Blogging for Fun or for Profit?

Por Liliana E. González

@LilianaElena

When blogging began it was just a way of expressing oneself but over time the purpose of blogging has experienced a phenomenal change. Nowadays a blog is a place to log your ideas, opinions and experiences regarding any matter that you strongly feel for or a great marketing tool.

Blogs can be a marketing platform for your products and services. Blogging can also become a source of income for you and just writing a blog on any issue or a product review can be a means of income for you.

Monetizing your blog (generating income from your blog) can become very simple if you do keep the following things in mind:

Bring a lot of traffic to your blog through keyword based articles (search engines friendly).

Write high quality content: provides appropriate solutions in your niche market.

Your content should be of interest to a broad audience.

Provide links to additional info related to the posts.

Update your content in a regular basis.

If you keep the above points in mind then monetizing your blog will be easy and effortless. Content plays a very important role in getting people to check out your blog. It is the only way you can retain the interest of the people who have started visiting your blog.

There are thousands of blogs that are started everyday, but very few succeed on interesting the public at large. It is this secret that one has to master. Efforts are put in by all who want to achieve success but success comes to those who not only work but “work smart”. Therefore a small understanding of the market trends and a little creativity is all you need to monetizing your blog and making it a huge success. If your blog is one that gets a lot of traffic then you are sitting on top of a goldmine and this is just the beginning of great times to come.

What is a TLD (Top Level Domain) & how to use them?

Por Liliana E. González

@LilianaElena

The International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, ICANN is an international nonprofit organization created in September 1998. Among other functions, ICANN is responsible for the system of administration of domain names or DNS (Domain Name System).

Top Level Domain is the last part of a domain name, the most common, more used and most recommended is the .com.

There are generic TLDs: consist of 3 or more letters and abbreviated gTLDs; Country codes consist of 2 letters representing the country, territory or geographical location to which they belong and are abbreviated as ccTLDs (Country code TLDs).

The gTLDs are subdivided into general (unsponsored) and sponsored:

Unsponsored gTLD are available for registration by any person or business:

.com - (commercial) This is the most common for domain names. It is also widely used in personal Web sites.

.net - Originally representing Internet Service Providers (ISP). It currently has widespread use.

.org - Usually represents non-profit organizations or groups

.biz - For business (business)

.info - primarily informational sites

.pro - Used for specific professions, usually intended for licensed professions. Examples include: Attorneys, Doctors etc.

A sponsored TLD is a specialized top-level domain that has a sponsor representing a specific community served by the domain. The communities involved are based on ethnic, geographical, professional, technical or other theme concepts proposed by private agencies or organizations that establish and enforce rules restricting the eligibility of registrants to use the TLD. For example, the .aero TLD is sponsored by SITA, which limits registrations to members of the air-transport industry. These sponsored gTLDs are:

.aero, .asia, .cat, .coop, .jobs, .mobi, .museum, .tel and .travel

ccTLDs are Country Code Top Level Domains. They are active sometimes even if the country it was created to represent no longer exists. The rules and policies for the registration of these extensions varies significantly from one another. There are already 250 different. Some of them are:

.de (Germany) is based on the first two letters of the German-language country = Deutschland. This is the second ccTLD with more demand (China is number one) and the third at a general level (the first stills .Com). To register this domain, the administrative contact must be resident in Germany and the website should refer or be related to that country. According to DENIC.de there were 12,830,677 registered .de domains on June 3rd 2009.

.cn (China) This is the first more desirable ccTLD and the second in general, after. com. This is sponsored by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and, according to data from China Internet Network Information Center there were 13,594,604 .cn recorded on June 3rd 2009.

Vanity ccTLDs are TLDs which are used for various purposes outside their home countries, because of their letters. They are exploding their marketing potential, for example:

.tv - (Tuvalu) Polynesian island nation located in the Pacific Ocean, midway between Hawaii and Australia. It comprises four reef islands and five true atolls. Their 5 meters elevation above sea level place Tuvalu at the risk of disappear sunk at sea. Their .Tv TLD is used for related television or enterteinment industry sites.

.fm - (Federated States of Micronesia) The Federated States of Micronesia consists of 607 islands across the archipelago of the Caroline Islands east of the Philippines. Extensions .fm is used for FM radio stations and internet radio stations.

