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scrambled_eggs

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I am going to do a Blog for the B & B. I am wondering if anyone else does this and if they do what Blogging system they use?
 
Can someone explain to me the reasoning behind the "blog" feature on your websites? What's the attraction? I'm guessing it probably has something to do with ranking and linking (maybe), but what I really don't get is the reason of taking on ONE more task in your already busy lives. Thanks!
 
Besides those of us who have absolute control over our websites and actually maintain them ourselves, how else can you post events and information? Photos, updates, this n that about your inn, your area, recipes? None of that belongs on a website itself, I mean you can have pages and pages and pages of "stuff" that distract from the website and its purpose. Of course we have that too - the more pages the better - but it needs to be user friendly so guests can get what they want and more if they want it.
 
Besides those of us who have absolute control over our websites and actually maintain them ourselves, how else can you post events and information? Photos, updates, this n that about your inn, your area, recipes? None of that belongs on a website itself, I mean you can have pages and pages and pages of "stuff" that distract from the website and its purpose. Of course we have that too - the more pages the better - but it needs to be user friendly so guests can get what they want and more if they want it..
In my "non-innkeeper" mind, I guess I am looking at it as one more chore. The way you explain it, however, makes sense that it would be time well spent. I just didn't know if it was something that benefitted you from two different directions: getting info out there and website ranking.
Maybe I'm confused...it's been known to happen!
wink_smile.gif

 
Lots of folks here blog. But...they keep them up!!! You HAVE to keep it up if you want to maintain interest. Blogger is easy. as is WordPress
 
This question is for swirt - is it better to have the blog reside on your domain using software like wordpress from an SEO standpoint? I have been told that, but was wondering your opinion. I have my blog on blogger with links to and from my domain.
 
This question is for swirt - is it better to have the blog reside on your domain using software like wordpress from an SEO standpoint? I have been told that, but was wondering your opinion. I have my blog on blogger with links to and from my domain..
muirford said:
This question is for swirt - is it better to have the blog reside on your domain using software like wordpress from an SEO standpoint? I have been told that, but was wondering your opinion. I have my blog on blogger with links to and from my domain.
What I worry about more is losing all of the blogs if my blogger shuts down. I didn't want to get into buying more software, tho. But, Google is fairly large and I'm making copies of all the blogs in case I have to upload them again at some point.
 
Besides those of us who have absolute control over our websites and actually maintain them ourselves, how else can you post events and information? Photos, updates, this n that about your inn, your area, recipes? None of that belongs on a website itself, I mean you can have pages and pages and pages of "stuff" that distract from the website and its purpose. Of course we have that too - the more pages the better - but it needs to be user friendly so guests can get what they want and more if they want it..
In my "non-innkeeper" mind, I guess I am looking at it as one more chore. The way you explain it, however, makes sense that it would be time well spent. I just didn't know if it was something that benefitted you from two different directions: getting info out there and website ranking.
Maybe I'm confused...it's been known to happen!
wink_smile.gif

.
penelope said:
In my "non-innkeeper" mind, I guess I am looking at it as one more chore. The way you explain it, however, makes sense that it would be time well spent. I just didn't know if it was something that benefitted you from two different directions: getting info out there and website ranking.
Maybe I'm confused...it's been known to happen!
wink_smile.gif
It can be a chore. Right now it is for me. I need to jumpstart myself and get back into it. But, I get a fairly good ROI from viewers into my website from the blog. Actually, the blog beats out several of the paid directories for incoming traffic.
 
I'm behind on the blog. I have a pile of stuff here to post on it. I don't know how some of y'all keep it up all the time with everything you juggle!! Of course, I could be blogging now instead of posting here.
wink_smile.gif

But I need to concentrate more when I do that. I am jumping up and down to handle laundry here now (sorry, JBJ).
 
This question is for swirt - is it better to have the blog reside on your domain using software like wordpress from an SEO standpoint? I have been told that, but was wondering your opinion. I have my blog on blogger with links to and from my domain..
There are pros and cons to self-hosting vs hosted. There is an advantage of having the blog on a different domain so a hosted blog gives you that benefit. The other side of the coin is boosting the authority of your own domain so a self-hosted blog gives you that benefit. Which carries more weight is a topic of discussion and argument among SEO geeks. My take on it is 6 of 1 have a dozen of the other. I have seen no strong evidence that one is more heavily weighted than the other.
WordPress can be installed on your server (usually without charge depending on your hosting package). But then you are responsible for updating it when a security update is released.
I would say the best of both worlds is to use the hosted version of Blogger or WordPress but set it up to use your own domain name either as a subdirectory www.mysite,com/blog or as a subdomain blog.mysite,com Again there is a lot of speculation as to which (subdomains or subdirectories) is the better choice. I lean toward to the subdirectory for the benefit of the whole site, but it is very close either way.
Content is way more important a consideration. Write appropriately.
 
