When it comes to writing content and blog posts, there is a question of how personal you should get. Your customers are looking for information on your products and services, right? Therefore, you should keep everything business focused. However, one could argue that letting your customers see a more personal side of you will create a relationship and trust and, therefore, they will prefer to do business with you, rather than some nameless, faceless website belonging to your competition.

When it comes to your website, you should probably keep things a bit more business focused. Your website serves as your “front office”. However, feel free to get a bit more personal on your blog. Now, your customers may not need to know exactly what you ate for dinner every day during the week or what your opinion is of your favorite soap star’s current relationship, but they can appreciate knowing you are a real human, just like them.

If you are writing about a topic that relates to your business, go ahead and give your opinion. If you were affected by a news story you saw, go ahead and write about it. If it is your child’s first day of kindergarten and you are feeling emotional, go ahead and write a quick blog post about it. Your readers have probably gone through a similar situation and can certainly relate.

Just keep in mind that what you put on the web stays on the web. If you feel that you may not want the whole world to know about something, do not put it online. Not long ago, before the rise of reality television, personal blogs, video diaries, and Myspace pages, there was a thing known as privacy. Some people still go out of their way to keep it, and actually prefer it. All jokes aside, your privacy is something to seriously consider when you are writing something to be published online. A good rule of thumb is to only publish items you would feel comfortable with your neighbors knowing.

You will also want to consider other people’s cultures, customs, and religious affiliations. While there may be many similarities between you and your reader, there could also be some big differences. You do not want to alienate anyone by putting something potentially offensive on your website or blog.

In most cases, you don’t have to worry about any ill effects. If you keep your tone natural and modest, your readers will appreciate getting to know you. They will think of you as their friend and will become loyal customers.

Popularity: 22% [?]

Maybe you need to figure out why a plugin isn’t working? Or maybe you need to move your pmachine blog to wordpress? Or you just need to have some customized work done to it.

In any of these cases, I know just the person for you. One of my clients needed to have her blog moved from pmachine to wordpress. Now, there is not a good importer for doing this.

But, Kai, from The Blogging Coach took the extra time and care to make the import work — at least six hours worth. Wow!!!

My client is happy, I’m happy… hire Kai to work on your site, and you’ll be happy, too!

Popularity: 19% [?]

Everyone who has a blog will surely suffer a case of writer’s block from time to time. It can be difficult to constantly think of ideas for new blog posts, especially if you post on your blog regularly. Here are some ideas for finding things to write about when you feel like you have run out of ideas.

Keep your blog readers informed about the changes you have made to your website. If you have added a new article, create a blog post with an excerpt from the article. You can include a link to your website which will allow your blog readers to read the full text on your website. If you have made major changes to your site, let your blog readers know about them. You can also include posts on your blog about new products or services you are offering, specials you may be having, and any other news about your business.

You can use a service such as Google News to search for news stories that relate to your business. For instance, if you are a virtual assistant, perhaps you can find an article about the increasing number of companies that are using a VA’s services. If you are in direct sales, you may find a news article explaining the benefits that a career in direct sales offers (which would make a great recruiting tool). You can post your thoughts or feelings on the news item and include a link to the original article.

Perhaps there is something going on in your local area that your readers may be interested in. When you watch the local news or read the local paper, think about how the story might affect your customers. If you think they would be interested in it, create a blog post about it. If you can find a way to tie it into something about your business,

If you are a regular reader of a blog and the author recently posted something you found very interesting, let your readers know. Some of them may be readers of the other blog as well. This can stir up a lot of discussion and traffic on your own blog.

One of the main reasons to have a blog is to give your readers a glimpse of yourself. Every post doesn’t have to relate directly to your business. You can blog about a particularly busy day you had and include your favorite crock pot recipe. The people who read your blog may be very busy business people as well and can appreciate the fact that you too are struggling to get everything done.

