Why Blog?

[lovemark]

I read that starting a blog would be a good way to get people to visit my site. How can this be true? I have been writing a blog about football at: International football
and have links to my site from the blog, but I am still getting more people visiting my original site and can't see how a blog with a PR of zero can help a site with a PR of 4 or 5.
Have I misunderstood something? Am I doing something wrong?

[tamecrow]

Writing on a blog each day is easier than creating new content pages. Is it easier for you to write a diary post or a 400-word article? It feeds the spiders with new content and gives you a great outlet for linking to other important resources and joining the blogosphere. Trackbacks and comment love play a big part in the community these days. It supplements your existing site and gives it an air of relevancy. If you have a site which doesn't update very often then a blog can show that you're current.

[innominds]

I agree with the views of tamecrow! Through blog one can interact with the visitors, but it is not possible through the main site. Moreover updating the blog is easy when compared to the main site.

[martink]

It also offers in-bound links to your site, and with those visitors who are unique to your blog over your main site, helps spread awareness as to who you are (could get them to click through to your site).

[Orion]

Search engines want sites that are consistently and constantly updated .. logic is that a site that is constantly growing is very current and they figure has more relevant information to provide their searchers.

Blogs give you that...

Search engines like websites that provide a lot of information on a topic...

Blogs let you consistently grow your website adding to it post after post

Don't forget you can also submit your blog to blog only search engines, also most main search engines offer separate areas to submit your blog to. Add features like DIGG to your blog and your articles can get some great traffic (leading to increaased traffic for your site)..

[Journey]

A weblog or a blog is a journal or newsletter that is often updated and intended for general public consumption. We use it to promote a client’s site because a blog can contain information that is instantly published to the web.

One advantage of using a blog in SEO is that blog could be used for link exchange transactions and link promotion. It helps SEO to give the prospect link exchange partner a choice for a 3-way link exchange rather than just a reciprocal link exchange. Since a blog contains articles which are related to the targeted keywords or related to the client’s site services and products, blogging is a good way to drive traffic to your site. It is used for link exchange and link promotion which helps to find some potential three-way link exchange partner.

[WDC]

I had one query.

DO i use blog services like blogger.com or implement wordpress blog at my website

[NetProwler]

Third party implementation for blogging like blogger.com has one advantage - you are up within a matter of minutes and has the drawback - Your blog looks the same as a few thousand others except for the content.

If you set up your own blogging in your server - you get to tweak the software for maximum visibility. You can install any mods which will fit in with your scheme of things. In short - if you know what you are doing - you can get the maximum out of your blogging - if you run yours.

[tamecrow]

Originally Posted by WDC

I had one query.

DO i use blog services like blogger.com or implement wordpress blog at my website

Always host it on your own server. I'm not saying it's always best to host it at the same place as your main site, but don't use the blog provider's own servers.

[Paulo]

Originally Posted by WDC

DO i use blog services like blogger.com or implement wordpress blog at my website

Like tamecrow says, definitely host on your server and, if it's a complement to your main site, try integrate the blog as best as possible.

I really love Wordpress but as an exercise I did successfully and almost seamlessly integrate a Blogger design blog into my (old and dusty and in much need of a redesign) website, so integrating Blogger can be done. I much prefer the feeds on Wordpress though.

[jonisolis]

For a business blog I really think you should host it on your site. The free blogs aren't really for commercial blogs. WordPress.com puts a limit on the number of links back to your main site and don't want ads on the blogs. You have less to worry about if you host the blog on your site.

[Orion]

Originally Posted by Journey

One advantage of using a blog in SEO is that blog could be used for link exchange transactions and link promotion. It helps SEO to give the prospect link exchange partner a choice for a 3-way link exchange rather than just a reciprocal link exchange.

Exchanging links and even three way links are not a good thing at all... It does not help SEO (did a couple of years ago till the search engines caught on).
Your outbound links from your site should be to authoritative articles and sites for your topic, inbound links should be from pages / sites that are relevant to your site topic and or article topic.

The linking benefit of Blogs is that people see a great post on your site and promote it by linking to it from their blog / site, and you can do the same by referencing other articles / sites in your posts.

[WDC]

Thanks Netprowler, Tamecrow and Paulo (Sorry if any spell mistake is there )

I have one more last query regarding blog. when I am customizing it for my website its asking for option like blog.mydomain.com or mydomain.com/blog

Which one is good.

Thanks.

[subhzash]

Blog is used to update the content very easily than the web site. Place unique content in your blog with that your blog will get some page rank.

[tamecrow]

Originally Posted by WDC

Thanks Netprowler, Tamecrow and Paulo (Sorry if any spell mistake is there )

I have one more last query regarding blog. when I am customizing it for my website its asking for option like blog.mydomain.com or mydomain.com/blog

Which one is good.

Thanks.

