Adding to the previous “How to start writing a blog” this research material is worth considering:

* Only 16% of people read sites word for word.

* Most people only comprehend 60% of what they read.

The fact is that most people who visit websites tend to “scan” the written word and, often, entire pages. So it is important to make your web pages and your blogs “scannable”.

How to make a blog scannable:

* Includes lots of headers/headlines and sub-heads to keep the reader’s attention

* Add lists or bullet points of information in easily digestible chunks of text

* Use bold words, CAPITALS, italics, underlining etc to emphasise words. But don’t go over the top as readers will become irritated by too many emphasised words.

* Add pictures. These should be relevant and captioned but readers do like attractive photos and graphics.

* Space is important on a page of text so don’t over-fill your blog with tons of tiny words. Give the postings room to breathe and make them clear to read/scan.

*Stick to one or two points per post. Overloading a post with lots of ideas will only cause the reader to click away in boredom.

Blogging is big – but good blogging is not as easy at it might seem. And if you do not write a good blog then no-one is going to bother to come back to read more. So, in the end, one badly-written blog can be the end of the start of your blogging career.

And, remember, that a good blog with a strong following can also be the basis of a great business website.

Here are the top tips for writing the perfect blog.

Keep it relevant: If you’re writing a fitness blog, or a fashion blog, or a design blog, keep your postings relevant. The type of people that follow your blog will want to read about your topic area, and not about your latest domestic fiasco or the colour of your new car. (Unless, of course, you are writing a blog about domestic fiascos or car colours!)

The title: A title is like a label on your blog posting and the more specific and interesting it is the more people will want to read it. Think about how the title will look as a standalone item on an RSS feed.

For starters: Give the first line or two some impact. The more engaging the first line is, the more chance you have of people reading on.

What’s the point?: Make sure there is a point to your posting, rather than allowing the post to become a general ramble. It’s best to have a start, a middle and a finish to all postings.

Make it happen: Encourage readers to interact with your blog by posting a comment.   The more dedicated blog followers you have the better.

Quality control: Just like when you were at school, always read over what you have written and check for punctuation, spelling and grammar mistakes. Many readers are put off by a poorly written posting, even if it is an informal blog.

Keep on talking: If someone comments on your blog then take the time to talk back. Dialogue is the key to a good blog following.

Keep on blogging: Many bloggers start well but then they quickly run out of steam and only blog every once in a while. A good blogger will keep their site regularly updated with relevant and interesting postings. While this does take time it is worth the effort in terms of blogging disciples.

You might have the best and smartest website but if no-one knows where to find it then custom is likely to be very slow indeed. So to have a chance of success it’s vital that you put some effort into marketing your website business.

Here are a few tips to get the marketing ball rolling:

Online communities: Start a forum and a blog on your website. Encourage people to comment and make their own blog posts. This is an effective way to build an online community of potential customers as many will come back for the chat – and hopefully, also, for the sales.

Blog elsewhere: Go out and write blogs or articles on other websites, therefore pushing your name and your business into the wider public domain. Every little helps! It’s important to make sure that your articles are original and useful, though, otherwise they won’t be read.

Top tips: Add some expert tips and content to your site to encourage people to visit even when they do not plan to buy anything or use your business services. This could reap further rewards as it generates inbound links when your articles and blogs are mentioned on other websites and links are posted.

SEO: Even small-budget businesses will make some gains though systematically improving their natural search rankings. Of course, there is no guarantee, and you do need to be patient to see results, but by ticking off a few SEO essentials you should make some progress against competitors. At the very least, pay attention to keywords and phrases on your site.

Directories: Another useful way of boosting your site on search engine results is by adding it to relevant and reputable directories. These could be business directories, or interest and subject-based directories. You should also try to boost traffic by linking to other similar sites. The best approach is to strike a deal with the webmaster and create a reciprocal link exchange deal.

Advertising: There is no shame in using Google Adwords. Yes, you have to pay but the cost can be low and it could be the key to kickstarting a profitable business. The benefit of this is that you are guaranteeing exposure and you can also measure how successful it is by using analytical tools.

Good, old-fashioned marketing: All too often website businesses believe that marketing takes place on-line only. But real-time business cards, leaflets, posters, van-side promotion and headed notepaper can also work wonders. Such materials are not costly and can be quick to distribute, especially if you have a few willing pals.

A number of leading brands are proving, yet again, that despite a general downturn in sales on the High Street, on-line growth continues to be strong.

Fashion e-retailer Asos recently revealed its sales have more than doubled. The online retailer reported that sales soared 104% to £165m for the year ending March 2009. Sales in the four weeks to the end of April 24 also grew 80%.

Meanwhile, at games and video retailer Game online sales grew 85%  in the year to the end of January 2009. Online operating profits also rose to 109%. In its preliminary results for the year, Game said it achieved record sales and profits across the board, including substantial growth in its ecommerce division.

And at Argos, £1bn of web sales helped to reduce the impact of a drop in total sales of 1% at Home Retail Group, which owns Argos as well as Homebase. The internet now accounts for 26% of sales at Argos.

WebCreation UK are pleased to also see record sales this year with demand in our web design services greater than ever!

Shall we go on?

Latest figures from an e-retail sale index has revealed that on-line sales are up by 14% compared to April 2008, although growth is slowing. It’s thought that while UK shoppers are spending £10 more per visit compared to a year ago, with an average online basket now at £131, consumers are starting to become more cautious in their overall outlays.

However, the warmer weather – and a looming budget – has brought some good news for drinks e-tailers.  For the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index Sales also shows that sales of beers, wines and spirits rose by 10% in April, compared to the previous month.

At the same time, the gifts sector saw the largest monthly fall of more than 50%, while on-line sales of clothes also the fell by 2% compared to March.

One in every five minutes of time spent on the internet by Brits is focused on top on-line brands Facebook and MSN/Windows Live, a survey has revealed. And the research by Neilson Online shows that a top 10 of on-line brands – including Facebook, Google, Yahoo, Ebay, MSN, AOL Media Network, BBC, YouTube, Microsoft and Apple – accounted for almost half of all UK internet time in April. The share of time taken up by the top 10 brands has increased from 42% in April 2008 to 45% during the same period in 2009.

Further breakdown of the stats reveals that Facebook accounts for 13% of all UK internet time. And when combined with MSN/Windows Live, these top two most heavily used on-line brands account for around 11 billion of the 48 billion minutes that Brits spend online. Incredibly, this figure is the equivalent to one in every five minutes spent on the internet.