Blogging

Have you thought about how easily you could build and maintain a website if you created the entire thing using blog software? Talk about an inexpensive and easy way to make your own website, this is it!

A small business could create websites for each of its product lines, and build each site with blogging software, then link them all together to a main sales site. New product announcements,a FAQ, customer support, description of features, etc, is all handled in a snap…

Somebody wanting a quick and easy mini-site to sell products could easily do this. It would also be a great way to do a content or informational site that links to an actual product sales site, or promotes products through affiliate links.

The thing doesn’t even have to look like a conventional blog, if you don’t want it to. You can structure it to look like a standard website, but get all the benefits of having a blog, like frequent visits from the search engine spiders, quick indexing, and the ability to announce it on all kinds of blog announcement sites…

That is creative internet marketing at the cutting edge!

People are already doing this. I’ve visited several sites that are constructed this way using either WordPress or MoveableType. They can be made to look just like regular websites. In fact, the first time I visited one, I didn’t have a clue that it was done that way, until I corresponded with the webmaster, and he told me how his site was constructed.

The blog is embedded into the website seamlessly, and retains the ease and functionality of a blog, without looking like one. The site retains all the benefits of a blog – easy, frequent updates, a conversational tone, the ability to interact with site visitors and customers right on the site, and the ability to use pinging and blog directory announcements, etc.

Another such site combines a home page, sales pages for an ebook, and two blogs. The whole thing is constructed using blogging software, which makes it a snap to update. As with the first site I mentioned, it looks for all the world like a conventional website, but gains many of the advantages of a blog.

This is the wave of the future, folks, and it’s happening now.

Get on board before the train leaves the station…

John Barbour, Ph.D. owns and operates a number of blogs and websites devoted to making money online. His latest projects include a site devoted to blogging guides and software, and his own blogging advice ebook.

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With the increased interest in Blogging (web Logging), many web hosting providers now provide an assortment of free usage, open source blogging software packages. Among the most popular of these blogging tools are B2evolution, WordPress and Nucleus. Each of these programs offer similar basic features, so the question arises as to which one is easiest to use and would be appropriate for the requirements of your particular website.

The answer lies in the true purpose of your blog website. If your primary goal is to share your opinions and ideas with the general public, you would want to utilize a different blogging tool than a user who was creating product blogs as a commercial sales effort. A blog for search engine promotion would have entirely different requirements. All of these uses are viable reasons to create a blog, however each requires different features to be successful.

WordPress Blogging Software
Available for free download at: http://wordpress.org/

It is hard to beat WordPress for general personal blogging. WordPress is an open source, state-of-the-art personal publishing platform with a focus on presentation and usability. Everything related to creating and updating your blog is available through an intuitive graphical interface. With WordPress there is no need to compile your work. You simply write your column. You then select the features you want and your blog is instantly created and published to your website.

If you are on vacation, you can schedule your uploads for some date in the future or even email your column to the server! The system allows multiple users with multiple blogs divided into categories and sub-categories. This allows multiple family members or friends to create their own blogs along with yours.

Easy customization and the availability of many “plug-ins” that provide more functionality (add new features as you learn) makes this software a very good choice for most individuals.

B2evolution
Available for free download at: http://b2evolution.net/

B2evolution is another advanced web log tool that features an integrated XHTML validator. It supports recursive subcategories, cross posting and has a really cool integrated “skinning” system.

The “skinning” system allows you to create multiple blogs in separate categories with different appearances for each blog. You simply “change the skin” for the blog to create a totally new look and feel.

The “skinning” feature, combined with the built in multi-user administration management tool, makes the system robust enough for more commercial endeavors, such as product promotion blogs. If you have much to publish with multiple themes, this is the software you are looking for.

Nucleus Blogging Software
Available for free download at: http://nucleuscms.org/

Though Nucleus is an extremely robust blogging tool in its own right, it also contains some powerful features that can provide benefits in promotion of your blog.

Nucleus offers the ability to optimize its URLS, creating simple page addresses that do not have and “&” or “=” characters. This makes the pages search engine (and user) friendly. Another great feature is the ability to show the contents of multiple weblogs on one page. This could allow a website owner to manipulate the optimum text / keyword balance on pages for better search engine rankings.

Nucleus also provides RSS and Atom feeds that can be extremely helpful when promoting a website. If part of your blog’s function is to work as a search engine marketing and promotion tool, Nucleus is an exceptional software package.

Each of these blogging software packages offer the basic tools that you would need to create a successful blog and all three are PHP – MySQL open source (free to use) packages. You should try to select the software that helps you achieve the long term goal that you have in mind for your website based on the unique extra features offered by each.

Don Beavers lives in Bryan/College Station, Texas and is an enterprise level PHP-MySQL programmer at both the Shopping Elf Shopping Guide and the Datavor Web Directory.
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Blogs are an easy way to get your voice out onto the Net. For the Web-It-Yourselfer, custom blogs are a great way to learn about web technologies and create something from the ground up.

With a little bit of tech savvy anyone can create their own custom blog. When choosing blog software or a blog service consider the following:

Support -

Implementing new software will create a lot of questions. Does the software have a support site/forum? How large is the user community? Is the user community helpful?

Is it Free? -

There really is no need to pay a lot of money for either the software or a service. Free doesn’t mean cheap. There is quality, free software available.

Easy Customization -

Is the software flexible enough to allow for customization? Can the colors be changed? Can style sheets be used? Are there custom plugins available that are developed by the user community? Is there a robust set of functions that can be employed to accomplish simple tasks? For example, some software offers one simple function that will produce a long list of links. This saves on the need for a lot of coding.

PHP based -

Don’t worry, it is not that scary. The combination of HTML and PHP can create a highly customized blog. Especially for those who like to dig around in the code, PHP driven software can provide a valuable learning experience.

Links -

Is the software able to manage links? Maintaining links manually in HTML is a tedious task. Any software that makes this easier is at a definite advantage.

Posts and Pages -

If you are familiar with blogs, you know that an entry in a blog is commonly known as a post. Can regular pages be created from the software as well? This allows for ultimate flexibility.

Content Management -

Can the software control elements for most or all of the website? Now, most blog software is not meant to accomplish this task. Search around and see if the blog software can be used to be a basic content management system. Some software is incredibly flexible and can accomplish this task.

It is said that a new blog is being created every second. Why not take the time to investigate blog software that will enable a blog to stand out from the crowd?

Paul Stefanski develops Recommended Web Tools, a web resource for web design beginners. View the complete free blog software article for recommended resources.

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