#1 Mistake Most Blogs Do Copyright 2005 Rok Hrastnik

As much as this might surprise most bloggers, the #1 mistake most blogs are doing is not publishing their content via e-mail, as a supplement to their RSS feeds.

Just think about it: while RSS is growing strong, it still only penetrates about 5-6% of the American online population. Furthermore, according to a recent Blog Ads survey, "only 12 percent of the blog reading audience said it used RSS always or often".

If you're delivering your blog content only via RSS, you're missing out on about 80% or more of potential regular readership/followship.

THE KEY BLOG PROBLEM

There are millions of blogs already, but really few people have the time to watch more than a few daily. But if they come back just once a week, they can be quickly overwhelmed with the amount of new content.

That's why it's crucial to provide a "best of", a helping hand to guide your readers to the "must-read" content you publish … and delivering this content either as a stand alone “blog-zine” or as part of your regular e-mail newsletter.

WHAT SHOULD YOU DO?

Deliver your blog posts as they are written via RSS, butthen also publish a regular (weekly or monthly) e-mail e-zine with your "top blog posts" for those that are still not in to RSS.

Don't do just one channel, do both.

E-mail is still the #1 end-user content delivery channel... whether we like it or not. Using e-mail (as asupplement to RSS) to deliver our content is just good business practice, at least for now.

THE CHRIS PIRILLO EXAMPLE

Chris Pirillo is the publisher of one of the most popular sites on the net, Lockergnome.com. He was actually thefirst to proclaim e-mail as being dead.

But still, while he prefers for his subscribers to use RSS instead of e-mail, that isn’t stopping him from using or promoting either RSS or e-mail.

COMPARING BLOGS, E-ZINES, E-MAIL AND RSS

If you’re reading this article and thinking that blogs are actually “beyond e-mail”, just consider the following reality.

RSS and e-mail are content delivery channels; the tools that enable us to deliver our content to end-users. Blogs and e-zines on the other hand are two different internet media content formats, differing in how/what content is provided and presented through them.

RSS/e-mail and blogs/e-zines cannot be directly compared. Blog content and e-zine content can both be delivered via RSS and e-mail, and there is no direct business/logical relation between, for example, blogs and RSS.

Blogs are "personal" conversations, opinions and news, delivered in a linear structure, usually written in a more personal style, and confined to a limited number of content types.

E-zines on the other hand are more similar to magazines ornewspapers, carrying content presented in a complex non-linear content structure, and having the ability to carry many different content types that do not mix well together if provided through a linear content structure.

A typical e-zine might include:
- an editorial;
- a leading article, representing the prevailing topic of a specific e-zine issue;
- supporting articles, clearly structured to show they are secondary to the leading article;
- links to "best of" blog posts in the given time frame;
- links to the most relevant forum topics and posts;
- a news section;
- a featured client case study;
- different advertisements (banner ads, textual ads, advertorials etc.);
- a featured consultant; - a Q&A section; - a featured white paper;
- etc.

Providing all of this content demands a complex content structure and a strong and experienced editor. The blog format simply does not provide the level of structure needed to effectively present such a complex content mix.

But that's not to say that blogs are in any way inferior to e-zines, they're just different. And businesses need both, and they need to deliver both via RSS and e-mail. Personal preferences towards content delivery channels and internet content media formats have no place in business. What matters is what our audiences want and how they want it.

About the Author:
Rok Hrastnik is the author of »Unleash the Marketing &Publishing Power of RSS«, acclaimed as the best and most comprehensive guide to RSS for marketers by leading RSS experts. The complete guide on RSS for marketers: http://rss.marketingstudies.net/index.html?src=sa2

Easy RSS for Bloggers by Nell Taliercio

Do you need help adding RSS feeds to your blogger?

It's reallyeasy and here is how you can do it:

Log into your blogger account

Go to "settings"

Go to "site feed"

Copy the "site feed url"

Then go to www.feedburner.com

Scroll down to "try feedburner today" and paste your "site feed url" and then click next. You'll be at "select services" There are lots of options on that page and you can look through them all, but to get to the feeds you need to go to the bottom of that page and click on "next".