You can also give reviews of products and services that you have personally used. This is a great way to monetize your blog as well. For instance, if you recently tried a product and loved it, find out if they have an affiliate program. If so, sign up for it and write a blog post about how much you loved the product, including your affiliate link.

Popularity: 28% [?]

Bloggers is the blanket term for anyone that uses a blog to post information on topics that are of interest to them. Becoming a blogger is actually simpler than it might seem. As blogging has grown in popularity, many website offer platforms to quickly and easily create a blog.

Some of the most popular blogging software platforms are Blogger, Livejournal, Typepad, Wordpress and Xanga. These websites will host your blog, generally for free, and provide you with the tools to create blog posts without having to know a lot about software.

I recommend using Wordpress. This software is easily installed through your hosting control panel if you are using Watersweb Hosting or Shop Kit Plus. Once it is installed, you can choose from several free themes to install on the site, or you can hire a Wordpress web designer to make the blog match your product selling site.

Popularity: 31% [?]

Blog is a shortened term for “weblog.” Either term refers to a website where entries are made similar to a journal or diary. The entries are presented in reverse chronological order, with the newest entry on top. Although blogs were originally used like a personal journal on everyday events, they have evolved into a multipurpose tool. There are blogs on every topic imaginable, from food to politics to celebrity gossip. Generally, blogs combine the text entries with images, links to other blogs and other related media.

A blog entry consists of five basic components:

• The Title: The main headline of the blog post.
• The Body: The main content of the blog post, which can consist of text and/or photos and video.
• Permalink: This is the URL of the individual post.
• Post Date: The date and time the post was published to the blog website.
• A blog entry can also include comments from readers, categories (commonly called tags) that label the blog entry by subject, and trackback links, which are links to other sites that refer to the blog entry.

Popularity: 22% [?]

Private label rights content, also known as PLR, is ready-made content that people can buy and use many different ways. As you may know, the content you have on your site is very important. The search engines will scan your site and index the content that is found on it. When someone searches for a phrase that is found on your site, your site may come up in the search results.

You will want to be wary of some PLR sources. You can find some very cheap PLR on the internet, but the content you are getting has various subject matters and may be written by someone who does not have full command of the English language. This causes the articles to be somewhat hard to understand.

The best PLR sources will have content for sale in packs of focused subject matter and will be written by people with good command of the English language as well as good grammar and spelling skills.

When you buy PLR you are buying the rights to use the content on your site or blog. The PLR articles that you buy can be published on your site as is; although you may want to rewrite them. Other people will be buying the same PLR articles packs as you are, and by rewriting them slightly, you will create a unique article on your site.

You can also use the PLR articles to create a special report. For instance, if you bought a PLR article pack that contained 10 articles about affiliate marketing, put them all together, and you have a 10 page special report. You can sell the report or give it away for free to boost the size of your mailing list.

You can also break the PLR articles you buy up into smaller pieces and create an e-course. Again, you can use this e-course as a way to grow your mailing list.

Using PLR will enable you to add quality content to your site, easily and inexpensively.
There are some things you do with PLR. Depending on the PLR membership you chose, you may not be able to add PLR articles to a reprint directory or resell them.

PLR sources I recomment:

• All Mom Content
• All Health Content
• All Private Label Content

Update: My friend Melissa Ingold and I have put together a new PLR resource just for product sellers: ProductSellersContent.com. Check it out!

Popularity: 26% [?]

WordPress is a popular blogging software that you can use to create a very professional looking blog. Blogs boost your site’s traffic and help you build relationships and trust with your visitors. The more trust your readers’ have for you, the more likely they are to become your customer.

There are two ways to set up a WordPress blog. You can install the blog on your own server. If you are a Watersweb Hosting or Shop Kit Plus customer, you can install the blog with the push of a button. (You’ll need to make sure you have an unused database available in your account.) The benefit to this is that you can pick your own, unique blog address. For instance, your blog address can be www.yourdomain.com/blog.

