If you are not using a blog and blogging to help build your online income business then you are missing out on a great opportunity to get more traffic and for people to get to know you.

The Wordpress platform is a quick and simple method for anyone to create a great looking blog and you do not need to have website building knowledge in order to do it. Because Wordpress is an open source project you can set it up for free and it has the added benefit of hundreds of free plug-ins for your use to add extra features to your blog.

There is the option of having your blog hosted on the Wordpress platform but it is advisable to rather use your own hosting account. A concern that many people have is the chance that if you have your blog hosted by Wordpress it might be blocked for access or have the plug pulled at any time. There is of course no guarantee that this won’t happen, but Wordpress do have a “no lock-in” policy.

Once you have signed up and set your blog up you can begin to blog immediately.

An excellent feature on Wordpress is that you can change the theme of your blog very easily and can also switch from one theme to another with just a few clicks of your mouse.

It is very simple to add blog posts and you can view everything before publishing and make changes if necessary. Adding photos or videos is also not a difficult task and posts can be saved to publish at a later date or done immediately, the choice is entirely up to you.

Wordpress is a very flexible system and has many uses, for example if you wish to use it as your main website you can easily add static articles and turn it into a complete website or the other option is to use it as membership site. It is also a search engine friendly medium and your posts will be indexed very quickly in the various search engines. This feature alone makes it popular with online business marketers.

Your posts can be categorized and tagged making them easy for visitors to find and you can also track where your traffic is coming from, and all of this is done through the integrated system that Wordpress uses.

Wordpress is a user friendly feature rich integrated system that makes running an online income business easier for people who really don’t have much technical knowledge but still want the freedom to be able to market their own internet businesses and make any changes to their websites themselves.

If you are serious about your internet based business then taking a look at Wordpress will be well worth your time as it is a great way to promote yourself and your online business.

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Michelle Jayes works from home and writes articles with ideas and tips on internet based business. If you would like some PLR books for FREE go to http://www.online-income-business.com/free-ebooks.html

One man’s blog may be a very rewarding endeavor, both in terms of enjoyment and money. And yet you might be asking “Why a blog? Wouldn’t a website be better? Which should I choose?” To address the issue let’s compare the features you can expect from each.

1. Price tag

A decent looking website is not free. But even in the unlikely event you could talk someone into giving you a free site design – and that’s not likely – it still has to be hosted at a cost of $10 – $20 minimum per year. A blog on the other hand can be free of cost.

2. Setting up

Creating a website is difficult if not impossible for those who lack the necessary skills; and even given the proper expertise, it can take a long while to complete the task. A blog however, can be created quickly and easily. The procedure is a matter of filling in some information; and it’s designed to be easily achievable by just about anyone. One man’s blog can be set up in less than 30 minutes, by a person who has minimal knowledge of the Internet and yet be as qualitative as an above-average website.

A good website can involve a month to create. However, you can create an excellent blog in less than 30 minutes!

3. Making money

A website may be a good way to generate some spending money as a stage for selling various services or products. A blog can do likewise, and equally well if you market and promote it well. Any one man’s blog will do just as well as a similar website.

4. Aesthetics

Animation, audio and video are some of the techniques that can be used on a website. Your blog spot by comparison, may not be able to include all the high-tech stuff, though it has enough to put up a good show. Therefore one man’s blog spot might not be as “flashy”, but just as effective.

5. Maintaining and marketing

A blog can be constantly updated from day to day. Consequently blogging can easily attract more visitors compared to a website given equal effort. Fresh content can be more easily added to a blog than to a website.

So you might say a blog promotes itself, since whenever fresh content is posted the search engines will index it again. By comparison promotion of a website demands a greater investment in time to produce traffic.

Whether or not you already have a website blogging is a worthwhile. It’s not at all unusual to find a website supported by blogs which are constructed and directed specifically to draw in traffic to the mother website.

Blogging can also be very enjoyable since you can share your pictures and experience without spending a dime. Many people who initially began with a website after a time moved to blogging since it’s uncomplicated, can be done at no cost, and gives you the opportunity to upgrade it continuously.

The question therefore should not be “What reason is there to have a blog?” but “Why not have a blog?” The benefits being so numerous there’s just no reason not to take advantage of blogging.?

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Jim Eastman writes about a wide range of things. One mans blog is simple and easy to create using online services. Check out an example at http://anyonemansblog.com/blog/

The layout for both blogging platforms is very similar. They both utilize a two column layout with messages appearing in the wider left-hand column, and the user’s information appearing in the narrower right-hand column. However, Tipdrop allows you to include up to ten URL links as part of your profile. Those links appear in the right-hand column of your Tipdrop homepage.

