I doubt I’m alone in my upcoming “ranting”, my question is, does anyone actually read a blog post before they take the time to comment anymore?

It seems over the last couple of months I have received an average of 40 comments per day, which only about 2 are relevant to the blog topic!  Don’t get me wrong….. I absolutely LOVE the fact that people even take the time to come to my site to see what may be new, and I truly enjoy receiving comments (good or bad).  It helps me determine what information my readers have enjoyed and what additional information I can provide.  But when someone just comments to gain links, and the discussions are irrelevant, that’s just not right.

Maybe more people should read the Blogging Code of Ethics written by Seth Goldstein.  I agree with all he outlines, but would add that one should actually read a post before commenting, and be sure you’re either responding with a constructive reply, a response to the topic to begin a discussion, or value added content on the subject.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this!

Until next time, J.

“Take control of your destiny or someone else will”

One of the best blogs around that’s dedicated to Affiliate Marketing is written by Geno Prussakov.  He discusses a variety of issues related to affiliates, keeping them apprised of news and events in the industry, plus he has made some predictions for 2010.  The 6 predictions that Geno has made are in these categories:

• Social Media
• Mobile Marketing
• Transparency
• Conversion Rate Optimization
• Online Video
• Legislative Fights

To find out more detail of what trends he expects during the next year, visit: www.amnavigator.com

Until next time, J.
“Take control of your destiny or someone else will”

This is an older post by Brian Clark, but I just recently came across it and thought it explained 5 major points of Blogging quite well.  He addresses the business reasons to blog (not just the social ones) and hits these areas succinctly:

• The Law of Value
• The Law of Headlines and Hooks
• The Law of “How To”
• The Law of The List
• The Law of the Story

Take a look at the entire article here ~ www.CopyBlogger.com.  There is a plethora of other valuable information there as well! Enjoy…

Until next time, J.

“Take control of your destiny or someone else will”

This weeks ABC is O for Organic SEO ~ If expensive online campaigns are not your style, then you might like to check out Organic SEO which allows you to build a digital presence without breaking the bank.  Content driven, contextual promotion requires a bit of patience but has a long lasting impact on your online endeavour.  Organic SEO is a combination of high quality content, through articles, press releases, blogs, (commenting & posting), video marketing, Twitter…. I think you get the idea – it is when your name and/or brand over time “go viral”and show up naturally in the search engines.  Good keyword usage is critical.  This method takes longer than Google campaigns, but it is very effective over time.

Come back next week for more ABC’s of Online Marketing!

This weeks ABC is N for Ning ~ Getting your own social networking platform is no longer a mad dash to the developers’ forum. Instead you can just log on to www.NING.com and create it within a few minutes. Ning.com is catching on fast with community builders and you can get a host of apps like blogs, share videos, forums and live chat and all this comes in DIY mode. NING.com is also a Web 2.0 phenomenon and is offering a free community tool creation option as of now.

Come back next week for more ABC’s of Online Marketing!

This weeks ABC is J for Jumptags ~ Jumptags is an online bookmarking service allowing you to set up a free web based account, so you can manage it from anywhere.  Currently the types of information that can be bookmarked (or tagged) are notes, videos, html code, RSS feeds, & Skype calls.

You can set up features to allow public and private jumptags.  Many use the public feature to tag an article or blog post to gain more exposure.  The private settings are used by those in joint collaboration of a project.  Hop on over to see if your business can benefit from any of the features offered at www.jumptags.com

Come back next week for more ABC’s of Online Marketing!

This weeks ABC is B for Blogs – Creating your own voice on the web with blogs, is an excellent marketing tool for businesses and individuals who have a certain style of writing and specialize in niche topics. Blogs can help build up a brand, connect to consumers directly, and can be easily published with extensive potential for the right business. Some feel blogs are more useful than many websites because they are interactive and search engines like them due to frequent content changes.  Popular blogging platforms include:

• WordPress,
• Blogger,
• Typepad and
• Blogspot

They also have tutorials explaining how to set them up and get started.  Although setting up a blog isn’t difficult you can get professionals to develop and manage it as well.

Come back next week for more ABC’s of Online Marketing!

I came across an interesting site and wanted to share the resource with you.  Evan Carmichael has listed the top 50 blogs for startups in 2009.  There are numerous categories such as News, the Web, Trends, Marketing, and finding that BIG idea.  I know we’re a bit past mid way in the year, but it won’t hurt to take a look at these!

Until next time,  J.
“Take control of your destiny or someone else will”