search engine Marketing is the process of leveraging the usage of search engines to create website exposure for a company. This exposure normally is used to garner conversions in the form of sales, leads, subscriptions, downloads and any other definition of a user turning into a paying customer. This intent-based advertising is the core of Search Engine Marketing that amounts to the best return on each marketing dollar spent.

Fundamentals of Search Engine Marketing

At its core, Search Engine Marketing leverages user intent by optimizing an organic or paid search listing around that specific user’s intent. Instead of blind placements on billboards, mass mailings, and the like, Search Engine Marketing serves up specific advertising via ad creative or search listing based on what the user is actually looking for.

The premise of Search Engine Marketing will provide the most relevant result after a keyword query is entered, in the form of a title, description, and URL, whether it is organic or paid. There is much more control over these factors, known as “creatives” in paid search, but organic search results allow some customizing here as well. Depending on the relevance of your listing and how well it matches to the intent they have in mind, they will chose to either click-through to your site or not.

Why Search Engine Marketing?

Search Engine Marketing, as an advertising and marketing channel, continues to grow its national and international reach and offers businesses and consumers the first true worldwide platform to conduct business. Industry statistics continue to show that more advertisers and consumers are searching to buy and sell what they need.

o In a study done by Pew Internet & American Life Project from 2000 – 2005, using search to find information was done by 90% of all internet users in the US. This number came in second to only Email users at 91%. According to March 2007 data from Neilson/Netratings, about 209 Million people in the US have internet access, which means that about 188 Million of them use search engines regularly.

o According to a statistical survey done by Hitwise in March, 2007, of the top 20 most popular websites on the internet, 18 of which are wholly owned by search engines. These websites make up for 26.85% of all website traffic on the internet. They include the search, Email, music and social media industries. The lone exceptions being eBay.com and Wikipedia.org. Of those top 20 websites, the Google, Yahoo, AOL and MSN contextual, image and video search interfaces make up for 14.23% of all website traffic.

o In a scientific study conducted by Eyetools and Enquiro, the top three organic listings are viewed 100% of the time. The lower positioned listings get incrementally less attention as follows: rank 4 (85%), rank 5 (60%) rank 6 & 7 (50%), rank 8 and 9 (30%), rank 10 (10%). In that same study they found that the top paid search listing is viewed 50% of the time, with lower positioned listings getting incrementally less attention as follows: rank 2 (40%), rank 3 (30%), rank 4 (20%), rank 5-8 (10%).

o Based on comScore data from February, 2007, Google is the leading search provider in volume with 3.3 Billion searches per month. Yahoo scores 2 Billion, MSN: 730 Million, Ask: 348 Million and AOL serves 338 Million. These statistics show that the 5 major search networks were responsible for over 6.7 Billion searches per month or about 35.6 searches per user.

Attributes of Pay Per-click Marketing

Pay Per-click advertising works by charging the advertiser a set auction price that they establish for each keyword. Every time that ad is clicked, the advertiser pays that set amount. PPC advertising has both distinct advantages, which at the same time can be considered shortcomings, over search engine optimization and other forms of interactive and traditional marketing.

Advantages:

Being the latest and greatest in interactive and on-line marketing, PPC advertising offers guaranteed placement, complete transparency and analysis down to a very granular level. Through the use of built-in search engine tools, commonly available analytics, and tracking techniques, the marketer can track when the ad was clicked, how much they paid for that click, what that user did after that click on the site, and whether or not that click was converted into a conversion. They can then take that data, analyze their entire campaign, determine how successful their spend vs. return was and make an educated decision on how to improve that effort.

Campaign-wide decisions and changes can be made by quickly analyzing a set of data and making a few simple clicks with PPC thus giving it a distinct advantage over any other type of interactive media.

Shortcomings:

Because it is now considered mainstream, everyone from major international corporations to mom-and-pop shops are bidding on the same industry keywords, driving up click costs considerably. The strategy of taking a loss on a click but taking the chance of a consumer becoming a lifetime value customer is known as volume bidding and is sometimes employed by new companies looking to brand their name causing smaller companies struggling to compete.

Click fraud is another shortcoming where automated robot programs or manual ‘clickers’ perform erroneous or intentional clicking on PPC ads without any intention to view the site or make a purchase.

Another issue is trust: the users that are aware that they are clicking on sponsored listings tend to assume (correctly) that the site is trying to sell them something. Statistics show that a majority of searches are information-based so not all consumers will want to be overwhelmed with sales pitches on the site.

Attributes of Search Engine Optimization

Coined sometime in 1995 or 1996, “SEO” is the process of modifying the layout, navigation, content and popularity of a website to improve the chances of ranking higher in the “organic” or “algorithmic” search results. Ever since the rise of Google in 2001, external link popularity has become a major aspect of search engine optimization. SEO has some great merits that have helped it stay on top as one of the most effective interactive marketing methods around, but some of the basic aspects of SEO are also shortcomings that must be considered.

Advantages:

Search engine optimization tends to be less expensive than PPC advertising in the long-run. Attaining positive results through good navigation, content and link profile requires a lot of initial optimization work but with time, as those results appear, the long-term costs tend to decrease. SEO has also been known to have a slightly higher conversion rate than PPC advertising, thus improving the return on the marketing dollar.

Organic listings tend to have higher click-through volume which is an advantage over PPC advertising because you are not paying for each click. You can also use log file analysis and server-side analytics software to track the path of the user and various data points such as which keywords they used to get to the site, the conversion rate for organic results and project your final ROI.

Additionally, organic search engine optimization can show results for long tail and obscure search queries that you have never thought about. Google statistics recently pointed out that 50% of all Google queries are wholly unique – meaning half of all search traffic is hitting the long tail of keyword search. It is this long tail that is easy to optimize and rank well for–you just have to find it.

Shortcomings:

With search engine optimization – search engine guidelines, best practices and algorithms are often updated and changed. What may have worked a year ago may not necessarily work today making SEO an art form that is incredibly hard to keep up with.

Compared to PPC advertising, SEO is also difficult to change once everything is in place. It may take a year or more to optimize a site to rank well for a particular search term. If that search term is discovered to not convert well after all that time, you cannot simply switch to another keyword. Changes often require the collaboration between multiple departments such as IT, Marketing, Sales, Legal, Copywriting and SEO.

More of the Good, less of the Bad

The basic premise of PPC advertising is to get more traffic out of the ‘good’ keywords, and less out of the ‘bad.’

1. Bidding – Bidding is the most basic strategy, where you bid down on ‘bad’ keywords to get less traffic, and bid up on ‘good’ keywords to get more traffic. Bad keywords can be defined as words that are less relevant and convert worse than good keywords.

2. Building – When a ‘good’ keyword is in the right position and is converting at a profitable metric, PPC marketers will build-out and expand that keyword, such as using different variations like ‘pens,’ ‘buy pen,’ ‘custom pen,’ and so forth, to get more traffic from similar keywords.

3. Subtracting – Negative keywords allow you to make a semantic distinction between two words with the same meaning. For example, if you are a company that has a keyword “windows for sale,” you would not want to be coming up on searches for Microsoft Windows because that would yield a 0% conversion rate as your website would be totally irrelevant to those looking for information on the operating system.

