The Basics of Blogging
is continually gaining ground and popularity.
Nowadays, technologically savvy corporate businessmen,
or even business employees, use blogs to build and
manage relationships with their consumers. They share
their company’s expertise, culture and other
information, which can help develop the customer’s
interest in their products and services.
On the other hand, not only do businessmen venture in
the world of blogging but regular computer users too.
Not only can they voice out their opinions and
thoughts to others but also earn money in more ways
than one; from selling ad space to offering expert
services, which in turn builds their reputation as a
professional.
If you are thinking of entering the blogsphere, you
must be ready of the problems you might encounter in
several areas of blogging, such as: choosing,
installing and configuring your blog software tools.
Although the collection and assortment of
configurations vary widely, a neophyte blogger can
still get confused. The tools are not the only
obstacles you must overcome but also the terminologies
used for blogging.
Tools for Blogging
Basically, the software tools for your blog greatly
depend on your provider. For instance, the RSS
functionality can be absent from one provider but
present in another. Additionally, some blog software
tool providers can cost as low as $4 each month
depending on the extent of service you choose, while
others can be used for free but with limited services.
Choosing the right software tool depends on you. If
you have enough cash to spare for a blog or if you
want to really get serious with a blog and hope to
earn cash in the future, which is always a
possibility, you have the option of choosing priced
blog software tools. However, if you are a newbie
blogger, it might be advisable to start with free blog
software tool providers.
Fortunately, some providers that charge for their
services also offer free trial periods, which range
from 10 to 30 days. This is an excellent opportunity
to try and test out the services they offer without
paying any fee. Luckily, if you find a provider that
you are comfortable with and offer the services you
need, you can always use their free trial periods to
the full extent before subscribing.
Blogging Terminologies
Blogging is like a secret society and like most secret
societies; it has its own language that you must
learn. Although, technologically savvy individuals an
easily familiarize themselves with these terms, it
might be hard for those who have limited or no
background with Web publishing whatsoever.
Firstly, the most important term in blogging is Post.
A post happens every time you place or publish an
update to your blog; you also create a post this way.
Secondly, since blogs are a means of communication,
comments are also possible. If your audience leaves a
message regarding your published content, this message
is referred to as a comment. Normally, the comments
are labeled and time-stamped to allow you and other
readers to see who posted the comment and when it was
posted.
Comment spams, is also a term that happen when a
single reader continuously repeats the same comment
over and over again. This can be a headache for the
blogger as the blog can be used by the reader to
promote other blogs or Web site.
These are just some of the few terms that you can
encounter in blogging. Only exploration and experience
can help you understand the other terminologies
involved in blogging.
The Benefits of the Blog Types
blogging type. In fact, there are several types of
blogs. No matter what type bloggers use, they publish
content around topics and issues that they feel
passionate about. For instance, several bloggers write
about politics, others for pet care and some for
personal computers. However, blogs that are business
oriented are often focused into a single topic for the
fact that they need to emphasize their services or
products.
Blogs can cover a wide range of topics. Because of
this versatility, several people are starting to blog.
Not only can they express what they feel or advertise
their products or services, they can also earn cash.
Blogs are new methods of earning income at the comfort
of your own home. However, that is just the icing on
the cake since blogging can bring lots of joy to
several bloggers for that fact that they can share
their opinions and thoughts to others and receive
advise from them or vice versa.
Blogging for Business
Several businesses are exploring the world of
blogging. This is an excellent opportunity for them
since blogging is a great medium of communication.
Additionally, business oriented blogs can benefit from
the search engine optimization advantage, which is the
biggest leverage of blogging.
If the business has a Web site that promotes a product
or service, any type of content that the business use
as the vehicle to drive the business or commerce to
another level require a blog. Blogs are very useful
because they are text-based and light weight, with
regards to the code used, compared to traditional Web
site content. This only means that blogs minimize the
crawl time of search engine spiders and allow them to
retrieve more information about the page to the search
directories a lot faster.
