PROBLOGGING: MAKING MONEY FROM BLOGS

A weblog (or simply blog) is a website that 'publishes' or features articles (which are called 'blog posts', 'posts', or 'entries'), written by an individual or a group that make use of any or a combination of the following:

· Straight texts
· Photographs or images (photoblog)
· Video (videoblog)
· Audio files (audioblog)
· Hyperlinks

Usually presented and arranged in reverse chronological order, blogs are essentially used for the following purposes:

· Online journal or a web diary
· Content managament system
· Online publishing platform

A typical blog has the following components:

· Post date -the date and time of the blog entry

· Category - the category that the blog belongs to

· Title - the title of the blog

· Main body - the main content of the blog

· RSS and trackback - links the blog back from other sites

· Comments - commentaries that are added by readers

· Permalinks - the URL of the full article

· Other optional items - calendar, archives, blogrolls, and add-ons or plug-ins

A blog can also have a footer, usually found at the bottom of the blog, that shows the post date, the author, the category, and the 'stats' (the nubmer of comments or trackbacks).

There are numerous types of blogs. Some of them are the following:

1. Political blog - on news, politics, activism, and other issue based blogs (such as campaigning).

2. Personal blog - also known as online diary that may include an individual's day-to-day experience, complaints, poems, and illicit thoughts, and communications between friends.

3. Topical blog - with focus either on a particular niche (function or position) that is usually technical in nature or a local information.

4. Health blog - on specific health issues. Medical blog is a major category of health blog that features medical news from health care professionals and/or actual patient cases.

5. Literary blog - also known as litblog.

6. Travel blog - with focus on a traveler's stories on a particular journey.

7. Research blog - on academic issues such as research notes.

8. Legal blog - on law (technical areas) and legal affairs; also known as 'blawgs'.

9. Media blog - focus on falsehoods or inconsistencies in mass media; usually exclusive for a newspaper or a television network.

10. Religious blog - on religious topics

11. Educational blog - on educational applications, usually written by students and teachers.

12. Collaborative or collective blog - a specific topic written by a group of people.

13. Directory blog - contains a collection of numerous web sites.

14. Business blog - used by entrepreneurs and corporate employees to promote their businesses or talk about their work.

15. Personification blog - focus on non-human being or objects (such as dogs).

16. Spam blogs - used for promoting affiliated websites; also known as 'splogs'.

Blogging is typically done on a regular (almost daily) basis. The term "blogging" refers to the act of authoring, maintaining, or adding an article to an existing blog, while the term "blogger" refers to a person or a group who keeps a blog.

Today, more than 3 million blogs can be found in the Internet. This figure is continuously growing, as the availability of various blog software, tools, and other applications make it easier for just about anyone to update or maintain the blog (even those with little or no technical background). Because of this trend, bloggers can now be categorized into 4 main types:

· Personal bloggers - people who focus on a diary or on any topic that an individual feels strongly about.

· Business bloggers - people who focus on promoting products and services.

· Organizational bloggers - people who focus on internal or external communication in an organization or a community.

· Professional bloggers - people who are hired or paid to do blogging.

Problogging (professional blogging) refers to blogging for a profit. Probloggers (professional bloggers) are people who make money from blogging (as an individual blog publisher or a hired blogger).

Below are just some of the many money-making opportunities for probloggers:

· Advertising programs
· RSS advertising
· Sponsorship
· Affiliate Programs
· Digital assets
· Blog network writing gigs
· Business blog writing gigs
· Non blogging writing gigs
· Donations
· Flipping blogs
· Merchandising
· Consulting and speaking

The following are a few things that you need to consider if you want to be successful in problogging:

1. Be patient. Problogging requires a lot of time and effort, not to mention a long-term vision.

2. Know your audience. Targeting a specific audience or group is a key to building a readership.

3. Be an 'expert'. Focus on a specific niche topic and strive to be the "go-to" blogger on that topic.

4. Diversify. Experiment with various add and affiliate programs that enable you to make money online (aside from blogging).

5. Do not bore your readers. Focus on the layout. White spaces, line spacings, and bigger fonts make a blog welcoming to read.

Certainly, it is possible to earn money from blogs. One just needs to take risks, the passion, and the right attitude in order to be a successful problogger.

Facebook Marketing: The Tools To Reach Out To More Clients

First of all, Facebook is a social networking website that was primarily designed for use for Ivy League college students. However, because of the interactive tools that it can offer, it is now widely available for many people from different parts of the world. Whichever college or school you go to and wherever you are, you will now be able to join Facebook.

With Facebook, you will now be able to keep in touch with your friends as well as make new friends. However, the best thing about Facebook is probably its tools that you can use to market your business. Facebook is now one of the most popular websites today. With over 62 million active members from all over the world and still growing, you will see that this website is now somewhat of a large community.