Personally, mydomain.com/blog. I've always had success with this. There's some differing opinion on this, though, so don't take what I say as gospel here

[Orion]

/blog is easier.. there's always debate if blog.domain.com is a separate domain or included in domain.com.

search through WPW and you should find a few threads talking about subdomain vs subdirectory weigh the options and go from there..

hehe... you can always use wordpress to run the entire site as a CMS and blog together and then have no issue above..

[jordanmcclements]

I started a blog at blogspot.com less than 6 months ago - and it already has a page rank of 3.

So Google must think blogs are important in some way...

Concensus of opinion is that blogs are worth creating and updating regularly. But they are very time consuming - and give very little tangible benefit in the short term!

[tamecrow]

Originally Posted by jordanmcclements

I started a blog at blogspot.com less than 6 months ago - and it already has a page rank of 3.

So Google must think blogs are important in some way...

Google owns BlogSpot

[jordanmcclements]

Originally Posted by tamecrow

Google owns BlogSpot

I know - It was the deciding factor for me when starting a blog when deciding whether to host it myself or use Blogger / Blogspot!

[janeth]

Originally Posted by jordanmcclements

I started a blog at blogspot.com less than 6 months ago - and it already has a page rank of 3.

So Google must think blogs are important in some way...

The site pr has to do with incoming links and not what Google thinks about the site.

[jordanmcclements]

Yeah - but the vast majority of links are from (duplicate) RSS feeds of my site, and internal links, and a few links from places like blogcatalog.com which anyone can put their blog on - not matter how bad their blog is....

According to Yahoo site explorer my photo blog - Make Money From Photos Online has 2,120 inlinks.

My photo web site has about 1400 genuine inlinks - and is MUCH older than my blog - and gets about 100 times the amount of visitors, but still has the same page rank as my blog. (It used to have a page rank of 5 - but this was slashed to 3 recently for some reason - but traffic certainly has not gone down because of this - so I suppose it is moot point in a way..)

But honestly, is a duplicate RSS feed link (or even an internal link) worth more than a genuine link from a Myspace user who genuinely has found something useful on your web site? Google seems to think so!


By the way - Hello again Janeth! (Either you have not been posting as much recently or else we have been looking at different posts!)

[melby5683]

Originally Posted by Orion

Search engines want sites that are consistently and constantly updated .. logic is that a site that is constantly growing is very current and they figure has more relevant information to provide their searchers.

Blogs give you that...

Search engines like websites that provide a lot of information on a topic...

Blogs let you consistently grow your website adding to it post after post

Don't forget you can also submit your blog to blog only search engines, also most main search engines offer separate areas to submit your blog to. Add features like DIGG to your blog and your articles can get some great traffic (leading to increaased traffic for your site)..

What does DIGG stand for and how do you add this feature to your blog?

[ganguly21]

Hello guys,
sorry to say something when the matter is on.. I want to start my own blog on my domain..
which software i should use and how to get the blog going...
please help....

[WDC]

Originally Posted by ganguly21

Hello guys,
sorry to say something when the matter is on.. I want to start my own blog on my domain..
which software i should use and how to get the blog going...
please help....

I recomend to use wordpress or blogger

[ganguly21]

can i creat blog on my own domian..
and if yes can i make my blog the way i want to make it. how to make the blog moving fast, I want to create blog on PPC and search engine updates.

[tamecrow]

Originally Posted by melby5683

What does DIGG stand for and how do you add this feature to your blog?

Digg / All News & Videos - It's not a feature you can add to your blog, as such; it's a social news site.

[lovemark]

Why is it easier to upload a blog? You can upload new text to your site as easily as you can with a blog. The size and frequency of the article doesn't have to be different either. The difference I see is that blogs are free, but you have another name at the end of the address, so instead of myname.com you have something like myname.blogspot.com
There are lots of site offering free blogs. Does it make a difference which one I choose? Do they all start with 0 PR? Will the PR increase if I get linked from other 0 PR blogs?

[ganguly21]

Hi,
This is a good question which blog do i choose.. I have one from blogspot you can find it in my signature...

Let me know if you guys think that I need some improvement to be done and where...
Thanks again in advance...

[ganguly21]

Hi,
How can we improve PR of a new blog. Is it depends only on links or all factors same as SEO..

[WDC]

Originally Posted by tamecrow

Personally, mydomain.com/blog. I've always had success with this. There's some differing opinion on this, though, so don't take what I say as gospel here

Thank you. I think I'll try both separately and see is there any difference in that. Fo now I am goin to implement .com/blog but in Soon I am goin to launch new website also I'll add blog.doman for that. Lets see which one gonaa ROCK

[WDC]

Originally Posted by Orion

/blog is easier.. there's always debate if blog.domain.com is a separate domain or included in domain.com.

search through WPW and you should find a few threads talking about subdomain vs subdirectory weigh the options and go from there..

hehe... you can always use wordpress to run the entire site as a CMS and blog together and then have no issue above..

