What Makes a Successful Blogger

Yesterday, I was reading a post on ProBlogger.net titled, “Why Most Bloggers will Fail, No Matter How Hard They Try“. I like the content so much, I sent a link to the post to a young future blogger. After I pressed the send button, I had second thoughts. I was afraid the title would discourage they were going to get discourage. The title gave a dim view of success. Failure was going to happen regardless of how much work is put into the blog.

I thought about rewriting it, but that would not be fair to the author. Then I decided to get out of my bed and put together seven things what I consider will make a blogger, writer, or just any person a success. Continue reading →

I Want to Take You on a Journey

Hello one and all, I want to take you on a journey of endless possibilities. Where the only limitations is what we you put on our selves. Yes there is some risk to your pride and reputation, but we will get over it.

Before we get started, I want to give some background by a brief history for your understanding of the journey we are about to embark. This will help you to better understand the wonderful world we are about to enter. Where ideas flow over the internet while computers wait to do our bidding.

It all started where a group of families were sitting around a campfire, at night discussing the days adventures. Along came Mr Gutenberg who brought to us the printed word. Now everyone could read about important events. Then things progressed to the family gathering around a wooden box as it spoke out the days events. A few short years later that box started showing us pictures of things we never thought we could see. Continue reading →

WordPress or Not to WordPress

WordPress or Not to WordPress that is the question? Is it more nobler to pay high website development fees to promote my business on the we web or should I go with WordPress and build it for a fraction of the cost?

Because of the Great Recession people have looked for more economical ways to get the same thing done if not better. Businesses have had to increase the value of what they sell. Many companies have went out of business because they have not adapted to the changing face of our economy.

Through all this change has emerged a something that was not really taken serious. Web designer put up their nose for hours of building complex code. A small group of true believers have went about build a package program with a series of modules. Then they offered it and its source code the large sum of FREE! Continue reading →

Blogoshere Report for 2010

This week Technorati came out with its’ annual report concerning the Blogoshere 2010. I just got through reading it. I am going to save it.

It is after Christmas we sit down with some of my associates to discuss the direction we are going to take in the next year. This year we are going to use this report as one of our points of discussion.

Until that time I wanted to share with you some highlights. These maybe things your may want to consider in making your plans in the coming year. Continue reading →

Content is King

Over the years, I have read and heard different marketing; supposed experts talk about what makes a good website or blog. At one time it was just the right domain name. Then it was SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Now everyone has admitted that it is not the fancy hype that attracts people and keeps them coming back. It is CONTENT!

While on vacation this past summer, we stopped in Baker, Oregon. It was there the local library was having a book sale. As strange as it may sound, my family would rather go to where a library is selling off books than to a parade. Anyway it was at that book sale I picked up a book for 10 cents. It was titled Soft Selling in a Hard World, by Jerry Vass. Continue reading →

Graphic Better Than Text

One of the major ways to building traffic to your website or blog is through cross promotion. This is usually done by linking to other websites and have other websites link to you. This is nice.

A better way to get the link to your website notice on another website is through an eye catching graphic. All this has to be in 125 x 125 pixels. Or if the other website would like to really promote you, then a 225 or 250 graphic is really nice.

It is best to limit this kind of cross promotion to three or four, no more than five. Otherwise the sides of your website will look like some magazines, that are full of ads.

These graphics so nice and easy. All you have to do is supply the code to the webmaster who you want to cross promote. Then they just copy and paste that code into the right place on their website.

If you would like to have a top quality graphic to supply for cross promotions email EF Cussins.

Success Comes from Two Directions

cat The most bloggers just write as a venue to express his or her ideas. The professional blogger writes from a passion with the hopes he has enough people paying reading his blog. While at the same time another group will sponsor his writings.

For some the mere thought of having X number of people reading their blog is success enough. These are people with a passion. These are people who want to be heard. This is fine and dandy for the casual blogger.

Continue reading →

Building a Website – Step 3

hardwork

In Step 1 of this group of posts we looked at planning. Step 2 was the actual construction of a website or blog. Now in Step 3 we are going to look at the hardest/never-ending part of having a website or blog.

If you have not guessed. Step 3 involves all the work after the website/blog is up. Just because you have a presence on the World Wide Web means the work is over. In fact the work has just begun.

The third step in building a website is, without a doubt, the longest and the most involved. It takes the fine skills of a brain surgeon and savvy of as the best crime scene investigator. I am talking about;

Tweaking – I have yet to see a website the was 100% perfect when it was first put up for all computer users to see. Theme and functionality is constantly being adjust for user friendliness and attractiveness.
Promoting – No website or blog can just go up on the World Wide Web and get instant recognition. It takes work, hard work to get large numbers of people to see it. Then we go back to Tweaking to make it more appealing to our target audience.
Fresh Content – Unless your website is weight and measure conversion table, the only way you are going to get to come back to your website is by having periodically update content. I am talking about daily, weekly, and at the most content that is update on a monthly basis.
Re-evaluate – Unless you want your website lost out among all the millions of websites that are in cyberspace, then you are going to have to be constantly re-evaluating the affect you website has on your target audience.

Then you Tweak, Promote, Add Fresh Content, and Re-evaluate it all over again.

Building a Website – Step 2

It is always good to draw on paper the look on paper a rough sketch of what you want the home page to look like. Then the relationship between each page. This is known as the structure.

Now comes building. Just as you would not build a office building by yourself, so building a business website does not take just one person. You have carpenters who frame the structure. You have sheet rock people who cover the skeleton. Then you have painters who give it color. Then comes along the interior decorator who gives the whole structure its’ look and feel.

The webmaster, in this phase of construction, outlines the structure of the website. Then comes along the programmers. It is the job of the programmers to put in the electrical, plumbing, and sheet rock. The designer fills a two fold job. The designer puts color to the web pages, along with the furniture and decoration inside the building. Continue reading →

Building a Website – Step 1

drawings Anytime I sit down with a perspective client, then ask them what is the color scheme and look they want on their website, I get a look of panic. It is as if that is the one thing they did not consider.

The perspective clients usually can tell me the purpose of the website. If they are going to sell anything from the website, they can what and its’ price. When they start to pick out color scheme and shapes, it all looks good to them, but there is no consideration to the people they are trying to reach with their website.

We currently have three basic age groups, and three different social economic groups, in the United States. That makes nine unique sets of likes, dislikes, motivations and repulsions. Some are internet and computer savvy while others only use the internet on their cell phones.

Before a color scheme is chosen, the age range and the social economic strata of the targeted group needs to be determined. Then the colors, and symbols that are attractive to that targeted group needs to be selected. From there the website can start to be built.