Blog Basics

A blog is sometimes called web log or weblog. It is a type if online journal or diary, often including personal comments as well as web links and images. Many people keep a blog as a type of personal creative exercise, but you can easily use this popular online type of writing to market your business. Blogs are very popular right now and they can be a great and inexpensive way to contact more customers.

The great thing about blogs is that people read them for fun. Customers may be becoming more jaded about advertising for Patek Philippe, but they will gladly read a blog that has some interesting things to say. Many top companies are using blogs to deliver a better and more personal message about their companies – and the strategy seems to be working.

Starting a Blog

Starting a blog is as simple as finding a space online to write – and the time to write. To begin a blog, first develop a theme idea or blog idea. You may want to look at other people’s blogs to do so. In general, you will want to develop a central theme for your blog in the same way that columnists develop a theme for their articles. This helps ensure that your blog is not too “scattered.”

Next, find some place to publish your blog. There are a number of sites – both paying and free – that give bloggers a chance to publish their material. You may also want to simply set up your blog on your web site, especially if you already have an active web site.

Writing Your Blog

Once you have a place to publish your blog, you will have to set aside some time each week to develop new content. When writing your blog:

?Write simply and clearly. Use small paragraphs and spell check before uploading. Your readers will trust what you have to say if you say it well.

?Go easy on the advertising. The idea of a blog is to give readers something fun and exciting to read and look at. You will have more readers if you comment on the world and are entertaining, rather than just hype your product. Consider writing about your day, the atmosphere your workplace has, and culture, rather than just your company.

?Consider many types of content. Blogs allow you to upload images, create links, and allow users to make comments. Your blog will have many more readers if you make your blog exciting with these pluses.

Promoting Your Blog

Just putting your blog online is not enough. After all, there are many millions of blogs on the web right now, so unless your blog is on a high-traffic site, you may not get readers unless you advertise. You can easily advertise your blog without spending a cent by mentioning your blog in your emails and web pages or newsletters. You can also enter in online competitions – if your blog wins a prize you are more likely to get a constant flow of traffic to your blog. You can also ask ezines and other content providers to review your blog, which will also draw readers.

I enjoy writing in Tamil. Its only the people I hate, but not the language. After all it is my mother tongue, and i have been learning that language at school since first standard. And having had my base at a lesser developed part of Tamil Nadu I am fairly good at the Tamil Foul Language. And at times when I come across things that happen around me, and if I dont like them, I feel like finding someone I know from my early ages and letting go.

Or, I can always blog about it, with the same language with all the dirty words that are there in Tamil. Well, unfortunately, it will not sound well when typed in English, so I might need a Tamil Plugin for WordPress. I have been looking for it for quite some time now, and I got fuckin pissed off, and so have started off at blogger which supports typing in tamil very well. Some java script that translates the sylables when you type in English to Tamil Fonts. For example, just type Koothi, and it will transform into Tamil letters representing the same words.

And what I was looking for is finally in my hands. I wanted to look in at the plugins folder of sahasranaman.com, my brothers blog and find out what all plugins he has got, but something kept resisting me, companys privacy policy n stuff. But now since his blog is an Add On domain in my hostgator account, I have open access to his files and I just copied his entire wp-content folder to mine, and checked out the plugins.

Among the several cool plugins that he had got, the one that caught my eye was the plugin called OneClickInstall, a plugin developed by an IIT guy. This was what I was looking for for ages.

Just page the url of the plugin or theme that you wish to download, and it does the whole thing for you, and you dont have to worry about ftp or anything at all. It takes care of everything.

I had made a post earlier on my blog saying that I need something, but no one came to me with recommendations, not even my brother told me that he has got one. Only after I copied the files and told him that he has a cool set of plugins, he says that he installed all of them thru oneclickinstall.

Well, Now I can use the entire 600 GB space that Hostgator has given me.

Looks like Oscar De La Hoya may back off on plans for a May fight. The Golden Boy is now looking at a big money rematch with Floyd Mayweather in September. Their first bout that broke all PPV records last May in Las Vegas. Golden Boy Promotions’ CEO Richard Schaefer told ESPN that the bout is “almost finalized” for September 13 or September 20.

Floyd Joy Mayweather,, is a professional American boxer who has a record of 39-0 (25 KOs or TKOs). He is the son of Floyd Mayweather Sr., a former welterweight boxing contender. Outside the ring Mayweather flaunts his wealth and lavish lifestyle, often referring to his $1.2 million collection of jewelery. He is known in and around boxing as the greatest boxer of his generation and one of all the best of all time.

Since July 18, 2005, he has been rated by The Ring magazine as the number-one pound for pound boxer in the world. Mayweather has won six world boxing championships in five different weight classes; he is the current WBC welterweight champion. He was named Ring Magazine Fighter of the Year in 1998 and 2007. In his last bout, he defeated Ricky Hatton at the MGM Grand, Las Vegas in a highly anticipated match on December 8, 2007, by way of a 10th round TKO. Mayweather is currently working on a rematch with Oscar De La Hoya to take place September 20, 2008.