.me - (Montenegro) European country located on the Balkan Peninsula, western Serbia, on the east coast of the Adriatic Sea. Extensions .me are used for personal sites. In fact their marketing campaign is ".me is about you".

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Blogging is fun, simple and easy.

By Liliana E. González

@LilianaElena

Blog is short for the term weblog. There are no formulas when it comes to blogging. Bloggers have the freedom to express themselves any way they want.

A popular blog type is the one that takes the form of a personal diary. Persons who want to document the daily battle of their day-to-day lives, poems, rants, opinions, discover that blogging offers them a medium in which to express themselves.

Blogs come in different styles, formats, and settings, depending upon the preference of the user. Many blogging sites, offer integral features such hyperlink, straight texts, pictures etc. Some blogging sites, even allow you to put video and mp3's on your blogs.

Basically a blog incorporates these features:

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

Among the advantages of blogging, is that it is made of templates. This make it easier for blog users to create new pages, because it already has a fix setting that include: slots for title, body of the post, category, etc.

Blogging isn't just limited to personal use. There are blogs that follow a theme such as: sports, politics, philosophy, social commentary, etc. These blogs embrace specific themes. This way blogging becomes a medium in which people can share their knowledge and thoughts about a diversity of themes and subjects.

Nowadays in instruction, blogs play a significant role. Professors use blogging to document the lessons that they have discussed and taught. This way, scholars who have missed classes, can easily catch up with their assignments.

Some bloggers even use their blogs as a way to advertise. Some writers promote their books on their blogs. Although other bloggers, use their blogs to shed light to currents issues, events, news and disasters.

Many entrepreneurs profit from blogging by advertising their businesses on their blogs, with billions of people logging onto the internet everyday, blogging has become a remunerative move. Some bloggers who operate online businesses advertise their products online. Although others benefit by advertisement.

Blogging is actually for everybody. It is fun, simple and easy.

To start blogging for free, go to blogger.com

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3 Easy Steps For An Effective E-marketing Plan

In this day and age, internet marketing is emerging as one of the most viable and cost-effective marketing methodologies especially for small businesses. Here are three easy steps that you can follow for an effective e-marketing plan.

The process of using digital technology in order to sell goods or service is called e-marketing. With the growth of technology and the internet, it has become imperative for businesses to use e-marketing strategies to supplement their traditional marketing methods so as to generate more product sales and to reach a wider market.

E-businesses, though, would generally focus their attention on e-marketing alone. E-marketing uses the same basic concepts as that of traditional marketing. The purpose is to devise strategies in order to deliver your message across to your target market.

The difference with e-marketing lies in the options available to you when marketing and advertising your products, services or business. Of course, you could always use the traditional method, but it is wiser to take advantage of the marketing opportunities that the internet gives.

E-marketing produces tremendous results in terms of increased market share, high margins of profit and continued customer patronage. It is also ideal for small and medium-sized businesses for e-marketing is more affordable and less effort-intensive.

Nevertheless, in order to launch an effective e-marketing campaign, you would first have to create an e-marketing plan. The focus of an e-marketing plan is to ensure high response from prospective customers. Below is a summary of steps for creating an effective e-marketing plan.

Step 1: Determine your target market

Before anything else, you must identify your market. Rank and profile them accordingly and assign resources to each target group. Know their expectations, requirements, needs and wants so that you would have an idea how to go about with your sales pitch. This would also help you in determining your costs and ascertaining your expected benefits. It is also important that you study the market environment and your competitors’ marketing strategies, and give due notice to all possible opportunities.

Step 2: Set e-marketing plan objectives and e-marketing methods

You must immediately set your objectives for your marketing campaign. Are you aiming to increase product or business awareness? Are you aiming for higher website traffic? Would you like to rank high in search engine results? Your objectives may include establishing and raising your e-presence, disseminating business information and sales leads generation.

After determining your objectives, you must establish the e-marketing methods you would use to achieve your objectives. It is not advisable for you to use just one method. It is always wiser to use multiple e-marketing methods.