You can also get a free blog at www.wordpress.com and let WordPress host it for you. Your blog’s URL will have “wordpress” in the domain. However, if you are new to blogging and do not yet have your own domain, this is a great way to get started with your blog. You simply enter the username you would like and your email. WordPress will create your blog and email you the password.

There are many different themes to choose from, enabling you to create a blog that fits your website and target market. You can further customize your blog by adding widgets, such as a calendar, RSS feed, links and other items to the sidebar. You can also change and customize the entire theme by editing the Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) of your blog.

Popularity: 20% [?]

Product Name: Blogging Starter Pack

Product Description: The Blogging Starter Pack by Lynette Chandler explains what blogs are, how to set yours up, and more. Blogs are a great way to build relationships with your readers. Your readers will be able to get a feel for your personality. All of this creates trust and once your readers trust you, they will be more likely to buy products you recommend and endorse.

Here are some of the things included:

• Step by step guide
• 4 Recorded audio sessions
• Videos that give step by step instructions on how to set up your blog in Blogger or WordPress
• Video that shows you how to set up RSS feeds, which enable your readers to get notices when you have new blog posts
• Blogging Best Practices – this will guide you on getting publicity without getting blocked from search engines
• 7 Keys Of A Good Blog, Access to Lynette’s private blog posts and more

Thoughts & Criticisms: Lynette does a great job of explaining how the technical side of blogs works. She provides step by step instructions; the videos are great. You can watch what she is doing, and then do it yourself. I was stuck on how to host my Blogger blog through my servers, but after I watched the Blogger video, I was able to do it.

There is also info for customizing your blog, and that is a big help. Lynette is technically gifted; there is no doubt about that. Trying to figure all of this out by yourself can be a real headache if your not technically inclined. This product can do a lot to prevent that frustration!

System Requirements: Internet connection in order to buy and download the product (high speed preferably, so you can watch the videos) and speakers to listen to videos and audios

Money-back guarantee: If you are unable to download the book, they will refund your money.

Rating: 8

Popularity: 16% [?]

My friends at Mom Masterminds know everything there is to know about internet marketing — including how to use a weblog for business. And even more importantly, they know how to keep the spam off of it.

So naturally, when I decided to start this weblog, I turned to them for advice.

How do I keep spam off my weblog?

The answer: Spam Karma 2

This plugin is amazing. You install it, adjust a couple of settings and then let it run. It couldn’t be simpler.

So far, on my two wordpress blogs:

• Spammers: 0
• Spam Karma 2: A bazillion

Popularity: 31% [?]

So you have 5 bazillion weblogs and websites you like to keep up with. But as a busy WAHM, you have a heard time getting back to all of them. By the time you do remember to return, the blog owner has posted 50 bazillion articles and you have no hope of finding the time to read them all.

I feel your pain.

And I’ve found a few solutions.

My favorite solution thus far is Google Homepage. If you already have a Google Adwords, Calendar, Analytics or Adsense account, just sign in. Otherwise, you’ll want to register.

Now you can add the RSS feeds from your favorite weblogs to your Google Homepage, where they’ll be displayed wherever you want them. Anytime one of your weblogs is updated, you’ll see a link to the new post on the homepage. Google also includes several other modules and customizations you can add to make this homepage infinitely useful and allow you to save considerable time. I particularly love the fact that my Google Calendar can be added to the page (and I can make it appear where I want it on the page, just by moving the module around by the header).

My Yahoo and My MSN have similar functionality, although neither of them seemed as customizable as the Google Homepage. I added my weblog feeds to them anyway.

And finally, Netvibes seems pretty promising. I’d probably embrace this homepage site if I didn’t already use Google Calendar. But perhaps you’ll find it useful. As with Google, you can add your favorite weblog’s RSS feeds to the homepage and keep up with them as they update.

Do any of you already use these services? Can you tell us about any that I missed?

Popularity: 13% [?]