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Blogs have increased in popularity for businesses over this past months. Many people have started to create their personal blogs to express their thoughts and feelings, while Internet companies are starting their blogs to inform consumers on the latest product news and reviews.

Because of this, blogs are being used as an internet marketing media. Before, internet marketing was done by placing banners and links on popular websites. Links were also included on newsletters and marketing letters sent to the those on the mailing lists.

Whether or not you are one of the many people who spend time reading blogs, be aware that at least some of you key customers are. People read their friend’s blogs, their favorite author’s blogs, blogs on topics that they are interested in, and blogs on product reviews.

Since there are many people who read and start their own blogs, blogs are a good medium to market a product. With the increasing blog traffic means increase in product sales.

But don’t be afraid of the term “blog.” A blog is just a particular form of content management system (CMS) that happens to be search engine friendly. This is why blogsites show up on search results much more quickly than traditional websites.

Blog traffic can be increased by joining affiliate programs, which will list your blog under a certain search category or name. You can also have your blog advertised on popular websites. This, however, will cost some money and is not advisable if you have just started blogging.

A writer who has just launched his/her blog will want as much traffic as possible to increase the number of clicks on advertisements on the site. Also, some advertisers pay every time their link is clicked or the page that has their link is viewed.

When you have increased traffic on your blog, you should try to keep your visitors coming back and recommending your blog to friends and colleagues. This can be done by having informative or amusing content, and good blog layout and design.

The blog’s layout and design plays a big role. While most of the companies offering free blog hosting offer pre-selected templates, there are also some that allow customization, so if you use this feature correctly it can increase your blog’s traffic.

Here are a few tips to make your blog stand out from the millions of blogs out there that have standard designs.

Customize the banner
The banner usually has the most generic designs that are common to the blogs from a blogging company or service. You can personalize this banner by having a graphic with the dimensions of the banner. You can also edit the graphic so that it will also include the title of your blog. In this case, you can create your own graphic or you can purchase professional looking graphics online for less than $10.

Personalizing photos
Of course, most of the photos that you will be posting will be your own. However, if you don’t customize the photos before posting them, you may miss maximizing the enhancing benefits graphics can add to the page. Adding photo borders can help the photo stand out from the page. It can also add to the design of your blog. You can choose a standard border or you can also create your own border which can be associated with your blog’s templates. For an example, check out how I’ve “framed” the photos under “Portraits.”

Add a favicon
Don’t you think sites with icons on the address bar before the website’s URL are cool? Many people do. These favicons add a professional look to the URL. These are easy to do using photo or graphic editing software. You can find information on how to do this in a WordPress website here.

Check out blog templates, layouts, backgrounds, textures and skins from sites
There are sites that offer free blog templates, layouts, backgrounds, textures and skins. You can make use of these so your blog will not look generic like most of the blogs hosted by the service provider. But remember to personalize it in some way. For example, I used the “Prosumer” template for the Women’s Business Gallery, and then personalized the banner, colors and sidebars so that it doesn’t much look like the original.

Include RSS feeds
This is a cool way to inform people with newsreaders about your blog headlines. Tutorials on RSS feeds are available on the internet. You’ll notice that you can subscribe to the Women’s Business Gallery’s RSS feeds in two ways: through a traditional reader or through email.

Audio makes your blog more personal
Not only does audio personalizes the blog; it can also keep your visitors coming back. You can try having streaming radio stations, mp3 file or playlists loading with your blog. Next week, I’ll talk a little about adding streaming audio to a blog.

Advertisements
If you have signed-up with Google Adsense, which I am sure you would like to do, make sure that the ads are conveniently placed and that they will not hinder your readers’ ease in accessing the information on your blog. Also, if you have more than one blog, like I do, Adsense will let you tag your ads so that you can monitor which blogs are getting the most click throughs.

Try using these tips and you can definitely increase and retain traffic on your blog. If you would like help setting up a WordPress blog, feel free to contact me directly at info@womens-business-gallery.com. You can check out this service and see some samples of my work at www.dragonwyze.com.

Oh! Since we’re talking about blog design, why don’t you add a comment to this post and tell me what you think of the Women’s Business Gallery’s new design? Do you like the layout? the color scheme? Is there something you think would make it look better and be easier for you to use? Let me know!