You will see different people here from all walks of life.

With this figures, you will see that it will have the potential in providing you a way to market your products or services. It has tons of traffic and a lot of potential in providing your website with more targeted traffic.

You may ask why Facebook became one of the best places to market on the internet. Basically, Facebook is different from other social networking websites. Unlike other social networking websites, you will see that Facebook will be able to offer you different kinds of useful applications or tools that you can use to market your products or services. The applications on Facebook will let you market your products or services far more effectively than the available tools in most social networking websites.

By adding applications in your Facebook page, such as games, groups, and quizzes, you will be able to get people to view your Facebook page and help you market your products or services. The best thing about the application is that it is free.

Facebook is definitely a great place in the internet to market in. With the ability to drive targeted traffic to your website, you can be sure that you will be able to have lots of fun marketing your products. You have to consider the fact that Facebook is about networking. If a particular person in your friends list loved your products, they will most likely tell their friends in their Facebook friends list about the product and encourage them to purchase from you.

This is how Facebook marketing basically works. You'll be surprised as to how many people will be quite interested in what you have to offer. You have to remember that targeted traffic is the key to internet marketing. If you are marketing your products or services in Facebook, you can be sure that you will be able to get a lot of targeted traffic in your business website.

So, the next time you plan on marketing on the internet, you might want to join Facebook. It's free, it's easy, and it's a lot of fun. With Facebook, you will really have great time marketing and also profit from it at the same time.

With Facebook, internet marketing is easier and a lot cheaper than ever before. Remember these things and you will be able to see how much potential Facebook will be able to provide your business with.

Enjoy Your Life: Change Your Point of View

"Two men look out through the same bars: One sees the mud, and one sees the stars."- Frederick Langbridge, A Cluster of Quiet Thoughts

If you’ve placed second in a writing contest, will you jump for joy and push for better results the next time or will you be discouraged and find an excuse not to join again?

In life, you are always filled with choices. You may opt to have a pessimist’s view and live a self-defeated life or you may decide to take the optimist’s route and take a challenging and fulfilling life.

So why nurture an optimist’s point of view? And why now?

Well, optimism has been linked to positive mood and good morale; to academic, athletic, military, occupational and political success; to popularity; to good health and even to long life and freedom from trauma.

On the other hand, the rates of depression and pessimism have never been higher. It affects middle-aged adults the same way it hits younger people. The mean age of onset has gone from 30 to 15. It is no longer a middle-aged housewife’s disorder but also a teen-ager’s disorder’ as well.

Here’s how optimists are in action and researches that back up why it really pays to be an optimist:

Optimists expect the best.

The defining characteristic of pessimists is that they tend to believe bad events, which will last a long time and undermine everything they do, are their own fault.

The truth is optimists are confronted with the same hard knocks of this world. What differs is the way they explain their misfortune---it’s the opposite way. They tend to believe defeat is just a temporary setback, that its causes are confined to this one case.

Optimists tend to focus on and plan for the 'problem' at hand. They use 'positive reinterpretation.' In other words, they most likely reinterpret a negative experience in a way that helps them learn and grow. Such people are unfazed by bad situation, they perceive it is a challenge and try harder.

They won’t say “things will never get better,” “If I failed once, it will happen again” and “If I experience misfortune in one part of my life, then it will happen in my whole life.”

Positive expectancies of optimists also predict better reactions during transitions to new environments, sudden tragedies and unlikely turn of events. If they fall, they will stand up. They see opportunities instead of obstacles.

People respond positively to optimists

Optimists are proactive and less dependent on others for their happiness. They find no need to control or manipulate people. They usually draw people towards them. Their optimistic view of the world can be contagious and influence those they are with.

Optimism seems a socially desirable trait in all communities. Those who share optimism are generally accepted while those who spread gloom, panic and hysteria are treated unfavorably.

In life, these people often win elections; get voted most congenial and sought for advice.

When the going gets tough, optimists get tougher

Optimists typically maintain higher levels of subjective well-being during times of stress than do people who are less optimistic. In contrast, pessimists are likely to react to stressful events by denying that they exist or by avoiding dealing with problems. Pessimists are more likely to quit trying when difficulties arise.

They persevere. They just don’t give up easily, they are also known for their patience. Inching their way a step closer to that goal or elusive dream.

Optimists are healthier and live longer

Medical research has justified that simple pleasures and a positive outlook can cause a measurable increase in the body's ability to fight disease.

Optimists’ health is unusually good. They age well, much freer than most people from the usual physical ills of middle age. And they get to outlive those prone to negative thoughts.

So why not be an optimist today? And think positively towards a more fulfilled life.