4. Testing Landing Pages – Unique domain landing pages can be built specifically to act as the destination for a specific set of keyword creatives. This method often leads to higher conversion rates because the user is taken to a page that is highly relevant to what they are searching for.

5. A/B Split testing – A/B split testing is performed by supplying search engines with 2 unique ad creatives and defining when and where each is shown. This allows the marketer to test which creative will yield the higher CTC Rate.

6. Multi Variant Testing – Landing page or multi variant testing involves analyzing multiple landing pages that deliver a different layout, call to action, conversion form or message. Often times, simply moving one part of the page to another area and changing some of the wording can significantly alter usability and conversion rate.

7. Day-Parting – Day-Parting analysis is useful when the business has specific limitations or previous testing has shown that certain ads perform better at certain times. If, for examples, your call center is operational only at a certain time, you can select your “Click here to speak to an operator” ads to only run during those times and not waste money on clicks that will yield to phone calls going to voicemail. Day-Parting allows for maximum return on the marketing dollar in these situations.

8. Geo Targeting – A company that sells products or services only in specific geographical area can geo-target ads to only run in the designated areas that you select. This technique allows users that are most likely to buy your products in that geographical location to see and click on your ads.

SEO Techniques

1. Content – In the field of SEO, it is often said that “Content is king.” High quality, useful and relevant content is one of the main aspects of SEO. Simply duplicating other site’s content will hurt more than it helps. Good, creative product descriptions and copywriting will also help generate high quality inbound links which are also an integral part of the organic ranking algorithm.

2. Link Profile – High quality link development that is highly targeted to the content on the page will be how to get ranked for ultra competitive keywords. The goal is to get backlinks with the keyword you are focusing that page on in the anchor text of the link to point directly to that page. It will further help if that linking site is somehow related to your site and has few other outgoing links to other sites and many back to it.

3. Navigation and Indexation – Navigation and indexation are the very basis of any site and are crucial to being listed in organic search results. Search engines will send crawlers or spiders to your site via external inbound links that can only follow text links for navigation. If the site is coded entirely in flash, JavaScript, or images, the crawler will have nothing to read: it can only read HTML text. Further, using strategically placed words in the anchor text of your navigational text links will help the search engines determine what the page you are linking to is about and therefore improve your ranking on that page for the keywords on which is it focusing.

4. Web 2.0 – Web 2.0 is a broad definition encompassing image search (Flickr), video search (YouTube), social media optimization (blogs), social media marketing (Digg), and user generated content (Wikipedia). These emerging marketing avenues and venues have provided a new medium for the development of the core SEO premises: content and link development. Leveraging the power of Web 2.0 can bring significant amounts of traffic to your site.

Combining PPC and SEO Methodologies

The experienced internet marketer will understand the need to use both PPC advertising and search engine optimization in their internet marketing efforts as both paid search and organic search is important and here’s why:

o Studies prove that when a user sees the website or brand name on the search results in both the organic areas and the paid, they tend to have more trust in that brand.

o As the trust in the brand is established, the user is likely to click on organic listings which will not cost the advertiser any money.

o Increased impressions of a listing will remain in the memory of the user, possibly bringing them back to that brand or search query later on.

o If you have multiple pages that are relevant to a specific keyword or broad phrase match; you can optimize a content-rich page to rank in the organic listings while guaranteed results for a less optimized page can be paid for.

Successful internet marketing should use both paid and organic search techniques. The difficulty is how to best integrate the goals to generate the best potential outcome. Here are some of the techniques to use:

Your main (top level) domain should always be optimized with proper usage of keyword focus, content development, code optimization, server-side setup, keyword prominence, link acquisition, and the main purpose of informing and having the full conversion functionality. At the same time, you can build what are called “micro sites,” which are prettier and more conversion-driven sites on new domains that are built with a specific set of keywords and high conversion rate in mind. This will encourage a greater conversion rate than your main domain that is more content-heavy and broad that will require the user move around the site.

In addition, micro sites that are just one page will rank lower than those with multiple pages that have the feel of real sites. Try and include a few pages connected via text links such as an “About Us” page, “Contact Us” page, “FAQ” page and search function page.

The most valuable aspect of combining your PPC advertising and search engine optimization is the use of paid search data to quantify, measure, and strategize your organic search campaign. Running the paid search campaign will allow you to test various keywords, implement different creatives, and determine how much you are willing to spend and what your potential return may be.

Paid Search Challenges

The PPC advertising challenges facing this particular music download website and its company involve the complexities of scale. The music industry has many possible variants on keywords such as artist names, song titles, album titles, lyrics, record labels and many others. Scaling the keyword development and creative writing for the industry was a major hurdle requiring a significant initial investment. This industry is one with constantly evolving keywords: there are always new artists, songs, and albums being released and the company needed to keep up with each new aspect. Meanwhile, each search engine ad network has a different set of guidelines and interfaces that the company had to mold its campaigns around.

The music industry is highly competitive and keyword bid prices are constantly on the rise. Requiring the need of a campaign management team with a tight focus on conversion and maximizing the ad spend; the bidding and customer acquisition strategy was constantly audited, evaluated, and tuned.

The psychology of the user interested in legal music downloads had to also be taken into consideration with advanced PPC advertising techniques. The psychology of the free music download user is that of an ‘I-want-it-now’ consumer, and the usability aspect had to be optimized through negative keywords, landing pages, A/B split testing, multi-variant testing, day-parting, geo-targeting, web design and usability testing to match the consumer’s requirements.

Organic Search Challenges

Scale is also an issue with organic search and search engine optimization. The particular website has over 100,000 unique pages active, 90,000 indexed by various search engines, and adds about 500 new pages per day. Therefore, the IT team, in collaboration with the SEO and copywriting teams, had to figure out a way to automatically add various on-page and code elements such as the Title tags, Meta data, and content.

As for content and copywriting needs, since there are so many different ways to structure content around every aspect in the industry (artist, song title, album, and related information), a copywriting team was required for research and the development of unique, optimized content for each particular artist, song release and album.

The most challenging aspect of SEO for the site has been high quality link development. It is also the most challenging part to do correctly because it is the sole aspect that you cannot directly control. Many links tend to be un-optimized due to the limited amount of inbound link acquisition and the strict amount of control exacted on linking qualities. In this scenario, the company developed and fine-tuned an internal linking structure that best leveraged that attained link profile by imparting relevance factors in its navigational structure.

Other Search Engine Marketing Considerations

Web Design:

Web design can have a significant impact on both paid and organic search results as well as the user experience on the site. By not complying with noted search engine best practices in your HTML code, search engines can potentially decrease your organic search ranking.

The use of complex graphics, on-page scripts or image-based navigation are not search engine friendly and will harm the indexation of your pages and navigational ability of crawlers on the site.

Web design and W3C compliance also impact usability. A website with HTML markup errors can lead to poor user experience due to missing page elements, resolution non-compliance, cross-browser display issues and mobile devise layout problems.

A poor web design may also be unappealing to end-users. Better calls to action, simpler navigation, clearer fonts, faster load times and a “Web 2.0″ design layout will usually merit a better conversion rate.

