs. That way readers have the latest updates from all their favorite blogs listed on one page. Make sure your blog has the necessary buttons to get on these lists.

3. Update your content regularly
Search engines and blog services love regular updates. It’s very likely that you will get targeted traffic from search engines if you post regularly. That means you should make a new post to your blog at least once per day. But be careful. Too many updates per day can harm your search engine position and hits. What’s too many? 10 or more.

4. Post in forums
Post in forums, but don’t spam them. Post something fresh and interesting and put a link to your blog in your signature. Don’t post in just any forum. For example, if you’re selling makeup, post in forums that are about beauty and makeup. Don’t post in car forums if you’re not selling cars. By posting in forums, you will get one-way links which are good for search engine position in engines like Google or Yahoo.

5. Submit to blog search engines
There are masses of search engines available that list only blogs. Just do a Google search for ‘blog search engines’ and you will find at least 20 of them. These blog search engines will help you with targeted traffic. Be sure to write a good title and a good description to your blog, so that people can easily find it and will click on your link.

Follow these 5 steps and you will start seeing lots of traffic to your blog and the long awaited sales will start coming in! And don’t forget to update your blog with fresh unused content that you write yourself…

3 Steps to Write Blog Posts in Under 10 Minutes

Are you looking for tips on how to write blog posts quickly?

One of the challenges most bloggers have is writing blog posts quickly enough to keep up with trends and keep the content fresh on their blogs. Many bloggers are not trained writers, so having a simple system is important in their workflow. Here are 3 simple steps to help keep the new posts coming.

1. Come up with your topic. You will need to refine this into your title, but keep it clear and focused. You are going to want to write (on average) 300-700 words on this topic.

2. Now, write down 3-5 main points for that article. These are important, as they will frame your article and basically create each of the 3-5 paragraphs.

3. Write out each paragraph. Make sure to write approximately 100-200 words on each main point. You may need to go back and create an opening and closing paragraph based on what your topic is. But by doing all of that, you should have a nice quick blog post to send out into the wild.

Another great ways to create a blog post quickly:

Do a “numbered post” like the one here. “5 Top things” “3 Ways to…” Again – super easy. Create an opening and closing dialogue, then the points in between, and you are good to go!

It is important to write blog posts regularly. You want to hit a minimum of 40-50 blog posts before Google really starts to recognize you. It is always recommended that you try and be consistent with your blogging, so at the beginning look at adding between one to two blog posts a week. Once you hit the magic forty, you can slow down and always remember to keep promoting posts that you have already written! People need to read what you wrote.

Hope this helps!

Facebook Live Setup: Working from Home

What does your ‘Facebook Live’ setup look like?

Recently I posted a picture of my setup for my Facebook lives. It is kind of hacked together and inexpensive, but it works (and works well). I run my little mini-empire from a 4×8 foot space in our family living room so my setup can work for anyone!

Here is my equipment list. (Disclaimer – I make NOTHING off of any of the links on this page. I am not currently an Amazon affiliate, so here- enjoy!)

My Laptop Stand

I LOVE this stand. It gets my MacBook off my desk, at a good height. There is even space underneath where I can tuck pens or notebooks. I have to admit, I needed it up about another 1/2 inch, so I stuck a small book under it. I am terrible at not using my mouse, so I still end up using the tracking pad and this fits it so nicely!

The Clamps

These clamps come in a set of 2, and I purchased 2 packages. They open to about 2″ and clamp onto just about anything. They also have a built-in swivel so it’s easy to manipulate where the light is pointed or where the camera is directed! The clamps have little rubber feet that helps them be more sturdy. I have lost one, so then I went and glued the others on.

The Support for My Phone

This was hard to find. I wanted something that would be flexible for my phone, my husband’s phone, and our small point & shoot camera. It is very adjustable but sturdy at the same time. It opens up fairly wide.

The Lights (probably the most important thing)

I wanted to have natural light during the day, but a lot of what I do, I do in the evenings or on cloudy days (because I live in Eastern Ontario – and there are a lot of cloudy days.) Being a past professional photographer, I know that your lighting is everything. I wanted something that had good options for the amount of light, was lightweight to hold onto the clips, and was BATTERY powered (because I didn’t want extra cords running). This thing runs off of 6 ‘AA’ batteries. I have been using it fairly often for over a year and still haven’t had to replace the batteries. I have 2 and if I am doing a longer video, I will set both up and angle point them at me. They are also a great light for product shots because they are continuous- you can see where any shadows lay. They come with some filters, but honestly, I lost them! The light intensity is adjustable, so you can adapt it depending on how far away you are from the source. I tend to be about 2-3 feet, so I keep it on the lowest setting. If you are further away, just crank it up a bit!

Small Portable (and flexible) Tripod

One of the things you didn’t see in the pictures, is my Joby tripod. I love this thing (and this one comes with the same phone clip as I am recommending above. That means that I can attach a phone or light, whatever I need. As a family, we take it all over. Because I am a geek, I will also often bring one of my lights, too, so I can get better pictures when I am traveling.

There you have it – my big fancy Facebook Live kit! Investing in a few key pieces can really help raise the quality of what you do.

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Are you looking for tips on how to write blog posts quickly?

What does your ‘Facebook Live’ setup look like?

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