March 31, 2007

Blogging for Business – It’s Not Just for Geeks Anymore

Filed under: Blog Basics, Blog Marketing, Corporate Blogging, Blog Search Engine Optimization — Dr. John W. Horn PhD @ 4:19 pm

A few years ago most business people who had even heard of the word “blog” associated it with opinionated weirdos and potty-mouthed teenagers expressing their angst online for all the world to see. And that stuff is certainly still going on in a lot of places.

But somewhere along the way, blogs got serious. When newspaper reporters started finding blog entries coming up ahead of their well-researched pieces in online searches for terms like “war in Iraq,” the journalistic world caught on. Now you can hardly find a mainstream newspaper whose editors and reporters don’t have blogs. (more…)

March 30, 2007

4 Steps To A Successful Corporate Blog

To blog…or not to blog.

It’s a question on the lips of many savvy marketing executives these days. And it isn’t for everyone. If you’re up in the air, read my article “Blog for Business: How to decide if it’s right for your company”.

But if you’ve made up your mind you’re ready for a blog, let’s talk about how to do it right. But first, remember that a blog is a very powerful way to use your company’s “true voice,” and it takes the kind of care and nurturing you’d give any living thing. (more…)

March 29, 2007

Customized SEO – Is It Worth The Extra Cost? Part II

Filed under: Blog Basics, Blog Search Engine Optimization, Google, Writing Articles, Key Words — Dr. John W. Horn PhD @ 7:28 pm

By Sean Ray

Customized SEO may or may not be worth the cost.

This is a very important aspect of customized SEO:  do not lead the spiders on a merry dance, and not bleed content from your site through crawlable links.  Links are fine, but in the right place.  If you have them in the wrong place through necessity, tell the spiders to ignore them.  Do not overuse this attribute.

But this is only the start.  Once the spider is on your index page, you must make it easy for it to crawl through all the other webpages on your site. Your links should be orderly, leading from one page to another, and not jumping all over the place.  If you have any links, such as affiliate links, that would lead the spider away from your site, tell the spider to ignore them.  There are ways to do this, such as the “nofollow” attribute. (more…)

March 28, 2007

Industry Blogs

Filed under: Blog Basics, Blog Layout, Custom Blog, Corporate Blogging, Blog Search Engine Optimization — Dr. John W. Horn PhD @ 3:12 pm

Every Industry Association should have a Blog and Forum attached to their websites as a means to communicate to their membership. It is a great way to pass on information and more and folks are getting their information in this way. Industry Blogs seem to be a very powerful tool indeed and to that point of truth an Industry Association must rise to the occasion to insure that their membership gets the most out of the Blog Initiative efforts.

It is incumbent of those who participate on Industry Blogs to understand the value of this communication tool and the rewards that can easily be reaped by pondering the most abstract of thought and tackling the most difficult multi- (more…)

March 27, 2007

Keywords and Keyword Density

Filed under: Blog Basics, Search Engine Optimization, Blog Search Engine Optimization, Google, Key Words — Dr. John W. Horn PhD @ 2:10 pm

One of the best ways to insure that your site is being properly designed is to insure that keyword density limits for search engine spiders are being met.

Keywords are basically made up of one word or phrases describing terms that users might enter in the search engine to find products or services they are interested in. The trick to keyword placement is to not have the keyword placed too many times in one page. (more…)

March 26, 2007

Customized SEO – Is It Worth The Extra Cost? Part I

Filed under: Blog Basics, Blog Search Engine Optimization, Google, Page Rank — Dr. John W. Horn PhD @ 6:03 pm

Customized SEO can be an important part of your online business if you intend search engine exposure to be a major factor in your advertising campaign.  Search engine optimization is a subject that most people know little about and make most errors in trying to achieve.

There is no argument that first page exposure on major search engine such as Google, Yahoo or MSN will bring visitors to your website.  However, with an increasingly large number of webpages competing for keywords, this is very difficult to achieve, and while it is claimed that natural writing of content produces better results than artificially optimized pages, there is much that can be done to help the process along. (more…)

Audio Blogs Gaining Ground

Filed under: Blog Basics, Podcasting, Audio Blog — Dr. John W. Horn PhD @ 6:01 pm

It cannot be denied that the Internet has proven its usefulness whether it be in one’s personal life or in one’s profession or business. The information superhighway is indeed in our midst and the best we can do is take advantage of its positive benefits. Through the years, the Internet has advanced in numerous ways. Before, we only get to read the information we need. But look at the latest trend now – it’s multimedia over the Internet where you can get both audio and video in just several clicks of your mouse. (more…)

March 25, 2007

The Search Engine and How It Works

Filed under: Blog Basics, Search Engine Optimization, Blog Search Engine Optimization, Google, Key Words — Dr. John W. Horn PhD @ 4:14 pm

To understand the search engine and to use it effectively, you must first understand how it works. First, the search engine is understood as an IR scheme, or retrieval system that allows researchers, as well as web developers to use the IR to discover millions of topics worldwide. Consumers often use the IR or search engines to find products, or information that helps them to relate to particular topics. The search engine allows users to explore databases worldwide, intranet and the web. The intranet is a computerized network within organizations, which users can access only through authorized sets of requirements outlined by a single company, user, etc. (more…)

March 24, 2007

Top Five Blogging Mistakes

Filed under: Blog Basics, RSS, Blog Marketing, Blog Search Engine Optimization, Google, Key Words — Dr. John W. Horn PhD @ 5:46 pm

Creating a blog is EASY. If you use Blogger, for example, you can set up a blog in less than a minute, and write your first blog item in five minutes. What could be easier than that? It takes me at least as long to write an email message.

Blogging Is Easy, But… (more…)

March 22, 2007

Podcasting 102

Filed under: Blog Basics, Search Engine Optimization, Podcasting, Writing Articles — Dr. John W. Horn PhD @ 6:07 pm

Podcasting can be a simple way to get your message out to the internet world, and yet so many people ignore podcasting as a relevant method of list building and traffic building.

So what do you do to get the word out about your podcast?

Now that you’ve got your podcast ready for the world, you’ll need to get the word out!  There’s no point in having a cracker-jack podcast with a compelling message when people don’t know about it, right?  That’s where promotion comes in. (more…)