These days, many businesses find it important to create a website as a way to establish an online presence. This is in addition to their physical shop or office and their existing marketing strategies that can include the traditional media.

The trend today, in fact, is that companies have gone beyond just building a website where they can provide comprehensive information of what they do and their offerings. A great number of them have started creating blogs as a way of sharing valuable content and regular updates to their customers and engaging with them.

The Benefits of a Blog

The experts agree that having a company blog is more than just being able to gain visitors moving forward. For the business, it means being able to research and gain knowledge about the latest trends or technology that they can share with their readers and that, in fact, they can utilize in what they do as well. read on

Every blog needs to engage its audience if it is to be believable when boasting about its high number of visits.  When a reader visits one page and then leaves without checking other pages, that is not engaging the audience. That is what is termed as a bounce which is not considered positive by search engines.

Bounce Rate

Blogs are and should be concerned about bounce rate.  It is a reflection of how engaging a blog is.  Since a bounce happens when a visitor enters and exits through the same page, there is a conclusion that its contents are not that relevant so as to encourage further reading in other pages. Relevance is usually associated with quality and this is where the problem in categorizing a visit comes in.

It is necessary to have appropriate analytics in place to measure bounce rate.  A low bounce rate can be an indication that targeted users are finding just what they are looking for in a site and that they are finding it in more than one page. Providing related content is a simple way of leading visitors to spend more time in the site and therefore lower the bounce rate.  A high bounce rate on the other hand, indicates that users are not finding anything relevant and are therefore going back to search engine result pages to find other options.

A high bounce rate is not always bad since it is possible that the information required by users has been obtained on the first page visited.  The opportunity to further engage the visitors should not be wasted.  Relevant content has been provided so it makes sense to provide more reasons for return visits.

Engaging the Audience

So we go back to the basic question of how to engage an audience.  Aside from providing relevant and related content, there are a lot of things that site or blog owners can do to engage their audience.  Engaging an audience basically pertained to effective relating to readers and visitors.

Asking questions and running contests are two of the most common strategies of simple audience engagement.  They only require the performance of easy tasks and promise results in terms of the chance to air their views and being responded to as well the chance to win prizes which is always something positive.  Engaging the audience through various social network platforms is another way of going about it. Engaging an audience requires talking and listening.

Teresa is a researcher-writer who covers a wide range of topics in search of useful information.

Image: bloggingexperiment.com

Opening a site is easy, right?  Well, not exactly.  It really depends on what kind of site you wish to open.

Before anything else, potential site owners must know what exactly he or she wants to achieve in opening one.  Although many approach it in a trial and error method and somehow found their way in the system, it is still best to have a pretty good idea of the path one intends to take .  This way there will be less error in anticipated areas and more effort can be exerted on areas where attention should be given.

A site can be opened with the barest knowledge in programming and technological tinkering largely due to the “ready-made” packages of many free platforms.  Almost everything is covered by step-by-step direction in a manner that is quite friendly to newbies and still helpful to the more experienced ones.  The information one needs to have is found all over the Internet that there is actually no excuse for not being able to open a simple site.

It is a good idea though to learn more about scripting languages so that site owners can tweak their sites to achieve a certain degree of personalizing that will still stand apart from the generic format.  Opting to use a free platform will more or less cover the bases for the owner in almost all aspects.  In time, site owners can choose to explore other options which will give them more control over their sites.

About the Author:

Teresa is a researcher-writer who covers a wide range of topics in search of useful information.

Image: berryreporter.com

Developing and maintaining a single blog requires time, a certain degree of related knowledge, and money.  It would be easy to surmise that the requirement increases in proportion to the number of blogs handled.  There are benefits to building a blog network but one should be ready to face the challenges in the aspect of technology, marketing, personnel, and time management.

A blog network from one individual always start from one blog.  He or she can make a network of closely related blogs so that they can support each other.  A network of related blogs can help establish a blogger’s authority since there is a chance to show expertise in a specific niche.

A blog network comprised of blogs owned by different individuals belonging to one niche can help each other develop in their common niche and also provide an opportunity to branch out in other areas as well for further development.  As blog owners interact with others online, they are bound to discover their strengths and hidden potentials.

Before starting or joining a blog network, it is important that the original blog has already established its strength.  There is no sense in scattering attention on having multiple blogs when nothing has been achieved yet on one.  The more blogs there are to take care of, the more dispersed the attention of the blog owners become, thus the lesser chances for attaining a fully maximized blog.

