25 Free And Proven Tips for Blogs!

With so many blogs being created every day, it’s a mystery to many bloggers how to make their blog stand out. There are many types of blogs or purposes for blogs and a certain number of tactics are applicable to just about all of them. Some companies choose to hire a blog consultant, but others like to try things internally. For those “DIY” companies and individuals interested in practical tips for marketing and optimizing a business blog, try out the following list of blog marketing and optimization tips:

1.    Decide on a standalone domain name www.myblog.com or directory of existing site www.mysite.com/blog. Sub domain is also an option blog.mysite.com. Avoid hosted services that do not allow you to use your own domain name!

2.    Obtain and install customizable blog software – Word Press and Moveable Type are my favorites.

3.    Customize blog look and feel templates – aka design.

4.    Research keywords and develop a glossary – Keyword Discovery, Word Tracker, Site Point, SEOBook Keyword Research.

5.    Optimize the blog:

o    Template optimization – RSS subscription options, social bookmark links, HTML code, Unique title tags, URLs, Sitemap

o    Add helper plugins specific to Word Press or MT

o    Create keyword rich categories (reference your keyword glossary)

6.    Enable automatic trackback and ping functionality.

7.    Create Feed burner Pro account and enable feed tracking.

8.    Setup a Google account for Sitemap, validate and prep for future submission.

9.    Identify authoritative blogs, web sites and hubs for outbound resource links and blog roll.

10.  Format archived posts, related posts.

11.  Enable statistics for tracking – Google Analytics, Click Tracks.

12.  Submit RSS feed and Blog URL to prominent RSS and Blog directories / search engines.

13.  Engage in an ongoing link building campaign.

14.  If podcast or video content are available, submit to Podcast and Vlog directories.

15.  Submit blog URL to paid directories with categories for blogs – Yahoo, BOTW, bCentral, WOW, JoeAnt.

16.  Optimize and distribute a press release announcing blog.

17.  Request feedback or reviews of your blog in relevant forums, discussion threads. If you have a resourceful post that will help others, point to it.

18.  Research and comment on relevant industry related blogs and blogs with significant centers of influence.

19.  Post regularly. If it’s a news oriented blog, 3-5 times per day. If it’s an authoritative blog, 3-5 times per week, but each post must be unique and high value.

20.  Monitor inbound links, traffic, comments and mentions of your blog – Google Alerts, Technorati, Blog pulse, Yahoo News, Ask Blogs and Feeds.

21.  Always respond to comments on your blog and when you detect a mention of your blog on another blog, thank that blogger in the comments of the post.

22.  Make contact with related bloggers on AND offline if possible.

23.  When making blog posts always cite the source with a link and don’t be afraid to mention popular bloggers by name. Use keywords in the blog post title, in the body of the post and use anchor text when you link to previous posts you’ve made.

24.  Use social networking services, forums and discussion threads to connect with other bloggers. If they like your stuff, they will link to you.

25.  Remember when web sites were a new concept and the sage advice to print your web address everywhere you print your phone number? The same advice applies for your blog.

Five Tips for Smarter Social Networking

We are all trying to figure out how to get more value from online social networks like Facebook and Twitter. Most of us are just skimming the surface in terms of the potential these networks offer us as individuals. To realize this potential, we need to become more active orchestrators of our social networks, setting the tone and drawing out others.
Practices are still evolving, but here is some brief, and often contrarian, advice that comes from our decades of experience studying networks and the way people act within them:

1. Express more vulnerability. This flies in the face of much personal improvement and business school wisdom. We are taught to create "personal brands" that prominently feature our strengths and carefully hide our weaknesses. But trust requires vulnerability, so if you value trust in your social network, you might want to talk about some of the really difficult problems you are wrestling with and seek advice.

2. Mix professional and personal lives. We have also been taught to compartmentalize our professional and personal lives. Social networks will increasingly break down those walls. Again, the issue is trust. It is much easier to build trust if people have a more holistic view of who you are. Try mixing it up — you might be surprised by the results.

