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When you first start out blogging, you might want to make money, or just share your thoughts with others. Whatever your goal, there are some basic "best practices" that will help you to get new readers and keep existing readers interested.

1) Write Regularly

Blogs live and die by their content. The more content you have, the more visitors you'll get from search engines, and the more visitors you have the more readers you'll get. Regularly updated content is great for keeping your existing readers interested, too. A reader won't keep coming back to your blog if they see the same post every time. Readers want new content.

A lot of people suggest a daily posting schedule. That's a lot of work! If you think you want to try writing a new blog post every day, I suggest you try doing it before you create your blog. Use your favorite word processor, and write a blog post every day for a week.

If you find yourself tired of writing at the end of the week, then consider writing a post only every few days. The most important thing isn't so much how often you write, but that you keep to a regular schedule. If all you can manage is one post a week, but your readers know it will be available Wednesday night, then they'll come look for it then.

2) Spread the (link) love!

A common approach with new bloggers is to try to keep readers on their own blog by not linking out to other blogs. The thinking is that if I link out, people will actually click on the link and leave my blog.

That's true, some of your readers will follow your links. But if they find what you linked to useful, they'll be back to read your next post. And linking out to other blogs is a great way to get the attention of the owner of the other blogs. They will probably come to see what you wrote about them, and they may stick around and become readers themselves. Or they may return the favor and link to you sometime.

Linking liberally is a good technique for both providing value for your readers and getting more readers.

3) Read (and comment on) related blogs

Whatever you write about in your blog, you can bet there's someone else out there writing a blog on the same topic. Reading those other blogs helps keep your inspiration going. You will often find topic ideas on other blogs that you hadn't considered, and you can put your own perspective on the topic and write about it yourself.

Commenting on other blogs is also a great idea. By commenting on another blog, you're announcing to the owner of that blog that you liked what they wrote enough to take the time to comment. The chances are good that they'll come over to your blog and read some of the posts, and maybe leave a comment.

When you leave a comment on another blog you'll be asked for a URL. Be sure to put the web address of your blog in that field. That way, when someone visits the blog and sees your comment, they can click on your name to go to your blog.

Regularly leaving comments on other blogs is a great way to make friends and build up a readership.

4) Market in moderation

Many people these days get into blogging to try and make money.

You can make money blogging by putting ads on your blog pages, or by linking out to affiliate products in your blog posts. Some bloggers think that the more of this they do, the more money they'll make.

In reality, if you use too much marketing in your blog, your readers will tune it out. The ones who can't tune it out will probably become annoyed and stop reading. It's far better to be moderate in your marketing efforts. Subtle marketing is more likely to make you money than having your blog be like a carnival barker.

5) Be authentic

When you're trying to make money through a blog, it's tempting to promote any product that could make you money. Remember, though, that you're dealing with your reputation. If you promote a product that isn't any good, your readers that bought the product won't trust your recommendations in the future.

Similarly, if you write a blog post that isn't honest, just to get people to click on ads, eventually your readers will stop trusting you.

Always be authentic and honest in your writing, and never put anything online that doesn't reflect how you really feel.

GajeMaster Blogging provides a variety of blogging tips, such as this post on marketing in moderation.

The notorious weblog or blog is increasingly popular in todays digital-driven world. Forget writing in a hand-held diary or sending letters to friends and family. Blogs have opened whole new doors in communication and expression. If youre one who likes to voice their opinions, get off the soapbox and blog it!

Blog services are all over the Internet and allow writers or anyone with a point of view the chance to post their thoughts and receive comments on those thoughts. 6StarReviews.com reports that popular blog service TypePad caters to the technologically-attuned and provides podcasting tools, video platforms and a memoir function to tell your life story through.

Another hit blog service is the renowned Blogger, which Google itself took under its wing. Blogger allows the novice and experienced blogger to broadcast their thoughts and opinions while maintaining a clean, simple-to-use posting function. Besides choosing from a wide variety of blog templates, bloggers can join communities and discuss issues they have in common.

Blogs are not only a creative facet of the Web, theyre highly influential. Many blogs are political in nature or are founded for social commentary purposes. Blog owners have a number of ways to track where their readers are coming from and which posts got the most hits. According to industry statistics, about 12 million American adults owned or utilized blogs, a staggering number. Blog services offer a place for writers of all ages, interests and technological levels. A politician has a place to express their views so much as a teenager in high school and judging from the number of blogs circulating the Net, they arent going to lose edge anytime soon.