Analytics:

Analysis of success and failure is an integral part of any marketing campaign. In the case of the internet, websites, and search marketing, that need is exponentially greater.

A good log file analytics program will help determine which pages are converting better than others and why and also allow you to analyze many small data points on a very granular level. Most modern analytics programs allow you to test:

o keyword usage

o referring site

o time and date of arrival

o user entry point

o user path

o user exit point

o bounce rate

o time on page

o site visited before yours

o site visited after yours

o click fraud detection

o crawler tracking

o funnel analysis

o conversion rate of each link on the page

o ROI tracking

o map costs, revenues, and profits

You can use this information in both organic and paid search to determine who is buying and when, and decrease the possibility of those that do not buy from clicking on your paid listings.

Contextual Ads:

Contextual advertising aims to target users by providing related ads near content that is on the webpage. For example, a newspaper site might run contextual ads provided by Google or Yahoo! along the top, side, and bottom of its pages. These ads will be triggered by certain keywords used on the page making them very relevant ad placements.

Contextual advertising is more targeted and relevant to what the user is interested in at the moment than search engine PPC advertising; therefore, it tends to carry a higher CTR but a lower conversion rate. In addition, recent technology updates have allowed smart pricing functionality to automatically discount the amount the advertiser pays for the ad based on the likelihood of conversion as well as site exclusion abilities allowing the advertiser to not have their listing show up on pre-selected sites.

Conclusion

Search engines have been used as marketing tools since their earlier inception but as technology improves, new methods develop, and more ad spend is being pushed towards Search Engine Marketing, the complexities of making it work and the ROI succeed is becoming more challenging. Both PPC advertising and search engine optimization have unique advantages and some inherent shortcoming, but through their collaboration, each one’s advantages fill the gaps present with the other.

It is through information acquired from data sharing that both PPC advertising and search engine optimization benefit and combine to become a highly optimized Search Engine Marketing campaign. With branding, implied trust, budget allocation, and various on-page testing, the complete Search Engine Marketing campaign is successful.

It takes the collaboration of a wide range of teams to effectively integrate and operate a large scale and successful Search Engine Marketing campaign. It is this large-scale collaboration that most companies that do not focus on Search Engine Marketing alone tend to fall short and rely on experience and technology offered by a Search Engine Marketing agency.

Closely related to social network theory is the theory of ‘social capital’ which deals with the intrinsic value of network structures. In general terms, social capital “consists of resources embedded in social relations and social structure, which can be mobilized when an actor wished to increase the likelihood of success in a purposive action” (Lin, 2001b). Lin (2001a) points out two important components concerning this definition:

• First, resources are embedded in social relations rather than in the individual. The properties of the network and an actor’s position in that network are more important than the actor himself.
• Second, access and use of these resources are dependent on an actor being aware of their presence. If an actor is not aware of ties or relationships between him and other actors, he cannot use the resources available to him. Social capital then seems not to exist, and will only come into existence for that actor once he becomes aware of it. The ability to identify networks and key role-players in these networks will therefore make it possible to identify social capital where the relevant actors may be completely unaware of them. The goal of finding the key actors in a network can therefore be likened to gauging the social capital of a network and finding value in networks where it was not previously observed.

From the definition it is inferred that social capital depends first on an actor’s position in the network (are they in the right place to access the resources?), and second it depends on the nature of the resources in the network (are the resources worth accessing?).

It is very interesting to think about online social networking sites in this context. The social capital (the value of being in the network) depends not just on the individual people in that network, but very heavily on the way they are connected. Connecting to the “right” people end up defining you and building your social capital, because other people will “judge” the amount of capital you have based on your connections and your interactions with these connections. In this context it is essential to find those “key actors” in the network that are going to increase your social capital the most — the popular guy, your VP at work, etc.

Now, according to Adler and Kwon (2000), there are 3 benefits of social capital:

• Social capital provides actors in the network with access to broader sources of information at lower costs.
• Social capital provides actors in the network with extended power and influence.
• Social capital facilitates solidarity between actors, as strong networks encourage compliance with rules and customs without the need for formal controls.

Again, it’s interesting to overlay these concepts on social networks online. Let’s look at each in turn:

• Access to broader sources of information at lower costs. “Lower costs” in this context would mean less effort — you are able to get access to the information you want about your friends without having to reach out to them in a traditional sense with a phone call or hanging out. On facebook, for example, the news comes to you through the “Mini-Feed” application. You know what the people in your network watch, eat, do, listen to, etc. And this social information is of course an extremely powerful marketing tool. Social networks enable this information to spread much more easily (i.e. at “lower cost”).
• Extended power and influence. People with higher social capital not only get the benefit of more (although not necessarily better) information, but they also stand the chance to become “opinion leaders” that a lot of people rely on. And this is not necessarily the person with the most connections (I will talk about this in an upcoming post where I will discuss Ronald Burt’s theory of Structural Holes). This power and influence can really go a long way to build an online identity that becomes a sense of pride — consider the lonelygirl15 phenomenon, or influential blogs like TMZ and The Drudge Report.
• Solidarity between actors (compliance with rules and customs without the need for formal controls). This is an interesting one to think about. Even though there is so much freedom to do and say what you want online, strong social networks seem to have their own rules in terms of what is allowable and what is not. I think here for example of the “Groups” feature in Facebook, where people who don’t necessarily know each other connect over shared interests. “Misbehaving” on Facebook or MySpace, in whatever way that is defined for a particular network, will get you kicked out of the circle — friends will drop you, groups will take you off their member lists, etc. This all serves to build the strength of the network and its members even more.

“So what?”, you ask? Well, I think that we don’t pay enough attention to theory. I just read this paragraph from my dissertation again:

Theory and practice cannot be separated. Virtually every practical decision a person makes and every practical opinion a person holds has some theory behind it. Theory makes the facts of social life comprehensible and places seemingly meaningless events in a general framework that enables us to determine cause and effect, to explain, and to interpret. Even half a century ago Revzan (1951) commented that “analysis leading to theory should not merely condone practice, but should seek rather to improve and direct such practice.” Much earlier, Einstein (1938) observed that “science is not just a collection of laws, a catalogue of unrelated facts. It is a creation of the human mind, with its freely invented ideas and concepts. Physical theories try to form a picture of reality and to establish a connection with the wide world of sense impressions. Thus the only justification for our mental structures is whether and in what way our theories form such a link.”

The theories of social networking and social capital can enhance our understanding of what happens in online social networks, which can, in turn, become strong business ideas. Some questions these theories raise for me are, for example, How can we point out who the opinion leaders are in your online social network, something that is not always apparent? How can we use the rules and customs that online networks adhere to in creating a more meaningful experience for users?

I think there is a lot of value in looking beyond networks to the social capital that they produce. We need to understand how online social networks already manifest these concepts, and where there is still opportunities to use these theories to create better experiences for users.