Then you can log in or sign up. It's free to sign up. After you fill in your info then click and that page will allow you to "activate your feed". Click on that and then click on "launch your publicity tools" and then click on "chicklet chooser". Then you have many options. I personally always choose the "my yahoo", "my msn", "newsgator" and "xml". Click on each one and you'll see the code you need to grab. You have to do it for each one.

Then just go back to your template and put it in. You're set. As you can see there are other different things you can do too. So look around in there and check them all out.
But that is just the very basics of getting a feed up. Now, when you get that feed added let me know so I can add you to my personal"my yahoo" page!

Nell Taliercio is the owner of a leading work at home mom resource website packed full of unique information for the telecommuter, business owner and virtual assistant. Visit http://www.mommysplace.net today!

Displaying RSS Feeds Copyright 2005 Sharon Housley

Displaying RSS
RSS offers webmasters a unique opportunity to display fresh content on websites. While publishing an RSS feed is a great way to generate site interest and increase communication, syndicating and displaying feeds from related relevant sources can also generate interest, increase traffic and improve search engine ranking.

RSS Radars
Webmasters with limited time or capacity can syndicate related content. In a nut shell, webmasters can create RSS radars by combining a mix of content from related sources by grouping similarly-themed feeds. RSS feeds are updated at different intervals, providing an ever-changing collection of related information.

RSS is a form of eXtensible Markup Language or XML. Viewing an RSS feed in a web browser generally produces code that is not easy for website visitors to decipher. As a result, webmasters use tools to display the content contained in an RSS feed.

Content contained in RSS feeds can be added to websites a number of different ways. Each method for displaying the RSS feed has pros and cons associated with it. Webmasters will need to determine which option will best meet their hosting and technology needs.

Using _Javascript to Display RSS
_Javascript is the easiest way to display RSS feeds on a website. There are a number of sites that will allow you to generate code that can be inserted into a website. The_javascript will auto-update, showing the latest headlines as the feed is updated. Each time a visitor visits the website the _javascript pulls the data from the feed. Often, the various scripts can be customized so that the look of the feed can be made to match a specific website needs with hopes that the search engines will devour and spider the contents, you will be disappointed. When _javascript is used to display RSS feeds, search engines do not actually "see" the contents of the feed, meaning that the search engines will not index the contents of the feed within the website.

Feedroll
- Feedroll is a free service for syndicating RSS and ATOM news feeds on your website. Simply select a feed,customize the design, then copy and paste the code provided onto your page.
http://www.feedroll.com

Using PHP to Display RSS
PHP is a slightly more complex solution for displaying RSS. Like _javascript, as the contents of the feed updates, the web page contents will update as the page is refreshed. The benefit of using PHP to display RSS is that the contents of the feed displayed with the webpage can be spidered and indexed by search engines. The result is a feed that always displays the most current information from the RSS feed and the web page content is considered search engine spider and robot-friendly.

rss2html.php - The rss2html.php script allows users to create web pages that will always display the most current information from the RSS feed, and because the resulting page is pure HTML, it will be in a format friendly tosearch engine robots. Using rss2html.php, webmasters can customize the format and look of the web page created from the feed. The RSS feed's contents can easily be integrated into an existing website's theme. The rss2html.php script parses the RSS file, extracts the pertinent information, formats it, and serves it up as regular HTML. http://www.feedforall.com/free-php-script.htm

FeedRoll Pro - FeedRollPro was really designed to enable publishers to syndicate their own content on other sites.But it can be used to syndicate news feeds from other sites on your own pages.
http://www.feedrollpro.com

Using ASP to Display RSS
ASP is similar to PHP. The free ASP/ASP.NET scripts can beused to convert RSS feeds into HTML and display onASP/ASP.NET web-server.

rss2html.asp - ByteScout has implemented a guide fordisplaying of RSS/XML feed using free RSS2HTML.ASP scriptin ASP or ASP.NET environment. This script can be used free of charge on any ASP or ASP.NET web-server and generate HTML from RSS feed. This free ASP script uses MSXML to load RSS feed from URL and display it. You can use it as a stand alone or call from script on HTML page to generate HTML content from RSS feed and then display on your HTML page.http://bytescout.com/how_to_display_rss_using_asp.html

RssFeed - RssFeed is an open-source custom ASP.NET server control that displays the contents of a specified RSS feed in an ASP.NET web page.http://www.scottonwriting.com/sowBlog/RssFeed.htm

If PHP or ASP is used to update feeds, the website will have free fresh, relevant content each time the feeds referenced are updated.

