Deciding to blog is a tough decision isn’t it? What subject should it be about? What kind of posts should you write? Should you go it alone or get it hosted for free at a blogging site?

Blogging isn’t the easy job some people think it is. It can certainly be rewarding, enlightening and enjoyable, but the hardest part is definitely getting it going in the first place.

Equally as Hard

For some reason creating a blog isn’t generally seen to be as hard as getting a website up and running. But in reality it can be equally as hard. You might not be selling anything directly from your blog – you certainly haven’t got lots of product pages to worry about – but you do have to think about all the same design aspects when you are creating a blog, and you still have to think about updating it regularly and optimising it for the search engines and so on.

When you think about all that, it’s small wonder that it’s easy to put off creating a blog for quite a while before you actually get around to taking the plunge. It’s also very important to make sure that you do get it set up exactly as you want it before you publish it for the whole world (hopefully) to see.

Creating a Blog

You might find it easier to plan what you aim to achieve from creating a blog before you actually do it if you really are hesitant about making the leap. Do you want to build up a big readership and then funnel them across to your website to sell various items to them? Do you want to monetize the blog itself? Do you simply want to provide good value by creating a blog that imparts good value to its readers?

Once you have the basics in place, you might find that creating a blog becomes a much easier process.

Have a most outstanding day.

Sean Rasmussen
Internet Marketing Blog
www.SeanSEO.com © 2008

What are you doing when it comes to promoting your blog? Are you recording every post you make in all the social bookmarking sites you can find? Are you pinging it every time you update it in some way? How about your website – do you link to it and mention it on more than one page?

Who Is Promoting Your Site?

A lot of internet marketers do everything they can to spread the word about their website, but when it comes to promoting their blog things can go slightly awry. Some of them seem to leave the promoting to other people, hoping that every visitor who finds them will tell everyone else and send waves of traffic flowing in their direction.

Real life is not so wonderful of course. You should be promoting your blog by shouting from every rooftop you can find. If you have business cards make sure your blog URL is printed on them. If you fancy the idea of one of those neat metal strips on the outside of your car, boasting your web address and an eye catching quote from your blog, why not splash the cash and get one made up?

Blog Self Promotion - Every Little Bit Helps

Sometimes all it takes to be promoting your blog in a way that will get you noticed is to do it differently from everyone else. Try printing up some slips of paper on your computer with a cryptic message or tantalising question that leaves people wanting to know more. Add your URL and stick those bits of paper wherever you can think of that’s relevant.

If you write about internet marketing, stick a piece of paper in every internet marketing book you can find at your local library. Get creative. Be different. It’s what will get you found when you are actively promoting your blog.

Have a most outstanding day.

Sean Rasmussen
Internet Marketing Blog
www.SeanSEO.com © 2008

Blog posts don’t just have to be small personal opinions on things. They can be long and detailed and full of insight if you so desire. They can also significantly help your online presence.

And long blog posts can give you another advantage as well. Let’s say you’ve written a really good article on a subject you frequently write about. You’ve sent it to a few article directories and you are pointing the resource box towards your main website.

Why not make even more out of that one article by using it as a blog post?

And better still, you could give anyone and everyone who reads it permission to put it on their website or blog. They might link to it anyway, but why not let them copy and paste it over with a backlink to your site?

Fresh Content For Other Sites

People are forever looking for fresh new content to put on their own sites, and if you actually say to someone, ‘Hey look, I’ve got a great piece here you can use wherever you like – just make sure the contact details at the bottom stay the same…’, that’s really persuasive. It’s steering them carefully towards doing exactly what you want them to – which is to stick your nice long blog post on another site somewhere to give you even more exposure.

The internet is all about sharing, but even while some people might like to read and use your content elsewhere, they won’t ever get around to asking you if they can do so. If you give them permission up front you never know where your articles could end up.

If you’re pretty new to internet marketing you’ll still be looking for ways to promote yourself and start to make a name for yourself. Giving people permission to republish your blog posts is a great way to do just that. So why not start writing, posting and offering right now?

Have a most outstanding day.

Sean Rasmussen
Internet Marketing Blog
www.SeanSEO.com © 2008

There are loads of reasons to blog and plenty of free blog options out there. Whether you choose to do a free blog or host your own or do a combination of the two is up to you. Today’s post explores the pros and cons of each option. I choose to do a combination of these things for my own purposes mostly because in my early online days, I didn’t realise the benefits of having my own blog on my own domain and didn’t realise just how inexpensive it could be to do it on my own and be able to have just what I wanted.

The pros of free blogs include that there are no costs and that they usually have an easy interface or template for you to use so you don’t have to be at all technical to figure out how to use them.

On the con side, you have no control and they can be very simple so they may not have all the functionality you’re looking for.

With a free blog, there may be some advertising that you cannot control. With a blog on your own domain, you have much more earning potential and power over the layout of the site.

How Much Does Having Your Own blog cost?

You can typically get a domain registered for $10 or less for a one year period and hosting is often less than $10 a month when you want a basic package that hosts a blog. Wordpress is the most popular and most versatile option and you can install it for free. Your own host might even have Wordpress built into your hosting control panel making it that much easier to get up and running quickly.

Benefits of Blogging

In terms of money making potential, blogs can definitely help you. Not only do they do great in search engines because of being continuously updated but they create viral marketing for you because people will link to you in their blogroll and on their site as well. Whether you’re planning to blog for profit or add a blog to your existing site to enhance search engine optimization, you can definitely benefit. If you’re not yet blogging or not yet using this to your full advantage, it’s definitely worth looking into.

Have a most outstanding day.

Dana Prince
Internet Marketing Blog
www.SeanSEO.com © 2008