Did you know that designer shoes and handbags are are available at Amazon.com? Spurge on yourself, and show your design sense with quality accessories. Just as the right accessories can give a home the pizazz to get noticed, designer accessories will show the world that you are a successful professional in your own right.

Amazon now hosts Endless, a designer boutique offering Shoes and Handbags from the world’s top designers. Enjoy an intriguing display of fashion and get fast free shipping and Amazon’s guarantee to assure you of a delightful shopping experience. -etn

Technorati Tags: Designer shoes & handbags

Over the past few years, blogs have become incredibly popular.
Just about everyone who uses the internet also has a blog. You

want to get in on the action, but you’re not sure how to get

your own blog.

Luckily for you, sites like Blogger.com have made it easy to

set-up and make posts on a blog. In this newsletter, we will go

over everything from signing up for a blog on Blogger.com to

choosing a template (look) to finally making a first post.

What is Blogger.com?
Simply put, Blogger.com is a site that hosts blogs for free.

This makes it even easier for you to have a blog because there

is no need to set up a web site and host the blog yourself. All

you have to do on Blogger.com, once you’ve signed up, is login

to your blog, write a blog post and click submit. It’s that

simple.

What will my web address be on Blogger.com?
Your web address will be http://yourname.blogspot.com. One thing

that people dislike about Blogger and other free blog sites is

that they don’t have as great of a freedom in choosing a name.

You are limited to choosing only what is available. So if you’re

looking for http://yankeesfan.blogspot.com, you probably won’t

be able to find that.

Signing up for a blog on Blogger
The first thing you’ll do is go to blogger.com. Next, you’ll

scroll down the page and click on the button labeled “Create

Your Blog Now”.

You will then be taken to a page where you will enter an email

address(used to log into your blog), a password, and a word

verification. You’ll also have to check “I Accept Terms of

Service”. Click continue.

Next, you will be taken to a page where you will choose the blog

title, blog address, and another word verification(which is done

to prevent auto-signups). When you type in your blog address,

you can click a link that says “check availability”. This will

tell you whether or not the desired name is available. If the

first name you wish to have is not available, keep typing in

different variations of the name until you find one that is

available.

After you have put in all the information, click “Continue”.

Choosing a Template
After you click “Continue”, you’ll be asked to choose a

template. The template can be changed at any time after you

sign-up for the blog, so you don’t have to choose an “official”

template now.

If you scroll down, you’ll see a variety of different templates.

Click on the one that you like best and then click “Continue”.

Your First Blog Post
After you’ve chosen a template, you’ll see that your blog has

been created and that there is a button to “Start Posting”.

Click that button.

You’ll be taken to a page that is similar to the posting page at

a message board. There is a “Title” field, where you can put in

the title of this particular blog posting. Then there is a

bigger field, which is the body of your post. Type all you want

in this “Body” field, as there is no limit.

Note that there are options above the field to bold, italicize,

underline or spell check the text. There is also the option of

changing the size and color of the text, plus the ability to add

bullet points, numbered lists and even pictures. For now, you’ll

just do a simple “Welcome” post.

In the “Title” field, type “Welcome!” In the “Body” field, type

your message. You could start with a simple introduction,

talking about yourself and the purpose of the blog. When you’re

done typing the message, click the “Publish” button. It is worth

noting that you can choose to save the post as a draft, if you

want to go back and later finish the post.

After you’ve clicked “Publish”, you’ll see that your blog has

been published successfully. Click the “View Blog” link to view

the results of your work. You’ll now see your post.

Logging into Blogger after the first post
You’ll go to Blogger.com and click on the “Old Blogger” link at

the top right of the page. Type in the email address and

password that you signed up with.  You’ll be taken to the

“Dashboard” of your blog. If you want to enter a new post on

your blog, click “New Post”. Then follow the instructions

mentioned in the previous section. Or if you want to edit the

template, add/edit elements to your page, you’ll click

“Settings” and then “Template”.

That’s all there is to it. Blogs, whether they are hosted at

blogger.com or another free blog site, are incredibly useful and

fun.

To your success,

Earl Netwal

Micro Business Specialist

P.S. Blogger makes setting up and running a blog very easy for

those who have never done it before. Frankly my first blog attempts

were on Blogger. However, I don’t recommend Blogger for those who

are trying to build a business online.

PPS. Blog sites like Active Rain which serves the Real Estate

industry and other industry centered Blog sites are great, easy ways

to begin blogging. They lack the individual control of your own blog,

and don’t build your Google Ranking as well. They can however be

an interesting industry exchange as long as you don’t get carried

away.  You need to focus more on your customers with your own blog.

