HTML is simply an acronym that stands for Hyper Text Markup Language. It is simply a file that contains tags that tell a web server what to spit out. You can create a web page in any text editor. This includes notepad. All you have to do is save it with the .html or .htm extension. Well, you need tags in the document as well, but that goes without saying.

Okay, so you know that html is just an acronym. And you know that html pages are simply text documents with tags in them. Now, let me show you the bare bones html structure you need to use:

Everything in brackets is a tag. You have to have opening and closing tags. We use the open tag first and then close it with the slash symbol in front of the tag name, enclosed with brackets. It's the way the markup language works. You have to start and end your pages with the html tag. That just tells the web server, "Here comes my html page." The header tag contains the title of the page, meta tags (we will explain in a later post), etc. The body tag lets the server know that the main part of the page is coming. This can contain text, pictures, tables, etc. We will have to cover that at a later point. But that's really the bare bones for you. We'll also cover some free tools soon.

"But aren't blogs for whiny little teenagers who have nothing else to do?" Well, sure they are for whiny teenagers, but they can also be used for a ton of other things. This also goes for businesses. You see, businesses are horrendous at engaging customers. That's because it's hard to have a public/private space for a company. It's hard to arrange a place where owners, executives, directors, and employees can interact with multitudes of customers. Well, blogs enable you to do this.

Building Business Relationships

Blogs excel at connecting people. And if there is one thing that any business would love more of - it's building relationships. You can connect with current customers and also build new relationships with potential customers. But, and this is a big one, that relationship must be taken hand in hand with transparency.

Business Transparency

Before you launch a blog, you need to understand that doing so will open your business to a certain level of transparency. This means that your posting says and shows something about who you are, what you value, and what you provide. But, if you allow commenting, there is another level of transparency. As soon as you allow folks to provide positive and negative feedback, you have an opportunity. This opportunity is to build more trust and deepen the customer relationship. But this kind of transparency can be very unnerving for established "brick 'n mortar" businesses. This means that you must be willing to take criticism and answer to your customer base at times. That's the way it goes. But, the dividends for that type of transparency are invaluable. Now, let's move onto how a blog can increase your visibility.

Search Engines Love Blogs

It's true. They just love them. Blogs create a steady stream of fresh content. If you plan correctly, you can leverage this search engine love for your business. This does take time, but it is really helpful. You can set up link and marketing strategies that will increase your bottom line.

Say "NO" to Perfection

I know, I know - this sounds crazy. But in the current age, you must throw this idea right out the window. People are skeptical of institutions, businesses included. And people are especially skeptical of "happy, shiny people." That means that they expect non-perfection. It's good to shed that marketed image and be personal. Now, folks want you to deliver on your product. Just be willing to let your guard down a little.

If you see the value of this idea, head on over to our hosting plans to get your blog going today. I highly recommend signing up for Linux hosting plan and using the "value applications" to auto-install Wordpress. Wordpress is the blogging platform we use for this blog.

We will also be having some question and answer session for exisiting customer on how to get the most from your hosting plans. And some announcements when Loudsign trots out a sharp new service or feature.

So get ready, we have lots to talk about!