Export RSS to HTML If you wish to dress up the feed's appearance you can use a template exporting the feed as HTML or an HTML table. Publishers can incorporate exported tables into an HTML template using a server-side include. Each time the feed isupdated, the feed will need to be exported to HTML and uploaded along with the feed. Though this only takes a few moments, exporting RSS to HTML does require webmaster intervention to update the content. The end result, though,is a complete web page with an RSS feed in it that will besearch engine-friendly.

FeedForAll - FeedForAll allows users to export RSS feeds from RSS to HTML. The look of the HTML can be modified to match an existing website's design.
http://www.feedforall.com

Using Services
There are a number of services available that host and display RSS feeds, in many cases free of charge. Because these services operate on a different domain server there is little benefit to end-users displaying their feeds in this fashion. That said, the services are generally free of charge, so you get what you pay for.

RSS2HTML.com - Select a layout, color scheme and enter the URL of the feed. A web page URL will be generated that will display the feed in the selected scheme.
http://www.rss2html.com

FeedBurner - FeedBurner provides a number of online services. Among them is a service that displays RSS feeds on a website.
http://www.feedburner.com

Using XSL to Display RSS Although using XSL and CSS stylesheets to display XMLdirectly is easy to understand in theory, it is rather tricky to implement in the real world and is very tough for novices to use successfully. Webmasters must be fairly familiar with CSS and XSL to have the formatting work well, and webmasters then have to address browser incompatibilities and exceptions. As a result, not a lot of resources or services yet exist to display RSS using XSL.

Using highly targeted feeds, webmasters can enhance their websites with themed content. Ultimately, providing relevant, educational or newsworthy information from reputable related sources will establish expertise in a specific area.

About the Author:
Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll http://www.feedforall.com software for creating, editing, publishing RSS feeds and podcasts. In addition Sharon manages marketing for NotePage http://www.notepage.net a wireless text messaging software company.

Will Spam-Blogging Be The Death Of Blogging? by Priya Shah

Technorati reports that 30,000 - 40,000 new blogs are being created each day.

According to David Sifry, part of the growth of new blogs created each day is due to an increase in spam blogs.

What are spam blogs? They are fake blogs that are created by robots in order to foster link farms, attempted search engine optimization, or drive traffic through to advertising or affiliate sites.

They contain robot-generated posts made up of random words,with the title linking back to the blogger's own pages.

Many bloggers see them as a way of getting their pages indexed quickly by Google and other search engines.

Sifry estimates that about 20% of the aggregate pingsTechnorati receives are from spam blogs. Most of this fake blog spam comes from hosted services or from specific IP addresses.

Those in the SEO world are well aware of this. There are even services like Blogburner that encourage creation of spammy blogs and spam-pinging to get your sites indexed quickly.

As a blogging evangelist, I wholeheartedly recommend blogging as an SEO tactic. But I also emphasize that you should use your blog for more than just SEO.

At the Spam Squashing Summit, blog services decided to collaborate to report and combat blog-spamming.

Technorati currently claims to catch about 90% of spam and remove it from the index. They also notify the blog hosting operators.

But I believe that they are fighting a losing battle. As I write this there are software and robots being created that will create spam-blogs more efficiently and in ways that will be harder to detect.

The SEO "black hats" are always far ahead of the technology and safeguards that these services can put in place.

Take down a few spam-blogs and hundreds more will arise.

Blogging evangelist and PR guru, Steve Rubel, sums up this dilemma rather well on his Micropersuasion blog.http://www.micropersuasion.com

He believes that its human nature for people to exploit new technologies, and that it's really up to the search enginesto help put a stop to these by undercutting the economicsof blogspam, much like they did with no follow and comment spam.

But the trade-off is that such a move would also reduce any impact that blogs have on search results.

Fact: The more you abuse a technology, the less effective it becomes.

Spam blogging will force search engines like Google to change their ranking algorithms and eventually assign less value to links from blogs.