More so, blogs are dynamic because they can be updated
frequently. By frequently publishing contents for the
blog, the search engine spiders visit more often. The
result is that the blog can have more pages being sent
over the search engines compared to the business’s
opponents. This is very good indeed if the competitor
is the one who has a static Web site. This also
provides the blogging business an opportunity to reach
out to more potential customers, thus possibly
increasing their revenue.
Blogging for Personal Use
Normally, personal blogs have the characteristics of
being exciting, interesting and enjoyable. Bloggers
blogging for personal reasons have the purpose of
keeping their friends and family updated about their
lives and activities. Many bloggers find comfort in
blogging personal contents. Additionally, if you
create a personal blog, you are open to the idea of
sharing your interest with other people who might
visit your blog.
Like any other blogs, personal blogs can be
incorporated with photos, videos and other multimedia
elements. You can create a personal blog about
anything that you feel passionate about. There are
even personal blogs with contents regarding products
that the blogger is really interested in. This
provides the businesses ideas about the preferences of
their customers. This only proves that blogs also work
in synergy.
Blogs are very easy to use content management systems,
which allow you to publish articles right away and in
real-time. These platforms for communication unravel
new opportunities to connect with others both in a
personal or professional manner.
What To Know When Starting A Blog For Making Money Online
| Things in the blogging world have recently taken a rise and many people are making substantial side businesses out of it. It may appear to be a very simple concept to write and post blogs and make some money off the advertising but it is a bit more complicated than that. As long as you follow a few easy steps, you should have much success. Make a Profit Even though blogging in general is not a hard task, making a profit from it sometimes can be. There are a few tricks that you need to learn that can be important when it comes to making a profit on your blog. Just because you put a few ads doesn't mean that you will earn millions overnight. Remember that if you are trying to make a side business out of blogging, it is just as demanding as any other side job. It will require an investment of time and money. But out of all different types of side businesses, blogging may be one that is less complicated. It just depends on the effort that you make. Choose a Good Niche If you are looking to have continous readers, you will want to find a broad topic and try to stick to it. Blogs that are constantly changing from topic to topic will have a hard time keep readers. Focus on your area of expertise and don't stray too far. Large jumps in topic are not good for a blog. Start Out Small If you are new at blogging, you may not want to overwhelm yourself too quickly by having too many blogs. Start out small with one and grow from there. Once you have gotten the hang of things with your first blog then feel free to add some more. But if you jump too quickly into this side business you may not get the best results. Pay Attention to the Advertising The way that you will be earning money from your blog is by advertising. There are many different ways to obtain advertising and so it may be sometimes difficult to keep them all separate and organized. Before you settle on any type of advertising you should probably do some research and see what they all have to offer. At times it can be difficult to know how much or what sort of ad to place on your blog. This can be especially difficult when you are just starting your blog. If you have doubts about what you are doing or what kind of advertising to place, just try to be tactful. You don't want too many or too few ads. Just find a good balance. These are just a few things to look at before you decide on any form of advertising for your new blog. Remember that just like any type of side business, you will have to put forth a good amount of time and effort but it will be worth it in the end. Things in the blogging world have recently taken a rise and many people are making substantial side businesses out of it. It may appear to be a very simple concept to write and post blogs and make some money off the advertising but it is a bit more complicated than that. As long as you follow a few easy steps, you should have much success. Make a Profit Even though blogging in general is not a hard task, making a profit from it sometimes can be. There are a few tricks that you need to learn that can be important when it comes to making a profit on your blog. Just because you put a few ads doesn't mean that you will earn millions overnight. Remember that if you are trying to make a side business out of blogging, it is just as demanding as any other side job. It will require an investment of time and money. But out of all different types of side businesses, blogging may be one that is less complicated. It just depends on the effort that you make. Choose a Good Niche If you are looking to have continous readers, you will want to find a broad