This question is for swirt - is it better to have the blog reside on your domain using software like wordpress from an SEO standpoint? I have been told that, but was wondering your opinion. I have my blog on blogger with links to and from my domain..
muirford said:
This question is for swirt - is it better to have the blog reside on your domain using software like wordpress from an SEO standpoint? I have been told that, but was wondering your opinion. I have my blog on blogger with links to and from my domain.
What I worry about more is losing all of the blogs if my blogger shuts down. I didn't want to get into buying more software, tho. But, Google is fairly large and I'm making copies of all the blogs in case I have to upload them again at some point.
.
What I worry about more is losing all of the blogs if my blogger shuts down.
I share your concern about these kinds of things. But it is pretty unlikely that Blogger or WordPress are going anywhere. What is more likely is that they might change their use of ads or something else that you may object to at some point. I think the risk is greater hosting it on your own. It is more likely to get hacked, or you make a mistake and dump your database or something like that.
Back-up your stories using whatever feature you can. Even just a copy and paste into Word will do the trick for long term safety (in fact I'd recommend writing it in word first so you get the benefit of both spell checking and grammar checking.)
 
This question is for swirt - is it better to have the blog reside on your domain using software like wordpress from an SEO standpoint? I have been told that, but was wondering your opinion. I have my blog on blogger with links to and from my domain..
There are pros and cons to self-hosting vs hosted. There is an advantage of having the blog on a different domain so a hosted blog gives you that benefit. The other side of the coin is boosting the authority of your own domain so a self-hosted blog gives you that benefit. Which carries more weight is a topic of discussion and argument among SEO geeks. My take on it is 6 of 1 have a dozen of the other. I have seen no strong evidence that one is more heavily weighted than the other.
WordPress can be installed on your server (usually without charge depending on your hosting package). But then you are responsible for updating it when a security update is released.
I would say the best of both worlds is to use the hosted version of Blogger or WordPress but set it up to use your own domain name either as a subdirectory www.mysite,com/blog or as a subdomain blog.mysite,com Again there is a lot of speculation as to which (subdomains or subdirectories) is the better choice. I lean toward to the subdirectory for the benefit of the whole site, but it is very close either way.
Content is way more important a consideration. Write appropriately.
.
swirt said:
Content is way more important a consideration. Write appropriately.
Eeek! You're not suggesting I wrote something inappropriate?? I have tried hard to move my blog to be a GOOD example for your website and not a BAD one.
confused_smile.gif

Thanks for the input. Since updating is a problem and blog software has not shaken out yet, I will stick with my blogger blog but I will ask DH to set up a subdirectory for me.
 
This question is for swirt - is it better to have the blog reside on your domain using software like wordpress from an SEO standpoint? I have been told that, but was wondering your opinion. I have my blog on blogger with links to and from my domain..
There are pros and cons to self-hosting vs hosted. There is an advantage of having the blog on a different domain so a hosted blog gives you that benefit. The other side of the coin is boosting the authority of your own domain so a self-hosted blog gives you that benefit. Which carries more weight is a topic of discussion and argument among SEO geeks. My take on it is 6 of 1 have a dozen of the other. I have seen no strong evidence that one is more heavily weighted than the other.
WordPress can be installed on your server (usually without charge depending on your hosting package). But then you are responsible for updating it when a security update is released.
I would say the best of both worlds is to use the hosted version of Blogger or WordPress but set it up to use your own domain name either as a subdirectory www.mysite,com/blog or as a subdomain blog.mysite,com Again there is a lot of speculation as to which (subdomains or subdirectories) is the better choice. I lean toward to the subdirectory for the benefit of the whole site, but it is very close either way.
Content is way more important a consideration. Write appropriately.
.
swirt said:
Content is way more important a consideration. Write appropriately.
Eeek! You're not suggesting I wrote something inappropriate?? I have tried hard to move my blog to be a GOOD example for your website and not a BAD one.
confused_smile.gif

Thanks for the input. Since updating is a problem and blog software has not shaken out yet, I will stick with my blogger blog but I will ask DH to set up a subdirectory for me.
.
Oh no...I was not suggesting something is wrong with yours. I just meant that in general, the choice of hosted or self-hosted are less important than good choice of topics and good writing. And I don't mean to scare people off about the writing, it doesn't have to be scholarly...in fact some of the best are quite "folksy". It just has to be appropriate to what guests would want to read and learn.
 
