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By Bill, June 20, 2008 4:16 pm

Once you’ve decided to go ahead and become a blogger, you will need to download some programs to do it. You should really have a fast Internet connection like broadband DSL or Cable first up. Trying to do it with a slow connection will be much too frustrating. Then you’ll need an FTP (File Transfer Protocol) program like Filezilla, with which to upload the files you write from your computer to the server computer. They are mostly free ones and it’s not hard to do. But before you start merrily downloading free software, decide if you want to do every tiny little thing yourself, or do you just want to click your mouse a couple of times and have it done for you?

 

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Wordpress.com is a good software tool with which to build a simple blog site. If you go to the website, you will see the options for building your own site or doing it the easy way with the Wordpress prebuilt sites. If you use the easy prebuilt download option, it is totally free. The other option costs you for the domain name and the host. In some cases the domain name is free. The hosting is very reasonable at about $7.00 per month, with 12 or 24-month payment options.

Some of the hosts offer such features as a free shopping cart – which you may not want for a personal blog, but if you had something to sell you would find it necessary.

If you get the prebuilt option of Wordpress, you don’t have to do anything but register and start blogging. How easy is that? You can have all the fun without any hassles and no learning curve. It only takes about an hour to register, set up and be open to the world – or keep it private for friends and family if you wish.

To get some bells and whistles like audio, you can buy simple software that allows you to upload your own voice to your blog. You will need a headphone with a microphone and use your computer to record your voice. Make sure you have a good quality sound card.

You can get a simple software tool that allows you to record your voice and turn it into a flash button for visitors to click on if they wish. The tool generates the html code you need to do this. All you have to do is copy and paste it onto the website. You can get this tool from www.website-doityourself.com

“I hope you enjoyed today’s featured article, and thanks for reading!
Before you go, would you be interested in a whole short course about blogging that will get you started with your own blog, or a blog for your organization – FAST?
If so, go to this site right now:

http://basicblogging.howto-you.com

Thanks again for reading and have a great day!”

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By Bill, June 13, 2008 4:12 pm

How to Use Blogging as a Marketing Tool

Blogging is an almost ideal way to increase your sales of a product or draw people’s attention to a service that you offer. Because a blog is written in such an informal manner, it gives even the biggest corporation a face, that is, it makes it seem really personal to those who are reading.

 

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People respond to people, not to a faceless corporation. People develop trust and loyalty to other people whom they get to know. Once you develop a face for your business, you’ll find that people will relate to you in a personal manner and they’ll do business with you because of it.

You can provide good customer service through a blog. Because it is so quick and easy to use, people congregate at a blog. Many people don’t feel comfortable writing out a question in letter, or even trying to get help over the phone, so if they can just type in “Hey dude…what’s this little gizmo on the side of my gadget do?” they’ll be much more comfortable. And you may even get another customer answering their query, so your time and effort is saved.

Your blog can also be a place to provide information about your product to your potential customers. Once they see how much valuable information you give out, they will become loyal followers – and so customers.

You can drive blog traffic to your website sales pages through the use of keywords and special links in your information. These links and keywords will increase your search engine ratings considerably and the better they are the better your traffic will become.

Once you have established yourself as an expert in the field through your blog your customers will feel more comfortable buying from you. You can link to your sales pages in a website, or sell directly from your blog. You can also monetize your blog using ads such as those by Google AdSense.

While starting up an ordinary blog for social purposes is quick and easy, a blog for business is a whole new ball game and will take longer. But it’s still fun and can be an exciting challenge. The things to remember are to have great and useful content and update it frequently. If you don’t do this then your audience won’t keep on coming back.

You do need to develop your own distinct voice. Don’t write with the formality of a big company. Be human, be a little vulnerable, and you’ll soon develop a fan club.

“I hope you enjoyed today’s featured article, and thanks for reading!
Before you go, would you be interested in a whole short course about blogging that will get you started with your own blog, or a blog for your organization – FAST?
If so, go to this site right now:

http://basicblogging.howto-you.com

Thanks again for reading and have a great day!”