Blogging On My Mind

As we all know Twitter only allows you a max of 140 characters to tweet using its default URL shortener Bit.ly.

That’s plenty short. But now you can go even shorter – by two less characters – with its new service j.mp.

Talk about economy of words or characters. The idea is for people who need to make things shorter still.

With two less characters  you will  make it 1.4 percent easier to fit links in 140 characters using j.mp.

An important oversight by some bloggers is not to dig deep into the sites they visit to look up older blog posts. It’s not something that they must do. But, perhaps, it has not crossed their mind to do that.

Before I go on, I’d like to say that this is not a sad reflection on those who don’t spend more time at the blogs they visit. Too many bloggers are like strangers passing through the town.

As bloggers, we are dictated by our own sense of doing things the way we see fit. We have this personal freedom to survey the blogging landscape and make our own discovery — for better or worse.

Let us put it this way. If you’re only skimming over the surface of a blog you are visiting, you may miss out on some good read or information that’s buried deep in the blog archives, especially a site that has been around for more than a year or more.

Studies have revealed that many bloggers are scanners and they seldom look up the older blog posts. They are usually in a hurry.

Sometimes there are blogs that started off very well with stimulating and compelling posts well worth your time to read them but, somehow, along the way these bloggers seemed to go through a period of below-par productivity.

The blog suffers, giving later visitors the wrong impression that it’s not an interesting site, not worth the time to browse around or re-visit.

But if those visitors had taken the trouble to check out the older blog posts in the archives, who knows, they would have found some ‘gems’ lurking there, indicating that there was a time when the owner of  the site had the passion and fire to write compelling posts or some articles that might have relevance to you.

And if you ever come across a blog with great content, then it’s worth your time to check out its archives because there’s a likelihood that a site like this is bound to have more good read in earlier blog posts.

In this fast-paced world, most of us have transformed ourselves into a bunch of impatient surfers. When we move too fast, we are bound to miss something.

It’s not only blogs that we scan, but newspapers have been experiencing this ‘scanner’ syndrome for  years now, so much so that most publishing companies have undergone newspaper re-designs to cater to the ‘scanner’ readers.

Has anyone ever experienced this before? Have you ever found  some good stuff underneath a layer of mediocre blog posts? Well, this is food for thought to spice up your blogging experience.

There is something very special about being in a home business of your own. The Internet has widen the entrepreneurial horizon profoundly, opening the way for many who dare to venture online and succeed.

It could be you who has decided that working for the man is really a pain. Enough is enough, time to sack the boss!

It does not matter whether you are young or old, whether you are a man or woman. It makes no difference whether you live in a big city or small town. If you have the vision and determination, you will probably take the plunge.

Today, men and women from all walks of life are making good income in their own home-based business. They have attained financial security. They have their freedom to make their own decision. You are your own boss!

Making money in your own home can be a pure delight because you:

* Avoid surly bosses

* Have a steady income

* Won’t be fired or laid off

* Don’t have to take orders

* Can plan and control your fortune

Many people who started with a small part-time home business had expanded into full-time operation. It is up to the individual owner – to work as little or as much as you wish.

The more you work, the more you make! You can put family members to work to expand your business. Not only will this provide extra money for your loved ones, but it will enable you to expand your business more quickly.

Perhaps you never gave it much thought before, but tens of thousands of people all over the world are making money operating a home-based business online.

With a small business of your own you can make hundreds, perhaps even many thousands of dollars a week. It all depends on how ambitious you are and how much money you want to make. The more hours you put in, the more money you are likely to make.

Working in your own home business has many advantages and is lots of fun, particularly when you start to put money on the table.

Now, it is possible for you to find a comfortable niche for yourself in a home business that will give you a feeling of security and freedom that can be attained through being your own boss.

You set your hours, make your own decisions and benefit by your own ideas.

The door is now open for you to earn big profits in this exciting field, to join the ‘inner circle’ of successful home-based business owners.

All that may stand between you and this reality is your decision. So do you have what it takes to take the first step towards realizing your goal of financial independence with your very own home-based business?

About the author: Freelance writer Mark Khoo writes for print media and also as a web content provider and editor for several niche blogs and websites. He writes about the blogging experience and other Internet issues at  => The NextPost

No matter how big or how small your business and website the SEO process remains largely the same. The same principles apply to every website. SEO processes strive to make your website more relevant to search engines. You research what keywords people are using when they search for your services, then you target these words so that you appear highly in the natural search results for all these keywords. Simple as that!

SEO work can be divided into a number of SEO Services. Depending on the current state of your website you might find that some of these areas need less work than others.

* Strategy
It is important to look at the big picture when it comes to your website. Who is your target market? How are you selling it? What domain name should you choose? How much should I invest in SEO? These are some of the many questions that need to be answered in the initial SEO Strategy phase. It is very important not to rush into things. A careful strategy needs to be planned. If your top-level strategy is flawed then this will have major impacts on your success as an online business.

* Keyword Research
Keyword research is vital in driving large amounts of relevant traffic to your website via search engines. People search for products and services by typing keywords and phrases into search engines. Your business needs to know what these keywords are and target each one of them. If you are targeting the wrong words then you will bring poor quality traffic to your site.

* Optimisation
Optimisation is a process whereby we make your website more relevant to search engines for your target keywords. Both the code and the content of websites need to be optimised. When Google spiders visit your site they are looking for information that will help them decide what your web page is about. Therefore, it is the job of optimisation to tell these spiders what this page is about and what words you are targeting.

* Link Building
Links are probably the most important search engine ranking factors. Google tends to look at the Internet as one big popularity contest. The more friends or links you have the more popular your site appears to be. If your site is deemed popular by Google then this will be reflected in high search rankings.
Inbound links are links that point to your website from another website. Old websites can have 1000s of these links. This helps these websites to perform well in search results. It is very important for sites with a low number of links to try and generate links.

* Results Analysis
Not every SEO campaign will work as expected. SEO is not an exact science. Constant tweaks and changes will have to be made to campaigns to ensure optimum results. Therefore, it is vitally important that you track the results and analyse them fully.

* Social Media
In the last 5 years there has been an explosion in the number of social media platforms available. The web 2.0 phenomenon has really started to make its presence felt. Online companies need to be aware of the power of social media to increase brand awareness and drive sales. Viral marketing can often make or break companies online. Do you know what people are saying about your service online? No? Well you should.

* Web Design for SEO
There is very little point bringing huge amounts of traffic to a website if your website looks and functions terribly. People will not convert and they will leave your site very quickly. An SEO campaign works best when combined with a web design plan. Web design is not just about making pretty websites. It is also about providing a solid foundation upon which you can build strong marketing campaigns in the future. What is the point of having the prettiest website if you cannot get people to visit it?

When searching for a SEO Agency to work on your website make sure that they provide all these SEO Services.

Get realistic suggestions about one way links – your individual guide.