This question is for swirt - is it better to have the blog reside on your domain using software like wordpress from an SEO standpoint? I have been told that, but was wondering your opinion. I have my blog on blogger with links to and from my domain..
There are pros and cons to self-hosting vs hosted. There is an advantage of having the blog on a different domain so a hosted blog gives you that benefit. The other side of the coin is boosting the authority of your own domain so a self-hosted blog gives you that benefit. Which carries more weight is a topic of discussion and argument among SEO geeks. My take on it is 6 of 1 have a dozen of the other. I have seen no strong evidence that one is more heavily weighted than the other.
WordPress can be installed on your server (usually without charge depending on your hosting package). But then you are responsible for updating it when a security update is released.
I would say the best of both worlds is to use the hosted version of Blogger or WordPress but set it up to use your own domain name either as a subdirectory www.mysite,com/blog or as a subdomain blog.mysite,com Again there is a lot of speculation as to which (subdomains or subdirectories) is the better choice. I lean toward to the subdirectory for the benefit of the whole site, but it is very close either way.
Content is way more important a consideration. Write appropriately.
.
swirt said:
Content is way more important a consideration. Write appropriately.
Eeek! You're not suggesting I wrote something inappropriate?? I have tried hard to move my blog to be a GOOD example for your website and not a BAD one.
confused_smile.gif

Thanks for the input. Since updating is a problem and blog software has not shaken out yet, I will stick with my blogger blog but I will ask DH to set up a subdirectory for me.
.
Oh no...I was not suggesting something is wrong with yours. I just meant that in general, the choice of hosted or self-hosted are less important than good choice of topics and good writing. And I don't mean to scare people off about the writing, it doesn't have to be scholarly...in fact some of the best are quite "folksy". It just has to be appropriate to what guests would want to read and learn.
.
swirt said:
Oh no...I was not suggesting something is wrong with yours. I just meant that in general, the choice of hosted or self-hosted are less important than good choice of topics and good writing. And I don't mean to scare people off about the writing, it doesn't have to be scholarly...in fact some of the best are quite "folksy". It just has to be appropriate to what guests would want to read and learn.
I read an Inns blog the other day that another innkeeper sent me and it was all about the innkeepers. I mean, every single post was about what they were doing or about to do and it really put me off. Perhaps they were using as more of a newsletter for their guests? Not really sure, but seeing their photos in post after post got old. Esp since I had never met them. I am concurring with your "content" point.
I think there are guests who want to see innkeeper info, but just like the giant bio pages on websites, it puts most people off. I had a guest who was thoroughly intrigued with our dog and it freaked me out a bit, so I took the dogs pic and name off the website. She was a very nice lady, don't get me wrong, just a bit too personal.
 
This question is for swirt - is it better to have the blog reside on your domain using software like wordpress from an SEO standpoint? I have been told that, but was wondering your opinion. I have my blog on blogger with links to and from my domain..
There are pros and cons to self-hosting vs hosted. There is an advantage of having the blog on a different domain so a hosted blog gives you that benefit. The other side of the coin is boosting the authority of your own domain so a self-hosted blog gives you that benefit. Which carries more weight is a topic of discussion and argument among SEO geeks. My take on it is 6 of 1 have a dozen of the other. I have seen no strong evidence that one is more heavily weighted than the other.
WordPress can be installed on your server (usually without charge depending on your hosting package). But then you are responsible for updating it when a security update is released.
I would say the best of both worlds is to use the hosted version of Blogger or WordPress but set it up to use your own domain name either as a subdirectory www.mysite,com/blog or as a subdomain blog.mysite,com Again there is a lot of speculation as to which (subdomains or subdirectories) is the better choice. I lean toward to the subdirectory for the benefit of the whole site, but it is very close either way.
Content is way more important a consideration. Write appropriately.
.
swirt said:
Content is way more important a consideration. Write appropriately.
Eeek! You're not suggesting I wrote something inappropriate?? I have tried hard to move my blog to be a GOOD example for your website and not a BAD one.
confused_smile.gif