It makes sense for people having different businesses to want to have multiple blogs in which to promote each corresponding business.  If one blog is a challenge to maintain,  the challenge increases proportionately  to the number of blogs.  This can be done but there has to be steady source of funds, ideas, and time.  To say that a person handling a blog network is busy is an understatement.  He or she would be so busy that the only way it can be done is through proper planning and time management.

Image: blogging-fun

 
About the Author:
Teresa is a professional researcher-writer of a wide range of topics.

Image: socialstrategy1

From a mere online journal that was started in the 1990s, blogs have formed a formidable industry that resides in the online environment.  Blogs have ceased to be a venue for self-expression only although it still continues to provide that.  Blogs of today have likewise become venues for leadership, expertise, and professionalized work.  So how does the blogging industry stand today?

If we are to base our answer on how blogs are behaving, it can be surmised that the blogosphere is very much alive where thousands of blogs are opened each day for varying reasons including personal use and business.  There are already millions of existing blogs and to see this number increasing by the minute is a true testament to the life of the blogging industry.

What keeps this industry alive is the continuing interaction that is happening by regular postings, commenting, marketing, or just reading.  This has been made livelier by the presence of businesses maintaining company blogs, although personal blogs still continue to lead in numbers.  There is however a tendency for many blogs to be neglected or abandoned after some time thus creating a lot of inactive blogs that simply clog the industry.

Blogging and social networking are happily co-existing at this time junking the fear that the latter might drive the former to extinction.  It would appear that these two were able to find their respective places and function in close relation with each other.  A big chunk of participants in blogging do not earn enough from it to consider it earnings but they continue for the love of it.  A very small percentage has found blogging as a highly profitable profession. English continues to be the main language with Spanish following but still quite far behind.

Image: advancedlifeskills

Blog networking is often seen as a black-hat SEO practice which seeks to achieve added traffic for blogs connected to each other by ownership by promoting each other.  Although reciprocal promotion is not essentially a bad thing, it becomes questionable when efforts tend to unethical behavior because of the false appearance of authority.  A blog that enjoys visits from many readers establish authority.  In unethical blog networking, visits come from the same people who expect to gain from the appearance of increased viewership of all commonly owned blogs.

There is another side to blog networking which is positive.  It is comprised of a legitimate blogging communities which bring bloggers together for interaction and possible grouping with people having similar interests.  A blogging community allows new members to introduce themselves, promote their latest blog posts, provide opportunities for guest posting, and other similar activities that can possibly increase readership.  Everything is legitimate because no one is forced to read, follow, or promote another’s blog.

This type of blogging community can be very helpful to a blog because of the great difficulty of blogs in establishing online presence.  The interaction only provides an opportunity to be seen by members who might be interested in what a blog has to offer.

Blog networks can also suggest other blogs which may or may not be part of the group.  These are blogs that are followed by other members.  They usually represent blogs that are more or less of the same niche if one is interested in looking into what blog is being read by a blogger of particular interest.

Image: techvela

With the big number of bloggers actively participating in the blogosphere, the formation of a community is inevitable.  This community can be an important source of support for the further developments of blogs.  Most importantly, a community is comprised of the blog audience.

A blogging community can be the best avenue for promoting a personal blog.  It has already been proven that blogs stand to have more chance of flourishing if it is actively participating in the various social network platforms available.  Without a community, this can be difficult to achieve.

It is well and good to be actively promoting a blog to family, friends, and work associates.  However, a blog needs to reach a wider audience and this can be made possible faster by interacting with other people and bloggers who are more or less into the same line of interest.  Interacting with bloggers is also a form of education that one cannot get anywhere else.

There is however an important thing about joining a blogging community and that is joining is not an assurance of blogs success.  It can encourage visits but it cannot force.  It can encourage other people to read but not to agree with the contents.  It can even open up earning opportunities but it can never assure its certainty.

A blogging community is just one way of making the public aware of the existence of a blog.  The result of joining will depend on the contents offered by a blog.  Community support can only go so far.  Relevant content only needs the least prodding to be able to spread to as many readers as possible.

A blog which needs exposure and desires exposure will get it from a blogging community.  Added traffic is a possibility.  It is up to the blog itself to find ways in converting these visitors to regular readers.

