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Blogging is everywhere. It seems everyone has a blog or is blogging about something at any given time. It is the new e-mail, even better than texting because your words are alive in cyberspace. The corporate world has turned to blogging as a means of creating online marketing tactics; artists use it as a form of self-promotion and retailers use blogging as means to influence branding of products. It is all about presentation and audience participation. With all this in mind, it is an expected behavior of marketing gurus.

Blogs have popped up for everything from real estate, movies, self help, food to books. The list goes on and on, changing daily as social interaction changes between people, consumers and anyone on the ‘Net' who will listen. Pretty soon people will not even need to leave the house! This might be a good thing with the price of gas but blogging is changing the very face of the world. So what is going on with yours because I really want the 411? What makes a blog? What is it any way and why should we care because Proctor and Gamble told us or Miley Cyrus has one and so does every other teen?

A blog is just like a diary, journal, your thoughts, a website. It needs to be built and maintained. Much like a ‘Field of Dreams' it gets much of its background history from journaling online. Instead of the traditional diary locked and thrown under the mattress, one has an e-journal now a days. But what makes one blog better than another? Do you really want to know about every second of my day, what we ate for dinner last night or what I think about "How I met your mother." A blog is all about the traffic just like a website and well, if yours is boring then, need I say more?

Still if you need to have a website or blog for your own entertainment, existence, immortality or building of business and clientele, then you need to promote, promote, promote! It is all about getting your site and blog out there for the world to see.
Here are some simple steps to follow to gain popularity or even cult status on the Internet.

1. Write interesting Posts, something that the people will read.
   While this makes perfect common sense, you would be surprised. Marketing gurus, people in business to get the word out somehow forget that people are just people. Just because people are using the Internet for EVERYTHING doesn't mean they are also computers. Therefore, blogs should be written in REAL language. Still the blog needs to maintain a sense of decorum and civility.
   
   One should stick to simple online copywriting to make your headlines stick out. Here is the key, if you write posts that people enjoy reading, they will reward you by returning to your blog regularly. Make your posts like a conversation, in everyday language, punchy and fun. Keep them short and stick to one topic per post. Try to write as often as possible, on weekly if not daily basis to keep your readers well informed about events. And as a result, readers and search engines will visit your blog more often because traffic will be at a constant flow.
   
2. Optimize Your Posts for Search Engines.
   It is all about the words you use. What are most important are key phrases to drive traffic to your blog. As a matter of fact, you should use words that best describe the purpose of your blog.
   
   
   • Make sure your blog URL has your most important word for optimization.
   • Use your top keywords in the title of your regular postings.
   • Use secondary keywords as part of the posting's body.
   • It is also important to use your choice keywords as anchors for links to your posts.
     
3. It will be important to present Your Blog and RSS Feed to Common Directories.   Here is the whole point of creating a blog is to publish it on the Internet and in order to gain traffic to the blog, it is important to provide its information along with RSS feed to big directories like Yahoo and Dmoz, and also include it in the numerous blog directories and search engines.
   
   Here is the Best Blog Directory And RSS Submission Sites http://www.masternewmedia.org/rss/top55/. Another list of sites to submit your blog. http://www.rss-specifications.com/rss-submission.htm
   
4. You can Ping The Blog Services, but what is Pinging?
   Slowly you will begin to discover that there are a number of services designed specifically for following and linking blogs. One can get this started by pinging each service, which in affect will let them know that your Blog has been updated. As a result, they will visit your site.
   
   By book marking the most popular ping site or Ping-O-Matic and visiting this site regularly allows you to create a mass ping to all the services.
   http://pingomatic.com
   
5. You must allow your Blog to be linked.
   There are many ways to do this but here I suggest the best methods to get your blog linked with the online community.
   
   • You should connect your blog to each page of your main website.
   • Keep track of past posts within your blog.
   • Seek out other blogs of interest and actively post there.
   • Make contacts and exchange links especially if your sites have a lot in common, themes and interests.
     
6. Present your posts like Articles. Your life is real news.
   This makes total sense because this is a traditional means of communication, the old town newspaper. Write your postings as if they were articles and newsworthy. This is a hidden art and popular among old time bloggers. Submit these articles promoting your website and blog to article directories for better coverage.
   
7. Make your Blog Buzz-worthy.
   Why should anyone care about your Blog? What makes it unique? It is important to create energy, a buzz around your blog postings and present subject matter important not only to you but your community. This angle will set you apart from the pack.
   
8. • Blog is all about edge and drama. Something needs to be exciting about your blog. Become drama queen.
   • If you are really into this, market yourself, get the word out in the form of bumper stickers, flyers and sell this stuff on your website.
   • Any PR person will tell you, write your own press release and make it professional. Have it tie into your topics.
     



9. Invite everyone via email to visit your website and blog!!
   It seems that email is still king of the Internet and the number one choice for bloggers to get the word out about their posts. Not only can you invite everyone and anyone, friends, family and co-workers to view your blog but you can also send them updates of any changes.
   
   By using a free provider like Bloglet, you can manage your subscriptions easily and this also provides your subscribers to manage all their subscriptions from one interface. http://www.bloglet.com
   Still if you desire more control with your list, it is best to do it yourself one by one, but you can also use an automatic responder in order to provide constant follow-up with your subscribers.
   
   The RSS feed provides a responder but this a brand new script that also allows you to keep in touch and as well as follow-up with your subscribers without the hassle of email.