Unless they put in safeguards to prevent robots from taking over, its safe to assume that blogging will become less effective as an SEO tactic over time.

Of course, the spammers will then just have to find new avenues and means to spam the engines.

But why ruin a good thing in the first place? Blogs are much more than just tools for search engine optimization.

A blog can be a great tool for personal branding and building relationships with your website visitors and customers.

Instead of using blogs for spam, focus on building content-rich sites and getting high-value links to them.

Don't restrict yourself to just the SEO benefits of blogging.

Appreciate the value that blogs can add to your marketing and public relations strategy and use them the way they were meant to be used.
_______________________________________________
Priya Shah is the CEO of eBrand360.http://www.ebrand360.com She writes on internet marketing,search engine optimization , and business blogging. Subscribe to her free eCourse on Blogging for Marketers http://www.blog-maniac.com

This article may be reprinted as long as the resource boxis left intact and all links are hyperlinked.

RSS For Fresh Content & Better Ranking by Ed Duvall

A lot of commotion was made a little over a year ago when webmasters discovered RSS (Really Simple Syndication) as a method of disseminating information like ezines, articles and website updates.

For a while it was even being tauted has the big replacement for email marketing.

A few caught on to it's potential while others passed it off as the latest internet fad that would soon come and go. And there for a while it looked like they might have been right.

But, as it appears from our tracking of RSS development I see that it's popularity has grown tremendously (to include blogs) and is being used a lot more to provide fresh content for websites and is fast being considered one of the best ways to keep search engine spiders coming back.

Search engines love fresh relevant content. Note the keyword in the last sentence is 'relative'.

At first you had to be pretty tech savvy to figure out how to set up an RSS feed and get if listed so people could find and benefit from it. But that process has gotten easier - a lot easier.

As a matter of fact there are a couple of software programs that we know of that provide methods for webmasters to get the great benefits of more search engine traffic using RSS feed criteria. I use one and it does work beautifully. You can judge for yourself by going here http://www.cashway.com/rs

In case you're new to RSS and you wonder what it can do for you and your website here's a brief summary.

By definition, RSS is a lightweight XML format designed for sharing things like news headlines and other web page content. But the bottom line is, RSS is simply a popular and convenient method of sharing content between websites.

You see, regardless of what topic or subject matter you've built your website around, there's valuable content available out there such as... articles and information written by an expert in that particular field. And since that kind of content already exists - AND a large portion of it is available through the magic of RSS feed capability - YOU don't have to create the content yourself.

So how does that help you?

Let's face it - most webpages can't get a good page rank because the competition is so fierce. To add to it, the tactics now being used by everyone aren't working very well. RSS is still in it's infancy, why dare I say it's barely out of the womb. But the internet world is starting to take notice and beginning to understand it's impact as a marketing tool as well as a viable way to improve a sites search engine positioning.

So Now...

- You spend less time writing fresh new web content.
- Your website can be displaying quality theme-based content... automatically!
- Content is always highly relevant to what you're promoting.
- Search Engines make more frequent visits because your site is constantly updating.
- You have more time to market your site, products, etc.
- Having quality fresh new content gets your web pages indexed faster.
- Usable on any website or as many pages as you want.
- RSS content (through topic channels) has the potential to deliver highly relevant content to site visitors.
- RSS compliments your website and marketing efforts.

That's all well and good you say, but is there a downside to using RSS feeds on my site?

Good question.

There may be a couple of items you need to take into consideration before you jump into the RSS game.

First you need to find relevant feeds for your site. Not an overwhelming task but something you'll want to spend a little time searching for on Google or other major search engines.

You'll then need to do a little copy and paste of the html code into the webpages you want the content to appear on.This can be a daunting task especially if you have a site with a lot of pages that you want the search engines to spider. Butif you strategicaly place the code on pages that spiders have visited you will have spiders looking for more pages with relative, fresh content.

In the long run once you have RSS feeds on the pages you know are going to be spidered then all of the tedious work is done and you can spend your time on other issues.