What should you look for in a hosting company? What sets one option apart from another in terms of value to you, the client? While the needs of each individual or company will vary slightly, there are quite a few common concerns found across the board. You need to find a company that offers the most affordable solution possible, of course. However, you do not want to sacrifice performance, uptime or customer support for affordability. You need to ensure that the host you choose supports the operating system you use (Windows and Linux, typically), and you also need to ensure that the host offers the features that you need. For instance, you might want a host that provides you with unlimited subdomains, or you might require an unlimited number of email addresses. Choosing the right host should be based on the features provided, but you should not overpay for features that you do not need. For instance, if a host offers unlimited disk space for a premium price, but your website does not require an enormous amount of space (nor will it in the future), then there is no reason to pay for this extra.

Ensure You Get the Service You Deserve

Another essential ingredient of developing your web presence is the level of customer support provided by the host you choose. Ideally, you want the best possible support. The hosting company you choose should offer several ways to contact them when you need support – a toll-free telephone number, email and web chat features are the industry standards here. Without the right amount of support, you will find that you have to go it alone, which is not an option for all users. If you have a decent amount of skill working with websites, this might be a palatable option, but it is certainly not for everyone.

Ensuring Uptime and Reliability

Your choice of web host is an investment. Therefore, you need to make sure that you get the best possible return on that investment. While the tools and features provided by the host are part of this return, the uptime and reliability offered are also a huge concern. When your website is down, whether due to server problems, network problems or some other cause, you are losing revenue because your customers cannot reach your site. Therefore, you need to ensure that your web host offers the utmost in terms of uptime and reliable service. The industry standard here is 99.9% uptime, but you will find hosts that offer 99.99% and 100% uptime guarantees.

Dedicated, Shared or Cloud Hosting?

If you have spent any time at all looking into hosting services, you know that there are many different varieties out there. Shared hosting is usually the most affordable, though this is not usually the right choice for larger businesses. Dedicated hosting gives you all the resources in a server, but usually comes at a premium. Cloud hosting is a newer option available, which comes in somewhere between shared and dedicated in terms of pricing. You can also choose virtual private hosting and other options. You need to find the host that offers the right type of hosting for your needs.

Quality Hosting Need Not Cost a Fortune

Once upon a time, finding a good web host meant that you had to spend a small fortune. Today, that is no longer true. You will find several ways in which you can save money, from shared hosting plans to budget hosts. What are your options to help you save money? How can you shave down the costs of developing your web presence? Below, you’ll find a few of the best options to help you cut the costs of getting online.

Free Domain Name Registration

The usual means of getting a website involves you paying to have your domain name registered, on top of the fees for the hosting plan that you choose. The fees for your domain name can range considerably, depending on the extension you chose (.com,.org,.net,.us, etc.). However, using a host that gives you free domain name registration can help you save a considerable amount of money. You will even find some hosts that give you a free domain for life.

Shared Over Dedicated Hosting

The two primary options in hosting are shared and dedicated hosting packages. A dedicated plan gives you all of the resources on a particular server, meaning that your website should be more responsive and more reliable. However, shared hosting plans should not be overlooked. In these instances, you share space on a server with other websites. In the past, this meant slower response times, but thanks to the advent of things like clustered hosting and practices like not overselling server space, shared hosting can be quite good. You will find that this means you are able to save a dramatic amount of money, without sacrificing website performance.

Budget Hosting Options

Where web hosts once charged very high prices for their services, you will find that the story is very different today. In addition to the options listed above, you can use the services of a reputable budget hosting company and save even more money. Often, you will find that these firms offer unlimited disk space, bandwidth, email accounts and numerous other services bundled into a very reasonable cost. Often, you can find a host that will charge you only a few dollars per month. However, be aware that this often means you have to sign a service contract for a specific length of time, so make sure you choose a good host.

What Makes a Good Shared Hosting Plan?

In the world of web hosting, there are many different considerations – you can choose a dedicated hosting plan, or you can opt for a collocation service. You might choose cloud hosting, as well. However, the most common solution in the modern world is shared web hosting. What is this option?

Understanding Shared Hosting

In essence, shared hosting is nothing more than sharing the system resources of a server with other websites. Your website will share the disk space, the bandwidth, the RAM and all the other resources on the server with any website that might be located on that server. Is this a good solution for your needs? The answer to that is, “it depends.” There are numerous factors that go into making a good shared hosting plan. Below, you’ll learn more about these.

Bandwidth Considerations

One of the most important concerns in a shared hosting plan is the amount of bandwidth you will be given. This is essential, particularly if you will have a heavily trafficked website. Bandwidth is really a measure of how much information can pass from your server to your visitors during the course of a month. However, the more bandwidth you have, the better.

Disk Space Considerations

Another important consideration is the amount of disk space you’re given. However, many users overestimate their disk space needs. Unless you have a website filled with heavy graphics, massive databases and other space-eating inclusions, you can often make do with less space than you might think. Therefore, paying more for a shared hosting plan with unlimited disk space might not be the best thing.

Uptime Concerns

For any website owner, the amount of uptime offered by the host is an essential item of concern. You want to find a host with the most uptime possible. If your website is down, then your customers, clients and visitors cannot reach your site. This robs you of income. The industry standard uptime is 99.9%. However, you can do better than this if you shop around a bit. Some hosts offer 99.99% uptime, while others promise 100% uptime.

The Final Price

Finally, you want to consider the price you’ll pay for the features listed above, as well as for others, such as the ability to have multiple MySQL databases, unlimited email accounts or a cPanel control panel feature. You want the best mix of affordability, feature-rich tools and reliability.

Comparing Dedicated Hosting to Shared Hosting

There are two dominant types of hosting in the modern world. These are shared and dedicated hosting. Both offer you benefits, but both have drawbacks, as well. How do these two types of hosting compare to each other? What might you find here? Below, you will find a comparison of shared and dedicated hosting to help you determine which is the right option for your hosting needs.

Shared Hosting Is the Most Common

In today’s world, shared hosting is certainly the most common setup out there. This is due to several different factors. First, shared hosting is a bit more available than dedicated hosting. That is, there are more web hosts that specialize in providing shared setups. Second, you will find that shared hosting is far more affordable than dedicated hosting plans. The price difference can be immense, depending on the host that you choose, running as much as $100 difference per month.

Shared hosting is simply a platform in which your website is hosted on the same server as other websites. This means that you have to share all the system resources, including disk space, RAM and bandwidth. However, this usually isn’t a problem, unless your website is very large or has a high traffic flow.

Dedicated Hosting Is Still a Good Option

While dedicated hosting is certainly more expensive than shared programs, it is still a good choice for some. You will find that large companies use this to a great extent. In addition, you will find that those businesses with very large websites or many websites they manage together find that this option is a good one.

Dedicated hosting gives you all the resources on the server, with no competition. However, this comes at a price – you’ll pay much more for a dedicated server than you will for a shared platform. Of course, if you need all the resources to be available all the time, then this is the best way to go, short of having your own in-house server (which brings its own hassles, costs and headaches).

Making Your Choice

Making the decision to use dedicated or shared hosting will first require that you know your own needs. Only you will be able to determine the best option out there, but you must take the time to do a comparison of the various options available to you. Comparing different hosts will help you determine if you need a dedicated server, or if shared hosting is a good choice.