topic and try to stick to it. Blogs that are constantly changing from topic to topic will have a hard time keep readers. Focus on your area of expertise and don't stray too far. Large jumps in topic are not good for a blog. Start Out Small If you are new at blogging, you may not want to overwhelm yourself too quickly by having too many blogs. Start out small with one and grow from there. Once you have gotten the hang of things with your first blog then feel free to add some more. But if you jump too quickly into this side business you may not get the best results. Pay Attention to the Advertising The way that you will be earning money from your blog is by advertising. There are many different ways to obtain advertising and so it may be sometimes difficult to keep them all separate and organized. Before you settle on any type of advertising you should probably do some research and see what they all have to offer. At times it can be difficult to know how much or what sort of ad to place on your blog. This can be especially difficult when you are just starting your blog. If you have doubts about what you are doing or what kind of advertising to place, just try to be tactful. You don't want too many or too few ads. Just find a good balance. These are just a few things to look at before you decide on any form of advertising for your new blog. Remember that just like any type of side business, you will have to put forth a good amount of time and effort but it will be worth it in the end. |
| Author Resource:- Court provides internet marketing tips and is an expert on internet marketing. |
| Article From New Ezine Articles |
How to Profit From a Blog
bloggers blog for the purpose of making money. There
may be some contents published to simply provide an
outlet for voicing out the bloggers’ opinions and
share their thoughts. However, the general population
of bloggers has the intention of profiting
financially. Fortunately, there are several methods of
profiting from a blog and applying these methods can
help you gain money.
The Advertisements
Selling space for advertisers is one of the most
common ways to profit from a blog. Since blogs that
have a considerable amount of traffic can make income
with ad sales, make sure that you have a target
audience. The reason why bloggers choose to sell
advertising is that it is a passive form of income
once the traffic has progressed. Although it takes
work to look for advertisers and maintain the ads on
the blog, those who can achieve it can gain reasonable
amount of money with the ads.
Compared to other forms of profiting from a blog,
selling advertisement space can be one of the most
consistent revenue streams. If you are able to
maintain your ad slots filled, you should have a very
good idea of just how much you can make every month.
On the negative side, selling ads requires you to have
some kind of established traffic. Traffic is important
because it draws interest from potential advertisers.
You might find it hard to sell an ad space without
traffic and it will most likely not produce much
revenue. Additionally, the blog must have a target
audience in order to achieve the maximum amount of
cash for advertisement space. Remember that
advertisers are more likely to pay if your target
audience is a match to theirs.
Affiliate programs are also a major resource of
profits for several bloggers. Affiliate programs are
excellent in a sense that they enable you to have the
opportunity to make money even if your blog has a
small audience. However, one bad side to affiliate
programs is that there can be instances where you
cannot make any money at all.
Newly created blogs feature affiliate ads most of the
time compared to selling space directly to
advertisers. Since selling ads is hard to do without
much traffic, affiliate programs are perfect for new
blogs. More so, they can be easily maintained and only
take very little time.
Promoting and Premium Content
Bloggers who are service providers at the same time
have an excellent opportunity to look for clients and
increase their rates. Maintaining a blog that focuses
on your area of expertise can help you easily become a
recognized authority in your field. Additionally, it
can aid potential clients to find you. You can also
benefit from the increase in demand of your services
and improved reputation that you build, which enable
you to charge more for your services.
Aside from promoting your services, selling premium
contents are also excellent ways to profit from a
blog. Blogs are a massive source of information and
remember that not everything has to be free. There are
bloggers and business that attained success by selling
some of their work. There are blogs that sell
memberships on their Web sites. Although selling
premium content is possible in any field, you must
have the capability to give something to the reader
that is worth paying for.
How to Plan Your Blog
including your writing style, blog category and the
content of your blog. Planning your blog can be
difficult if you do not know what you want to talk
about. It could be extra hard if you do not have the
necessary background in blogging. However, knowing
what you want to blog about can easily come to you
once you start browsing and poking around other blogs.
