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% [?]

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% [?]

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% [?]

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% [?]

Blogger helped create the blogging explosion that hit the internet recently. Blogs are a great way to connect with your customers and build relationships.

It is very easy to set up a Blogger blog. Simply go to www.blogger.com and enter in some basic information. Blogger has quite a few different themes to choose from, and you can further customize your blog by choosing the colors and fonts.

Blogger makes it very simple to add page elements to your site, such as RSS feeds, Google Adsense, and other items.

If you want to further customize your blog, Blogger allows you to change your template by editing the Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) of your blog.

You can host your blog for free by using Blogger’s host service. Your blog’s URL will have “blogger” in it, for example http://yourblog.blogger.com.

You can host your blog on your own web host by changing the ftp settings in your blog. This will allow you to customize your domain, such as www.yourdomain.com/blog.

Another option is to switch to a custom domain. If you have registered a URL, you can go to the “publishing” section of your blog’s settings and enter the domain. When someone goes to that domain, they will be directed to your blog.

Blogger will also allow you to write your posts in advance and set them up as drafts. When you are ready to publish them, you simply press a button and your post is on the web.

Inserting pictures and links in your blog posts is also very simple using Blogger’s editor. Blogger’s comment section allows you to control who can post comments and whether or not they can add links to your blog.

Popularity: 13% [?]