A “Blog” is an abbreviated version of “web log,” which is a term used to describe web sites that maintain an ongoing chronicle of information.

A blog is a frequently updated, personal website featuring diary-type commentary and links to articles or other Web sites. Blogs range from the personal to the political, and can focus on one narrow subject or a whole range of subjects.

Many blogs focus on a particular topic, such as web design, politics, sports, or mobile technology. Some blogs are more eclectic, presenting links to all manner of other sites. And others are more like personal journals, presenting the author’s daily life and thoughts.

Generally speaking (though there are exceptions), blogs tend to have a few things in common:

• A main content area with articles listed chronologically, newest on top. Often, the articles are organized into categories.
• An archive of older articles.
• A way for people to leave comments about the articles.
• A list of links to other related sites, sometimes called a “blogroll”.
• One or more feeds like RSS, Atom or RDF files.

Some blogs may have additional features beyond these.

To find out more about Blogs, please contact us on 01234 219119.

During my career, I have seen many changes in the business world and without exception, the growth of the internet and in particular, websites and marketing blogs have been meteoric. That being said, it’s not a bad thing as, now we have opened up the markets to so many smaller companies, trading is now on a global scale even for this particular sector.

In the past there has always been a formula for the correct amount of money to be allocated to a marketing budget, whether it be by whatever can be afforded at the time or as a percentage of turnover, whichever, it never seems to be enough, However when it comes to a web-based company, the marketing budget generally tends to be forgotten or at best extremely miniscule in its relevance and amount.

Obviously it is important when building a new site, to ensure that it is search engine friendly and optimised to encourage easy access and to be found quickly. Now, although this is absolutely essential, it is quite often forgotten, especially blogging on a regular basis, or the site is designed in such a way, even utilizing the most up to date Flash designs, that these can quite often deter from encouraging this easy access, enabling the site to be found.

If one was to open a new shop, for example, it would be commercial suicide to design and fill a shop with beautiful things but forget to put in a front door. Perhaps this is a bit harsh, but many good ideas and great designed websites become the worlds best kept secrets. This being said I see it week in and week out where advertising budgets just do not exist and companies tend to not advertise or launch their company sites correctly if at all.

At THUK Online Marketing Limited, we are, not only vastly experienced in building websites, but we are able to fill the marketing gap usually left by either inexperience or naivety. Why not give us a try as I know we will be able to ensure that everyone knows that there is now somebody at home!!!

If you are new to blogging or not sure you are writing them in the most effective way. Then here are some useful tips to writing blogs to help you on your way (I have used TH UK as an example website):

1. Basically, the more you blog the more the search engines will recognise your site, so try and add a blog everyday, if not, at least a few times a week.

2. A fresh site that is being updated frequently always encourages visitors and search engines to come back and shows the company is active.

3. Good subjects for your blog: News about your company is always useful because not only is it informative but you can also add in the name of your company, for example ‘TH UK‘ or ‘Online Marketing’ which increase your keyword density and the search engines will find you easier.

4. Look out for any current stories that are relevant to you in the newspapers or on the T.V. These are great because you will show up in the search engines for even more terms.

5. Always make sure you link your blog to the relevant categories i.e. a ‘Website Development‘ blog should always be linked to the ‘Web Development‘ category. As this will help the search engines find you quicker.

6. Try and add in the keywords of the blog as much as possible for example if you have a blog to do with Search Engine Optimisation, try and add that term in to the text and link it back to the ‘SEO’ category page. To do this: copy the url of the category page, then going back to your blog and highlighting the term you want to link e.g. ‘SEO’, click on the link tool and paste in the url and ‘insert’.

7. Google Alerts is a good source for articles in your blog. You will come across useful sites whilst using Google Alerts, bookmark these sites as they will probably be useful for subject matters in the future.

This may sound a lot at first, but once you get the hang of it, it’s easy peasy. Have fun blogging!