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Archive for July 29, 2011

3 Essential Tips for Effective Blog Writing

Are you new to blogging community? Blogging is a great pleasure. It can be a personal blog or a professional blog written for a company, a brand. A blog has no boundaries. It can be anything, it can be ‘you’, it can be your secret desires, and it can be your diary. A blog is typically updated regularly, and that’s how it’s also different from a website, with frequent new posts. You need not know any programming language. You can put blog title, write content, attach image and just click on ‘publish’ and show it to the world. How many of us know what makes good blog writing? Here are some tips for your help.

A nice title

Always remember, it is the title of a blog post that attracts readers to read the same. Even a regular follower of your blog may simply overlook your latest post, if it doesn’t have a catchy title. Title has to be creative, catchy and very interesting. Some really interesting blog titles I have come across are – ‘Is Politics a masturbation for own pleasure?’, ‘What is so big about Big Brother?’, ‘Drinking and driving – a deadly combo for suicide’, ‘Celebrities and their uncelebrated agony’ etc. Aren’t these titles really catchy and persuading? Yes, that’s the sole purpose. Take your time, think and think till you crack a lovely blog post title.

Find a niche

Often we want to do everything. Don’t do it. Don’t make a blog for all, every topic under the sun. If you want to write on multiple subjects, you can create separate blogs for each of them. As for example, if you are a social thinker and wish to have a blog on societal and political topics, you may simply dedicate a blog towards socio-political-cultural topics. If you wish to narrow it down further and wish to write only on social crimes and role of law, you may stick to that. But don’t make the mistake of putting all in one blog – like social issues, a poem of yours, your last vacation experience, and your opinion on the current educational trend in Europe etc. Make sure you find a niche for your blog. You may choose ‘travel’ as your blog niche. Write travel related topics only. If you put everything in one, search engine may not locate your blog. Finding a niche for your blog will help you to get a higher search engine rank.

Keep it short and simple

A blog is for regular followers, readers, not for one time or not so regular viewers who visit a website just for some information or buying purpose. Blog is read to know others’ views, experiences. Thus, make it as simple and conversational as possible. Language should be simple and free flowing. And remember, no one wants to read long paragraphs running pages after pages, keep blog posts short. You may continue a post in your next write up. On Internet people browse and can’t hold attention for very long. Thus keeping it short wins the game.

So what are you waiting for? Get started with you blog. Practice will make it perfect.

Dot Com Domain Name Price Touches a New Low

We have a piece of very good news for our customers. This is exciting, and after reading the announcement we have to make you will find it hard to stop yourself from jumping with joy.

Are you wondering what are we so excited about?

Read the title of this post and you will come to know that we have, for one more time, dropped the price of our Dot Com (.Com) Domain names.

Isn’t it exciting? Something to be thrilled about?

Gossimer, which is one of the 25 most famous web hosting and domain name registration company of the web world, has decided to offer its customers (both new and existing) a chance to save some quick bucks (green US dollars) on each purchase, transfer, and renewal of Dot Com domain names.

What’s the deal?

The deal is this: the price of a new Dot Com (.Com) domain name registration has been dropped to USD 10.49/year, which is USD 1.50 lower than GoDaddy.

And for an existing customer the news is even sweeter. A renewal of a Dot Com domain name will only cost USD 8.99/year. The price has been kept same (USD 8.99/year) for transfer-in domains as well. Check the domain name price list for details.

Who will benefit from this deal?

Anyone who is interested in buying Dot Com domain names!

If you have a website idea and you want to buy a new domain name then this is the right time to do so. The price of a Dot Com (.Com) domain name couldn’t go much lower than this. At this price, a Dot Com (.Com) Domain name is a steal.

The news is even more exciting for a webmaster who is stuck with high-price Dot Com domain names elsewhere. He can simply take those domains from their existing domain name registrars, and transfer them to Gossimer. The cost will be a mere USD 8.99/year for each domain.

Not only that, at this dirt-cheap price, a webmaster will also get Free One Year Extension on each of the domain names transferred to Gossimer. This makes the deal even sweeter isn’t it?

Let’s do some math

Suppose, you have a domain with GoDaddy and you want to renew your expiring domain. GoDaddy, without rewarding you for your stay with the company, charges you USD 11.99 per year for renewal. You are charged what it will charge to a new customer for a new domain.

Let’s think that after getting tired of pumping your hard-earned dollars in GoDaddy’s bank account, you decided to transfer your domain to Gossimer then what will be the math?

As the price list of Gossimer suggests, you will have to pay USD 8.99 for the transfer, which means you will right away save USD 3 on one year of registration.