Step 3: Set a budget and determine your strategies

You should identify the strategies and techniques that you would use to launch your e-marketing campaign. Determine the tactics you would use for implementing your marketing methods. You should formulate strategies that are geared towards capturing your target market’s attention. You must position and differentiate your strategies and establish your priorities.

It is also very important that you carefully budget your expenses, regardless of what objective you have set and what methods you would like to employ. Make sure that your costs will not spiral out of your control. Use the cost/benefit analysis in order to determine an acceptable budget. The benefits should more than compensate for your marketing costs.

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Why Your Business Needs a Website

By Liliana E. González

@LilianaElena

Just about any type of business would benefit from having a website. Consider it another tool that you can use to increase sales, even if you don't sell anything directly from your site. Here are some reasons why having a presence on the Internet makes good business sense

1. Your Website is Open 247

Even though your business may only be operating during the regular business hours you have chosen, your website doesn't lock the door and go home at the end of the day. Instead, it is always available to provide your customers (existing and potential) with information about you and your products or services.

2. Having a Website Gives You Credibility

Many people will go online to investigate a business before deciding whether to buy. When you put up a well-designed website that provides information your customers find relevant and helpful, it goes a long way toward establishing you and your business as one that consumers can rely on.

There is a lot of competition for the Buying Public's dollars and people feel more comfortable dealing with someone they feel that they know, even if it's from the tone of your websites. If you can successfully develop a relationship with your customers, they will turn from one-time buyers to regular customers, and that is key to having a successful business that continues to grow with time.

3. Your Site is Another Way to Generate Income for Your Business

Once you go online, you are not restricted to selling products and services from a physical location. You now have the freedom to sell directly from your website. When it comes to building a successful business, you want to have as many sources of income as possible and selling directly to customers online is a growing trend.

Many people find it quicker and easier to buy products or order services from a website than to drive to a store somewhere to get the items they need. Ordering online saves them time and (possibly) money and they are free to do so from anywhere that has an Internet connection. With time being at a premium, you will want to demonstrate how dealing with you can benefit your customers, and saving time and or money is a great hook to make consumers want to buy from you.

4. A Website Lets You Go After International Customers

Once you go online, you are no longer limited to local customers only. You are free to attract business from anyone who has an Internet connection, which means you have the potential to increase sales substantially.

Keep in mind that when you decide to offer products and services to a worldwide market, you are also going up against more competition. Visit high-ranking sites from companies that offer similar products or services to yours to get an idea of what they are doing right. Armed with this information, you can put your best (online) foot forward and grow your business.

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9 tips to Choose a Domain Name For Your Business

By Liliana E. González

@LilianaElena

The domain name for your business is your online identity. You should be very careful about choosing a domain name that is memorable, scores quite well with search engine listings, has a trust factor attached to it, and commands a brand value. Here are some tips in choosing a well-meaning domain name that captures the essence of your brand image or business:

1. Be patient: You should not choose a domain name in minutes merely just to get it done and over with. A hasty decision may cost you a lot. It is better to invest time in research and arrive at the right kind of domain name.

2.- Use keywords: It is important to have an adequately researched keyword incorporated within the brand name. Use the most searched-for term in search engine queries, within your domain name. Prior to launching your online business, you should do some research through website tools to find out which keywords register the most number of traffic during a month. For example, if you want to make a website based on advising people, you will find that the keyword help is normally typed in the search engine query window a lot more frequently than the word aid. If your domain name includes targeted keywords, than you will get higher rankings in the search engines like Google and Bing.

3. Keep it short: The shorter your domain name, the more memorable it is. A domain name is quite important for your business correspondences and emails. A long one can cause problems in communication, especially if the domain name seems complex.

4. Easy to remember: If your domain name is easy to remember, people can access it directly by typing the name in the address bar. If your domain name has an every-day lingo, the better it is!

5. Use hyphens: More often than not, you may find that a simple two-word domain name is already taken. The alternative in this case, is to put a hyphen (-) to your targeted keyword and then add the other word. SEO experts are of the belief that hyphenating two or more words makes a long domain name more search engine friendly.

6. Dot.com first: If you intend to have a website for commercial or business reasons, then by all means go for a website which ends in extension .com. You could register additional extentions for different business strategies like .org, .us, .net, etc. However, by all means try stick to .com for better mass appeal.