Considerations to Find the Most Reliable Hosting

Building a web presence requires that you take many different things into account. You will need to find the right amount of bandwidth and disk space for your needs, as well as the best price possible. You will also need to ensure that you find a host that gives you the features you need if you want to get involved in ecommerce. However, while all of those are important, finding reliable hosting is the most important. What goes into reliable hosting?

Customer Service and Support

One key aspect is the amount of service and support provided by the web host. Reliable hosting means that when a problem arises, you are able to get help as quickly as possible. In addition, you should be able to get that help through different means. Many hosts offer a toll free number to call when you need customer support. This should be operated 24-hours per day, ideally.

You should also make sure that the host allows you to contact them via email. One newer option for support that is gaining prominence is online chat. Finally, you should make sure that the web host you choose offers an extensive knowledge base and FAQ section. This helps you find the answer to questions on your own, without having to go through customer service.

Uptime, Uptime, Uptime

While you will find that customer service and support are essential aspects of reliable hosting, the amount of uptime that host offers is even more important. Why is this? Consider the fact that when your website is down, your customers cannot reach it. That means you are losing out on potential sales. Not only this, but understand that Internet users are not known for their patience. If they are not able to reach your website on the first try, don’t expect them to try again. They’re going to go somewhere else. That means that not only have you lost a sale, but you’ve lost a customer.

Obviously, this is a bad situation. Unfortunately, it is one that arises all too often when companies and entrepreneurs are not able to find reliable hosting. Look for a host with a minimum of 99.9% uptime guaranteed. It’s advisable, though, to find one that offers 99.99% uptime, as even that fraction of a single percent can add up to a considerable amount of downtime over the course of a year.

Do You Need to Use a VPS Hosting Service?

In your search for the right web hosting service, you might have come across several different options for your needs. VPS, shared, dedicated and cloud hosting are all popular options. However, there’s a lot of buzz going on about VPS hosting – is this the right choice for you? Let’s take a look at what a VPS hosting service might offer, in comparison to some other options out there.

VPS Hosting

VPS hosting, or virtual private server hosting, is a newer option available today. This is actually something of a combination between shared hosting and dedicated hosting. You will still share space on a server with other websites, but your space, or “segment,” is configured to act like its own server. You’ll have access to your own hardware and software, and can even use the operating system that you prefer (Windows or Linux).

Shared Hosting

Shared hosting is the most common type of hosting out there. Like VPS hosting, this type of hosting service finds you sharing server space with others. However, unlike VPS, you do not have your own “segment.” This means that response times can be somewhat slower. Of course, shared hosting is still more affordable than VPS or dedicated hosting, giving you the benefit of lower costs overall.

Dedicated Hosting

Dedicated hosting is one of the more expensive options out there. In this scenario, you are the only website hosted on a server. This means that all the resources of that system are at your disposal, giving you faster response times. Of course, the higher prices can offset the benefits of faster response times, so this is certainly not an option for everyone.

What It All Means

In general, the average individual or small business will not require dedicated hosting. While it sounds like a good option, the trade-offs are usually too great, unless you have a very large website that requires an immense amount of space and bandwidth each month. Shared hosting remains the best option for those getting into the world of hosting, while VPS hosting services offer a nice middle ground for those who want most of the benefits found with dedicated hosting, but want something priced a bit closer to shared hosting.

In the end, only you can determine your budget and your needs from a hosting service. Choose the right web hosting company for you, and don’t worry about what’s hot on the market right now.

Ecommerce Hosting Need Not be Complicated

The Internet has irrevocably changed the world. The most obvious of these changes is the explosive growth of ecommerce. This is an incredibly lucrative realm to enter, but if you want to get involved in it, you will need to know what to look for in an ecommerce hosting solution. This is important, as not all hosts are up to snuff in this area. The wrong choice can reduce your profitability and even have an adverse effect on your customer base. What do you need to know?

Shopping Cart Functionality

Obviously, one of the most important things is for you to have a good shopping cart feature. This is vital, as it will affect how you are able to manage your site, as well as how well your customers are able to make their purchase. You want a streamlined shopping process, not something that will cause untold delays and difficulties. Look for quality, stability and ease of use in an ecommerce hosting solution.

Security, Security, Security

Unless you’ve been living under that proverbial rock, then you know how important security is to modern consumers. You need to choose an ecommerce hosting solution that gives you the best possible security out there. This applies not only to your customers’ information, but also to your website and databases. Hackers and viruses can compromise your entire operation if the host you use does not have the right safeguards in place.

In fact, this is perhaps the most important thing of all. If your site does not have the right security, then your customers will not have confidence in you. If they lack this confidence, then they are certainly not going to buy through your website. If this occurs, then you are in serious trouble.

Uptime Concerns Are Vital

Finally, you need to make sure that any ecommerce hosting provider that you choose has the best possible uptime for your needs. The industry standard right now is 99.9%. However, you can find hosts that offer higher uptime percentages than this. Why is uptime so important? Think about your website – if it’s down for the count, then your customers certainly cannot buy anything from you, can they? Therefore, it’s in your best interest to find an ecommerce hosting provider with the best uptime. Otherwise, you are sacrificing an immense amount of potential revenue over the course of the year.

Green Web Hosting Options Become More Available

In the past, those who wanted to benefit the environment by using a green web host were somewhat at a loss. However, as the increasing importance of reducing our reliance on fossil fuels becomes more apparent, many companies have stepped up to the plate. In fact, you will find many more green web hosting options today than you might imagine. What will you find with such a host? Choosing to use a green host is an important decision, and offers numerous benefits.

A Note First

First, an important note should be made. You will often find that green web hosting plans are slightly more expensive than others. This does not mean that they are very expensive; it simply means that you will pay slightly more for these options than you will for your average budget shared hosting plan.

Comparable Service Quality

Another thing that you will find with green web hosting companies is that their service is of comparable quality to traditional hosts. For example, you will find that 99.9% uptime is still the standard. In fact, you will find that some green hosts actually offer greater than 99.9% uptime, because their power systems are created to ensure that there is never an outage.

You will also find that the packages and hosting plans offered by green web hosting companies are comparable to others. You will find that the disk space provided, bandwidth allocated and domain names able to be hosted are about equal. However, you will find that some green hosts go above and beyond – unlimited disk space, bandwidth, domains and email addresses are all available through these hosts.

Benefits to the Environment

Of course, the most important reason to choose green web hosting is because it benefits the environment. How does it do that? There are several ways this is accomplished. Many web hosts use wind power generation to provide the electricity the host needs to operate, as well as using redundant connections to generators and the power grid. This energy is created free, simply by harnessing the wind – there’s no additional load placed on the electrical grid. In the case of companies that generate more than what they need, the excess power is fed into the electrical grid, further offsetting the cost of electricity production.

Obviously, green hosts are great options for you, and can give you the means to make a stand for the environment with your website.

Not All Web Hosting Companies Are the Same

It can be very difficult to make the right choice in web hosting companies. Not all companies are the same, so you will certainly need to take your time and compare your options. However, if you’re new to the world of web hosting, or simply unsure what separates a good host from a bad host, you will need some basic information to help you make your decision. Below, you’ll learn more about choosing the right option from the many web hosting companies out there and ensuring that you do not fall victim to a bad host.