You can pick ideas from those blogs, expound and make
them the basis of your blog.
The Blogging Categories
Generally, there are several types of blogs.
Nevertheless, there are three popular categories of
blogs, such as: the organizational, business and
personal blogs.
The first category, the organization, uses the power
of blogs to communicate either externally with the
public or internally within their organizations. This
kind of blog has the purpose of facilitation internal
communications amongst employees, colleagues and other
organizational personnel. In addition, organizational
blogs normally publish information that is of interest
by the public. In a certain instance, there are
organizational blogs that publish seminar schedules,
meetings, and announcements for their clients,
customers or members.
The business blogs, on the other hand, are for
promoting services or products offered by businesses
in order to help increase profits, revenue and
interest of potential consumers. These kinds of blogs
can look for ways to increase their reputation and
authority with vendors, customers and partners. They
do this by publishing contents that express expertise
and knowledge within a specific market portion, niche
or industry.
The personal blogs are those that contain contents
that are more of a reflection of bloggers’ opinions
and thoughts. Normally, they are used to publish
articles that voice their points of view on several
kinds and varieties of events and topics. Bloggers who
publish personal contents usually find pleasure in
documenting their everyday lives, stream of
consciousness and even their hate to specific events
through articles that reflects their moods.
The Target Audience
Your target audience and blogging style comes hand in
hand. The moment you think of creating your own blog,
you must first realize what your target audience is;
you must know what they want, need and desire to read
about. The blog you create and the contents you
publish must provide quality and value to the readers
in order to be effective in establishing communication
and expanding readership.
More so, the kind of blog you want to create
essentially creates its own target audience. For
instance, an organizational blog is meant for those
who are members or clients of a certain organization.
Although the target audience may be limited, there is
a good chance for consistency with regards to the
dialogue you create with your readers and eventually
more people would be interested in your blog.
The mentioned personal blogs are not normally designed
for social dialogue with a certain target readership
of any category and is rather meant to serve as a
collection of your musings. These kinds of blogs are
best reserved to your close friends and they are your
target audience.
If you identify your target audience successfully,
your messages that you want everyone to know about
will be effectively targeted. Some of the greatest
joys of blogging come from the use of your enthusiasm
in publishing signification information for a
community where there is a free exchange of opinions
between the readers and you.
Helpful Tips for Corporate Blogging
inside and outside companies. Businessmen survive the
world of blogging because they know how and where to
dig information while protecting their own secrets.
Although blogging can be risky world for businesses,
there are several helpful tips that can help bring
success to corporate blogging.
The Important of Training
It is important to make sure the members of the
communications team. In the past, this team was
composed of a small group. However, with the advent of
blogging, everyone who blogs at the company is
spreading a specific message about the company. People
who handle the blogging for the company must be
trained to avoid any spill of unnecessary information.
If by accident, important information regarding the
company has been disclosed, this can put the company
under the watchful eyes of the regulators. More so,
inappropriate leaks can provide competitors with
leverage and may lead to embarrassing revelations
about the inner workings of the company and its staff.
Although the usual action to be taken is to restrict
employees from blogging, this can be a shortsighted
decision. Bloggers from within the company can easily
relate and make contact with potential clients and
even enhance the brand of the company.
The Fake Blogs
Several, if not all, companies are eager to establish
one-on-one links with their consumers, though they are
often hesitant to venture in the world of blogging. As
a result, they set up fake blogs. Fake blogs are those
that are created by marketing departments of the
company in order to promote a product, brand or
service using a fake name or character.
These kinds of blogs are risky since several bloggers
who are passionate about what they do view them as an
insult to the blogging community and no one can deny
the fact that these blogs are very visible to the
public.
Although there are no rules prohibiting a company from
making pseudo-blogs, the subject of creating one is
always welcome. Always keep in mind that you can
choose to create fake blogs but remember all the risks
involved.
Blog Tracking
Tracking blogs is one of the easiest and most
important tips to remember. Firstly, the company can
look around online and search for the most influential
blogger who writes about their products or services.
