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Dorie
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Joined: 28 Jan 2008
Posts: 5
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# Posted: 29 Jan 2008 12:09
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OK, I consider myself to be moderately knowledgable about what's going on with the web but it seems that the whole blog phenomenon has passed right over my head. So I decided to check out a few just to see what they are all about. I don't really understand how a blog is any different from a website. I thought that a blog was supposed to be more interactive than a website but the ones that I looked at didn't seem to have any place for viewers to add their input.
Can anyone tell me what I'm missing ?
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Newbie Shield
Joined: 22 Sep 2007
Posts: 2076
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# Posted: 29 Jan 2008 13:55
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Hi Dorie,
A blog does have many similar properties to a website. In fact it is a website. The main difference is usually that there is a place for visitor comments though it's not required. Another big difference is that the author entries are entered in a reverse time-line (newest at the top).
To make matters even more confusing for you :D, you can create a site that uses regular web pages, a blog, and a forum. But it won't help to get into that.
A blog is website template. I think that will help you more than anything. It is configured to behave and display things in a certain way. It also saves you the time of having to hand code things in html though html can certainly go a long way in customizing things.
"Blog" is a contraction of two words - "web" and "log". It is a website where a log is kept among other things. You can use it for pretty much anything you want. You can make it as public or as private as you like. You can make it as personal or as commercial as you like.
Additionally, your author articles get archived by month and year.
You can configure it further to your liking. You can get free blog space or you can host your own blog once you know what you are doing. That latter is more desirable provided you do actually know what you are doing as it is better for branding and you have far more control as to how you customize it and what you do with it.
Most non blog websites are not interactive whereas most blogs are (visitor comments).
The best place to start for a newbie is Blogger.com. Later on host your own WordPress blog.
~Newbie Shield~
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Dorie
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Joined: 28 Jan 2008
Posts: 5
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# Posted: 29 Jan 2008 14:46
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Thanks for the info it was very helpful 
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Marktech
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Joined: 8 Jan 2008
Posts: 219
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# Posted: 29 Jan 2008 14:56
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Currently at least Google loves blogs! The spiders can recognise a blog and Google will give a blog a boost over just a website, or so I believe anyway. With a blog, and also with a website, it's important to update often with fresh content.
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pcwork
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Joined: 12 Aug 2006
Posts: 1595
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# Posted: 30 Jan 2008 00:15
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Blogs rank well in search engines compared to static websites
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Tybask
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Joined: 29 Jan 2008
Posts: 7
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# Posted: 30 Jan 2008 01:55
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Thats the good thing about blogs you can update your site, and people can add their input. Most blogs are free.
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Newbie Shield
Joined: 22 Sep 2007
Posts: 2076
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# Posted: 30 Jan 2008 14:16
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It's true that Google loves blogs. Google love everything web 2.0 - Squidoo, Hub pages, blogs, etc.
It helps to add fresh and original content often - at least weekly. Daily is even better.
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MedTranHome
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Joined: 18 Jul 2007
Posts: 83
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# Posted: 30 Jan 2008 14:23
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Blogging is fun, a nice hobby, especially if you like to write. And it doesn't hurt to make a couple bucks of them too.
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dmitch31
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Joined: 18 Jan 2008
Posts: 209
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# Posted: 30 Jan 2008 23:08
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I have a blog on blogspot that's really not to be taken seriously. It's a blog where I've written "spoof" news articles about Wealthy Affiliate. I haven't updated it in awhile, but I keep seeing that blog in the top 20 Google search entries for the search "wealthy affiliate".
I actually have a separate blog on wordpress.com that I'd like to be taken more seriously, and I update it frequently. From time to time my not-so-serious blog on blogspot outranks my more serious blog on wordpress in the Google search results. OK Google, whatever...
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Dorie
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Joined: 28 Jan 2008
Posts: 5
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# Posted: 31 Jan 2008 10:45
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Thank you all for your very helpful information. When I don't understand how something works I investigate and try to learn as much as I can about it and thanks to that and your help I think I understand the basics of blogging now. I started a blog (see link in my sig line) and I think I have a plan.
Since I love to write and research I want to get into affiliate marketing. I want to eventually have a number of websites on a number of different subjects and I think the best thing to do is to start a blog about each subject then move into a website.
Is this the best way to get started? I would love to hear any advice you guys may have.
Does anyone know where to find good affiliates to work with?
Is there any place I can go to find out what key words the search engines like best?
Any and all knowledge gems would be appreciated.
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Dorie
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Joined: 28 Jan 2008
Posts: 5
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# Posted: 31 Jan 2008 10:48
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My link was messed up let's see if this works
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mountainmom5
Joined: 30 Aug 2007
Posts: 1787
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# Posted: 31 Jan 2008 13:15
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[Post deleted. Reason: Off-topic and self-serving - Admin]
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Hemjoe
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Joined: 6 Feb 2007
Posts: 547
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# Posted: 31 Jan 2008 17:49
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Hi Dorie,
A lot of information has been said about blogs already, there are just a one major factor that i feel must be stressed if you want success. This is content, some have touched on this but regular content not necessarily everyday..(<<would be good though) but about three or 4 times a week. This just keeps the search engine spiders crawling your site often, increasing the credibility of your site.