The Specific Type of Hosting You Need

Just as all web hosting companies differ, so, too, do the various hosting needs of companies and individuals. The first requirement in choosing a good web host is actually ensuring that they offer they type of hosting you need. Do you need Linux hosting or Windows hosting? Do you need WordPress, Joomla or some other type of hosting? Not all hosts support all platforms, so ensure that the company you choose supports yours.

Uptime Guarantee

Many web hosting companies make some sort of guarantee about their uptime. The industry standard right now is 99.9% uptime, though you will find some companies that claim higher percentages than this. However, if the company does not backup their claims with a compensation program, then they’re of little benefit to you. For instance, what happens if your site doesn’t enjoy 99.9% uptime? What does the company do for you? You should look for a company that backs up their guarantee with a full (or at least partial) refund of that month’s hosting fees.

Should You Use a Dedicated Server or VPS Hosting?

The choice of web hosting plan that you make is extremely important. Not only will it determine how much you have to pay for your web presence, but it will also determine the type of experience your visitors will have when they come to your website. It will also play a role in whether they come back or not. If you want the most responsive website possible, then a dedicated server is usually the best route to go. However, VPS hosting also offers some benefits.

Dedicated Hosting Plans

A dedicated server is simply a plan in which you are the sole website on a server. You have access to all of that server’s resources, such as memory and hard drive space. You also have access to all of the server’s bandwidth. This is an ideal solution for enterprise level companies, and websites that require enormous databases and lots and lots of images. However, a newer option that offers almost the same benefits is VPS hosting.

How does VPS hosting stack up to using a dedicated server? Simply put, they are quite comparable – to an extent. First, a VPS host is essentially a combination of shared and dedicated service. How does this work? Simply put, you share space on a server with other websites, but the server is configured so that your segment works like its very own server. Therefore, you get better speeds and higher reliability than in a traditional shared setup. Another significant difference here is price – VPS hosting is cheaper than dedicated hosting in most instances.

Dedicated hosting plans are still very good options, particularly when you really do need all of a server’s resources, rather than what a VPS platform gives you. Even though a VPS plan gives you specific hardware and resources, it is still not quite as responsive or powerful as using a dedicated server. Therefore, those with the highest needs in power, reliability, uptime and performance will still want dedicated hosting.

Incoming search terms:

• best hosting in us

The first step for earning money as an affiliate is to find the companies that can let you become an affiliate marketer for their products or services. However, before you make the final choice, take some time to find out about the market demand for such offerings.

You can select some offerings that are proven winners in the market and have a huge demand. If you want to experiment, you may choose the products or services that are not as popular, but have the potential to become crowd pullers in the future. Once you have decided upon a product or service, register yourself as an affiliate marketer of that site to complete the first step towards earning affiliate revenue.

Your next and final step is to place links of the particular product or service on your website or blog and start marketing them. To earn affiliate revenue, you will need people to click on the link and make purchases from the sites you are marketing.

You may even join some pay-per-lead programs to earn affiliate revenue when your visitors don’t need to purchase anything. You can get your share of affiliate revenue if they simply ask for a free sample report, fill out a survey, or download a particular software to try it out.

Irrespective of the product or service you choose to promote for earning affiliate revenue, you will need loads of traffic to become successful in your endeavor. If you are ready to invest some money for the purpose, you may try Google’s AdWords or pay-per-click advertising to drive traffic to your site or blog, which in turn would enable you to earn more as affiliate revenue.

However, if you want to do so without any investment, writing articles about your products or services and marketing them is a great way to create a buzz about them. You should also make sure your website or blog is search engine optimized if you want to make it big with your share of affiliate revenue. Follow the steps as mentioned above to make a good start for earning affiliate revenue, and you can be well assured you’d have secured your financial standing to a great extent.

Incoming search terms:

• site earns affiliate revenue

The answer is yes. Though it may cost you some money to get a domain name, you can always find discounts on some domain name registration on the web services. First timers may have the fear of knowing the expense but alternatives are always present.

Each of the domains has what they call extensions which also vary since they are plenty. But you can always find for discounted domain name registration so that you will not have to pay for too much. These extensions have different services and are originally designed for the educational purposes and other purpose of websites.

Anyone can register for a domain name for as long as they can afford to pay for it. If you find the price too high, you can look for discount domain name registration to lessen the burden. Paying for these domain names is no joke and so even if you have found a discount, you still need to see to it that they offer great and lasting services.

Always be careful in choosing the extension since other people might get confused when accessing your websites. You should choose an extension that best fits the theme and the description of your sites as well. And remember to choose a domain name and extension that will be easily remembered by your customers…CONTINUE [http://domainnameregistrationguide.useful-tips.com/guide-on-where-to-find-discount-domain-name-registration.html]

The domain industry provides you with the ability to start a profitable business by registering a domain name for as little as $7.00 and building a profitable website or domain portfolio worth thousands. Domains may be something that is easy to get into, however many had to succeed through trial and error before they developed a successful strategy to become profitable. With any business there are always ups and downs before and throughout your business development venture.  

The domain industry thrived on a system called parking or domain monetization. Through domain monetization owners have used domain name parking companies as a simple solution of monetizing their domain’s traffic into ad income for themselves by providing targeted ad banners related to their website. Any visitor coming to that site will be targeted towards related ads that they would be interested in and follow through by clicking on an ad resulting in ad revenue for the domain owner.    

All they have to do is:

· Open a free account at parking provider’s website.
· Add the domain to your new parking account.
· Target your domain by selecting a keyword and template related to your domain.  

Once completing this task, domain owners sat back and collected revenue checks from parking companies even while they slept. Domainers have also discovered the opportunity of buying domains for as little as $7.00 and reselling them for thousands of dollars. You do not need to be a knowledgeable domainer in the business for a long time to be able to earn this type of revenue. All you need to know are the strategies involved and the right tools to use.  

As the industry continues to develop domain owners are now finding other ways of increase the overall value of their domain as well as increase website traffic leading to increased revenue. This now includes website development that tends to have more sticking power in bringing visitors back to their site consistently. Website development is key to growing your domain business and becoming successful. I came across a domain eBook when I was starting out in the industry. I found it to be a great guide to educating me on the industry and how to buy, sell and develop domains using a variety of different strategies and methods. The eBook provided me with great insight into how to properly register a domain, what domains and keywords to avoid, how to sell domains, develop domains into profitable websites, successful affiliate programs and partnerships to create and much more.  

If you are interested in getting started in domains I suggest reading an eBook geared towards educating you on the industry, where to start and how to succeed in domains because it will definitely get you ahead much quicker.

You can make money Blogging in a number of ways, and in this article I share with you up to nine strategies in which you can make money blogging.

1. Make Money Blogging by Selling Advertising Space

Before the advent of Blogs, we have e-zines and selling advertising space on ezines was a popular way to earn extra money. If you run your own Blog, you can let others advertise in your Blogs with banner ads, solo ads, sponsor ads, classifieds and so on.