Remember to read the blogger’s updates everyday and
perform an automated tracking of discussions.
Tracking blogs is important because even those
postings from small-time bloggers can be selected by
search engines, strengthened by a well-known blogger
and ultimately hit the mainstream.
The Public Relations
Blogs have the ability to break down barriers between
the company and its customers. It is important for
businesses to take that into consideration and adjust.
There are several companies that start blog in order
to attain customer loyalty and address the customers’
concerns and comments. Relating to the customers is a
vital factor in the survival of a business. Knowing
what the customers think about the products or
services can help enhance the company’s services.
The Company’s Secrets
Take into consideration one secret or secrets that you
have kept at your company. Be it a list of projects
for the following year or information about scandalous
activities, there are several things that you must
learn no to leak to your competitors.
In blogging, there is a certainty that you must
rethink about something that you are trying to avoid,
for that fact that other companies are increasingly
sharing information to win new partners and generate
new ideas. Although this does not mean that they are
not keeping any secrets from you or that you must not
keep any from them, it is important to reevaluate
whether you can gain more out of sharing details than
keep them to yourself.
Blog Ads
Blogging is main stream. The White House Press Office considers bloggers journalists. Companies like domain giant Go Daddy use blogs to send their marketing message into the viral stratosphere.
Blogs can be the rantings of left wing lunatics, rock stars, opinion makers, or business icons. How about blogs penned by country club wives' investment clubs. Name a topic of interest and there's a blog to go with it.
The question for the forward thinking marketer is, can blogs be a valuable tool to advertise your product or service? The answer: a resounding yes. Blog advertising is beginning to find its way into the marketing mix for many businesses. It presents the same advantages as ezine or email marketing--an inexpensive, effective, trackable tool.
Blog advertising has another attractiveness--The ability to place ads rejected by the Old Media. When the United Chuch of Christ had its commercials rejected by at least two of the big three TV networks last year, they turned to blog advertising with very nice results, thank you very much!
As the marketplace continues to be more fragmented, look for blogvertising to move to the fore. Blogs shape opinion and begin trends. They cater to niche interest groups. Isn't that the audience you want? The one most interested in your product that will tell others. The audience that will finally show you what viral and word of mouth marketing really means.
Brian Grinonneau is the general manager of McMann & Tate Advertising, a midwest agency that insists its clients stand out from the crowd and tell their story like it has never been told before.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Brian_Grinonneau
Use your Imagination to Create Perfect Content for your Blog
-Advertise your products. Did you know that blog readers tend to make more online purchases? Actually, they spend about 6% more than the average Internet user. Use this to your advantage. Post a blog a week featuring your product or services.
-Advertise your affiliates. On average, over 39% (that’s about 57 million adults) read blogs. That is a large and vast audience! Use this venue to post promotions for your affiliates. You can provide a wide variety of products on your blog to meet your customers’ needs and create passive income.
-Share the business. In your posts, include recommendations for other businesses. This will in turn come back to you. As you recommend others, they will recommend you to their clients. Everyone wins!
-Add video or audio files. This changes the pace of your blog by adding something other than just words. Using live feeds has become much more user-friendly so consider this option to bring some life to your blog.
-Be personal. Post more personal thoughts about your life or business. Keep the information relevant, although it doesn’t hurt to let readers see who you are. When they are comfortable with you, they are more likely to do business with you.
Blogs are much more than random thoughts you share with the cyber world. Utilize their inherent power for increasing your business by sharing your products, services, and life with everyone you draw to you.
2007 Andrea Susan Glass and WritersWay.com. Andrea Susan Glass, owner of WritersWay, is a ghostwriter and copyeditor who provides effective marketing materials for greater client attraction and retention and valuable information products for building expertise and passive income, including eBooks, reports, articles, ezines, and website content. Visit www.WritersWay.com for all your writing, editing and marketing needs and to order your FREE report, “Top Ten Tips on How to Write and Sell Your eBook for Maximum Profit with Minimum Effort.”
