Earlier this month, I wrote an article entitled "Are we so blinded by the SEO of blogs that we forget the basics" and this will pick up where that left off.

As I was saying in the earlier article, most people get SO blinded by the fact that blogs are search engine optimized that they quite often forget the most important, basic and crucial component before making a blog post.

As any type of communication that will be posted publicly, one must plan first what the true intent and purpose of the blog post truly is. What is the theme of it? Most blog posts don't even have a finished intent at the end with a call to action or any type of take away and this is where most people are leaving money and subscribers on the table. And I think that everyone should uncover that purpose (of the blog post) prior to even thinking about creating one.

Now, unless you are one of the MySpace generation and are just maintaining a blog for your friends to read and comment, and your social life, that's all fine and dandy. But if you are attempting to harness the true power of a blog, I'm sure you are intending to receive traffic from your blog through the search engines, and hopefully convert that traffic into something of a monetization value, i.e., money.

And towards the end of this post, I'll give you a link to view the video that I prepared specially for Sherman Hu's Private Membership site over at WordPress Tutorials that gives you the one crucial component you must make sure to do before you make any blog post. Otherwise, all your efforts are for naught.

I'm making the video available to NicheBOT subscribers only, so if you aren't one, make sure to grab an account or one of our keyword courses so you can view the video details.

So now we'll go ahead and transition into the ultimate thrust of this blog post. And that is. . .

Is a blog just a blog (er, a diary) that can be readily optimized for the search engines?

Or is a blog more than a blog?

As I have immersed myself in the past number of months, I have come to understand that, truly, a blog is no longer just a blog.

I have seen different forms and degrees of what blogs can be used for, such as…

1. A way of communicating any updates about your product or service to your subscribers or customers versus sending an email or building a new web page.

2. A way to maintain communication with your business partners who are promoting your product or service, such as joint venture partners, etc. (note: this would be a separately installed blog from the one you communicate with your subscribers and customers).

3. A way to generated visitors to comment on your post comments from people on a specific post which builds unique content on your site. And this can then translate and build social proof of the topic you are talking about. Social proof is very powerful in building trust with your readers, integrity and positioning yourself as an authority on a topic, or for proving up a product or service you offer.

4. A platform to easily implement and deliver multimedia events such as video, audio and podcasts.

5. A way to use tags such as Technorati tags so that you can also add further search engine power within social bookmarking categories. (NOTE: These tags are usually placed at the end of the post using certain keywords just as-is used below.)

6. A great platform to write updates on a private or public blog to build anticipation for an upcoming product launch.

There are many more ways to utilize a blog, but the above are the most oustanding which have made an impression on my mind.

Of course, you have to use some sort of blogging software on your website (or you could use a hosted blog service), and one of the most popular and free ones is the WordPress weblog software.

However, one of THE most powerful uses that I've personally noticed within the power of using WordPress blog software is the ability to create web pages and basically use the blog software as the website builder itself.

In fact, it shortcuts my ability to have to….

1. Open my HTML editor or grab an HTML template of my site and then tediously make sure that my HTML code is perfect while viewing it in a browser.

2. FTP the page up to my site.

3. Make sure to alter the navigation in the entire website to make sure there is a link the search engines can follow so the page gets indexed (and ranked).

4. Wipe off all the blood, sweat and tears and then praise myself for completing the new content I've added to my site.

When all I had to really do was…

1. Login to my Administration Panel for my WordPress blog, as I have done right with this post. Then type in the content, review and hit the "Publish" button.

Phew! That was hard, huh?

All the main work and thrust of energy is spent in setting up the blog, much like you do a website in the beginning.

No messing with HTML, no messing with the HTML in the navigation of my site, it's ALL done automatically with a blog. All pages perfectly linked together.

And if I don't want to make a blog post, I can just create a web page that doesn't appear in the weblog, just like a normal web page.

Not only that, with the current PRO theme that I am using on this very site, I have basically turned WordPress software into a powerful Content Management System (aka CMS).

Which process would you like to go through? The first scenario above or the second (shorter) one?

Yeah — exactly as I thought.

Talk about publishing your web pages at the speed of thought.

In fact, with the problem of emails getting beyond the spam filter, I can now cut down the length of email messages I send to subscribers (you), assuring that the message will have a better chance of making it through spam filters.

No more checking to see if there are any catchy words that will cause spam filters to throw my email into a junk box.

I can write a blog post (or content page) as long-winded as I wish and then direct my subscribers right to the page with all the content without having to worry if my email will get through or not. The less language in an email message, the higher probability of the email getting through.

Make sense?

Of course it does, because I practice what I preach.

Besides that, instead of writing an email message which has good content in it, I am now actually transitioning that into building more content on the actual website rather than wasting it in an email. And the search engines love me for it.

So what am I ultimately saying here?

Pick the write blogging software (bunch of free ones out there) and you could well have a website builder that will simplify your life when it comes to continually adding content. And, if you learn how to use it yourself (which is easy enough to do), you can even fire your webmaster or web designer.

