Blogs are cool, I admit it. I’m a web designer and I design and make websites for a living so you might think I wouldn’t like an application that enables someone with little to no technical skills to make a website that includes a CMS (Content Management System) out of the box. Quite the contrary. No need to re-invent the wheel I say, heck, I could never build something as elegant and functional as WordPress.
Blogger and Blogspot enable anyone to have a blog instantly as does Bblog or Serendipity or WordPress. These are beautiful pieces of software, especially WordPress. As their popularity grows so does the social network that has evolved from the people these programs have enabled. As the social networks grow there is greater demand for social networking communities and tools such a Facebook and Twitter. In response to these demands Blog applications have incorporated many features to accommodate them such as the socialble plugin. More and more article repositories begin to appear. Technorati and Digg are hugely popular sites devoted to publishing blog posts and/or providing links to them. As all of these factors grow the people behind the blogs have to compete for exposure so they begin to learn how to rank better at the search engines. Put Ad-Sense and Ad-Words into the mix and you’ve got a virtual Death Race 2000 going. I’m in.
I have known what blogs are for years though I never ventured to look at the programming or try one myself. I’ve been a programmer since 1982 and a web designer since 1894 and have always written blogs off as another toy for public/lowest-common-denominator consumption. However, the test of time and personal experience has proved me wrong.
Blogging started for me when I began reading blogging blogs and entered the wonderful world of “making money online” (MMO). You see, when you enter the world of blogging there is no way to avoid the MMO crew. Usually an instant turn-off however if given a closer look, some of these people really know what they’re talking about when it comes to search engine optimization, driving traffic to a web site, and marketing a product or service via the internet. I’m still very new to this but I know valuable information when I see it.
Many of these sites are nothing more than a “squeeze” page… those long, rambling sales pitches, black text in a thin column with an occasional large, red, “Last Chance, Running Out Of Stock” or “Secret Formula the Other Guys Don’t Know” or “Super Bonus Hydro Enlightenment included if you act NOW” tossed in. These types seem to have just enough seo know how to be dangerous. Regardless, whether they’re selling crap or gold or just want you to click on an ad doesn’t matter, if they build their site right people will find it and a percentage of them will do what they’re supposed to do, buy, sign up, click or whatever. It’s a proven model, it works, anyone can do it and anyone does, include those in dire need of a “seeing art dog!”
There are some excellent marketeers out there as well. People in general aren’t all that dumb so naturally the elite have the best content and occasionally the most subscribers. What separates these top bloggers is their willingness and ability to give away excellent information. Why else would smart people like us subscribe to a feed, buy a product or trust an affiliate link.