Thanks for the input. Since updating is a problem and blog software has not shaken out yet, I will stick with my blogger blog but I will ask DH to set up a subdirectory for me.
.
Oh no...I was not suggesting something is wrong with yours. I just meant that in general, the choice of hosted or self-hosted are less important than good choice of topics and good writing. And I don't mean to scare people off about the writing, it doesn't have to be scholarly...in fact some of the best are quite "folksy". It just has to be appropriate to what guests would want to read and learn.
.
swirt said:
Oh no...I was not suggesting something is wrong with yours. I just meant that in general, the choice of hosted or self-hosted are less important than good choice of topics and good writing. And I don't mean to scare people off about the writing, it doesn't have to be scholarly...in fact some of the best are quite "folksy". It just has to be appropriate to what guests would want to read and learn.
I read an Inns blog the other day that another innkeeper sent me and it was all about the innkeepers. I mean, every single post was about what they were doing or about to do and it really put me off. Perhaps they were using as more of a newsletter for their guests? Not really sure, but seeing their photos in post after post got old. Esp since I had never met them. I am concurring with your "content" point.
I think there are guests who want to see innkeeper info, but just like the giant bio pages on websites, it puts most people off. I had a guest who was thoroughly intrigued with our dog and it freaked me out a bit, so I took the dogs pic and name off the website. She was a very nice lady, don't get me wrong, just a bit too personal.
.
I had a guest who was thoroughly intrigued with our dog and it freaked me out a bit, so I took her pic and name off the website.
It is kind of a balancing act of how much of yourself / family / pets / house layout / habits you put out there for the rest of the planet. It only takes one nutter to make the hair on the back of you neck stand up....and there are plenty of nutters to go around.
whattha.gif

 
I am going to do a Blog for the B & B. I am wondering if anyone else does this and if they do what Blogging system they use?
I use Drupal for my own blog. (it is the same opensource software that runs this website). It is not the easiest to set-up though and takes some getting used to. But I only use it if I want to leave the option open of doing more than just a blog with it.
If I was just doing a blog and all it was ever meant to be is just a blog, then I would go with Blogger or WordPress.
If you look at your hosting package, you may find that your host may install WordPress for you and manage the updates for you. It might be worth looking into.
 
This question is for swirt - is it better to have the blog reside on your domain using software like wordpress from an SEO standpoint? I have been told that, but was wondering your opinion. I have my blog on blogger with links to and from my domain..
There are pros and cons to self-hosting vs hosted. There is an advantage of having the blog on a different domain so a hosted blog gives you that benefit. The other side of the coin is boosting the authority of your own domain so a self-hosted blog gives you that benefit. Which carries more weight is a topic of discussion and argument among SEO geeks. My take on it is 6 of 1 have a dozen of the other. I have seen no strong evidence that one is more heavily weighted than the other.
WordPress can be installed on your server (usually without charge depending on your hosting package). But then you are responsible for updating it when a security update is released.
I would say the best of both worlds is to use the hosted version of Blogger or WordPress but set it up to use your own domain name either as a subdirectory www.mysite,com/blog or as a subdomain blog.mysite,com Again there is a lot of speculation as to which (subdomains or subdirectories) is the better choice. I lean toward to the subdirectory for the benefit of the whole site, but it is very close either way.
Content is way more important a consideration. Write appropriately.
.
swirt said:
Content is way more important a consideration. Write appropriately.
Eeek! You're not suggesting I wrote something inappropriate?? I have tried hard to move my blog to be a GOOD example for your website and not a BAD one.
confused_smile.gif

Thanks for the input. Since updating is a problem and blog software has not shaken out yet, I will stick with my blogger blog but I will ask DH to set up a subdirectory for me.
.
Oh no...I was not suggesting something is wrong with yours. I just meant that in general, the choice of hosted or self-hosted are less important than good choice of topics and good writing. And I don't mean to scare people off about the writing, it doesn't have to be scholarly...in fact some of the best are quite "folksy". It just has to be appropriate to what guests would want to read and learn.
.
swirt said:
Oh no...I was not suggesting something is wrong with yours. I just meant that in general, the choice of hosted or self-hosted are less important than good choice of topics and good writing. And I don't mean to scare people off about the writing, it doesn't have to be scholarly...in fact some of the best are quite "folksy". It just has to be appropriate to what guests would want to read and learn.
I read an Inns blog the other day that another innkeeper sent me and it was all about the innkeepers. I mean, every single post was about what they were doing or about to do and it really put me off. Perhaps they were using as more of a newsletter for their guests? Not really sure, but seeing their photos in post after post got old. Esp since I had never met them. I am concurring with your "content" point.
I think there are guests who want to see innkeeper info, but just like the giant bio pages on websites, it puts most people off. I had a guest who was thoroughly intrigued with our dog and it freaked me out a bit, so I took the dogs pic and name off the website. She was a very nice lady, don't get me wrong, just a bit too personal.
.
Like you , I don't care to read a personal diary. I tell my innkeeper friends to be informative about their area, etc...just like you:)
In fact, I have told many to look at yours:)
 
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