What are Blogs?

Most web users will know a blog is an online journal where bloggerspost their daily or hourly entries (their opinions, views, info, links)on any subject that interests them. The most popular blogging systems are Blogger.com (owned by Google) Bloglines (owned by Ask Jeeves), LiveJournal, and many professional marketers use the free WordPress software which they can host on their own websites.

Each blog has its own RSS feed — RSS stands for Really Simple Syndicationalthough its original acronym stood for Rich Site Summary. TheseRSS feeds broadcasts the information in the blog posts to allconcerned parties — those who have subscribed and use an RSS readeror aggregator to view the posts. Or more commonly, they use the FireFox browser,Google Desktop, or MyYahoo to access their favorite RSS feeds. The next version of Windows will have RSS embedded into its operatingsystem.

What are Tags?

Tags are really another name for keywords. Most surfers will knowkeywords are the exact words Internet users type into search enginesto find what they’re looking on the world wide web. Tags work in the same way and are a form of social bookmarking, a way of classifying and accessing all that content in all those countless blogs.

Many major blogging directories such as Technorati use tags to serve up the information to its patrons. One simple techniqueto create a tag in Technocrati:

<*a href=”http://technorati.com/tag/Laptops” rel=”tag”>Laptops<*/a> (remove asterisks in actual code)

Or if your blogging software supports categories; this willbe recognized by Technorati as a tag.

What the heck is a Ping?

A ping is a simple way to notify the different search engines to letthem know that your blog has been updated. You call up or ping yourblog post.

You bookmark or place an entry in any one of the countless bloggingsites such as Technorati, Furl, del.icio.us, Blinklist, Flickr —you go to these sites and click your blog or tag to inform themyou have updated your blog. Many blogging systems will automaticallyping your blog updates.

Or you can do this manually, for example Technorati’s ping form is here: http://www.technorati.com/ping

Simple Way to Ping

If this is still confusing to you, one simple way to ping your tags/blogs is to use a site like: http://pingomatic.com/

and it will automatically ping your blog in many of the mostpopular blogging services.

Enter The Online Professional Marketers and It All Hits the Fan

Of course, online marketers have long discovered that the wholeblogging system — blogs, rss, tags, pinging — is an excellentmarketing vehicle. One great marketing system delivering targeted traffic to their products and services.

It really is a corruption or commercialization of blogging and this surely wasn’t the idea the original designers of blogs had in mind. But the whole blogging system isso lucrative, many professional marketers (the author is pleading the fifth!) are using blogging systems like WordPressto create mainly marketing sites that may have little resemblanceto a real blog. It just uses the backbone structure of blogs, RSS, Tags to give their sites a slight competitiveedge in a very competitive world.

As we saw with the ‘comment spam’ there is a greatlikelihood that Tag and Ping will be misused and furtherantagonize the blogging purists. So if you are going to useTag and Ping make sure you’re creating valuable, usable content– then most sites will want to link to your site anyway. Content is still king no matter what tricks the professionalmarketers want to use. Always will be!

Using a Simple Tag and Ping Marketing Technique With Technorati

To explain further the whole idea of Tag and Ping. Lets justwalk through a marketing system you can quickly create usingTechnorati, one of the most popular blogging services.

First, sign your blog up with Technorati. This is quite a simple procedure. Just upload a photo, doesn’t have to be ofyou — your site’s logo will do. Register your profile withyour 20 or so tags relating to your blog. Make sure theseare keywords you’re marketing with your blog. Then you have to place the Technorati code on your blog for a link back.

Next, you must understand that Technorati creates a landing pagefor each tag in their system. This page is made up of four parts:

- Flickr Photos

- Recent blog posts tagged with that keyword or phrase

- Who’s Blogging About sidebar which links to any profiles of blogs

that those same keywords or phrase in their profile

- Links from Furl for the same tag

So to take full advantage and to use this marketing technique youhave to sign up with both Flickr and Furl. Your aim is to getyour links in all four spots on this Technorati landing pagefor your tag or keyword.

When signing up for Flickr, many marketers use their site’s name for their Flickr username, just use a dash instead of a dot inyour site’s url. You can use a photo of the product they’re promoting to get a link from Flickr in the top spot on the landingpage. Pick your tags and description for the product.

Set up a Furl account and download the Toolbar , bookmark a fewsites to get the hang of how its done.

Now You’re Really To Put Everything Together To Tag and Ping

1- You can start with the Flickr photos at top of the Technorati page.

Just post a photo or cover image into your Flickr account, making sure you tag it and use a catchy headline in your description.Link it to your landing or affiliate page url. Example:

Don’t buy another marketing tool until your check out this site.

2 - Next, make the first of your blog posts on your particular subject or product to your blog, making sure you tag it with your keywords and then ping Technorati. Make all your posts good content, reviews, product information or free downloads. Your entry will appear on the top of the list for that tag shortly in Technorati.

3 - Furl your blog post and your landing/affiliate page with your tags to make sure your entry/post is listed the bottom section of the Technorati page for your tag.

To work this system, add another blog post every few hours, Tag and Ping, plus Furl your posts. For better results you can sign up for countless other social bookmarking sites and bookmark your pages. Here are just a few good ones: del.icio.us, blinklist, moreover, icerocket, weblogs…

Flickr, Blog, Tag, Ping, Furl

This is just one Tag and Ping method, professional marketers have countless systems and sites working many variations on this relative new marketing technique. But the information given above should get you startedon your own Tag and Ping marketing system.

Remember, blogging and RSS are the wave of the future, make sure you’regeared up to take advantage of all they have to offer. You musthave at least one blog on your site. Use WordPress if youcan — Blogger will do in a pinch!

Just make sure you’re using some Ping and Tag marketing techniquesto harvest all those links, traffic and sales for your site.This is one marketing technique you should now be using. Justremember to Flickr, Blog, Tag, Ping, Furl - Rinse and Repeat!

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