Now that we have Blogs, you can repeat the same business model that e-zine publishers do, that of selling advertising space.

One popular advertising company that helps Bloggers look for advertisers is Blogads (www.Blogads.com).

Besides placing advertisers ads on your Blog, you can also make money Blogging by placing Google Adsense into your Blog.

In my “Marketing Rampage with Blogs and RSS” Videos, I show you how you can customize your Blog template to include the Google Adsense into your Blog template so that you can make money blogging.

2. Make Money Blogging by providing technical services such as Blog hosting or setting up Blog

You can also earn money blogging by providing technical services such as helping people to set up their Blogs or providing your own Blog hosting service.

One example of this is http://www.typepad.com . This is a Blog hosting service provider that charges a monthly fee. Typepad lets you create your Blog and they will host your Blog for you, and provide you with a number of Blog features.

3. Make Money Blogging by setttin up joint venture marketing

Joint Venture marketing is a powerful marketing strategy employed by many top online marketers.

Basically how joint venture works is this: You promote person B’s products to your subscriber and customer list, and you get a cut from whatever sale that follows from this promotion.

You can apply the principle of joint venture marketing to Blogs as well. If you have a substantial readership to your Blog, you can also promote or endorse certain products to your Blog readers and this way, and split the profits from the sales generated. This is another way to make money blogging.

4. Make Money Blogging from using the Membership model

Over time, if your blog has lots of postings and provide good quality content, you can consider turning it into a membership site and charge access for it, again giving you another avenu

5. Make Money Blogging by turning your products into

Another way in which you can make money blogging is to repackage your Blog contents into an e-book or an audio product and sell it. For example, if you run your own Podcasting show or an ‘online radio show’, you can easily compile your podcast recordings into a CD compiliation and sell it.

6. Earn Money Blogging by Swapping blogs

You’ve heard of ad swapping when it comes to e-zine publishing, where publishers publish each other’s ads in their own e-zines. This way, you save on adveritising costs.

You can repeat the same model to Blogs, as swap ads on Blogs as well. So instead of paying up front, you get to save, which means more money for you to spend!

7. Earn Money Blogging by turning your Blog content into RSS feeds and sell it as premium feeds

Your blog contents can be turned into an RSS feed. If the content is good, you can look for web businesses that are looking for good content for related topics and sell their feed to them.

8. Make Money Blogging by well, asking!

Hey, who’s stopping you from putting a paypal donation jar or button on your Blog? After all, there are lots of generous people out there you know.

9. Make Money Blogging as an Affiliate Marketer

Another way you can make money blogging is by promoting other people’s products on your Blog. This is also known as affiliate marketing.

In affiliate marketing, you get paid a commission when someone clicks on your affiliate link and makes a purchase. Depending on the subject of your Blog, you can recommend products that solve people’s problems.

For example, I had a subscriber who asked me how she can blog about cats and make money from blogging about cats.

I shared with her that firstly, perhaps she might want to go niche instead of targeting the broad category of “cats”, and using the example of a Persian cat, which is a niche by itself, she can start a blog on Persian cats, providing valuable information as well as recommended solutions and products to the upkeep and maintenance of Persian cats.

http://www.blog-and-rss-revealed.com/category/make-money-blogging/

Link Popularity history

To gain a better understanding of link popularity it is useful to know why it became so crucial for search engine rankings. In the past a web page’s ranking was determined, amongst other factors, by the number of keyword occurrences within ‘on-page’ elements i.e. in page text, META tags, title tag.

When web developers learned that they could trick a search engine to return their web pages by cramming keywords into their pages the search engines had to get a bit smarter. They were using ‘on-page’ elements to determine relevance so it was only natural that they would look to elements out of direct control of the web page creator i.e. ‘off-page’ elements. Search engines made the assumption that the greater the number of links from other sites pointing to a web site, the more popular the web site is and therefore a more quality resource. This worked nicely in theory but in practice it was also to be abused.

Web site owners figured out many ways to get links pointing to their web sites one example of which was through the use of link farms, pages the contained nothing more than a collection of links, Quantity of links was being abused so the search engines made use of the old saying “quality not quantity” and began to assign a quality factor to each of the links pointing to a web site. Now web sites that had a higher number of high quality links were looked upon favourably by the search engines. Building link popularity became a science in itself and today is still the most time-consuming and frustrating activity for a search engine optimizer.

Main classes of links

Note: In the following examples SiteA is our web site and SiteB is an outside site (i.e. a web site under a different domain name than SiteA).

Inbound links:

Inbound links to a web site are links that originate from an outside web site. An example would be a link on SiteB pointing into a page on SiteA.

SiteA (—– SiteB

Outbound links:

Outbound links from a web site are links pointing to a page on an outside web site. An example would be a link on SiteA pointing out to a page on SiteB.

SiteA —–) SiteB

There are two further classifications of links:

Reciprocal links:

An example of a reciprocal link is when SiteA links to SiteB AND SiteB links to SiteA, the link is reciprocated by both parties.

SiteA —–) SiteB

AND

SiteA (—– SiteB

To achieve a high link popularity the type of links to build are inbound one-way links. This simulates how natural links are created i.e. links that people create to point to your site because they found it worth linking to.

For outbound links it is natural to assume that they might decrease link popularity of a web site but this is not true. You do not give away your link popularity when you link to another site. They do not add to your link popularity though.

Reciprocal links can add to your link popularity if the web site that you exchange links with has a higher link popularity than your site. However they are not as powerful as inbound, one-way links as they are quite artificial in nature i.e. most probably created by communication between the owners of both sites.

How to build link popularity

So it is quite obvious that to help build up a nice link popularity many inbound, one-way links need to be created. This can be achieved in a number of different (and most importantly, legal) ways:

Directories:

Directories are categorized listings of links from around the web. Many, many directories exist and vary in their methods of getting your link posted on them. They provide a great source of quality inbound, one-way links. Getting listed in quality directories such as DMOZ or Yahoo can be more beneficial for your link popularity than a lot of links from smaller, newer directories.

Great site content:

The most powerful way to get inbound, one-way links is to have great site content that other web sites will want to link to. This allows you to get links from sites other than directories, which can definitely be better. The best thing about this is that it requires no communication on your part, it just happens naturally. If your site has poor content then others sites may not link, including the directories. Most of the top ranking web sites today got to the top because of great content. Writing interesting and informative articles for your web site is a good way of getting these kind of links.

Emailing web site owners:

If you come across a listing of links on a web site other than a directory e.g. a links page on a somebody’s personal web site, it can do no harm to write the web site owner a polite email requesting a link to your site from their page. They may request a reciprocal link in return but sometimes they do not and you can get a quality inbound, one-way link for your efforts. I have got many links in the past using this method. In my email I always ask them to visit my site first before making a decision to link and I personalise each email with a comment or two about their site.

Summary

The best and most effective way of increasing your search engine rankings is working to improve your web site’s link popularity. This can be achieved by getting as many inbound, one-way links as you can from quality sites such as directories. Other ways to get these links are having great content on your site and requesting a link to your site from other web sites.

Increasing link popularity is a time-consuming and sometimes frustrating process but is definitely worth the time and effort when you see a dramatic increase in traffic.