Thanks definitely I'll

Best regards

[tomfrederick]

Originally Posted by tamecrow

Writing on a blog each day is easier than creating new content pages. Is it easier for you to write a diary post or a 400-word article? It feeds the spiders with new content and gives you a great outlet for linking to other important resources and joining the blogosphere. Trackbacks and comment love play a big part in the community these days. It supplements your existing site and gives it an air of relevancy. If you have a site which doesn't update very often then a blog can show that you're current.

I agree blog are important to increase traffic in your web page.

[ganguly21]

Hi All,
Even I'm thinking to have one /blog in my site. That will surely boost the ranking and as well the views of my web site.

[ganguly21]

One question
I have asked for the blog creating software as i'm not much aware of prog...
so can any one give me a clear idea which to go for and how to impliment that.

[Paulo]

ganguly21, you want to be careful with your blog, <sarcasm>it looks like CNET are stealing your content...</sarcasm>

[phunklord]

Question for all:

Is it better to set up your blog on the same hosting server/plan and domain (i.e. blog.mydomain.com)?

-OR-

Is it better to have it on a separate server/plan and under it's own domain name?

I've actually done it both ways and have seen good results in both cases, though my inclination is to think that the separate server and domain is better because it appears completely apart from the main site, thus making the links seem more "valid".

Any thoughts/experience to share? Many thanks in advance.

pl

[farve]

How often does the content need to be refreshed or added to maintain search engine placement? I wanted to know also where NOT to blog (ie popular feeds that spam search engines, which will drop search ranking positions).

Even though a blog would be a good medium for communication, I am not willing to sacrifice engine placement for it.

Any guidance or clarification is appreciated.

Thanks

[WDC]

Originally Posted by farve

How often does the content need to be refreshed or added to maintain search engine placement? I wanted to know also where NOT to blog (ie popular feeds that spam search engines, which will drop search ranking positions).

Even though a blog would be a good medium for communication, I am not willing to sacrifice engine placement for it.

Any guidance or clarification is appreciated.

Thanks

There is not a fixed time frame, but you need to update is regularly with fresh and original content.

[jencam]

I think a web site without a blog is weird these days. I use word press but I still have a blogspot blog. Mine is domain/blog rather than a subdomain.

Why have a blog? They are fun. There is so much more you can do with it than you can with a static web site. My blog keywords are right up on Google very soon after I've posted. Also, there's the use of RSS which is easier for a blog than for a web site.

The blog traffic very soon reached that of my main site, and I intend to concentrate more on my blog now. But to get traffic, since everyone with a dog now has a blog, you need to work on it in a different way, using the social networking sites to submit content.

PHP was new for me and I still haven't changed the original, but I will be soon.
Go wordpress on your own domain!

[rem]

I have discovered that the articles I post on my blog often get indexed by Google and appear in the search results within 2 days, whilst articles at my website take some more time to be indexed. This means that by blogging you can have many pages indexed in a short time, and if these pages are optimized for key words that people search, you can easily increase your traffic.

[coolguy27]

Blogging is an excellent way of one way linking to your site.. It is a medium or way of driving traffic to your site...

[ganguly21]

Hi guys
I have a question,, can we make cuntry wise blog.
what do i mean by that is i want to come up with a blog in a perticular country.

[watto]

I have just finished setting up my first business blog here Small Business for Sale Tips .

I used wordpress and have hosted it at my own site. I am in the process of having a web designer tweak it up so it uses the same template as my site.

watto

[jordanmcclements]

It (Blogging) does work well for links back to your site.

It does suck for traffic back to your site.

I have heard rumours that in the near future links from blogs will count a bit less than they do currently...

[Arvi]

A blog is always worthy, but at first you have to be improve blog's posting and make it worthy enough so that it can be able to forward you traffic to your site.

Try posting ,blogging on regular basis and you will get the result.

[jordanmcclements]

True - but I bet you a million, billion, quazillion pounds (multiply that by 2 for US Dollars) that if you added up the hours (and hours, and hours) of work that you put into doing blog posts, you would find it more cost effective to spend the time on other things!

[innominds]

If you plan one blog post every 2 days, then it will definitely fetch you. As you are updating your site on regular basis, the search engines will visit your site on regular basis.

[Fitz]

Originally Posted by lovemark

I read that starting a blog would be a good way to get people to visit my site. How can this be true? I have been writing a blog about football at: International football
and have links to my site from the blog, but I am still getting more people visiting my original site and can't see how a blog with a PR of zero can help a site with a PR of 4 or 5.
Have I misunderstood something? Am I doing something wrong?

Nobody seems to have mentioned the obvious.... with any blog you can [and should] 'ping' after each update to let the world know about the change. That, in itself, gives the blog a greater chance of receiving traffic and maybe even IBLs.