Both focus on different questions that appear at the top of the main page. Twitter asks the famous self-centered, “What are you doing?” Tipdrop, on the other hand, doesn’t care what you are doing right now, but wants to know, “What do you know about that?”

Tipdrop is developing a character all of its own by focusing on what you know rather than what you do. This is completely different from the gossipy triviality of Twitter. By sharing knowledge about specific topics, each contribution is focused outward on the topic, rather than inward on the person posting the information.

The tips shared on Tipdrop are then organized into categories, such as Arts & Humanities, Dining Out, Personal Development and so on. When a tip is posted, you are presented with similar threads to assist you in finding the best place to post your tip. If there are no threads that cover your topic, you simply post it as a new thread.

People are able to vote tips up and down. Also, every member of Tipdrop is assigned an initial credibility ranking of 100. The more a member contributes to Tipdrop, and the more votes a member receives for their tips, the higher their credibility ranking. There are links to the User Rankings list with links to user pages of each member in the Site Links section of the home page.

The ability to vote on tips means that the overall quality of Tipdrop is likely to rise over time.

First of all, any marketer who blatantly promotes his or her own business will get punished by other members who will quickly vote down any contribution that is merely self-promotional. This helps ensure the overall quality of contributions made to the site and is a good thing.

However, internet marketers still have plenty of room to build up a reputation and brand themselves on Tipdrop. This can be done simply by offering a regular supply of high-quality tips that other members will appreciate. As you post more tips and your credibility rises, you will enjoy increasing exposure on Tipdrop. More people will check out your own page and click your links. So, by making a positive contribution to Tipdrop, you will also be quietly promoting your own business and yourself as an expert in your particular field.

Another neat feature of Tipdrop is that it comes with an Adsense revenue sharing system. If you have an Adsense account, all you need to do is enter your Adsense publisher ID in the appropriate field on the Settings page. Then, whenever people click on the ads that appear on your pages, Tipdrop will give you 75% of the generated revenue.

Tipdrop.com is easy to join. Just like joining Twitter, it is simply a matter of hitting the Sign Up button on the home page and filling in a short online form with your name, username, password and e-mail address. And, just like Twitter, it is 100% free.

I doubt that Tipdrop will completely replace Twitter, because despite the similarities, they have different intentions behind them. However, what already seems obvious is that Tipdrop is a micro-blogging website that is set to grow and grow and become a leading source of online tips and advice across a wide range of categories.

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For more information about how to start a home business and get a Recession Proof Business with Internet Work from Home Ideas and Opportunities at http://www.malcolmleyshon.com you will find a wide range of tried and tested ideas including a daily newsletter and a free 325 page e-book.

What we are going to discuss here is ways to get your list building and blogging activities to synchronize in such a way that your marketing efforts will support both these activities at the same time. In other words, your blog will support your list building and your list building will support your blog.

Let’s begin by looking at how you can use your blog as a way to build your list.

When setting up your blog make sure that you add an opt-in box to your auto-responder and place it in a prominent position where your visitors will see it on arrival at your blog. Near to the top and either on the left or right hand side is good. You could offer a free report or e-book as an inducement to sign up to your list.

Whenever you make a new post to your blog, sign off with your name and a link to your squeeze page. Encourage your visitors to sign up to your list so that they will be notified every time you make a new post on your blog.

Another way that you can promote your blog is by inviting people to comment on your blog posts. The advantage for them is that their comments can link back to their websites when they enter the URL field on the comment form.

If your business is internet marketing then make posts about this and teach your subscribers about the benefits and etiquette of commenting and linking back to their sites from the blog comments. Make sure that they understand that spamming is not an option.

Whenever you make a new post about something controversial or a review on a product or service, email your list and ask them to give you their opinions on whatever you have blogged about and include a link to your blog post.

You should see a significant increase in traffic to your site from your email list if your post is well targeted and also a big increase in the number of comments that you get to each article.

Offer your readers the opportunity of using your posts on their own blogs provided they include a link back to your site and acknowledge you as the author of that post. Also submit your articles or posts to other peoples’ blogs for possible inclusion on their sites. Invite your email list to submit articles for possible inclusion on your blog with a link back to their sites and inform them of how guest blogging will help to increase their own profiles on the internet. This will help to keep your blog loaded with fresh content at all times.

By adding these tactics to your list building and blogging efforts you will be creating a well synchronized and effective marketing strategy for your internet home based business.

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If you enjoyed this article by Michelle Jayes then visit her website http://www.online-income-business.com for more ideas and online opportunities and sign up for her free newsletter