Incoming search terms:

• see which sitea are linking to my web site

Web site promotion is an emerging concept that has been redefining the promotional methods practiced by enterprises great and small. There are frequent shifts in customer loyalty from one brand to another and shortened life cycles of products due to technological advancements. It becomes essential for an entrepreneur to reach out to the maximum prospective customers within a short time, to get new business, and adapt quickly to a rapidly changing marketplace. The one and only solution is to promote one’s products through electronic media.

Web site promotion means a company having its own web site that provides the information on its portfolio, products or services offered, and contact information. It may feature additional information such as accreditations, partnership/dealer networks, documentation/product literature, demo packages for test trial or free down loads, product delivery services, online order processing, and interactive query line.

A well designed and well developed web site with efficient information processing and interactive features should be incorporated. A top slot in important search engines would help the entrepreneur to gain visibility over the market, gather prospective leads and ultimately build a successful business. A powerful online presence aids in reaching out to highly targeted clients effectively. Web sites help to build brands. They provide product information to drive sales, and advertising and sell products directly over the Internet. Finally web sites help customers to study relative features of similar products and their delivery services, so as to seek the right ones.

If you’re over 20 years old, you probably think this is some crazy sci-fi phenomenon, or I’ve simply lost my mind. Don’t fret, the vast majority of people don’t know what a blog is all about and more importantly, why it matters to them.

If you’re under 20 you can stop reading because you probably know all about blogs, and the value they have in sharing information. You’ve been trading game-breaking codes, South Park clips, and jokes through blogs for months now or maybe even years.

In a recent article, Johnson Ong quips “I have a blog. Doesn’t everyone? You mean you don’t? How uncool are you? According to Merriam-Webster, ‘blog’ was the word of the year last year. Not having your own blog is like not having your own Gmail account. What? You don’t have Gmail either? My God, what are you? A caveman!”

Over or under, cool or uncool, I want to address blogs from a business standpoint, and the tremendous value they can deliver to business. There are several reasons that developing a blog is a tremendous strategy for any business.

1) It will increase your web presence significantly the search engines love blogs!

2) It will allow your business to educate customers and prospects about certain subjects, and appear as experts

3) It will raise your business profile with your vendors and other strategic partners, if they are invited to contribute to your blog

4) Other blogs can, and will, take information from your blog, and you will increase your exposure to anyone that participates in the ‘taking’ blog

5) Blogs accept subscribers, and everyone that subscribes to your blog will be constantly updated (pinged) by you with current information

So What is It?

The full name for a blog is a weblog. It’s a repository for articles, newsletters, information, and discussion boards. It’s like a ‘what’s new’ page on the internet in whatever subject you choose. When people research any topics that you have on your blog, they may very well end up on your blog through their search. If you’ve done it right, your blog is of course, fully branded to your company, and linked to your main website.

If you keep current articles, and information on your blog, you will receive hits from people looking for information about those subjects. You will also receive hits from other blogs, and they will then distribute your information to their own audiences.

You will receive hits from contributors of articles or news items, as well as people looking for those particular contributors through a search engine.

Hopefully, you get the picture. Your web traffic should increase exponentially through the proper use of a blog.

Business Blogs

Business blogs have yet to sweep the business community, which presents a significant opportunity to adapt the technology to any business. It will allow you to share expertise and knowledge with a much larger audience, which should create a significant benefit.

There is specific blogging software, and you will have to learn how to create an effective and valuable blog. You will also have to learn how to acquire and produce current industry information to populate your blog with articles that will maintain interest and value. Yes, there is an element of work to it you didn’t think it was free, with no effort required, like the mumps did you?

As you add current information to your subject area, or to secondary subject areas that you may include in your blog, your chances of more hits are higher. If you continually contribute self-generated articles and news items to the appropriate subject areas, your chances also increase. In addition, there are sources that allow you to publish their materials, which can be used to increase the value of the blog, and therefore the likelihood of being found on the good old inter-web.

So How Does It Work?

If you still push the Pause/Break button in the upper right-hand corner of your keyboard to request permission from your boss for a visit to the bathroom, you can skip this part. Otherwise, it’s really not too hard to follow.

Without getting too technical, there are many web robots (bots), crawlers, and spiders, and similar technologies that have RSS Reader capability. That’s the stuff that is specific to blogs. They are basically looking for news, and blogs have that news.

If you do it right, these bots, crawlers, and spiders find your blog, and send information elsewhere, which is just what you want. Your blog is basically yelling at these web ‘beasts’ to “come on in and take this great stuff I’ve got.”

For example, these web ‘animals’ include yahooslurp, googlebot, feedstercrawler, pubsub, syndic8, msnbot, newsgator, CP30, & R2D2.

O.K., the last two were Luke Skywalker’s buddies, but the rest are real.

It will take 4 to 6 weeks for the search engines to adjust rankings but the ultimate result will be that you will progress up the ladder in the engines in the various topic areas that you feature. When people are searching for technologies or subjects that are being discussed in your blog, they will find you on the search engines.

That should be a hint that you should have content on your blog about the subjects that are most often searched.

When a subject is searched that is covered by one of your branded, self-generated articles, your fully branded information may be pulled to another blog, or to a specific person doing a search in that topic area. You can post that same article on your website, and it won’t go anywhere. However, on your blog it gets a shot of super juice, and may just get pushed through any number of doors.

Linking The Benefits Increase Your Brand

When website owners and bloggers (yeah, I’m now a blogger!) think of linking, they are usually referring to inbound links from external websites and blogs. For example, if you had a link to your website on the website of another business.

While adding more inbound links on external sites is important, there is also a sort of ‘reverse’ link strategy associated with blogs.

Your blog’s incoming links will provide another benefit when someone is referred to an article in your blog from another website. For example, through GooglePageRank, the receiving page (you) gets a boost up the search engine when that happens, which helps the blog overall by boosting the popularity of the blog, which in turn is what increases the search results, which in turn drives up the search engine rankings.

What!? I wrote it and I have to read it six times to really follow what I’m saying.

Basically, the more people that visit your blog when they come from other sources, the more likely it is for people to find you when searching for a whole myriad of topics. That type of benefit does not exist with normal website traffic, because those visits don’t effect web site rankings on the search engines. But blog traffic that is through a link from another site will drive you up the search engines. There that’s much more clear!? As clear as fog in a low-lying bog. Ouch!

Web designer Sue Studios says; “Blogs are highly strategic, here-to-stay desktop tools that can strengthen relationships, share knowledge, increase collaboration, and improve branding. Think of the potential for your e-newsletter strategies:

1) Articles within newsletters can be linked to a blog, extending life and creating a massive conversation

2) You can offer a bi-directional forum to customers to get true, personal opinion on your products and services

3) Company experts can start a blog and become industry experts, helping your company edge out competition and, through this interactive forum, draw customers into another exchange of information and thoughts.”

Well, it’s snowing out so I think I’ll go blogging! Wait, is that something you do in the snow, or is it something you do to stay out of the snow?!

Or is it a Celtic dance? Or should the Steelers have blogged that kick Sunday? I’m confused.