Blogging: How to Blog
How to Write a Blog
This is a question I get quite often. There are guidelines but no hard fast rules. Blogging can be done for many different purposes so what works for me may not be the perfect answer for you. Here are a few guidelines:
- Make your blog posts scannable – use headings and lists when possible
- Make your blog posts short
- Include photos for interest
- Include the main keyword for the post in your title
- Share your knowledge
- Keep it simple
Blog Marketing
Blogging can be a very effective method for marketing your business, product, idea, or service. Blogging gets you noticed and ranked by search engines and can bring your website more traffic if done correctly. Just by crating the posts your site will get better organic ranking for a bigger variety of keywords.
Blog writing: What not to do
- Do not create really long posts
- Do not write huge paragraphs
- Do not think you need to be an English major to write
- Do not write above an 8th grade level
Blogging is very easy. Do not let it intimidate you – just take it one post at a time.
WordPress.com VS WordPress.org
Difference between WordPress.org and WordPress.com
There are many differences ~ and many similarities. WordPress.com is:
- Free ~ it even comes with hosting
- Easy to use and set up
- Full featured
- Comes with a set of tested plugins for your use
- Comes with several Theme options
WordPress.org:
- Needs to be installed on a hosting account that you purchase
- Software is free (open source)
- Full featured and fully extensible
- Can use any WP Theme that is available (or make your own)
- Can use any Plugin available (they do not all work however)
- 100% customizable
Blog VS Website
If you are using WordPress as a Content Management System for your entire website then the .org version is a way better choice. There are plugins that are available that will give your site more functionality and they are just not available in the .com variety. The themes are also fully customizable with .org and not so much with .com.
If you are running a typical blog site then the .com version may be just right for you. Since the software started out as a blogging platform it works “out of the box” for blogs much more seamlessly than it does for websites.
Here is a chart that shows the main differences:
| WordPress.com | WordPress.org | |
| Self Hosted | X | |
| Easy to Use | X | X |
| Set Plugins | X | |
| Unlimited Plugins | X | |
| Preset Themes | X | |
| Unlimited Themes | X | |
| Create your Own Theme | X | |
| Sub Domain | X | |
| Your Own Domain | X | |
| Change the CSS file | X (paid) | X |
| Fully Integrate with Social Media | X | |
| Widget Ready | X | X |
| 100% Customizable | X | |
| Export Data and Theme Files | X |
There are many more difference but these touch on the main ones. The bottom line is if you want a fully customizable and very flexible site then WordPress.org is the way to go. It will require more technical skill or hiring out the setup and customization. Once the site is set up then the 2 systems function and work much the same. Your choices will come with how many limitations you are willing or able to put up with.
Blogging: Make Your Own Blog
How to start your own blog
Starting your own blog can be quite easy using the free blogging tools that are available today on the Internet. There are many different blogging platforms ~ some great and some not so much. Here is a short list of really good blogging platforms for starting your won blog:
- WordPress.com ~ free WordPress site that does have several limitations
- Blogger
- PDXChat.com ~ great site for local business owners to start a blog
Creating Your Own Blog
All 3 of the sites listed above allow you to creat your own blog very easily. Once you register for a free account, there will be blog templates available to choose from for the layout of your blog site. Some of the blog templates will allow basic customization like uploading a new header graphic, logo, and images. Once the template is chosen adding content is easy through the content management system that comes with the blogging software. They work very similarly to Word.
Blog Structure
Blogs have a general structure that is built around Categories. Think of a Category as the main umbrella keywords for your business. 3-5 categories is all that is necessary to start. Make the categories broad enough that many different articles or posts can be put under each category. There should be at least 10 posts per category before even considering adding more categories. Categories are used to help the readers find information on your blog ~ they are also used for the search engines to figure out what your blog site should be listed for ~ keywords.
Starting Your Own Blog is Easy
Maintaining a posting schedule can be more challenging. An empty blog is not likely to get ranked well and it defiantly will not help your business. Make the commitment to post regularly and keep that commitment. You will find that your site will start to get more traffic and people will be returning more often.
KQF WordPress Plugin: Make your Blog more Dynamic
People like Dynamic pages – ones that change without much effort on your part. The best way to achieve this is via RSS. KQF plug-in is an awesome way to include RSS into pages of your blog. Jack Humphrey – Blogging Guru has a video over at The Friday Traffic Report that shows how to best use the KQF plugin for your blog. Check it out and get RSSing!
Dotty
Blogging
Several of my customers have asked for something they can do to increase their organic search engine placement. I tell them to ad content. The easiest way to ad content is to have a blog and post daily or at least weekly. If it is to hard for the client to set up their own blog, I can do it for them and then teach them how to use the software and get them up and blogging. Giving the Search Engines new content to catalog every time your site get crawled is a great way to increase the frequency of crawling as well as the placement of your site.
Just a thought…
Dotty
Nofollow for your Blog
For those of you who are configuring your own blogs this will be useful information. Here is a link to an article for this configuration. Nofollow tag for your blog
Deleting the Nofollow tag will be better for your search engine rankings.
Here’s to your blogging
Dotty