3. Provoke. In an effort to "win friends and influence people," we often bend over backwards to see the other side and temper our own statements to avoid upsetting people. It turns out that provocation does two things: it reassures people they are seeing the real you (assuming most of us have provocative views of one sort or another) and it helps stimulate other people to generate new insights. Of course, the key is to provoke in productive ways, but provocations can be a key to strong relationships.

4. Promote others. Too many of us approach social networks as a way to promote ourselves and our work. If that's all you are doing, it quickly turns people off. One important practice to develop is to promote others. Find people whose work and deeds you admire and promote the hell out of them — it will make them more successful and increase the desire of people to connect with you.

5. Actively seed, feed and weed. We are often taught that social networks are emergent and self-organizing — they take care of themselves. Baloney. Truly vibrant and growing social networks are carefully tended by the individual at the center of his or her network. These social networks require catalysts to expand — interesting people, ideas and conversation topics that can motivate people to connect with you and become more and more engaged. The people who contribute the most need to be recognized and rewarded. And the people in the social network who are generating negative energy and too focused on their own self-promotion need to be gently escorted to the exit.
Of course, individuals should tailor this advice to the specific circumstances of their work and employers. For example, legal or regulatory issues might preclude or restrict certain of these practices.

Netflix continues to fall amid subscriber worries

Shares of DVD rental and streaming video company Netflix Inc. continued to decline Friday amid fallout from its lowered expectations for its U.S. subscriber base.

THE SPARK: Netflix announced plans in July to split its DVD-by-mail and video streaming services, raising the price of a monthly subscription for people who still want both. The decision was met with anger from some customers, and on Thursday Netflix lowered its guidance for U.S. subscribers by 4 percent to 24 million in the third quarter, saying more customers had dropped their subscriptions than it expected.

That means the company will have 600,000 fewer customers in the U.S. at the end of September than it did at the end of June.

THE BACKGROUND: Netflix kept its forecasts for its earnings and international subscriptions intact. But its July guidance was already below analyst expectations. Despite the subscriber exodus, Netflix maintains that the split was a good idea.

But investors may be worrying that this is just the start of Netflix's troubles. The company had another setback this month when it couldn't agree with Starz Entertainment on new licensing terms, which means Netflix users will no longer be able to stream Starz's popular mix of recently released movies and TV shows after the current deal expires early next year. This could cause more customers to leave.

ANALYST COMMENT: The lowered numbers "reflect a degree of customer disinterest in streaming only (which features improving content that is far from spectacular) and DVD only (for low volume renters, Coinstar's Redbox still presents a better value option), as well as displeasure with Netflix's subscription plan changes," Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter said in a note to investors.

The analyst added that while the plan changes "clearly" hurt subscriber growth, their full effect on Netflix's revenue earnings growth is difficult to predict. That's because the mix of Netflix's subscriber base is unclear, he added. That is, some customers could be switching to cheaper plans while others could be switching to more expensive ones.

"Until Netflix provides greater detail about the composition of its subscriber base, the uncertainty caused by mix will remain," Pachter added.

He kept an "underperform" rating on Netflix.

SHARE ACTION: Netflix shares fell $14.09, or 8.3 percent, to $155.16 on Friday. The company announced the lowered forecast early Thursday, and the shares tumbled 19 percent that day. They have traded between $140.02 and $340.09 that past year.

The stock is down 45 percent since July 12, when Netflix announced it was splitting its subscription plans.

Can Amazon push Netflix out of limelight?

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos

(Credit: CBS)

For years, Amazon appeared to be a big pushover when it came to delivering Web entertainment.

During the early part of the Internet Age, Amazon shipped CDs and DVDs to customers who ordered them via the Web and CEO Jeff Bezos' company was synonymous with Web music and movies. Then Apple's iTunes, and Netflix, laid waste to physical discs by delivering digital downloads or streaming video and Amazon seemed to quietly drift to the back of the pack.

