It makes no difference if you are blogging as a pastime or blogging related to marketing an online business, you always need to remember to "ping" your blog updates on a regular basis. This is important because not all blogging platforms have automated pinging services.
If you are new to the concept of blogging, pinging is even more important. Many people start blogs scratching their heads and wondering why they never get any traffic to their blog. Just like commercial websites, blogs now have to be marketed through SEO optimization, press releases, social networking, directory submissions, word of mouth, and anything else that you can think of to create traffic.
One thing that works in favor of blogging is that weblog posts are considered timely and unique content. It is for this reason they are indexed quicker, bookmarked, and passed around to others with similar interests.
Blogging is also an easy way to get your feet wet in having an online presence, since you do not have to purchase domain names and hosting services. It also is a good exercise to learning some of the basics, maybe even a little HTML, although it is not necessary. There is an incredible amount of free tools and software available to help you get started.
Blogging is an excellent way to build traffic in an organic way to promote websites, as well. Since blogs are an informal way of communicating, they also are a way to build relationships and a good way to get and stay popular with your network. In effect, a ping for your weblogs is like a personal note or telephone call, and just a way of saying, "Hear I am and this is what's new in my corner of the world".
You also want to make sure that you stay on topic with the theme of your blog, and writing posts that are relevant. You will want to make frequent posts to build content for your blog, probably no less than a few times a week and make sure that you "ping" the update.
The way you build and maintain the information resources on your blog are also important to your efforts and success. You can join online forums, or do a search for help in building and maintaining your site with tips from other bloggers.
Social Bookmarking is also a popular way to network with other individuals that would be interested in your blogging subject. You probably are aware of such services as furl.net. technorati.com, and del.icio.us.
One of many services that allows you to automate your bookmarking is onlywire.com. The onlywire website allows you to create a free account, and then insert your username and passwords for all the accounts you have at various bookmarking sites and "ping" these sites all at once.
Make sure that the online community knows about your blog updates by always making a point to "ping" as you are "blogging".
Michael Beck is a Digital Nomad. He writes on marketing and business issues related to: Small Office & Home Office / Technology & Telecommunications / Product Reviews & Resources for The SOHO Online Professional. You can learn more by visiting his blogs: http://soho-quest.blogspot.com/ and http://digital-nomads.blogspot.com/