Image: investvine

The Thais are actively participating in social networking platforms such as Facebook and Twitter like any other nationalities in different parts of the world.  The bulk of the social media participants belong to the 18 to 24 age group with the 25 to 34 age group following not very far behind.  The 35 to 44 age group is a far third placer with the number sharply tapered off from the second place.  The 14 to 17 age group has the lowest numbers in terms of registration.

Thais are moving through the social networks, not very much different from others except for one noticeable thing – the variation of the form of Thai language as used by participants in social media.  The Thai language is probably one of the more difficult language to learn with specific rules in intonation, inflection, and word orders.  With the rise of Thai Internet users, concerns of how the Thai language is being adapted to the online environment likewise rises.

Thai Internet users appear to be developing their own style of communicating and interacting known as the Internet slang with their friends and acquaintances.  Many are seen replacing traditional Thai language with words and spellings that are largely influenced by social media.  These variations are being used in almost all social media applications used by Thais.

To determine just how active Thais have become in social media, it is worth noting that there are at least 5 Thais who are actively involved in social media through their employment with Facebook.  They are working as software engineers and data visualization scientists with Facebook.  This shows that Thais are not merely participants in social media but are actually movers of social media themselves.  Observers have been quick to remind that programming skill has to be accompanied by English language proficiency.

Thailand ranks 14^th when it comes to the number of Facebook users.  Statistics show that the actual number continues to rise supporting the belief that Thais are relying more and more on social media to carry out daily tasks.  There seems to be some question on the matter of allowing government employees to access Facebook during working hours.

Not everyone in the Thai government has fully come to terms with utilizing social media for tasks such as customer service, communication, information dissemination, illegal- activity monitoring, and criminal hunt.  The confusion is being blamed on the lack of clear social media policy from the government.  Although there is much discrepancy of the use of social media between the Thai government and the Thai public at present, this is expected to be eventually straightened out as government entities have a clearer view of the potentials of social media.

About the Guest Blogger

Edna is a social media practitioner currently studying the effects of social media on culture.  She is presently in Thailand to learn Thai language.

Image: infobarrel

At the rate some bloggers are opening blogs, one would think that blogging is an easy task.  Starting a blog may be easy enough but maintaining even a single quality blog can be more than what an ordinary person can handle.  With emphasis on quality, a blogger will have his hands full in writing, syndicating, updating, and optimizing his blog.  Imagine what two or fifty blogs will demand from a blogger.

More blogs may mean more exposure and more income opportunities.  Unfortunately, nothing good will come out of it unless bloggers are willing to give more time and more work as well.  Some bloggers just start a blog and then pay other writers to provide content for the blog.  It is just humanly impossible to handle numerous quality blogs without any outside help because of natural limitations.

Maintaining several blogs is often seen as an opportunity to earn more or to be more popular by the extent of exposure.  What many bloggers forget is that quality is usually sacrificed by the big number of responsibility in terms of blog count.  Even with the existence of many content writers, quality can still be an issue since not all writers are created equal and not every one of them will share the understanding of the standards set for the blog.

A blogger should have at least one blog that highlights his expertise to establish authority.  Other blogs can be established as the need arises to further establish authority in other areas.  So how many blogs can a blogger effectively handle without sacrificing quality?  That is a question which can only be answered by the blogger himself.

Having a blog network where one can expect support and sharing from other blogs offers numerous advantages for a member blog.  A blog owner can choose to join an existing blog network or create a new one.  This can easily be done by forming a network of different blogs owned by one person or by different blogs owned by different persons preferably of the same niche.

When a blogger wishes to set up a network composed of his own blogs, it is important for the blogs to be relevant to each other although they need not be exactly the same .  This simply means providing a sound basis for linking them and not only for the mere reason that they are owned by one person.  A good example of this is a blog network composed of a child care blog, child health blog, and child activity blog.  Although distinct from each other, it is still very easy to connect them because of a common factor which is the topic of child.

When forming a blog network that includes blogs of other people, membership should be limited to the same niche.  Attention should also be given to getting member blogs that maintain quality in content.   There must also be a firm commitment from all member blogs to maintain a level of activity that is beneficial to all such as linking to each other’s site in different capacities once a week.  Those who remain inactive for sometime should be removed from the network since they do not serve any purpose to the group.

More is not exactly better than less.  A network with 20 members with 50% active participation suffers in comparison to a 15-member network with 100% participation.  It should also be run professionally if it intends to achieve credibility among peers and the online environment.