But today Amazon flexed some muscle of its own by announcing it would stream movies for free to people who subscribe to the e-tailer's Prime service. Amazon Prime subscribers will be able to log on to the Web from Internet-connected devices to instantly access a pool of 5,000 films and TV shows. For $79 a year, Amazon Prime subscribers receive unlimited free two-day shipping without being required to meet any minimum-purchase requirements.

Plenty of commentators in the blogosphere are noting that Amazon's video service isn't a Netflix killer yet, and they're right--but this is just the merchant's first volley as it prepares to take on Netflix, Apple, and others in the growing streaming media sector.

The imagination runs wild when one considers what Amazon could do if the Web store throws its considerable retailing and financial girth into marketing a streaming-video service. Consider that Amazon must pay the film studios and TV networks for the rights to offer the streaming video, but so what? Amazon has loads of cash. The company reported $3.7 billion of cash and cash equivalents for the 12 months ended December 31, 2010. With a snap of their fingers, the Amazonians now offer an unbeatable subscription price.
Amazon can keep ads in front of the 65 million online shoppers that visit the company's site each month. The video service could be promoted and bundled with all kinds of other product offerings. Dan Rayburn, an analyst covering Web video for consulting firm Frost and Sullivan, said Amazon could conceivably sweeten its offer by selling deeply discounted set-top boxes that enable Prime subscribers to watch streaming video on their living-room TV sets.

Heck, Amazon's deep pockets might allow the company to give those boxes away.

Another advantage Amazon has over Netflix is that the company has the horsepower to stream its own video to Prime members without having to pay a third party. Netflix can't say this. On the contrary, the company overseeing that chore for Netflix is Amazon's Web Services (AWS). That's right, Netflix is dependent on a rival for some of its back-end operations. But as full of potential intrigue as that sounds, it's doubtful Amazon would ever undermine AWS' reputation by torpedoing Netflix that way.

Wall Street apparently believes Amazon could cause Netflix some hurt. Netflix's stock tumbled more than $13, or 5 percent, in afternoon trading. Netflix shares have risen steadily over the past year and the stock posted an all-time high last week when it topped $247.

Investors should factor in that Amazon is not likely to unseat Netflix anytime in the near future. Netflix has more than 20 million subscribers, a far larger selection of films and TV shows than Amazon, and has already shown that it can outmaneuver larger players. Experts once thought Blockbuster, the brick-and-mortar video-rental chain, would smash Netflix. The opposite happened. While Blockbuster was still charging late fees and engendering a deep well of consumer bitterness, Netflix was delivering videos to customers' doors via the U.S. Postal Service--creating an entirely new delivery model--and telling users to hang on to the DVDs as long as they liked without charge.

"A growing market attracts competitors," said Netflix representative Steve Swasey.

While Amazon has several businesses to distract management's attention, Netflix thinks exclusively about delivering movies and TV shows. The company has posted a team of dealmakers in Hollywood so they can insert the company into the studios' future plans. Netflix has deals with such content suppliers as Warner Bros. Pictures, Relativity, Starz, and Epix, and just today it added TV shows from CBS, parent company of CNET.
And consumers are already streaming video from Netflix via more than 200 different kinds of Internet-connected devices, such as video-game consoles and Web-enabled TVs, which are compatible with the service. Even if Amazon did offer a Roku-like box for free, it would likely take the company a while to cut enough of the deals to make itself as widely available as Netflix.

The real loser could be Hulu, the joint venture operated by Disney, NBC Universal, and News Corp. that has recently suffered from internal strife. Hulu offers some content for free but the service requires users to pay $7.99 to access a growing number of shows. In addition, Hulu's pay service also forces viewers to watch ads. Amazon's new video service is ad free.

Regardless of which company takes over, with all the price cutting and scrambling to add programming, the real winner--for the time being at least--will be consumers.