From Simple Bookmarks To Social Bookmarking: Then And Now
If you see those giant social bookmarking sites today and compare those to what bookmarks were before, you might be amazed by the transformation and, of course, Internet and the ongoing development of technology, played a huge role on that. It’s like the usual rags-to-riches story of some of our fellowmen sans the drama. Well, just what are bookmarks before this? What are they originally meant for? Do they have a different function way back?
Bookmarking when it was first introduced to us serves quite the same purpose as to what it does today. The very first bookmarking activities are either limited to your mind, pen and paper, and your web browser. At one point folks tried to remember sites by memorizing the URL. It was just fine storing those links in your brain. However, when more and more sites came out and URLs became longer, it was found best to either write it down on paper or copy and paste the links to a document file, then save it.
Soon after, the bookmarking feature became readily available within web browsers. In most browsers, there’s a certain part in the menu toolbar that allows you to bookmark or save the URL of the current site you are browsing. This is really very handy since you don’t need to crack further your brain to absorb those links. You also don’t have to look for some pens and papers or open a document writer before you can save the URL information of your favorite sites. With the bookmarking tool in most web browsers, a single click is just what it takes to do the job.
But because technology and Internet are growing rapidly, it also paved way for bookmarking to take a step higher from just a private thing to a social gathering online. Bookmarking through your web browser lets you save those websites or blogs that you visit most of the time. So you see, you have your own bookmarks. Your friends may have too and other people as well. What if everyone can share their bookmarked sites to one another? What if you’re able to check out the favorite sites of other individuals? This is how social bookmarking started.
When you sign up for social bookmarking sites, you get to have your own account and profile. What’s good about this is that it’s free to join and through your profile, you can do a lot of things. You can bookmark and save those favorite and most visited sites of yours. You can share those bookmarks to the online community. You can add friends and communicate with them through inbox messages and comments. You can search the bookmarking community for topics or sites of your interest and see if others have such information in their bookmarks. You can also vote or rate bookmarks that you like.
Bookmarking has really grown into an online social activity much like what social networks do, but there’s still a distinctive line between the two. We already have a huge bunch of social bookmarking sites online. You may wonder why is this so. Why so many bookmarking sites? Surely, it’s not just about socialization and online rendezvous, right? Well, that’s true because social bookmarking has taken yet another important role in the online world.
Internet marketers and folks who work from home saw what social bookmarking can contribute to the success of their online business. From then on, these social bookmarking sites became not only a bookmarking tool and a place for online gathering, but also an effective means of exposing your business to the world, driving traffic to your site and finding potential clients.
This business edge is one reason why more and more social bookmarking sites are starting to take form on the Internet. It’s also one good factor why there’s an ongoing battle for social bookmarking supremacy. From simple bookmarks to effective social bookmarking, who knows what is next with the world of bookmarking? We’ll just have to wait and see.
Blogging Guides: The Two Faces Of Writing Blogs
Many are into blogging for various reasons. Different people have different rational motives and purposes why they venture into writing blogs. Some do it because they want to express what they feel and share it to the world. Some just want to give helpful information or spread out the news. Others find it useful in speaking their minds and voicing out their opinion. Some post blog entries as part of their work from home. All in all, we can sum up those reasons and come up with what they call the two faces of blogging.
A number of people are very much aware what the two faces of writing blogs are. At first, web logs, now commonly known as blogs, used to be just some sort of online journal or diary where folks share their daily experiences, what’s currently happening to them, what’s on their mind, what’s going on in their life. It was more personal. But as time went on, blogs served a higher, more profitable purpose.
Soon after the birth of Internet marketing and people started to work from home, blogging slowly acquired a larger role and became a crucial part of online business. Blogging is not only of personal use, but can also function as a great marketing tool. Writing articles for certain sites like article directories or publishers is almost the same with posting blog entries. In blogging, those written stuff are usually called blog posts. On the other hand, it is still ‘articles’ for article writing and publishing.
Some sites have shared tips and details regarding these two faces of blogging and how it can affect your work from home. Some of it regarded as their blogging guides. The personal face of blogging, as mentioned earlier, is where individuals get to express themselves freely. They can say what they want to say. They pretty much can write what they want to write. They are free to write and discuss anything under the sun, music, sports, entertainment, history, politics, anything. Another thing is that they may or may not take their blogging activities very seriously.
That’s not the case with the other face of blogging, which is business. You should watch out what you write here. The articles or the blog posts must be rich in content and are related to your niche. Your goal is to target the audience within your niche or market. Here, you can’t just have any design that you like. It should conform to the overall theme of the blog so that it’s easy to lure in people and increase traffic. This is how you make money from blogging.
Business blogging can go with many forms. You may be blogging to promote a certain product or website. Your blog posts may be reviews, feedback and recommendations. You may write stuff or news related to your online business. Whichever way, as long as it will help improve one’s work from home, it’s a thumbs-up.
These two faces of blogging have become an interesting topic for blogging guides and tips. One can expect more information on these two as time goes by. But for the meantime, let’s not forget to draw a thin line between personal blogging and business blogging.
Trying Out The Drop Shipping Business And What It Can Do For Your Work From Home
This drop shipping business is very much common in auction sites like eBay wherein the usual stuff like clothing, merchandise as well as electronics can be bought. In other words, if your work from home is about selling products or items online, you may have come across the idea of drop shipping one way or the other. Also, you may be having your own site where you are launching your products. Or it could be that you have signed up for various auction sites across the web. Or it’s a little bit of both. Whatever your strategy is, as long as you’re doing a serious work, it will turn out just fine.
Some of you may wonder what the drop shipping business is all about. Well, drop shipping is a method that starts with you (the seller) taking orders from customers and then sending those order details to your source, which is more or less the storage warehouse of your partner vendor. From then on, the distributor or commonly known as the wholesaler will take over. Not long after, this wholesaler will then transport the ordered products straight to your clients. That’s basically just how it works.
Most marketers go for this while others don’t. There are many reasons for that. But if you’re willing to try drop shipping in your work from home, you should understand it well and be able to weigh in its benefits and risks. This will help you decide whether or not to pursue the drop shipping business. The following paragraphs entail the pros and cons of drop shipping and other important details.
You will have various advantages to enjoy if you opt to drop ship the products you sell online. One of these is saving money since you won’t be spending so much on a few stuff. Some of the expenses that you will be avoiding include employee salaries and benefits, costs of office supplies and equipment, usual expenses on training and development of your workers, etc.
If you’re a seller or retailer, you will have to hire various people that will help you with your work from home. Record keepers, maintenance men, payroll assistants, among others are just some of those manpower that should have been your entire responsibility. But if you involve drop shipping in your work from home, you need not to worry about that because your source or supplier that acts as your partner vendor or company will take care of that. You are free.
Same is true with training, office supplies and office equipment expenses. Why bother? It’s already the responsibility of your vendor. That way, your money is saved and reserved for more important stuff. This is just a glimpse of what a drop shipping business can do for you and your work from home. However, along with those benefits and improvements are risks and drawbacks that you may experience with the said job.
The biggest risk would be scams. So be extra cautious in trusting your vendors or suppliers. You’ll never know. You may want to visit a certain drop shipping forum online or just read some drop shipping reviews first. It pays to be vigilant especially when your name, your reputation and your brand is at stake here. Also, remember that customer satisfaction should be a top priority at all times. So if you think you’re prepared to embrace this whole drop shipping idea, then there’s no reason why you have to hold back. Just go for it.