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/online-business-articles/use-your-imagination-to-create-perfect-content-for-your-blog-218435.html
How to Find Email Groups to Promote Your Blog
In a system called affiliate marketing, you can get commissions whenever people click on ads that are posted on your site. In this way, you not only enjoy writing, you also get to make money from it. Of course, the only way that you can get money through this method is to get more visitors to your blog, and to have great content that everyone will want to avail of.
One way for you to get more visitors is to find an email group that you can use to promote your blog. An email group or mailing list is a great marketing vehicle: you can get in touch with a lot of people who have the same interests as yours, you can find a lot of people who may even have the same attitude as yours, and you can get the word out faster on a product or service that you like. In this same manner, you can get the word out much faster on your blog, and you may be able to spread the word if you know how to talk to people in your email group.
But how do you find the email groups? Here are a few tips that you may want to use as you search for a mailing list that will allow you to talk to a lot of people, keep in touch with people with whom you share interests, and have a lot of fun in promoting your blog!
- First, what are your interests?
Many email groups are built around common interests, be they movies, music, crafts, or even romance and love. List down all your interests. You can start with your hobbies, then your favorite songs, artists, movies, books, authors, and actors. You can use these interests as keywords when searching for email lists. Nearly all email list networks have a searchable database that you can use when looking for groups for you to be a member in. This way, you can be more sure to find people who have the same interests as yours.
- Second, what is your blog about?
Use keywords about your blog in order to find more email groups. For instance, if you have a blog about pets, you may want to look for email groups that talk about pets, feeding pets, grooming pets, veterinarian and vet visits, and just animals in general. You can be as specific as you like: there are whole mailing lists for proud owners of certain breeds of dogs, or for people who like a certain kind of reptile. You can also be as general as you like. However, you may have a harder time with large groups, as they can be filled with people who do not read carefully through all the posrs.
- Third, spread yourself evenly, but not too thin
The disadvantage with having too few mailing lists to be a member in is that you will also have fewer contacts in your network and a smaller range, as though you were putting all your eggs in one basket. The disadvantage with having too many mailing lists, however, is that they are much harder to manage on your part, and you could end up getting a lot of emails but not getting to respond quickly enough.
7 Ways to Leave Comments and Drive Traffic Back to Your Blog
Leaving effective comments
You're probably old enough to know that not every comment that gets thrown into an opportunity for interaction creates the desired effect, much less become appreciated by those who hear or read it. If you don't use this technique carefully, you will either waste the opportunity or simply allow it to create the wrong impression. Here are 7 ways you ought to do it:
Choose the sites you leave comments on
Ever wondered why Tiger Woods is great? Because he chooses his battles well. You'll never find Woods swinging his club at a lesser known tournament – not because he's a snob but because he focuses on the games that truly matter and on being on equal ground with other greats.
Keep this in mind before you leave comments on a website. Just because you have the burning need to drive traffic to your blog doesn’t mean you can just drop by a site – any site – and write there.
Choose the sites and blogs whose forums you participate with. Find out if the site deals with a topic or subject related to your very own blog. Practice only purposeful commenting – the kind where you leave only well-crafted comments on sites that will help build the buzz about your blog.
If the site is completely irrelevant but you have the urge to leave a comment, do so only during your spare time. Otherwise, focus your energies only on more productive activities.
Know what you're saying
Before you leave a comment with the purpose of driving traffic to your blog, at least write one that is useful. Your goal is to be noticed AND respected for your opinions so leaving useless and dead end comments such as 'Cool!' and 'Way to go!' just won't cut it.
If this is the best you can do, forget about leaving comments right now and focus on other strategies to drive traffic to your blog. Better avoid this technique than be embarrassed or be viewed as lame or mediocre.
But if you can write and have something meaningful to say, by all means, do so. With every comment you have, make sure you keep it short, concise, to the point and useful. Talk about relevant topics and avoid those that will do nothing for your purpose.
