Friday, October 3, 2008

Economic Stimulus Package

Well, it's been a couple of days since I announced the new (temporary) pricing, and I'm thinking, with the flurry of activity from aerthlings.org clients, that maybe I should have waited!

In all seriousness, there has been somewhat of a flurry, with nearly all of the aerthlings-supported web sites adding this or changing that.

First on the list would have to be EcoAdventure International, who recently revamped their accessible safari tours to include a slew of new countries at unbeatable rates. View the new and improved site here.

Not in need of accessible adventure? Then make sure to visit the main EAI web site for affordable adventure vacation packages, and if hunting and fishing is your game, then be sure to click over to EAIoutdoors.com for that big game hunt you've always dreamed of!

Other updated web sites include the City of Columbus (be sure to visit the Fire Department's new section, which is up and about 90% completed, but looking good!), GoFromFatToFit.com which has undergone a name change as well as some cosmetic updating (just go there and check it out to see for yourself), not to mention the deal of the century on membership which includes access to the all-new Insider's Club member's area.

That's not even close to everything that's been going on, but the rest will have to wait until next time!

Labels: blogging, Food and/or Drink, wandering, webbing

posted by aerthling @ 8:32 PM, , links to this post

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Social Network Usage Around the World

This just goes to show how big this kind of thing is becoming - blogs and other social networks are quickly becoming the standard on the internet - don't get left behind!

This morning I came across a fascinating article from a French web site at lemonade.fr that had a wonderful illustration of global social network usage trends. While I can't read French at all, the map speaks for itself . . .Note the great breakouts of regional usage by social networking sites

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Spread the Word! Part Two: The Blogosphere

The Blogosphere

Now, a little bit about the world that encompasses blogging. Blogging links you into a whole network of social contacts that we'll call the "blogosphere" - might as well, everybody else does!

Now what happens in this blogosphere, what really makes up the essence of it, is blogs linked to blogs linking to other blogs, which in turn are linking more blogs, and so on, and you have this gigantic network of people's thoughts and interests shared back and forth and commented on. Many blog links will "track back" to the linking blog, creating even more traffic, and spreading the URL around making it easier for a search engine to grab.

By clicking on icons located at the bottom of each "post" (or "blurb", as it were), readers and bloggers can send their favorite conversations to services that cater to this new network. These social bookmarking web sites are actually designed to facilitate the sharing of information within the blogosphere. Sites like Digg.com, Del.icio.us and Technorati.com gather content from blogs and spread it around, increasing the possibility of even more exposure - bringing in new visitors and pumping up search rankings in the process, something anybody with a web page would enjoy seeing - especially a business.

It is fast becoming the standard in the Internet universe to have a web log - and for good reason. Spreading your name and ideas throughout the blogosphere can create the ripple effect that your site needs in order to really make a splash!

aerthling Join the blogosphere. It's about time.

Labels: blogging, marketing

posted by aerthling @ 3:28 PM, , links to this post

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Spread the Word! (part one)

You may need a blog and not even know it!

Believe it or not, having a blog can be extremely important to your business!

How? Merely leaving your web site floating around in cyber-space with nothing but static content is not going to attract hits - in fact you may not see much traffic at all. If you're satisfied with the traffic you already have, then you may not mind if no one else browses your site. So why bother?

Here's the reason why: the amount of people going to your pages will effect your status in the search engines. If you want to reach the right audience, then you need an audience to begin with, and so you need to get all the traffic you can!

Sounds like a catch 22, but there are many ways to begin to generate interest in your site, and one of the most effective ways is to constantly include new content in your site. Web sites with dynamic content generate more visits than websites with static content. It should be obvious that an active site is going to be more interesting than a site that never changes. How many people are going to come back to a site to see the exact same thing they saw the last time they visited? In most cases, the answer is: not a whole lot.

This is where blogging comes in handy - having a web log, or blog, is an excellent way to continually introduce new and different content to your site. Plus, a blog guarantees that there's going to be something new or different, which is incentive to return. An interesting site is a site that's active. An active site grabs the attention of the search engines, and keeps the attention of web surfers.

Want to greatly increase traffic to your site? Try a blog.

Labels: blogging, marketing

posted by aerthling @ 4:10 PM, , links to this post

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

What is it that a Blog is?

Just what is a "blog", anyway?

Well, I'll try to answer the above question with a general overview of "blogging" and its place in the big scheme of things (A.K.A. the World Wide Web).

As far as I could ascertain, blogging, in it's most primitive form, began sometime in the late 90's. More recently, "Blogs" have been so proliferating the Internet as to almost crowd out the standard "web page" altogether (with some pages, this would not be a bad thing). But seriously, it is beginning to seem like every other website is a "blog", or at least includes a one. But, you may ask, "What is it that a blog is?"

define:Blog

Type the above into your Google bar and a whole spattering of results will fill your screen. But for simplicities sake, we'll use the very basic definition. What is a "blog"? Easy. It's an online journal, sort of a diary, and the name comes from "web log", only shortened. Wikipedia.org, a popular online encyclopedic information site, defines a blog as thus:

A blog (a portmanteau of web log) is a website where entries are commonly displayed in reverse chronological order. "Blog" can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.

Many blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs.

Suffice it to say, the majority of blogs are updated anywhere from several times a day to once or twice a week, depending on the blogger, although you will find that some blogs stagnate rather quickly). A blog will sometimes concentrate on a specific topic, but often a single blog will contain a wide array of subject matter. Content is as varied as the person or persons filling it in. Browse the "blogosphere" even discreetly and you will find business blogs, motherhood blogs, dating blogs, homeschooling blogs, technical blogs, religious blogs....I think you get the point. If you can think it, there is probably a blog about it. But blogs take the form of more than just the standard journal entry, including blogs made up entirely of photos or videos.

Sizing 'em Up

Just for fun, let's compare the blog phenomena with your standard, everyday website (whatever that is, right?). Both formats will update their content periodically, although it is to be expected within a blog, whereas a normal website can be static without raising any eyebrows. Blogs and websites both share some more or less necessary attributes such as a header at the top, sidebar(s), and a footer at the bottom, and so they can appear similar in these regards. But the distinguishing marks are most likely to be the subject matter and how this subject matter is conferred. Your standard website, for example will be mostly an informative affair - just the facts, ma'am - whereas your blog site generally will offer a more conversational approach. The blogger may give you all the same facts, but with a more casual approach and a personal touch, and the comments form, which is part and parcel in blogging, allows you to become a part of the conversation. Blogging has allowed the blossoming of a whole social network in a way that standard websites could never have accomplished.

To Blog or Not To Blog

Great. But I still can't see any reason to start one myself. Or can I? Actually, you may well benefit from having a blog. Bloggers blog for a variety of reason. There are some who use blogs as a way to keep their family and friends up to date in their affairs, sort of an extended, online version of the Christmas newsletter your aunt sends out every year. Other bloggers are looking for an outlet to share their creativity, interests, and opinions, or to spout off their political beliefs - as I mentioned earlier, you name it, they blog it. Blogs can be used for all of that and more. In fact, it is fast becoming the trend to use blogs for self-packaging and marketing purposes, in an effort to bolster a source of income, if not become a source of income in and of itself. And this is one way you stand to benefit immensely from having a blog.

And there you have it....

Check out the blogging tag for more info.

Labels: blogging, marketing, webbing

posted by aerthling @ 7:25 PM, , links to this post

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