One thing I would do a couple of years ago when I worked full time and did internet marketing part time was use content I found as a way to blog on a consistent basis. This was pretty easy because I wrote an introduction, closing, and sometime inserted a comment in the middle of my post.

One great source for this was Stone Evans’ free ebook “Dotcomology” which is all about how to make money online. Here is an excerpt from that book on what is a blog and how you can start one today.

A blog (also known as weblog) is a place to collect and share things that you find interesting. It could be your political commentary, a personal diary, or links to websites you want to remember or tell others about. Actually, it can be about anything at all. A blog is often a kind of hybrid diary/guide website, although there are as many unique types of blogs as there are people.

Blogs can be used to introduce products to potential customers. Truth is, people published blogs long before the term was coined,
but the trend gained momentum with the introduction of automated publishing systems, most notably Google’s Blogger at Blogger.com.

Millions of people ranging from business executives to teenagers at home sharing their personal thoughts online use services such as Blogger to simplify and accelerate the online publishing process.

Blogs as a Marketing Tool

Blogs offer huge marketing potential. They are highly strategic tools that can strengthen relationships, share knowledge, increase collaboration, and improve branding. Blogs give site owners a chance to interact with their visitors on a more regular and personal basis.

A blog can take the form of a diary, a news service (or summaries of and links to current news items on a topic), a collection of links to other websites, a series of book reviews or products, reports of activity on a project, the journal of an expedition, and much more. In fact, businesses can even use blogs to advertise their products or services. One of the most interesting ways to use a blog is by allowing it to function as a discussion forum for customers of your products or services.

In this case, the webmaster can give posting rights to other people – visitors and customers, and their posts may or may not be reviewed before they are published to the web page. Customers can then post favorable comments about the website’s offerings. Some blogs are set up in such a way that only the owner has posting rights, but in most cases anyone can add comments to blog posts.

Blogs combined with newsletters offer huge marketing potential. For example, articles within newsletters can be linked to a blog which dramatically extends the article’s shelf life. Once the article is posted online, it becomes a searchable document available to be located through search engines and other means of online syndication.

How to Create a Blog

Most blogs are now created using software or services designed specifically for this purpose. Some of the software is free - and some of the organizations that provide blog software will also provide free server space to house a blog so that it is publicly accessible on the Internet. There are also commercial versions of some of the free software; these commercial versions often provide more features. Some blog software is available only as commercial software. Alternatively, bloggers can create and maintain their blog using free software or a free weblog service, but use FTP (File Transfer Protocol) to load the resulting blog to their own hosted website.

There are many blogging softwares available online. One of the most popular blog-generating technology is Google’s Blogger which
you can start using instantly and at no cost at Blogger.com. Blogger is probably the easiest and most widely used blogging software on the market today. You can be publishing your own blog within 5 minutes using Blogger. However, if you want your blog hosted on your own remotely hosted domain, you will need some basic knowledge of FTP.

Adapting Blog Concepts to Your Newsletters

As mentioned before, blogs combine very well with newsletter marketing strategies. Keep in mind, however, that a blog is not intended to replace your newsletter. Its purpose is to extend and complement your newsletter marketing strategy, serving customers and prospects in a way that extends your reach even further. Another potential for blogs is that they can serve the purpose of FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) resource site. Blogs can be automatically archived by age in days, weeks, or months. And they’re searchable, allowing readers to easily retrieve the information they need, when they need it.

Creating an effective blog requires careful planning. Blogs should present as much information as possible while representing the voice of your website. Here are a few guidelines on how to plan and create a blog to go along with your newsletter. Like all good communication vehicles, you want to establish goals and objectives. Define your audience, what its needs are, and how best to meet those needs.

Find someone who can step into the role of pundit, who’s willing to be the host. Keep in mind that over time, your blog will develop a personality. Look for a potential leader who’s waiting to be unleashed and empowered. In fact, you could be the right person for the job. Search carefully for the right software to publish your Blog. Research the search engines by looking up “blogs”, “create a blog” and “blog software” to find a blogging tool that fits your needs.

Before you officially launch your blog, plan topics that you will discuss. Keep in mind that you’ll want to include an easy way for
readers to respond to the content on your blog. Most blogging software such as Blogger have this feature already built-in to your blog with an easy ON/OFF switch to allow or not allow reader interaction.

Use your newsletter to announce and promote the blog. Offer to email it to subscribers or provide the option, through an icon or link, to visit the blog directly.

You’ll want to periodically check in on reader responses and see if you are getting the kind of feedback and response you intend. If not, as with any marketing strategy, you may need to refine your approach, depending on the feedback and analysis you receive.

NOTE: Become a Plug-In Profit Site member and I’ll walk you step-by-step through the process of setting up your own money making blog. Even if you don’t have anything to publish, I’ll provide a source of content that you can use on your own blog starting immediately. If you have not signed up yet, click here to enroll now.

This is a great article on the overview of blogging. In the next few days we will look at more excerpts from Dotcomology as well as I will offer my own thoughts on how I blog and do it to make money.