PPS: A third option is to blog for bucks with a blog dedicated to

promoting products as a separate business activity. Many are making

significant incomes in this regard. One fellow from Singapore has put

together a program thats inexpensive to get started with if that’s

your interest. It’s called Atomic Blogging and you can find it at:

Atomic Blogging

Technorati Tags: Blogger, blogging

So you’ve decided to blog, but aren’t sure whether you should host the blog yourself or sign up for a free service like blogger.com. It’s a dilemma that many bloggers face. There are pros and cons to both, which makes the decision difficult for many. Neither is perfect, and neither is for everyone.

Fortunately, you should be able to make the best decision for you if you are armed with adequate knowledge of both. In this newsletter, we’ll go over services like blogger.com and others, plus software that allows you to host your own blog. We’ll also go over the pros and cons of each. After reading this, you will know which is best for you.

Who offers free blog hosting?

Many sites offer free blog hosting. Among them are Forumer, Blogger, BlogEasy, Aeonity, BlogThing and Blogates. A quick search for “free blog” on Google reveals many possibilities.

What software can I use to host my own blog?

Like free blog hosting, there are many possibilities for software that makes hosting your own blog easy. Most of them are free to use. These include:

WordPress(the most popular software)
Apache Roller
Blosxom
Geeklog
Textpattern
LifeType

There is also blog software which you can purchase for use on your site. These include:

Community Server
Movable Type
Radio UserLand

One negative about using software and hosting your own blog is that the process can often times be complicated. You have to download the software and install it to your server, which doesn’t always go easily. It’s particularly hard for those who don’t have a lot of experience installing things on servers.

[I had difficulties until I got myself a web host that used C-panel and then learned how to use the C-panel to control my own site. Prior to that I had to pay a guy who would eventually get around to doing things on his time line. Having control is much better and not that hard, once I was properly set up and familiar with how to use the C-panel.]

Why should I remotely host my blog at a place like Blogger?

Places like Blogger allow you to host your blog there. It’s a good option for many people.

The Pros

-It’s easy to set up and maintain a blog. You don’t have to go through the trouble of installing software and configuring it to work on your server. All you have to do is sign up for an account and start posting.

-It’s friendly for beginning bloggers. Sites that host blogs offer good tutorials on how to make your blog postings, so that even someone who is completely new to the concept of blogging can do it easily.

-Most blog hosting sites are completely free to use. There is no need to pay for things like a domain name and hosting.

-Monetizing your blog is easy. Rather than having to manually put HTML/Javascript codes on your blog to manually set up things like AdSense and Pay Per Click advertising, you can select an option on most blog hosting sites that does much of the work for you.

The Cons

-You don’t have as many options to customize your blog. Remotely hosted blogs are admittedly somewhat limited in terms of what you can actually do on them. You have to stick with what is provided to you in terms of look and features.

-The URL you get is always yourname.BLOGSITE.com. You don’t get to have a custom domain name like YOURNAME.com. This can possibly hurt traffic to your blog.

-Blogs hosted on free blog sites don’t look as professional as self hosted blogs.

Why should I self-host my blog?

The Pros

-You have more options and more flexibility. You are able to tweak the blog to your liking.

-Your URL is your address for your blog. Rather than having go to where your blog is hosted to read it, they can read it right from your site.

-The ability to make your blog look professional. Blogs that are hosted on sites of their own tend to look a lot better than those hosted on free sites.

-More space for your blog. Free blog sites usually place a restriction on how much space you have for things like photos and music. By hosting your own blog, you are able to use as much space as you need.

The Cons

-There are sometimes problems with setting up blog software to run on your site and server. If you aren’t experienced when it comes to working with mySQL, the process will be hard. [easier with C-Panel]

-Updates aren’t as easy to post.

-You have to manually set up programs to monetize your blog. However, if you are good with HTML/Javascript, this shouldn’t be
too hard.

-You have to pay for your own hosting and domain

As you can see, there are pros and cons to both. Which should you choose? Well, it depends on who you are and what you intend to use your blog for. If you intend to use it for business, then a self-hosted blog is the best idea. If it’s a personal blog, then a free hosted blog will probably be fine for you.

To your success,

Earl Netwal
Micro Business Specialist

P.S. Closely examine all of the pros and cons mentioned above. That way, you’ll be able to make the best decision for you! Keep in mind that there are ebooks and video programs available to help you quickly master the technical skills required.

P.P.S. Do you Have C-panel? If so, I recommend a course by Bob the Teacher which helped me learn how to use it quickly and painlessly. This basic information is essential to your internet independence and ultimately your success.