7. Register similar domain names: If you believe that in the future you are going to have a huge amount of people visiting your website, then you should consider registering similar domain names that direct to your main URL (e.g. www.datinginformation.com and www.datinginfo.com). There are cyber-squatters who register domain names in the hope that they will be selling them for a profit to someone who really needs that domain name. Before they do this, you should register the domain names if you think that such a possibility can occur.
8. Use your company name: If your company name overwhelms the basic product name, then by all means go for the company name as your domain name. For example, people normally use the term Xerox rather than photocopy and if you are Xerox, then you should go for Xerox as a domain name because of the sheer popularity of the brand name.

9.- Use your own name: New trends say it's important to use the name to be developed as a brand.

In sort, to be on the right side of balancing your business well, you should register several domain names to represent your business, your brand/name, your product and some keywords or key phrases.

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3 Simple Steps to Your Own Website

By Liliana Elena Gonzalez

@LilianaElena

Do you have your OWN website? Having professional presence on the Web increases the opportunities for getting new customers and reduces marketing costs.

Having a website is like having a house or an office. Depending on your activities, you will decide the type of it. Let me tell you it’s easier than you think – all you need is directions that you follow and you will soon be online.

But how much it will cost? For $10 - $20/month you can have a working website (Imagine: YourOwnWebsite.com), available to anyone in the world with internet access. That’s a trip to your favorite fast food joint. (Yes, you can afford it!)

There are 3 basic components required to building a personal, custom website.

- A domain name
- A hosting account
- Content written in a notepad, word or similar

To fully understand these terms, think on the web as the mortar and brick world:

You live in a home (or have an office) that is built on a certain piece of land (that you rent or buy). That piece of land has a specific address.

Your website (a collection of individual web pages) sits on a hosting account that you rent. That hosting account is found at a specific address – called a domain name.

Your Home/office = Your Website
Your Street Address = Your domain name
Your plot of land = Your hosting account
Your physical house/office = Your web content

Therefore the 3 step process to any website:

STEP 1: Choose your address
STEP 2: Build the house or office you want
STEP 3: Rent some space on a computer connected to the internet

Let’s explain each step:

STEP 1: Choose your address (a domain name)
With the internet you can choose what you want your address to be (your domain name). What are you selling? What would make a cool name? Understand that after over 25 years of domain registration – a lot of good names have been taken. So get creative, and be unique but understandable. An easy place to start with is your full name for a family/personal site or your product name for a business site. Make a list of about 10 possibilities that you like in this format www.yourdesiredname.com Move to the next step.

STEP 2: Build the house or office you want

There is one thing that is really important and that ONLY you can do! That is come up with the content and the idea. Think about what you have to offer and what problem it solves for your visitors and prepare your content so as to answer that problem. E.g. If you are a real estate broker/agent , you can answer your clients questions through your blog and direct traffic to your listings page. Write simply, write short, write clearly. As time goes on, remember to keep your site fresh. Keep the content updated and relevant to your ideal visitors.

Now, before jumping on the next step, you need to decide what kind of site do you need. There are several options in templates and wizards to help you build exactly what you want (no special skills required):

Wordpress blog: easy to install application
WebsiteTonight: Professionally designed Web page templates.
SmartSpace: easy-to-build Web site, blog, photo album and social page
Quick Shopping Cart: create and publish a stand-alone Internet store
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STEP 3: Rent some space on a computer connected to the internet (A hosting account)
Go to Dominiador store (feel free to look into others, but don’t waste your time searching for the cheapest, remember: you pay for what you get), and type your first domain name choice. You will be informed if that name is available or not. Keep trying out your names in order of your preference until you find on that is available.

While in the process, the program will give you the chance to select your hosting account. Select your hosting to match your activity (see choices at STEP 2), when you finish the process, the hosting company will instruct you on how to access you account.

The goal of this article was to give you easy steps of how to get a website for yourself. Naturally you can learn more about each step (stay tunned for more posts in this blog), but now you can start the journey. Create your list of domain names, decide what type of site you want and build your content and purchase a hosting account (including the domain name you want).

A journey of a million miles starts with one step – so go to step 1 and start. (Don’t worry – this is not a long journey – but it’s exciting!).