A - Z of Professional Blogging

Following is my A to Z of Professional blogging including blogging tools, platforms, services and ways of making money from blogging (in fact whether you blog for money or not much of what follows should help you improve your blogging).

I hope you enjoy it and feel free to share your own tools and services in comments (I’m sure I’ll have missed some).


A
AdSense - contextual ad program by Google
Adbrite - sell text ads
Amazon Associates - popular affiliate program
aStore - add an Amazon Store to your Blog
AdGenta - text ads by Qumana (see ‘Q’)
AdRotator - WP ad rotating plugin
Akismet - Comment Spam Fighting Tool
Adhearus - pay per click advertising
AdWords - the advertisers side of AdSense - many bloggers use it to promote their blogs
AzoogleAds - advertising system
Audio Blogger - adds audio to your blog


B
Build A Niche Store- add an eBay store to your site
Bidvertiser - bid based advertising
Blog Ads - blog advertising network
Blog Jet - blog editing tool
Blog Desk - blog editing tool
Bloglines - Web based RSS feed reader
BlogPulse - blog search tool
BlogPolls - tool for putting polls on your blog
Blog Poll - another blog poll tool
Backpackit - useful organizational tool
Blogger.com - blog platform
Bloggers for Hire - bloggers looking for work and potential employers looking for bloggers
BlogSitter.net - service for find guest bloggers while you take a holiday
BlogBurst - syndicates bloggers content for mainstream medium
BlogFlux - blog services portal
BlogRolling - a blogroll management tool
Blogbeat - blog metrics tool
Blogger Jobs - a blog following the advertising of blog jobs


C
Chitika eMiniMalls - advertising program
CrispAds - blog advertising network
Creative Commons - copyright licenses
Copyscape - tool for checking for content theft/plagiarism
Clicksor - advertising program
Clickbank - library of many affiliate products
Commission Junction - collection of many affiliate programs
Casale Media - advertising solution


D
Del.icio.us - social bookmarking
Digg - social bookmarking
Drupal - blog platform
DomainsBot - a tool for finding domain names
Digital Point - useful forum for webmasters


E
Ecto - blog editing tool
Expression Engine - blog platform
Endo - News aggregator for Mac Users
Ether - lets readers book a consulting call with you from your sidebar


F
Feedburner - RSS feed management tool - also provides Feed Advertising
Feedster - RSS search Tool
FeedDemon - RSS reader from NewsGator
FeedBlitz - email blog and RSS subscription service
Flickr - photo sharing and hosting
Flock - a browser with in built blogging
Furl - social bookmarking
Free Blog Polls
FilmLoop - free photocasting network
Feedpass - RSS management - integrates with AdSense
Favicon Maker - make Favicons from photos


G
Google Analytics - Metrics Tool
Gabbly - add chat to your blog
Google Reader - RSS reader
Gnoos - Australian made blog search tool
Google News - tracking news - many use it as a source of content
Google Blog Search - Google’s…. blog search
Google Sitemaps - get indexed in Google


H
Haloscan - a free commenting system for blogs (a little dated but I was a tad desperate for a ‘H’


I
IntelliTXT - In text advertising
Ice Rocket - blog search engine


J
Jar (as in Tip Jar) - many bloggers ask their readers for donations/tips - but few make much from them


K
Kanoodle - Advertising program
Kontera - In text advertising
Keyword and Backlink Tracker - Search Engine ranking tool


L
LiveJournal - Blog Platform
Linkshare - Affiliate Program


M
Mars Edit - Blog Editing Tool
Memeorandum - Tracking and Aggregating news from blogs
MyBlogLog - Metrics Tool
Mint - Blog Metrics Tool
MovableType - Popular blog platform
MeCommerce - Sidebar shop - in beta
MSN Adcenter - Coming Soon - Contextual ads


N
NewsGator - RSS News Readers
Nichebot - keyword research tool
Nameboy - domain name generator
Nucleus CMS - open source blog platform
Netvibes - RSS News Aggregator
Netscape Beta - Social Bookmarking Tool


O
Only Wire - social bookmarking service
Overture Keyword Tool - keyword research tool


P
Performancing - great blog, firefox blog editor and metrics tools
Pheedo - RSS advertising
Post2Blog - Blog Editing tool - blog using Word, IE or Firefox
Pingoat - Pinging Tool
Pingomatic - Pinging Tool
pMachine - Blog Platform
Paypal - Payment tool - used by many affiliate programs and ad systems to pay publishers
PPCalc - Paypal Fee Calculator
PubSub - service that notifies you of new content
Photobucket - image and video hosting


Q
Qumana - Blog Editing Tool


R
Rojo - RSS feed reader
RocketPost - Blog posting tool
Right Media - advertising
Rmail - subscribe from any RSS feed to email


S
Sitemeter - a free website stats tool used by many bloggers
Six Figure Blogging - learn to make money blogging (one of my blogging resources)
Shoplinc - add a Chitika store to your blog
Scoopt Words - service to sell bloggers content to mainstream media editors
Sitening - Search Engine ranking tracker
Sparklines - sidebar widgets/graphs
Skype - VOIP tool for networking, podcast interviews etc
Spam Karma - WP comment spam tool
Sitepoint - Forums for webmasters
Slide - photo hosting, slideshows etc
SoloSub - RSS feed management tool
Squidoo - good alternative place to put content, make money and promote your blog


T
Text Link Ads - text link advertising system
Technorati - Blog Search engine
Topix - News service - used by many bloggers to find stories
TagCloud - tool for making tag clouds
TinyURL - make long URLs tiny ones
TypePad - Hosted Blogging Platform
Tribal Fusion - Impression Based Ads
3bubbles - live chat on a blog