Discover C-Panel

When you setup a business website and are looking to get it listed
quickly on search engines, there really is no easier and quicker way
than to also put a blog on the site.

It is a known fact that search engine spiders from sites like Google
and Altavista list new blogs much faster than they list new sites.
However, it’s not as simple as just creating a blog and letting it
sit there. You have to also use tactics like pinging, linking and
the use of keywords. We’ll go over each so that you are able to
effectively use your blog for a quick site listing. We’ll also
briefly go over how to host your own blog on your site.

So how do I host my own blog, anyway?

The easiest way to do this is to install and run a blogging
software from another company on your web site’s server. One
such software that is popular is WordPress. It’s fairly easy to
install and works pretty good on your site. It’s particularly easy if your
webhost offers a C-Panel interface.

Other blogging software options include:

Apache Roller
Blosxom
Geeklog
Textpattern
LifeType

Whatever one you choose, be sure to follow the instructions
provided by the company so that the installation goes smoothly.

Where should I put my blog on my site?

Most people who host their blog to help their site get listed
quickly don’t put the blog on the main page of the site, because
the site isn’t all about the blog. Instead they put it in its
own folder at mysite.com/blog/. But you can really put your blog
anywhere on your site, so it’s your call.
What is pinging?

It’s a question that many ask, so don’t feel silly if you don’t
know what pinging is. Pinging is essentially a tracking program
installed on your blog that will notify the site which it is
from whenever your blog is updated. Search engine spiders
usually visit newly pinged sites most often, which is why
pinging is such a crucial part of the equation to get your site
listed quickly. Sites that are newly “pinged” will be visited by
search engine spiders. A visit from the spider equals a listing
on the search engine.
How do I get pinging on my blog?

You’ll have to register with a site that offers weblog pinging.
The most popular pinging program around is weblogs.com. Other
programs offered include Yahoo’s Blo.gs, BlogRolling, and
Technorati. Once you’ve decided on a pinging service, you’ll
have to follow the instructions to install it on your blog. When
you’ve done that, your blog will start getting pinged and
visited by search engine spiders. We will touch on these again in a
future lesson.
What is linking?

Linking is basically having another blog or site link to your
blog. When search engine spiders visit that site and see a link
to your site, they’ll visit your site. Linking is effective both
for sites with blogs and those without it.
How do I get linking?

You get it by visiting sites/blogs that are relevant to what
your site is about. Then you contact the owners of those
sites/blogs, asking them to post a link to your site on their
site. In return, you will probably have to link to their site on
your site. That way, both of you are able to benefit from the
linking.
Why is the use of keywords important to my blog?

Keywords are search terms people might type into Google to find you.
A person in the home staging industry would probably use the keywords
Home Staging and their city as key words. A Optician might use
eyeglasses, or contact lens in theirs. Keywords are usually pretty
straightforward.

Spiders love to visit sites with a good amount of keywords.
People who read your site won’t mind the use of keywords if they
are lightly spread throughout the content of your pages. The key
to this is to make a list of keywords relevant to your blog
posting and then to try to use those keywords throughout your
content. It is important to make sure, however, not to overuse
keywords. Spiders have been trained to ignore sites with
excessive amounts of keywords, so if you use a whole lot of
keywords in the hopes of getting spiders to visit your site,
it’s not going to do you any good. Generally speaking, using
between 2-6 keywords per 200 word piece of content is a good
ratio. It’s pleasing to both readers and search engine spiders.

That’s really all there is to it. Apply the above techniques to
your blog and you will net your site a quick search engine
listing.

To your success,

Earl Netwal
Micro Business Specialist

P.S. There is no quicker way to get your site listed than to use
a blog.

P.P.S. For business purposes, I recommend using Wordpress rather
than a free blog site. Wordpress is free but you do have to pay for
web hosting. I use host gator as my web host because I am able to
host multiple websites and it uses the C-Panel interface thus it doesn’t cost anything
extra to use the better tool.

I recommend a free report if you don’t know everything you should
about web hosting. Get it Here:

Technorati Tags: blogging, C Panel, SEO

Blogging, what is it?

You’ve heard talk about blogging but are one of those people who don’t quite understand what it is.  That’s alright, as we’ll go over what a blog is, the history of blogs, what they are used for and why they are important to your online business.

What is a blog?

A blog is essentially like a journal where people can post their thoughts and have them read and commented on by anyone.

What is a blogger?

A blogger is someone who creates a blog and posts on it.

Brief history of blogs

Weblogs, simply known as blogs now, haven’t been around for that long. The roots of the blog can be traced back to 1994 when people kept online journals (diaries) in which they wrote about things in their life.