This very web page you are looking at right here is created by WordPress (free) and the Profressional Theme that I'm using to enhance WordPress makes it into a full scale Content Management System.

And being a complete novice about this stuff just a few months ago, I went to the absolutely authority on WordPress blogging to understand exactly how to harness the power of this technology and the ease of adding new content to NicheBOT and all my other sites.

That authority is Sherman Hu, the head blogging instructor at WordPress Tutorials.

I first met Sherman at The System Seminar in Chicago in late May. He was one of the Faculty and was putting on a couple of presentations.

I attended Sherman's presentation at the seminar called "Pimp My Blog." Crafted in likeness to the popular MTV show "Pimp My Ride" where the host, Xzibit, finds people with really run down, crummy vehicles, takes them and fixes them up beyond belief with brand new extravagant paint jobs, ultra shiny chrome wheels, Sony Playstations built into the console, movie screens in the headrests and stuff you would not normally see in a stock vehicle.

Sherman showed the audience how to PIMP an ordinary looking blog by adding audio and even video to enhance the user experience. In fact, he demonstrated how to do this LIVE and even made a video of the audience doing the wave and then published it to his WordPress Tutorials blog so that we could see the finished product for ourselves LIVE.

Amazing I tell you!

After that, I got myself a Backstage Pass into WordPress Tutorials to learn what all the buzz was about with Sherman's private membership site.

Beyond the buzz, I really wanted to understand how to set up and work with the powerful and very flexible WordPress blogging software.

Boy, was I floored at the thoroughness of this backstage video learning experience.

As soon as I entered WordPress Tutorials, I was met with a full set of video tutorials to guide me along the way from picking my domain to setting up a database and all the way through the installation process.

Very thorough and very complete.

He shows you how to work with and setup both the classic theme and the default theme of WordPress, and how all the dipsticks and options work inside the software once you install it on your server.

Yes, there is a HOSTED version of the WordPress at WordPress.com, but I much prefer the control and having all the data on my own servers, rather than relying on someone else to be responsible for my data.

He makes sure to explain the difference of putting your blog in a sub-directory or on a sub-domain and how to do it.

In even more detail, he shows you…

• How to manage your posts, catergories and links
• How to write a post and pages (much like a webpage)
• How to use themes and plugins (to enhance your site)
• How to customize your header graphic, sidebar, navigation, footer and more
• And all the important stuff that's important to newbies and beginners like, FTP software, domain registration, hosting, covering videos with Cpanel hosting and non-Cpanel hosting

Then, Sherman takes you even further along the path on how to use the WordPress Professional template and plug-ins that NicheBOT uses on this very blog right here. This definitely does take your blogging and your content management a whole step further.

Sherman could stop right there and you'd get your money's worth, but he even goes a step beyond by showing you…

• MO-Blogging
• Group Blogging
• Ghost Blogging
• Automated RSStoblog integration
• How to tap traffic from Google Video and much much more.

This is perfect for the newbie or the beginning blogger that is off to a right start but wants to take their knowledge up another level without having to do research on various sites to find out what is truly effective.

Sherman is an ex-Dreamweaver users as he has publicly abandoned any type of HTML editor in exchange to build all his websites with the WordPress Professional Theme which he shows you how to master within WordPress Tutorials.

He even openly tells you. He does not build websites without using the WordPress software as a backbone. In fact, using sofware like this could lead you to fire your webmaster or web designer and literally cut costs and expenses. (Dear heavens!)

If you are looking to cut down the time it takes to deliver new content to your website, this is a great alternative. Plus, once you set it up, there's nothing to be savvy about, except writing the content

For most, new technology and web software can be intimidating and even daunting to individuals. But with Sherman's WordPress Tutorials, you basically watch over his shoulder as he takes you through every step to master WordPress and master your website's content management.

Sherman's WordPress Tutorials is constantly updated with new content each and every month and you can interact with the community inside to get your blog/website reviewed for comments and obtain some direction.

No longer do beginners, or even professional web designers, need to be a slave to HTML editors, FTP software and other tools when all you need is a WordPress blog with the Professional Theme and simple typing skills. Period.

Now, how about that video that I promised you?

Well, inside the email where I announced this post, there should be a link to a separate password protected blog post where you can access the video. If you feel you did not receive that email for one reason or another, please go ahead and contact me on the NicheBOT contact form at http://www.nichebot.com/contact/ letting me know which email address you subscribed with. Once we confirm it, we will send you the password to the post so you can view the video.

I hope you've found this post somewhat enlightening as well as the insider review of Sherman's WordPress Tutorials. If you truly want to enhance your visibility and your sites' search engine power, I would highly suggest that you get yourself a backstage pass right away.

Sherman even guarantees that you won't regret it.

Best,

Jim Morris, President/CEO

Full Throttle Enterprises, Inc.

NicheBOT — "Finds exactly what people search for."