U
Unobtrusive Sidenotes - a way of putting sidenotes in your posts


V
ValueClick - Impression Based Ad Program (was FastClick)
Vizu - blog polls tool
Vox - a new blogging/social bookmarking platform from Six Apart (in beta)


W
WordPress - Blog Platform - very popular
w.bloggar - blog editing tool
Webpad - web based text editor
Weblogs.com - recently updated blogs - aggregator
WebmasterWorld - forums for webmasters


X
Xanga - Weblog Community


Y
YPN - Contextual Advertising Service
Yutter - RSS/Blog Subscription Service
YouTube - Video Hosting/Sharing
Yutter - RSS/Blog Subscription Service
Yahoo News - Tracking News from around the Web


Z
Zookoda - RSS to Email and Newsletter tool
Zoudry - blog editor

9 Simple Steps How to Build a Great Niche Web Site

Maybe you’ve been wondering how to go about setting up a niche web site. Well, here’s a quick little article that will show you how to create your very own affiliate web site. Please note: this is the cheat sheet version. There is a lot more information you should learn about this subject before you get started.

Step 1. Pick a Niche Subject

This may be the hardest part of your web site project. There’s literally tons of subjects to choose from. People are interested in a variety of things – from parrots to pilots. You don’t have to necessarily pick something you’re interested in, but it helps.

You’re more likely to do a better job at building your site when you have some interest in the subject matter. It’s like taking a high school or college class. Some subjects are more interesting than others. Make sure you choose something that a reasonable amount of people are actually searching for online and want to find out more information about.

Here’s a free tool that will help you check the popularity of specific subjects: (http://www.nichebot.com/)

Step 2. Do Keyword Research

This is a part that many people skip. I’ve made that mistake myself and suffered the consequences – a failed web site. Even though it’s nice to think that you can write anything you want and have total creative freedom, not using keyword rich content is a BIG mistake.

I’d rather lose some creative freedom and attract visitors to my site, than have a lot of flowery prose that zero people will see. You MUST include targeted keywords in your web site copy. Also, make sure you use your targeted keywords in the upper third portion of your web site pages. This is also called optimizing your web site for the search engines. Use the Overture Keyword Tool for research: http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion

Note: keywords must be relevant to the THEME (subject) of your site. Be careful not to over use them. Search engines don’t like keyword SPAM.

Step 3. Get A Domain Name

Having a unique domain name is important, although some don’t agree. However, a unique domain name makes your site look more professional and trustworthy to visitors. I use BuyDomains (http://www.buydomains.com/). They are not the cheapest, but I stick with them because I like their easy interface and good customer service.

Step 4. Write Keyword Rich Content

This may be a hard step for those of you who don’t consider yourselves writers. But, writing web site copy is not as hard as it seems. Just think of it as having a conversation with a friend about a product or service you’re really enthusiastic about.

Don’t think you can extol the benefits of your subject? Tune your TV into QVC or one of the other shopping networks to see how they can spend several minutes talking about the benefits of all kinds of mundane products. This is what you’ll be doing for your web site.

Your copy should feature a good balance of friendliness and professionalism. Remember, you’re passing along useful information to your visitor. Put yourself in their shoes. What would you want to know about xyz subject if you were them? Now, write that down. Don’t forget to sprinkle targeted keywords throughout your copy. I print out a list of them to use for my sites.

If you simply can’t put words onto the page and find yourself staring at a blank screen, then visit Internet marketing forums like Willie Crawford’s (http://www.williecrawford.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi) for suggestions on finding writers. Or, visit Elance (http://www.elance.com/).

Step 5. Build Your Web Site

Ok. You’ve created your copy. Now it’s time to build the actual physical web site. I use Homestead (http://www.homestead.com/), but there are many good point and click web site builders out there.

You have a lot of creative freedom on how you want your site to look (I prefer black copy on white backgrounds with photos), but remember that people are looking for attractive, easy-to-navigate sites with useful information.

Step 6. Sign Up for Matching Affiliate Programs
You’ve created a web site about xyz subject. Now look for affiliate vendors who perfectly match the theme of your site. Integrate your affiliates attractively into your web site copy. Don’t confuse your visitors by giving them too many choices.

If you want to list a lot of affiliates on the same page, you can create a helpful “resource guide” page.

Step 7. Include Google Adsense Ads

Google has a great program for web site owners who wish to make a little extra money for simply displaying google ads on their web site. It’s easy to sign up and free. Just visit google.com/ads and sign up for their Adsense program. They’ll give you some html code to copy and paste on your site.

While google decides which ads will actually appear on your site, you can decide how the google ads will look – choose colors, borders, etc. and where to put them on your pages.

Step 8. Find Link Partners

I found out that exchanging links with other web site owners is a MUST if you want to improve your search engine rankings. Google especially will consider your site more relevant if your site has other sites linking to it. Also the ad copy from other sites, if relevant, can add more valuable keyword content to your own site.

I use Linkmarket.Net to find credible web sites to exchange links with. It’s free to join.

Step 9. Write Articles to Promote Your Site

Oh oh. Here’s that writing thing again. Well, you better get used to it, because writing articles like this one (normally your articles will be about the subject matter of your web site) will help give your affiliate web site much needed exposure. It doesn’t matter if you write them yourself or hire others (ghostwriters) to write them for you.

You’ll find that the best Internet marketers all write articles to promote themselves, their newsletters, and products and services. Remember, there’s a reason the Internet is called the “information” super highway.

After writing your articles, you can post them to an article directory site like Article City (http://www.articlecity.com/). People can easily find your articles to use as free content for their sites.