Kelly Liyakasa is staff writer for 6StarReviews.com. Kelly Staller is site manager at 6StarReviews.com, a site dedicated to giving YOU, the consumer, the best product and service reviews around. If you like saving time and money by having someone else review leading sites and products, then Visit our site at 6StarReviews.com

Most new bloggers and many seasoned bloggers have pondered the question of the optimal size and length of blog posts. There are all sorts of theories on this. Some believe that the post should not require the reader or internet surfer to have to scroll to finish the post. Indeed, with all the advertising on many private personal blogs, there is very little room after the posted title and ads for the actual text, pictures or video without slight scrolling.

Some blog posts are a paragraph with something interesting to say, an antidote, poem, inspirational message, introduction to a video or picture, or just human interest insight. All that is good, but of course, not all your posts can be so small otherwise you will have your readers and subscribers lose interest. Well, unless you have some pretty intense jokes, pictures or really outrageous videos.

Generally, it makes sense to have your posts 100+ words and not more than 350 unless you can pack it full of interesting and relevant information. If you have a business blog you can get away with blog posts on the high side, occasionally longer if you are discussing industry information, but realize even on a corporate communication blog, if it gets too long the customers will not be reading it all, so it becomes a detriment to your blogging efforts without helping your brand awareness or consumer loyalty.

You must pay careful attention to your blog length to build your blog traffic and interest. Subscribers do care about blog length even if they will not admit it. Perhaps this information will get you thinking about your own blog length strategies?

"Lance Winslow" - Online Blog Content Service. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; http://www.WorldThinkTank.net/.

Hosting the Perfect Home Poker Game is something that is on the minds of seemingly millions of Americans. The overwhelming popularity of Texas Hold Em and Casino Games in general over the past few years has driven many to try to Host a Poker Game that has the same feel as their favorite casino poker room or something they saw on t.v. This combined with the recent issues surrounding playing poker online drive more and more groups of people to Host a game of their own.

In order to host a poker game, you will need certain things:

1) A good quality set of poker chips---- the most common are made of a clay/composite material and weigh 11.5 grams each. There are also clay chips Paulson and Nexgen that are found in casinos that can be bought for home use as well.

2) A solid themed playing surface. While you can use any table, having a poker felt layout would be a great beginning. The next step up would be to buy a Folding Poker Table, which can seat up to 10 players, and can come with arm rests and cup holders. The obvious benefit to this type of table is that you can have a professional looking table during the game, and after the game is over it can either be folded and put away, or sent on to the Home where the game will be next time. Finally, for those of you with the space and the desire, you can purchase a Full Size Casino Grade Table....NICE!

3) Playing Cards. You will need at least 2 decks of cards. By using 2 decks, one can always be shuffled and ready for the next hand. You have got lots of options for cards, but the main difference is in the material they are made of. The best quality cards are made of a pvc material. Copag and Kem are the most popular pvc cards on the market. The benefits are that you can spill a drink on them and just wipe it clean and they are much more durable overall. They are more expensive, but because you won't need to keep getting new cards every week...they are the best value.

4) Buttons. You will at least need a dealer button, but should also get a missed blind, big blind, and little blind buttons. If you play in a game with a kill, then you will need to get a kill button as well.

5) Tournament Timer. This will help you keep track of when to change the blinds/ante. You also have the option to set a timer for tounament teirs. These range from the very basic to the elegant.

These are the basics, but some people also use a Card Cover/Spinner. This lets the dealer know that you are in the hand. Some people use a coin, poker chip, or a bobblehead while others use something that is important to them---like a picture of your kids. You can search for each of these items individually, or head over to www.ExecutiveGamingMonthly.com. Executive Gaming Monthly(EGM) is the first Casino Game of the Month Gift Club, and has 6 different complete Poker Packages in 3 different price points.

EGM's packages include everything that you need to Host Your Own Game all in one place. We pick the highest quality products for each of the packages, so all you need to do is provide the most important thing---FOOD.

Eric Hansel is the President of Executive Gaming Monthly (EGM), the 1st Casino Game of the Month Gift Club(like a cigar of the month). He has been in sales and marketing for the past 10 years and lives in New Jersey with his wife, and son. Bring the Casino Home with http://www.ExecutiveGamingMonthly.com. EGM has Complete Home Game Packages for Black Jack, Craps, Roulette, Poker, Texas Hold em, and Slots.