Our current blog has been around for an even shorter period of time. In 1998, Open Diary created a site in which its users could post blogs that had the ability to be commented on by other people.

The popular free blogging site called Blogger was created in 1999 by Evan Williams and Meg Hourihan. Blogger was later purchased by Google in 2003.

Despite the fact that blog sites have been in existence since 1998, they have only been popular for 4 or 5 years. In 2001, how-to-blog manuals were published and the phenomenon has only taken off since that point. Today, more and more small business people in brick and mortar businesses are learning to turn its power to their advantage.

What are blogs used for?

In the very beginning, blogs were usually used to talk about a person’s life. People would make blog posts about things happening in their life, thus using the blog as a public journal.

Over time, the use of the blog evolved. People began using the blog to post their opinions about everything from politics to religion to sports to music, among other things.

Nowadays, blogs are even used to make money–one 20-year-old makes $5,000 from Google per month because he has Google Ads on his blog. Businesses have also begun to effectively use blogs for their own purposes.

Why are blogs important to your online business?

Millions of people from all over the world read blogs every day.  Those who have a blog are given a lot of exposure–there is the potential for them to have millions of unique readers each day.

Can you imagine having a million people see your business’ name each day? That sounds pretty incredible, doesn’t it? Yet, that’s exactly what could happen if you create and maintain a successful, well-read blog. And that’s actually a pretty easy thing to do.

So how exactly can you use the blog to help your online business? Well, you can use it in a variety of ways.

You could:

-Use the blog to discuss things related to your field of business.

For instance, if your business was Home Staging, you could discuss things related to preparing a home for sale, uses of color etc., and how an actual staging works, thus showing potential customers your skills and insights and thereby building your credibility.

-If you have employees encourage them to have their own blogs to talk about your services/products. The more active blogs that reference your business, the more exposure you’ll get.

-Use your business blog to keep current or past customers updated on new services/products available.

-Post news about your business, as well as start rumors about potential happenings in your online business.

-Get feedback from current and potential customers on your products/services. For instance, you could make a post on a new product or project, giving details about it. Then your existing customers or potential customers could give their opinion on it.

-Promote your online business on your blog by making blog posts with information on what your business offers.

-Install Adsense on your blog and make extra revenue from ads clicked, thereby helping your business to be more profitable.

There are really a lot of possibilities to how you can use a blog to help your business, even more than those listed here.

Blogs that are hosted on your site (by using a program like WordPress) can help your site achieve a higher ranking in search engines. This is because blogs are search engine friendly (Google is known to list them after only a few days, whereas it takes regular web sites weeks to appear on a search engine).

Having a high search engine ranking is crucial to having a successful online business. Blogs help you to increase your ranking, which will increase your business.

The great thing about blogs is that they are easy to use and also very effective. Start a blog today and watch your business’ notoriety grow.

To your success,

Earl Netwal
Micro Business Specialist

P.S. Blogs offer your business the chance to be known by millions of people. If you’re looking for a surefire way to gain customers and increase revenue, try business blogging! And even if you only want to dozens to thousands of people, they can be a powerful tool to set you ahead of your local competition.

P.P.S. To use a word press blog which I recommend for businesses, you need to have your own web site.  You should anyway, if you are serious about using the internet to build your business.  When setting up a web site you have two important decisions, your URL or name and the web hosting service you decide to use.  This second step is more important than most people realize when they are starting out.  Below I have a link for a Free Report on Web Hosting.  Whether you have your web site now or not, you should learn more about web site hosting. It’s one of the fundamental basics to understanding the mechanics of the internet.  Free Web Hosting Report

Many but not all web hosting services utilize C-Panel for their user interface.

You can find out if your hosting service does by typing in your URL in your browser and adding /cpanel to the end. Example: http://www.yoururl.com/cpanel

If your web hosting service uses cpanel, it will pop up. That’s good. It means you have control of your web site. With a little knowledge can take charge of it. But you need to know how.

Discovering how to control my C-panel was the most significant bit of learning I’ve done to date on the internet.

Controlling your own internet presence is critical. Even if you decide to let someone else have the keys to your internet presence, it’s wise to understand what’s involved. (Particularly, how easy it is.)

I took a video course from Bob the Teacher called Discover C Panel. In a series of short videos I learned in just over an hour how to take control of my internet destiny.

I highly recommend this program. DiscoverCPanel.com – Step-By-Step Video Tutorials

Having a Cpanel interface makes it easy to set up a Wordpress Blog, to upload files to your web site without needed an FTP Program and much more.

Technorati Tags: C Panel, Home Staging, Home staging survey