You can see how to automate this process by going to http://www.cashway.com/rs or you can start using our RSS feed on internet marketing by going to this webpage and copying the code and pasting it anywhere on your webpages. http://www.cashway.com/article_syndication.htm

We update our RSS feed with new articles, tips and strategies 1-2 times a week

All indications show that RSS feeds are on the rise because of their less intrusive nature, relevant targeted content, can be personalized, accessed through a variety of media, no extradata is collected from viewers and the industry and developers on the whole are making strides in increasing add-ins and features, such as ability to track results of its use, and to better integrate it for users and viewers alike.

So for 24/7 fresh content for your web pages and better searchengine recognition you should be looking at using RSS feeds inthe very near future.
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For more information on promoting your website and increasing site traffic visit http://www.cashway.com and http://www.instantnettraffic.com providing more articles, tactics and strategies to help you with your internet marketing efforts.Reprint this article as long as resource box is not changed.

Top 10 Blog Writing Tips © Patsi Krakoff and Denise Wakeman

Most of the "rules" about writing for ezines and newsletters apply to writing posts for your blog, but there are some important differences. Keep these 10 tips in mind and you'll be publishing great blog content that attracts prospects and clients in your niche market.

1. Write with the reader in mind. Remember WIIFM? It's marketing jargon for What's In It For Me? That's what you should be keeping in mind. Your reader will read your post looking for what's in it for them.

2. Make it valuable and worthwhile. Don't waste people's time. If you don't have anything to say, no problem, plenty other people do. So share their articles, do an interview, review a book.

3. Proof-read for typos and glaring grammatical errors. You wouldn't go out of the house with dirty hair or missing a sock, so why would you publish spelling mistakes? Respect your readers by polishing up your stuff.

4. Keep it short and simple, sweetie. (KISS). Most people are scanners. You may have a lot to say and think it interesting, and it may be. But people are reading online and out of time. Get to the point quickly. Publishing short posts more frequently is a better format than publishing lengthy articles every few weeks.

5. Keep it lively, make it snappy and snazzy. Even if you aren't a natural born writer, you can write for your blog. Just write like you're speaking to your friend.or to yourself! Remember though, get to the point quickly. Keep in mind the journalist's rule of 5 W's in the first paragraph: who, what, why, when and where.

6. Link often. This builds credibility and positions you as an expert in your field. People don't have time to know what others are doing, you should tell them. Linking to other blogs and websites also helps you build a network of associates who will in turn link to your blog.

7. Use keywords often. This will help you stay on purpose, and the search engines will love your blog. Your rankings will go up. This is one of the reasons we have you write out your purpose statements before beginning your blog. The clearer you are about your purpose, the more consistently you will deliver messages that are on target. And the more often your keywords show up, the better your search engine results.

8. Write clearly (short sentences, only one concept per sentence). No double speak or jargon; no more than one idea in one sentence- don't make your readers have to think about your meaning. Spoon feed them. Use commas and dashes liberally. 9. Write like you talk. It's okay to use common expressions from speech. Examples: Go figure. Don't even go there. Now, I ask you. Gotta love it. (And, remember the age group of your readers.)

10. Use a clear headline, and don't be afraid to make bold statements (but don't mislead people either). Make it snazzy and use key words. Example: Ex-Techno-Weenie Masters HTML Code

BONUS: After you write a post and BEFORE you hit the save button Use this checklist to ask yourself a few questions as you are reading through for typos and grammar:
__ Is the topic clear to someone who only reads the headline?
__Does the lead paragraph tell who and what the story is about and why the reader should care about it?
__ Is the angle you've used likely to seem newsworthy?
__Would someone who knows absolutely nothing about this topic understand this post?
__ Is the post free of jargon?
__ Is it written in journalistic style and does it make an effort to be objective?
__ Have you peppered the headline and the post with keywords and phrases that will be attractive to search engines?
__ Did you remember to ask your readers a question at the end, or something to stimulate readers to comment?
__ Did you remember to write with the reader in mind, always keeping in mind WIIFT?
(What's in It for Them?)

Patsi Krakoff of Customized Newsletter Services, and Denise Wakeman of Next Level Partnership, have teamed up to create blogging classes and marketing services for independent professionals. You can read and subscribe to their blogs at http://www.coachezines.com, http://www.bizbooknuggets.com and http://www.biztipsblog.com

RSS Digest

I just wanted to give credit where credit is due and to do so before I forgot about doing so.