Mayweather was also well known for competing on the fifth season of Dancing with the Stars where he was the fourth celebrity eliminated from the competition.[2] He recently performed for World Wrestling Entertainment, competing in a match against Big Show at WrestleMania XXIV.

Oscar De La Hoya is a Mexican American boxer who won a gold medal for the United States Boxing Team at the Barcelona Olympic Games. De La Hoya comes from a boxing family. His grandfather, father,nephews Raul Salinas brother were all boxers, but it was Oscar who took his boxing talent to superstar status. De La Hoya became Ring Magazine’s “Fighter of the Year” in 1995 and Ring Magazine’s top-rated Pound for Pound fighter in the world in 1997. De La Hoya has defeated over a dozen world champions and has won 6 world titles. De La Hoya’s amateur career included 223 wins, 163 by way of knockout, with only 5 losses. He won the United States’ only boxing gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics, by knocking down his opponent; a win which he dedicated to his deceased mother. After the superfight with Floyd Mayweather in 2007, Oscar de la Hoya became the richest fighter ever in the history of boxing.

Quote from http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/boxing/news/story?id=3200384

The richest fight in boxing history is on the verge of getting a sequel.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Oscar De La Hoya, who shattered box office records when they met last spring, are close to finishing a deal for a rematch, Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer told ESPN.com Wednesday.

“We are still discussing things but we have almost finalized it,” said Schaefer, who heads De La Hoya’s promotional company. “I think an announcement will be forthcoming.”

Schaefer said the fight would be Sept. 13 or Sept. 20 on HBO pay-per-view. He said the site for Mayweather-De La Hoya II has not been settled but he is holding the September dates at the 27,000-seat Home Depot Center, the outdoor home to the Los Angeles Galaxy of Major League Soccer. He said other venues are also interested, including the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

A source also told ESPN.com Wednesday night that Dodger Stadium was interested in hosting the fight after L.A. native De La Hoya suggested he’d like to fight there before retiring.

Mayweather won a split decision to take De La Hoya’s junior middleweight belt when they met May 5 at the MGM Grand.

The match between boxing’s No. 1 fighter, Mayweather, and its greatest attraction, De La Hoya, was a success and, ultimately, a rematch was hard to pass up.

“Floyd is agreeable to do the fight and so is Oscar,” Schaefer said. “Now it’s just me working through everything.”

Although De La Hoya has said he planned to return to the welterweight division and Mayweather is the welterweight world champion, Schaefer said the weight for a rematch hadn’t been determined. He said it could be at a catch weight somewhere between the 147-pound welterweight division and 154-pound junior middleweight class.

“It’s something we are discussing,” he said.

Backed by five-months of promotion, which included an 11-city cross-country tour and HBO’s reality series “De La Hoya/Mayweather 24/7,” the first fight broke boxing box office records including total gross ($165 million); pay-per-view subscriptions (2.4 million); pay-per-view gross ($134.4 million) and live gate ($18,419,200).

Although the fight was panned by many for a lack of action and the rematch probably won’t approach the numbers of the original, it still figures to do well.

De La Hoya had planned to return to the ring May 3, but didn’t have an opponent. The prospect of facing British star Ricky Hatton, his first choice, evaporated when Mayweather returned to welterweight and knocked Hatton out in the 10th round on Dec. 8.

Welterweight titleholder Miguel Cotto was a darkhorse candidate to fight De La Hoya. Cotto promoter Bob Arum acknowledged it was unlikely. He spent Wednesday in New York meeting with HBO executives about an alternative plan for Cotto, who probably will fight in April, possibly against first-season “Contender” star Alfonso Gomez.

Hatton’s lopsided defeat left Mayweather as De La Hoya’s most lucrative opponent. But instead of facing him on Cinco De Mayo weekend, the rematch will move to the fall because Mayweather is taking a break after a grueling 2007 inside and out of the ring.

Mayweather’s fights with De La Hoya and Hatton were the biggest of the year and the promotions were exhausting. He also found mainstream recognition during his fall run on the popular reality series “Dancing with the Stars.”

A rematch with De La Hoya (38-5, 30 KOs) would delay Mayweather (39-0, 25 KOs) jumping to mixed martial arts, which he has discussed with “Dancing with the Stars” pal and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, who also owns his own MMA promotional company.

Leonard Ellerbe, Mayweather’s adviser and close friend, was unavailable for comment.

With De La Hoya moving off May 3, it is possible that his friend and Golden Boy Promotions partner Shane Mosley could fight on the date instead.

Dan Rafael is the boxing writer for ESPN.com.

So go ahead and get your Mayweather/De La Hoya tickets at teamonetickets.com