The simplicity of blogger or other blogs just helps your cause as adding content to a blog is so easy that it can be added with just the click of a button and hay presto. It can be a lengthier task if you have a static website.
It i nice to see you expanding your knowledge of the web and not just sticking to what you know and i wish you all the best.
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Dorie
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Joined: 28 Jan 2008
Posts: 5
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# Posted: 31 Jan 2008 17:50
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Actually I have looked extesively into SBI and that's what kind of got me going on the whole affiliate thing. I'm hoping I can use the blog to come up with the $300 I need to start my SBI site.
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kyrash
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Joined: 24 Jan 2008
Posts: 78
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# Posted: 31 Jan 2008 18:32
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Anyone using adsense on their blog? Is it better to copy the html and paste where it says page element or to use the adsense button that is located within the blog. I tried to copy and paste the html on one of my blogs but used the adsesnse buttton on the other. Now what i notice is that at tiimes the ad on both blogs are same which shouldn't cos one is on "work at home2 while the other is on Forex Trading.
However the ad changes when i refresh the page to reflect ads that are related to my page. Please someone tell me am i doing something wrong?
Thanks for anticipated response.
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MedTranHome
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Joined: 18 Jul 2007
Posts: 83
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# Posted: 1 Feb 2008 13:00
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I use Adsense in Blogger and set the ads up using their Adsense page element option under Layout.
Then I move the Adsense page element to the spot I want it on the blog.
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mountainmom5
Joined: 30 Aug 2007
Posts: 1787
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# Posted: 1 Feb 2008 17:20
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oops - I guess I messed up by putting the SBI link in the post above instead of in the sig.!
But it sounds like you got the info about it and that's what matters.
Have you tried wordtracker to search for keywords?
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Newbie Shield
Joined: 22 Sep 2007
Posts: 2076
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# Posted: 3 Feb 2008 01:06 · Edited by: Newbie Shield
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WordTracker is one of several good tools. Never let it be your only tool. It's easily worth the 300 per year basic version fee though.
Take it all with a grain of salt. KEI is good for cold keys but depending upon the size of your site, you may want to try some phrases that are a bit warmer and mix them with some cold ones.
If your site is dozens of pages, you'll want to try some hot key word phrases - one and two word optimized pages. Save the cold phrases for pages (and phrases) that aren't driving much traffic and/or converting well. SEO is quite a bit more involved than most imagine...even the big time gurus. Pardon me for saying this but few of them know of the complexity and sophistication involved in truly competing.
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Homeboy
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Joined: 4 Feb 2008
Posts: 219
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# Posted: 4 Feb 2008 10:30
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All I can say from my personal experience is that blogging is a lot of work. Coming up with regular content is the hardest part. It ends up really being a full time job like any other, and it only becomes worth it once your readership gets into the thousands, and that usually takes a LONG time.
You might want to consider slowly building up your blog while working on other things at the same time. Eventually it might pay off, but I wouldn't put all your eggs into that basket just yet, lol.
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happywife
Joined: 14 Aug 2007
Posts: 1059
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# Posted: 4 Feb 2008 17:13
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Quoting: kyrash Anyone using adsense on their blog? Is it better to copy the html and paste where it says page element or to use the adsense button that is located within the blog. I tried to copy and paste the html on one of my blogs but used the adsesnse buttton on the other. Now what i notice is that at tiimes the ad on both blogs are same which shouldn't cos one is on "work at home2 while the other is on Forex Trading. However the ad changes when i refresh the page to reflect ads that are related to my page. Please someone tell me am i doing something wrong? Thanks for anticipated response.
kyrash,
Not sure if this is the case with your situation, but when I am building a new page on my web sites, I get different (unrelated) ads from Google when I am previewing the page, etc. It doesn't actually show the correct related ads until after the page is live.
Could that be what you are seeing?
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happywife
Joined: 14 Aug 2007
Posts: 1059
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# Posted: 4 Feb 2008 17:23
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Quoting: Newbie Shield WordTracker is one of several good tools. Never let it be your only tool. It's easily worth the 300 per year basic version fee though.
Wow! I didn't know the paid version was that much. I suppose it would be worth it if you were using it an awful lot. Keyword research is vital to driving free traffic.
I've used the free version of wordtracker on occasion, but with my SBI sites it comes with a brainstorming tool that leaves wordtracker in the dust (at least the free version).
Actually, it does use wordtracker as part of the resource. You get 25 searches automatically with each site and then if you run out you can purchase more fairly cheaply (I want to say 500 for 50.00 - but I may be wrong - old age again). Anyway, I've never run out, but I could see where you may need to buy more if you were researching a wide range of different topics.
Quoting: Newbie Shield SEO is quite a bit more involved than most imagine...even the big time gurus. Pardon me for saying this but few of them know of the complexity and sophistication involved in truly competing.
That is probably quite true, but the search engines change their algorithms regularly (or so I'm told) so it would be rather futile to constantly be trying to figure them out.
I've found that if you just write realistic content around your keyword search results they reward you with the ranking that you need. No sense stressing over it. It is definitely harder to rank with broader keywords (more competition), but even then, I think if you keep at it and continually add more and more solid content, you'll get there in the end.
Of course, I'm no guru, nor do I aspire to be one.  Just my thoughts.
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