The headlines appearing on the front page of http://www.blogsmart-resources.com are powered by a website known as RSS Digest which is located at http://www.bigbold.com/rssdigest/index.html.

I found out about RSS Digest after reading about them in Thomas Pakii Pierce's Blog How To Blog For Fun & Profit.

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

A Short History of Blogs and Blogging

The History of Blogs by Keith P Stieneke

If we go way back in history, to before the Internet, then blogs can be attributed to people who kept journals or diaries of their daily thoughts or activities. But jumping ahead to the 20th century we find this journaling and diary keeping behavior to be taking place online.

According to my research the first weblog was the first website, http://info.cern.ch/, built by Internet pioneer Tim Berners-Lee at CERN. In that time period each new page on the Internet was a cause for a celebration. The Internet pioneers watched in excitement as the network grew and it was because of this that Tim pointed to all new sites as they came online. The content of this site fortunately still exists as it has been archived at the World Wide Web Consortium.

In doing my research on this topic of the history of blogs, I found that probably the most notable chronicler on the history of blogs and blogging is Rebecca Blood whose information can be found at such places as http://www.rebeccablood.net/essays/weblog_history.html

As the Internet grew and the World Wide Web came about, other programmers created hand-coded pages with their recommendations for surfing the Net – they “filtered” the Net. Justin Hall started his filter log in 1994. In 1998, Jorn Barger coined the term “weblog.” Rebecca Blood, says that these “link-driven sites” were very popular, and webloggers became a community. Each weblog included a list of similar filter sites.

From 1993 to 1999 blogs grew until there were dozens of them online. Then an explosion occurred and now in 2005 there are millions. Much of this growth of blogs can be attributed to the Internet pioneers who in an effort to make things easier for themselves built tools that allow anyone, no matter how little Internet savvy he or she possesses, to create and maintain a blog.

The most popular of these tools is Blogger.com, which was launched in August 1999. Since blogger allows a person to store their blog on bloggers own website (although you can also store it on your own), it offers great appeal to those on the Internet who do not have their own website. Blogger.com — which was recently snatched up by Google from the owner, Pyra Labs, for an undisclosed sum — may be the biggest, but it wasn't the first. The first online blog creation tools can be attributed to Andrew Smales, a programmer in Toronto who launched the first do-it-yourself blog tool — Pitas.com — in July 1999. Smales says the explosion of blog tools was simply a matter of critical mass.

You may ask such questions as how a blog differs from an online forum? The answer is that a forum is using more of the classic bulletin board. A blog is more like someone’s own book where each reader can comment on it. Both blogs and forums have their own purpose. Forums give a great deal of control and are highly interactive. However, unlike a blog they give rise to threaded discussions that may drift away from the original topic, therefore going down the proverbial rabbit trail. With blogs the content is more in control of one person or a team whom that one person has chosen.

Reading someone’s personal blog may be compared to experiencing some type of voyeuristic thrill especially when reading about many of the personal subjects that bloggers may write about. Blogs, although starting out as solely personal diaries or journals have evolved much in the last few years. I have seen blogs arguing against the war in Iraq or for the war in Iraq. I have seen blogs about a person’s belief systems varying differently from my own. You name a subject, an interest, or a belief and I assure you that someone is blogging about it. One of the most recent advances is the use of blogs for Internet marketing purposes.

As the evolution of blogs and blogging continues we will experience not only more personal blogs revealing information about their creators that maybe they should or shouldn’t reveal, but also more and more Internet marketers using blogs to further their business growth. Indeed in addition to the written word blogs today are also utilizing photography, audio files and even videos. Is it any wonder that blog is the buzzword of the day on the Internet?
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Keith P. Stieneke is an Internet marketer, a blogger and the creator of the new blog resource site BlogSmart-Resources.com

In Creating A Blog

In creating a blog there is always some testing to be done and I am currently working to put the site feed of this blog on to the home page of its website. Thank you for your patience.

Welcome To Blog Smart Resources

Welcome to Blog Smart Resources the news center associated with our website Blogsmart-resources.com which is aiming to be an inexhaustible resource center for material dealing with blogs, blogging, rss, podcasting and all new syndication technology.