Web 2.0

If you are seriously considering creating a blog for business purposes, as a home business opportunity, then you also need to seriously consider utilising a selection of the Web 2.0 services that are available to use mostly, if not all, as a free resource. It is possible to start blogging and to generate an income from your blog with virtually no start up costs, but what you will have to substitute for the cash investment is a time investment.

Home business opportunities need work and to make your blog visible on the Internet you will need to utilise the Web 2.0 services that are available to provide links to your blog and to bring traffic to your blog. This is nicely illustrated on this diagram for back linking strategies where you will see the social media sites as one arm of whole range of sources for back links. But for Web 2.0 services it is more than just a source for back links, it is also about building relationships, supporting the communities and being offered support. This does not happen without investing time, time spent interacting and finding people who are like minded and trustworthy. It is when you have developed these relationships that you will find the people will take the time to visit your site, recommend it to friends and of course link to your posts and pages.

There are numerous sites that can be accessed on the Internet that perform a Web 2.0 function, some of the best known ones that provide various services for publishing content and providing services are:

HubPages

HubPages offers free hosting and publishing of single page websites that you can create and share the revenue from. There are modules available to include in the pages and a number of links to other domains you can include. For example you can include banners of certain types from your own affiliate relationships as well as using the inbuilt affiliate options.

You can find out more about HubPages via this link.

DevHub

DevHub is another Web 2.0 service along the lines of Squidoo with the difference that you can actually build a multi-page website under the domain you create that is more akin to a standard static multi-page website that you would typically create with the aid of a Website Designer.

 

Further examples of Web 2.0 services:

• YouTube – for video upload and publication
• last.fm –  for custom streaming of music stations and for sharing your favorite music
• flickr – for storing and sharing digital photographs
• Stumble, Digg, Reddit etc. – for bookmarking and sharing your favorite Internet sites
• Skype –  VOIP (voice over Internet protocol) allows you to talk, share files, video conference over the Internet
• Wikipedia – free multilingual online encyclopedia
• Feedburner – for sharing and offering subscriptions for your RSS feeds
• GMail – free online email service
• Facebook and LinkedIn – for staying in touch and sharing information with friends relatives etc. LinkedIn is the professional business option which provides the same facility for professionals, workers and people in business

There are of course many other examples of Web 2.0 services and you can access a comprehensive Web 2.0 listing via this link.