But, this is not all, there is more to it.

Gossimer, as mentioned in the link shared above, is giving Free One Year Extension on each domain name transferred to its system. It means, for USD 8.99, you will get a registration of 2 years.

So, the effective yearly cost of your domain ownership after transfer will be USD 4.49 for the first two years.

So what is your total savings on domain transfer?

On GoDaddy, a domain registration for 2 years will cost you USD 23.98 (USD 11.99 X2).

So, the money you will save by transferring your domain to Gossimer will be USD 14.99 (USD 23.98 – USD 8.99).

A saving of USD 14.99 on each domain, isn’t it sweet?

Not only that, on each subsequent renewal of your Dot Com (.Com) domains, you will spend USD 3 less than the price you will otherwise pay to GoDaddy.

Was I wrong by being so excited about this offer? And what are you waiting for?

Transfer your domains to Gossimer, now!

The Power of Social Media Marketing

Web hosting companies are synonymous with being online – something that is a must any successful venture. However there is something else that is rapidly becoming just as important. There are a ton of articles on it, a lot of talk on why it is important and how to apply it to someone’s business. What we’re talking about is of course social media marketing.

Social media marketing will soon become just as important as site hosting when it comes to developing an online presence.

1. The Brand

Companies can use social media sites to create brand awareness as well as trustworthiness. If people see it around a lot, it can create the impression of legitimacy, which can result in increased credibility. Social media sites, viewed in this light, can be as important to a business as the site hosting option they use.

2. Generating Leads

Lead generation is an extremely important part of any business. It’s how they can generate more sales. Social marketing media campaigns can generate sales where there were none before and can get them unexpected clients.

3. It Gives Them a Way to Talk to Customers

It’s right there in the title: “social”. More and more companies are beginning to realize the value of immediate and almost instantaneous customer feedback and engagement. This can keep customer interest up and make them more invested in the product. Social media marketing has allowed a number of companies to keep a strong hold on their customer base despite the massive economic downturn.

This can also lead to improved sales as companies will be able to immediately enact changes and appeal to their customers better. This can make customers feel like they are important, that the companies are listening to them. This can have a wonderful effect on customer loyalty.

This can also lead to improved customer relations in general. No longer will people have to wait on the line for someone to get back to them. All they need to do is to drop a line on the social media site and the business can reply at their leisure. This can, again, improve customer loyalty, interest and satisfaction.

4. Increased Relevant Traffic

The point of every single campaign online is to increase traffic. Whether it’s a traditional online marketing campaign or one that uses social media, it all leads towards increased traffic. Naturally, using frequently used websites can do just that.

5. Improved Return of Investment

Heavily promoting products over social media marketing channels can lead to increased sales, which can directly lead to an improved return of investment rate. It also increases the value of most interaction by converting more people into customers rather than just visitors.

6. A Faster Way to Communicate with Clients

Companies release new services and products all the time. Social media websites can inform people of these new releases literally instantly. Various browsers and programs, in fact, streamline the notification process for both users and companies. This makes sure that a company’s customers know exactly when there’s something new for them to purchase.

7. Improved Demographic Targeting

If companies could target the right demographic all the time there would be a lot more successful companies out there. Social media sites keep a lot of information on the users that log-on, which includes preferences as well as trends. This can help companies tailor both their marketing campaigns and their products even further to provide better quality service.

9. Improving Search Engine Rankings

Traffic from search engines remains invaluable and an effectively employed social media marketing program can help boost a website’s ranking.

These should be more than enough to convince most companies to get into social media marketing and improve their sales numbers.

Author’s Bio – Chloe Henderson

Chloe Henderson is 23 year old media practitioner who engages herself in the world of social networking, gadgets and reading. She is also doing some freelance writing on several web hosting companies and is currently with WebHostingSearch.com. She loves to write stuffs about anything that would interest her and then sharing it to the world wide web.

Why Should You Start Blogging Right Away?

If you have been tweeting only while being happy with your website, you are missing out a lot more there. Blogging is the most popular and best thing to do. Here are some reasons, which say why you should start blogging.

Best place to voice your thoughts and opinions

There is no other platform better than a blog to voice personal opinions and thoughts, beliefs and values. You need not wait for anyone’s approval or permission to publish.

You need not be a tech-savvy person

Unlike web page creation for new content addition a new blog post doesn’t need any knowledge of HTML or anything as such. You can easily create a new blog post, write and publish the same on your own. All you have to do is type in to a box, and click on ‘publish’ button, for the world to see your blog post.

