13 replies to this topic

[Davemark333]

I hope this is in the right section, and if not sorry.

I am looking for advice in the following:

How to go about OWNING a Blog and or RSS Feeds Directory.

I would like to know, would this greatly improve your traffic?

What softwares, or hardwares do you need to accomplish this.

Thank you,

Dave

[Darky]

What actually IS a BLOG? I've heard definitions like a 'diary', on my MAMBO powered portal, it mentions Blogs, but i've 0% idea what they are

Sorry, if this is off topic

[rustybrick]

A blog is a content publishing system which can be used for managing your diary, business notes or even as a news site.

Most popular blog software apps include;
Blogger.com
MovableType.com
TypePad.com and others.

I use MovableType.

Most blogs automatically have RSS feed links.

[Presentationrentals]

blog = a message board.

I’m sure someone will have a more technical answer that will differentiate the two (blog vs message board).

It all reminds me of the time I took my little girl to the Milwaukee zoo. I asked her what her favorite animal was and she said “The yellow horse with brown spots and big long neck.”

If you are only looking at them I guess that is the only difference between a horse and her, umm, special horse

[Presentationrentals]

Dave,

To answer your question

would this (adding a blog) greatly improve your traffic?

Only if the blog is popular, has many users/inbound links.

Also, many out there feel some search engines like google are now applying a discount to links from blogs. Who knows if its true or not, but what I would say is if you need a blog make a blog.

If you are only making a blog as an attempt to increase your search engine then don’t make a blog. Like directories the web has too many now and having a inactive blog is as much fun as being the only one at a new years party.

(dang I read what I wrote and I’m starting to sound like Jill)

[BobetteKyle]

(dang I read what I wrote and I’m starting to sound like Jill)

You forgot "only start a blog if it will add value for your site visitors. Quality content naturally attracts inbound links. Higher SERPs will follow."

[Presentationrentals]

You forgot....

Congratulations BobetteKyle, you made me laugh out loud.


I did find a study where all a person did was register at forum after forum. Never posted once. Never took the time to see if the site’s member registry was in a cache because it took to long. (note: at this site you get no bump from registering nor from your forum signature)

The person always included a link to his site and was able to obtain a descent page rank and reasonable Google results in a modestly competitive field with, from memory, about 1,000 registries.

If there is interest Ill try to find the study. I remember thinking the method was ‘spamish’ but if not many others do the same thing the site may go on for a long time with this method.

[Davemark333]

I appreciate everyones responses, however, No one actually answered the bigger part of my question:

That is, how do you start a blog or RSS Feed, where you are in charge of it from
the standpoint of others that would list their blog, RSS in your directory.

Simply stated: How do you start a blog, RSS directory?

I know you need some type of software, but not sure which
is best.

Here is a small excerp of examples of what I am considering
using the RSS Feed for, but not possitive of what direction I
want to take it.

RSS channels can be used to allow customers to stay current on many
different industries, including specific news, checking the weather, looking
for jobs, travel or road conditionsviewing upcoming concerts or
college lectures, and much more. Really Unlimited.
Hope this opens doors, and answers the part that I am looking for:

THE software and knowledge of how to accomplish this.

Thank you,

Dave

[Scottie]

Hey Dave!

Easiest thing to do is go to http://www.blogger.com and open up a free account. You can be running a blog in about 3 minutes. They'll host it for free at blogspot or you can tell it to FTP the blog (upload it) to your own hosted site.

[Randy]

It kind of depends upon what approach you want to take Dave. And I'm not sure I fully understand your aim yet. I will approach it from a different direction that everybody else is though, in that I'm thinking you want to run a Blogging Service that others can sign up for instead of simply running your own personal blog.

If you want to start a single blog and have different Authors who contribute, most blogging software would do that. I know that MT (MovableType) will, as that's what I use myself. I've set several of those up for friends, and they --as Blog Admin-- simply set up different people with a logon to contribute.

The thing with that is that everybody accesses the blogs through a single URL address, then each person has their own category that they type into. But everybody's blog is available from the main address.

The other way to do it, similar to what the big blog places do, is to give each Author their own sub-domain. Doing that on a small scale, you could still install an individual version of whatever blogging software like MT on each sub-domain, which that author has full control over.

That approach gives the Authors more control over what their own blog looks like. It also means that when you get into that blogger's area, you're only going to see their writings. The main www. domain could link off to each blogger's area and function as something of a Mall Directory.

Which approach to follow really depends upon what your goal is, and how much Design control you want to give to each Author. The second would be far more headache for the admin (people find ways to mess things up) but is probably cleaner. But from the software side of things I think most blogging software will probably do it. I know that MovableType will, simply from experience, but I'm sure the rest probably will too.

On the RSS side of things... Every type of blogging software I've looked at recently supports RSS out of the box. So that's pretty much a non-issue.

[jspope]

Hi!

These references helped me create my blog:

• Headline Syndication Overview
• Free RSS to JavaScript Service
• So What is "Feed to Javascript"?

Regards,

Stephen :-)

[Jill]

You forgot "only start a blog if it will add value for your site visitors. Quality content naturally attracts inbound links. Higher SERPs will follow."

Glad I can be out all day and not be able to post yet still have my words live on...

[BobetteKyle]

yet still have my words live on...

We are of similar minds on that, so was easy to read yours.

[wayne h]

A blog is many different things, depending on the person who starts it.

Boy, was that ever profound. Not.

I support business blogs. They are not personal diaries, or teenager angst. Instead, they are often news about your industry, your business, product reviews, links to interesting and informative articles for your readers.

In a sense, bloggers are generous for their visitors by providing information first hand, or by link to other blogs.

One thing you can be certain of is the fact that bloggers are very free and generous linkers. Showing little concern for such things as PageRank, SERPs or anything else SEO related, the vast majority of bloggers go about their blogging with their readership's interests in mind.

Blogs attract links like a magnet. If you've ever had problems attracting links, try a blog on for size. You will be pleasantly surprised.

The links will be theme relevant too, gaining even more search engine benefit as a result.

Search engines love fresh keyword rich content, and that is precisely what a business blog provides. Daily.

Of course, there is a catch to all of this.

You have to maintain the blog, and to develop a readership. There are now about 5 million blogs, and you have to stand out from the sheer volume of blogs on the internet.

First and foremost, you need to post regularly. I suggest once a day while the blog is still new. While other people disagree with that volume of posts, there is simply no other way to gain a loyal readership base, and to attract the desired incoming links.

Most blogs provide an automatic RSS feed, or Atom feed as Blogger does. RSS feeds enable people equipped with an RSS reader and subscription, the opportunity to read large numbers of blogs. An RSS feed is an automatic dispersal service for your blog posts, making them widely available.

There is just so much to say about blogs, and their many benefits, that I don't know where to start.

Wayne Hurlbert