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British detective blog brings international fame
Lancashire detective constable Richard Horton—much better known among blogging enthusiasts as Jack Night—went from being an unknown, local law enforcement officer, to one of Britain’s most prominent and successful blogging celebrities. This story showed yet again how blogs can transform people with run-of-the-mill careers into online sensations. Earlier this year, Horton won a special Orwell prize set aside for the most accomplished bloggers. What seemed to impress jury members the most about the Jack Night blog was its authentic subject matter, as well as the very candid voice that Horton used in blogging about difficult subjects, namely investigations into child abuse cases, the growing problem of thuggish behaviour in some British cities and instances of muggings.
Blogger academy opens in the most unlikely place
A blogger academy has opened in perhaps one of the most unlikely places on earth, namely in communist Cuba; a country which has restricted freedom of expression for the past five decades. But it now appears as though even the island nation’s anachronistic communist leaders have come to realize that they can do little to completely halt the spread of blogging, online content writing and social networking. The Bloggers Academy of Cuba opened its doors to blogging fans for the first time yesterday. According to a report in the Miami Herald, 28 Cubans showed up for the first day of courses.
Major international brand uses bloggers to rally clients
It seems as though Coca Cola—undoubtedly one of the most recognized brands throughout the world—has come to realize that hiring public relations staff and sending out dry press releases on new products is no longer enough for twenty-first century, net-savvy consumers. Coca Cola has decided to send out three experienced bloggers in order to travel [...]
Third of Fortune 100 firms have corporate blogs
According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, one third of all Fortune 100 companies maintain corporate blogs and view this as a key way to attract a loyal base of customers. The fact that the world’s most widely recognized brands turn to blogs–despite their history of business success and their solid position in the corporate world–only reinforces how important it is for small and medium-sized firms to follow suit and enhance their web presence through blogging.
Content writing among most important online industries
Content writing has surged in importance over the past year and a survey published by the Elance website suggests that writing online material is now the number two most prominent online activity on the firm’s Internet Work Index. As such, content writing is second only to PHP-related web jobs and right behind in third place is online article writing. This represents a jump of seven places on the top ten list, since content writing used to be the ninth most prominent internet-based freelance work. The rise of content writers, however, means that HTML coding now lags behind in fourth place, with graphic design slipping to fifth.
Compelling first sentence essential to good content writing
An article’s first sentence almost always makes or breaks the deal, when it comes to attracting and keeping a reader’s attention. As a content writer, crafting a clever or surprising first sentence is often the best way to ensure that your reader puts down his/her coffee and goes from casually scanning or browsing the piece to actually delving into it and remembering what was read days and even weeks later.
Blogging offers potential source of extra income
Ric Romero, an ABC news columnist and a specialist in consumer culture, believes that some talented online writers might be spending a little too much time on Facebook and MySpace, when they could be making money writing blogs instead. The number of private individuals from all walks of life, as well as companies both big and small, that generate extra revenue through blogging is growing rapidly. Cheryl Phillips, a stay-at-home mother of five young children, never thought that she would be able to top up her monthly income by nearly a thousand dollars when she first started blogging at dailyblonde.com, during the recovery phase of a serious car accident. But Phillips now makes upwards of $800 each month, as the popularity of her blog and its high ranking by Google has drawn in a wide range of advertisers. Jennifer Leal, another mother from the United States, is equally successful with what she at first thought would be a cooking blog geared towards a small, niche audience.
Business plays growing role in blogging world
While only a few years ago, blogging was seen as a tool for private individuals with hobbies, good writing skills or with stories to tell, these days blogs are just as important for businesses of all sizes, and blogging platforms are catching on. Twitter, a micro-blogging site, announced this week that it would start offering a brand new service geared towards businesses, which would allow companies to obtain detailed statistical information and analysis on their readers. This service, however, would come at an extra fee and would become available by the end of the year.