Search Engine Optimized

Blogs achieve automated search engine optimization. For higher ranking in search engines you need to keep your blog content fresh and update the same regularly. Categorize your blog content under different sections. Archives can be customized. Use keywords effectively and find specific keywords and mention them in keywords section. Every part of your blog can be customized. You can include keywords in your blog title, description, blog post headings, trackback links, comment invitations, archive titles, category titles. Search engines love content which are organized, structured, thematic and connected and a good blog has all these. So search engines look for such blogs, with which very few professional website can match up to.

Online community

If your blog is about a specific theme and a topic of interest, there will be an active online community interested in the same; who will be following your blog throughout. You can expect loyal readership, active comments, suggestions, feedback, and sharing of your blog URL in various websites. Ask your followers to actively participate and do the same when you visit their blogs.

Preserve old posts

Old articles are valuable and enjoyable even after years later. Blogging gives this liberty, as it safely archives all past blog posts categorized under different years. Old Tweets are hardly revisited and are hard to find too.

Don’t you think you should start blogging right away?

Did You Know Blogs Can be Effectively Promoted For Free?

It’s a big misconception that promotion always needs good amount of money and no one can do it for free. If your blog already has high benchmark of content quality, you don’t need much financial input to take off to greater heights.

Here are some tips for promoting your blog for absolutely free.

Tags and categories

Web search engines work on the basis of keywords in tags and categories to file your postings, so that searchers can get a customized optimum search outcome. Use keywords thoroughly yet creatively in your content. It shouldn’t appear forced. Enter categories always. Remember tags should be specific and categories should be broad

Search engine finding

Make sure people can easily find your blog in search engines. Submit your blog to popular search engines like Google, Yahoo!, ASK, Live etc. Try to acquire a high rank in search engine findings.

FeedBurner

FeedBurner is an effective tool letting you know number of subscribers and traffic to your blog. It’s an extremely beneficial method. Make sure you thoroughly know each tabs of FeedBurner and the options available.

Linking

Linking is very important. Promotion of your blog URL is very important task. In all your online and offline communication messages provide link to your blog. You can promote your blog link in multiple ways. You may also include blog URL in your email signature, so that whoever receives a mail from you get to see your blog URL below your name. If you are following other blogs and actively comment there, make sure you attach your blog URL with your comment. If you are active in social and business networking and actively participate in Facebook, LinkedIn, Google Plus and the like, make sure you add link to your blog in your profile detail.

Go to other blogs

If you want others to visit and actively be a part of your blog, you have to do the same for others. Follow good blogs, which interest you. Visit other blogs regularly, share their posts, and put meaningful comments. This will get you closer to the blogger as you will slowly start interacting more and more. This will also draw other bloggers to your blog and actively follow you. Getting a good bunch of active followers is a sure treat for any blogger.

Try these simple tips and promote your blog without a single penny spent.

Web Promotional Strategies that Actually Work

Are you launching a new website or reviving the old one with a dash of newness? Whatever the situation is, all you need is a high level of traffic to your website. To draw more and more traffic to your portal you need to apply some effective promotional strategies. Here they are –

Run a contest

Best way to make a site popular overnight is by running a contest. You will often see contests like ‘Write a good hotel review and win free iPod’, or ‘Subscribe to our monthly newsletter and win a free trip’. It may incur you some cost, but think about your overnight popularity and growing traffic. It’s a great investment. You may run monthly contests or once in 3 months, depending upon your budget. It will keep people interested in your site. Declare the winner, along with details and picture; so that it looks credible.

Interesting video

Interesting videos always get popular overnight. Make a funny or interesting video. It should be original. Now post it on your site and share the link everywhere else on social networking sites, video directories, forums, blogs etc. A crazy video always draws eyeballs.

Redesign if needed

If your website seems old and backdated, you need a refurnishing of your website. Redesign the website. Use contemporary layout and relevant color combination.

A blog always helps

Blogging is the recent phenomenon to reach out to your target audience. Make sure your website has a blog tab, which you keep updating with new articles, videos, photographs etc.

Interesting widgets

These days widgets have taken a huge rage. Decorate your website with trendy widgets, you may also design some exclusive widgets and make them available for download. Such downloadable desktop widgets will bring constant reminder of your website to the net surfers.

A simple URL for all

Many websites clutter their website with multiple URL for each tab, like new windows keep popping up; which is highly irritating for the visitor. This way marketer feels that he can captivate audience, but you can’t suffocate them. Set them free. Keep a simple URL for all pages. Don’t redirect.

Follow these simple tips of web promotion and witness growing traffic to your site.