Blogs

[simplydamon]

How many community members have one?

Why do you maintain a blog?

I am still in the process of setting mine up. I am just a little curious as to why people decide to set one up.

[George]

I got one. I got bored one day after reading some search engine optimization and thought I give it a try and see how high I can get my page rank to. Low and behold I just kept it up.

[simplydamon]

"I got bored one day after reading some search engine optimization"

Believe it or not, I actually know very little about search engine optimization. My specialty has been in community, customer service, and marketing - so I never took the time to read up on it. Any pointers for me?

[George]

Hi Damon,

Key pointer is Content, Content, and more Content. Google seems to like crawling site with content.

[simplydamon]

Thanks! I know it seems funny because I am working for a search engine company. I still have a lot to learn about this industry & how it "works".

[George]

I always learn something new every couple of days. Always have to keep up with the SEO. And watch out from spam comments and spam in the referral logs. Its like a cat and mouse game with these spammers.

[scifi4me2004]

I have a blog on a popular adult site. Men find my blog interesting in that I offer advice on women.

I also have a blog on livejournal. I find it therapeutic.

[lifesab-andthenyoudie]

The whole concept is very new to me. I don't think I'm the type to create a blog. I don't keep a journal and I'm barely able to answer email from friends and family! However, some friends of mine who just left for 6 month sabbatical to Australia have started a blog so we can all keep up with their adventures while they're gone. (I'm taking over the maintenance of a youth sports team website for her while she's gone. Scary, very scary. I'd give you the URL, but I'm too embarassed to have y'all know when I screw it up big time! :eek: ) I think it's a great idea for them because they don't have to keep track of what they've told to whom.

[simplydamon]

How do individuals build traffic to their site? There seems to be a distinct difference between business & personal blogs as far as capturing an audience. Are many of the people that visit simply friends?

I am also a rookie to the blog world. The only concern that I have is:Will my personal beliefs bump up against what I do as a profession? I have read cases where bloggers have been fired (not that I would criticize my employer).

[George]

There are many ways to build traffic. The quick and fast way is to get others to link to your site (preferably high pagerank sites) or if you patronize forums you can include the link in the signature portion of it. Eventually the spiders will visit your site. Have content and people will come.

You probably don't want to talk smack about your company even if it's true. Unless you sign up for the domain with a different name and address and never login at work.

How do individuals build traffic to their site? There seems to be a distinct difference between business & personal blogs as far as capturing an audience. Are many of the people that visit simply friends?

I am also a rookie to the blog world. The only concern that I have is:Will my personal beliefs bump up against what I do as a profession? I have read cases where bloggers have been fired (not that I would criticize my employer).

[scifi4me2004]

On the Adult site I don't include my store URL because I wouldn't want a stalker type at my front door.. on adult sites you build traffic by having a picture, any picture ,on your profile.

On my livejournal blog I can have a store URL but I don't. Traffic can be driven by having that URL(blog url) show up in forums or groups you may belong to.

I am ok with clashing views. I say what I want to say on alot of subjects and the subjects that I don't feel good having my say about online, I don't respond to or journal about. :cool:

[lifesab-andthenyoudie]

The Boston Globe had an article in their Sunday paper about two weeks ago referencing people who got fired by blogging at work.

[George]

I saw a report on TV about this, can't remember when or what channel. It was a recently hire employee at a search engine company. Long story short a few months later he was fire for writing in his blog about working at the company.