Avoid strong language
Of course, some sites will probably allow you to leave comments that are strongly worded or at least camouflaged as symbols such as !#$%&*, but there are ways to get your point across, regardless of how angry, upset or argumentative you are.
Furthermore, majority of sites and blogs impose certain regulations that restrict the use of certain words. Try to rephrase a sentence without losing its main thought. Use an online thesaurus, if necessary. Remember that once a comment is posted online, there's no way to get it back especially if it's not your site. You can leave that comment there to rot but you can never take it back.
Do not be rude
Have a sense of humor. The Internet is a vast expanse of space, currently limitless. In fact, it's a whole universe unto itself. If people leave comments on your post that seem to insult you or argue with you, don't fight back without thinking.
First of all, we are a democracy and people have every right to their own opinion. Second, firing back with the same kind of idiotic language will not be a good reflection on you. Third, you're way better than that. If you must defend your stand, do so with class.
Calm down
Please, if you must drive traffic to your blog by leaving comments on other websites, keep it professional and tone it down. DON'T LEAVE MESSAGES LIKE THIS ONE!!!!!!
A good rule of thumb is to follow accepted structure of the English language or whatever language it is you're using to post. If you must use exclamatory points, make sure they are truly needed. Otherwise, avoid them.
Leaving comments written in purely bold or capitalized letter smacks of desperation and unprofessionalism. It's hardselling and makes people stay away in droves.
Check replies to your blogs
Maximize commenting on other sites and drive traffic by frequently checking back on the forum you participated in to see if there are any replies to the post you left. This is a good way to build buzz and network.
Check your facts
If you will be quoting someone or citing a certain study, make sure your facts can be corroborated. Don't use make believe or newly invented figures and statements or even half-truths and try to pass them off as legit. You will be exposed. If you want to drive traffic to your blog by leaving comments, make sure you don't tarnish your reputation with the effort.
Have a Blog? Don’t Do This to Your Email Sig!
Even writers need an email signature in order to post their favorite quotes, or even their favorite passages from their own works.
An email signature acts as an identifier, and if used well, it can be a great way for you to post information about yourself and get a lot of people to visit your blog. However, you can also overestimate the power of this email signature, and if you do not make your email signature carefully and with your audience in mind, then no one will visit your blog. If you are interested in promoting your blog through a great email signature, then here are a few tips that you may want to take into account when knowing what not to do.
- Be considerate of people who have to work with slow Internet connections: avoid placing multimedia files in your email signature.
Some email software will allow you to place photos and videos in your email signature. If you are working with people who have fast Internet connections, these files can load properly and quickly. But if you are working with people who are still using dial-up Internet, then you may put their computers in a whole lot of trouble. Save them this trouble by keeping your email signature to a text-only format.
- Don’t overload on the text, either. You may be tempted to put in paragraphs and paragraphs of text, with smilies and other emoticons that you think will make your signature look “cute.”
The thing is, such a signature stops being cute when someone is forced to read through it. Think of how tired your eyes would be if you were made to read through a sea of words; now, transfer that to an email signature, and think of what your email reader would think if you had to post information on your blog using a thousand words!
- Don’t just hyperlink: put your blog address down. Some blog owners will often put the words “click here” and hyperlink it to the blog. This may not show up when email readers select a “text only” option when reading their emails, and clicking on a hyperlink while the browser is not open can tax on a computer’s resources. Keep your blog address readable.
- Avoid putting colors in your text: the simpler, the better. You don’t have to overload on the text formatting in order to make your email signature nice to look at and appealing. Stay with the staid and simple black, and avoid having to change colors or have words that need to be colored in or formatted. Again, if you have email readers who have the “text only” option on, all your colors and formats will be gone.
- Stay with three lines of text, and avoid going for more than this. Think of the succinct compactness of a dog tag: dog’s name on one line, owner’s name on the next, and then contact information on the last line.