blogging

mrQuickShot · #1 (**permalink**) 08-08-2005, 10:22 AM

I am looking to set up a blog to help with the advertising of my swimwear site and I was wondering whether I should use one of those free blog websites with the generic URLS or register my own url (ie: www.swimwear-blog.com) and install some blog software on my server and run it that way.

I guess the question at hand is, which one would search engines like more.

Evic · #2 (**permalink**) 08-08-2005, 02:02 PM

Google loves the blogspot domain (ie. blogger), they own it - why not?

I'm also of the belief MSN is primarily focused on indexing community sites, with a strong focus on blogs, friend networking, etc (as it's a great way to gather a ton of links quickly).

My recommendation: Go with blogger (or another reputable blogging company) and keep it hosted on their site. If you really want total control, I would make the blog a subdomain of my primary domain.

I really don't think it makes that much of a difference, my recommendation is purely based on saving the money on a new domain.

send2paul · #3 (**permalink**) 08-08-2005, 02:10 PM

Here's a little trade secret I learnt from one of these "How To Make A Fortune Off The Internet" courses...

1. Use blogger as suggested above.

2. Register your blog with Pingo-o-Matic! - then ping your blog anytime you upate it - and many places will get a notification of the update.

3. Set up a My Yahoo! link - so that other people can set a link to your blog from their My Yahoo page everytime you update. (The RSS feed does this).

4. Register your blog with Bloglines - it's another place to display your blog and folks can get notified when it's updated.

In short - investigate RSS :)

radu · #4 (**permalink**) 08-08-2005, 03:19 PM

Thank you Paul for this info,
I really didn't knew about these blogs.
I know there are places where you can submit your blog, just that I don't know them all.

Radu

wrmineo · #5 (**permalink**) 08-09-2005, 10:44 AM

Awesome comments, points and resources Evic and send2paul!

Yes, Google seems to love Google! I too use blogspot for that very reason.

I had not seen the pingomatic link and resource - simply awesome!

mrQuickShot · #6 (**permalink**) 08-09-2005, 02:07 PM

Thanks for the great tips. Evic and send2paul you guys are amazing, indeed.

PrevalentTech · #7 (**permalink**) 08-09-2005, 03:43 PM

With using blogger, MSN found my blog and indexed it very quickly.

**incrediblehelp** · #8 (**permalink**) 08-09-2005, 11:31 PM

What ever you choose I would definitely host it on your own website if you can manage that.

Most important of all once you have built it dont forget about it. Posting to it as much as possible with valuable resources for your visitors is one of the best ways to attract spiders and gain freshness value for your website now-a-days.

TrafficProducer · #9 (**permalink**) 08-10-2005, 08:08 AM

Here's some Blogs. Blogging. BLOG. Vlogs. Video Blogs.. Vlogs. Video Blogs & RSS, Really Simple Syndication links.

And don't forget to use:- Press Release List & Article Publishing Physical Publishing

J-Spider · #10 (**permalink**) 08-10-2005, 09:03 AM

Can someone post the link to where you get the "Add to My Yahoo" RSS button for your blog?

mcspec · #11 (**permalink**) 08-10-2005, 10:20 AM

http://my.yahoo.com/s/button.html

This is where you can get the add to my yahoo button. I highly reccomend it. I think that where you host the blog is less important than how the blog is written. I like hosting blogs for mroe control over look and feel and then applying the same rules of thumb for website promotion and SEO.

Post, post, post. That is the key. Also advice I recieved from Dennis Kennedy a well known blog originator was to blog for a month before submitting it to search engines and blog indexes. Get content out there have patience then make your mark. It makes you look more committed.

mcspec · #12 (**permalink**) 08-10-2005, 10:21 AM

http://my.yahoo.com/s/button.html

This is where you can get the add to my yahoo button. I highly reccomend it. I think that where you host the blog is less important than how the blog is written. I like hosting blogs for mroe control over look and feel and then applying the same rules of thumb for website promotion and SEO.

Post, post, post. That is the key. Also advice I recieved from Dennis Kennedy a well known blog originator was to blog for a month before submitting it to search engines and blog indexes. Get content out there have patience then make your mark. It makes you look more committed.

send2paul · #13 (**permalink**) 08-10-2005, 04:26 PM

....and.... remember SEO - even in your blog posts:

1. Use <h1> tags for blog titles, and <h2>, <h3> tags as well - all tags can be styled using CSS to reduce size, but still be seen by search engines.

2. Use keywords of the blog post in <alt> tags if you use an image in the blog post.

3. Try to use a related link to another well-known/read website/blog inside each blog entry. Always use the correct website name in the anchor text of the website link.

4. Read your stats. What are the most popular search terms that people are using to find you blog? Is this worthy of more blogs on the same subject, or maybe even a separate webpage expanding on that subject?

5. Don't try too much at once. Experiment. Analse the results. Try something else.

It's fun & games really :)