Why not look forward to success in all your endeavors? Why not be resilient? Like everybody else you are bound to hit lows sometimes but don’t just stay there. Carry yourself out of the mud and improve your chances of getting back on the right track. And why not inspire others to remove their dark-colored glasses and see life in the bright side?

Newer is not Always Better When it Involves Search Engine Optimization

We live in a world where everybody wants the latest and greatest, somewhere along the way we have come to the conclusion that the newer something is the better. If we are buying a CD it has to be the latest release from the new one hit wonder, we don't care if the song writer couldn't tell melody from harmony or that the singer is incapable of carrying a tune, all that matters is that it's new. Each fall hundreds of people scramble to get to car dealerships, frantic to drive the next years models, barely capable of waiting for them to be unloaded off the truck, it doesn't matter if we are six months behind on car payments on last years model which is in perfect running condition, we're blinded by all the bells and whistles that the new cars have to offer. People will stand in a long line, overnight, in an electrical storm to simply to spend an unhealthy amount of money on the latest electronic gadget just because it is brand new, we don't care that in just a few months it will be a fraction of the cost, we have to have it now.

Even internet service suffers from the right now syndrome. For years we were content with dial-up service. Sure it was slow but it was that or nothing. Heck we hardly noticed that it took hours to download a simple, days to upload a couple of pictures, download a video... that was practically unheard off. We didn't know any better. Now that the world has found out about all the new options for internet service we have to have that. It doesn't matter that it is double the monthly cost or we have to default on are student loans in order to purchase the necessary equipment. If it is cordless, faster, and designed with the latest technology we have to have it...right now.

We don't care if the old stuff is made with better materials, last longer, and is cheaper. In our minds old equals junk.

Search engine optimization is one spot where we should force ourselves to shed our weird inhibitions about old stuff. When it comes to search engine optimization, age rules over youth.

Search engine optimization is the art and science of making web pages attractive to the search engines. The more attractive a web site appears (search engines are attracted, not to beauty, but to repetitious algorithms) the higher it ranks in the search engines search result. A low ranking could potentially be the kiss of death to an internet based business because studies have shown the internet users seldom look past the second page of hits.

Search engines use web crawlers to determine a websites ranking.

Older websites and the webmasters who manage them have had more time to develop and maintain their algorithms. They are already itemized and ranked by the search engines, in some cases it can take three months for a web crawler to get around to spidering a brand new website that has been submitted to the search engine, old sites are already appearing and gaining customer recognition. If an older site has been around long enough to have earned a loyal customer base, even if a shuffle in the rankings causes the aged web site to be bumped from prime ranking position, loyal customers will still look for it.

Facebook: An Effective Tool to Increase Your Sales

Today, the internet is one of the most popular places for businesses to advertise in. Every website you visit, you will see that there will be advertising everywhere. This is called internet marketing.

If you have a business of your own and you want to effectively market your products or services, you will see that the internet will be one huge bulletin board that you can advertise in. Here, you will be able to virtually advertise anything and it is open for 24 hours a day and 7 days a week.

With hundreds of millions of people visiting the internet on a daily basis from all over the world, you can be sure that advertising here will definitely increase your sales.

One great website that you may want to concentrate your online advertising campaign on is Facebook. Today, this social networking website is now considered to be one of the largest social networking websites existing. Here, you will see that over 62 million people are now active members and are still continually increasing.

With figures like this, you know that it will provide you with a very big opportunity to increase your sales and your profit. In fact, it is so huge that large companies or corporations are now marketing on Facebook.

Basically, Facebook is a social networking website. Once you join, you will be able to find your friends who are also a member and add them to your list. This will create a small group of your friends and it will enable you to view their profiles and know more about them and vice versa. You can even send and receive messages as well as comments.

Also, you will be able to post on bulletins that your friends will be able read.

These are the things that you can do with Facebook. It is basically the fastest growing social networking websites today. Because of this, a lot of people have started marketing on Facebook. The great thing about Facebook marketing is that it provides a free and easy way to promote products and services. With the included tools in Facebook, you will be able to take advantage of it, such as the Stumble Upon and Digg buttons to promote your website or your products and services.

This is a great way to generate targeted traffic to your website and it will enable you to increase the potential in selling your products and services as well as increase the volume of sales.

Because Facebook is available for people from all over the world, your business will be able to reach out to more people if you advertise on Facebook.

In today's ever competitive business world, you know that you need to use every tool available in order to get ahead of your competitors. So, the next time you are thinking about marketing your business online, you might want to try marketing in Facebook. Here, you will be able to reach out to more people and it is also easy to do so and the best thing about it is that it's free.

With Facebook, you will definitely be able to efficiently market your business. Marketing in Facebook is free, easy, and fun.

These are the things that you need to remember whenever you want to try marketing online. Try joining Facebook and you will see the potential on letting it help your business grow.