By Uday of AllAboutBelgaum.com
Good question!
Certainly a small part of the fun is hoping for admiration and affirmation. I check my blog stats and google analytics regularly and a peak in readers certainly is another boost for writing more posts.
There are many reasons why you may want to consider blogging. It doesn’t mean you have to – and just because millions are already blogging doesn’t mean you need to either – but consider what your intentions are for web publishing and marketing.
Whether you’re considering publishing a family website, a community website, a not-for-profit website, or a business website, a blog can make your job easier, and most times – better and faster.
Many business owners have wised up to the use of weblogs, or blogs, to deliver their business message – in a personal voice – through the power of blogs. Here are a few reasons why blogging may be a wise choice for your publishing needs.
Eventually you get to “know†your colleague bloggers, and human contact grows. The most important reason for me to blog is to keep up with developments in Belgaum and make ideas and these developments known and published. A growing number of professionals have started web logging to share their personal knowledge.
A recent study published the results of their test of a behavior model in terms of why people share knowledge with others within online communities. They conducted surveys in three online communities. Important factors for sharing knowledge are fairness or a trusting climate within the online community, and openness or a climate in which information flows freely. The culture of the community is of importance, identification is not. The feelings of affiliation are based on the shared culture and interests not on identification.
They also found that individuals who enjoy helping others provide more helpful knowledge. The enjoyment related to helping others significantly influenced the sharing of information and knowledge. The climate of sharing information and knowledge itself also increases this climate. The climate can be seen as a motivator for knowledge sharing.
The more valuable the information is the more likely an individual will share it. The perceived need for the information was a strong motivator to provide the information.
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Express yourself. Have you always wanted to express yourself in business, politics, religion, family, music, arts, video… basically, a slice of life? Now you can – easily. Whether it is in text, photos, audio, video, you can enjoy the freedom to do so.
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No waiting on your webmaster. How much time have you wasted waiting on your webmaster? With blogging, you don’t have to punish yourself anymore. Imagine a blog to be a platform that was designed by people who hate to waste time as much as you do. Just login from anywhere in the world, write a new page, and publish. It’s now live for the entire world to see. Get a blog – it ought to save you some time and your sanity, too.
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Be “findable” on the search engines. I’m sure you’ve already figured this out on your own, haven’t you? If you haven’t, here’s a tip. A website that is positioned well on Google, MSN and Yahoo is like owning the food court in your local mall. It doesn’t matter which mall you’re in, or what cuisine you serve in the food court, you’re going to have ‘walk-in traffic’ and visitors coming through ‘hungry’ for what you have to offer – in droves.
This is a hot topic on the internet – how to be found. This is achieved in much easier fashion with blogging than not. A clue to why this works like a charm with blogs? It attracts search engines and blog directories (through its built-in notification features) like ‘white on rice’ – and also because blog owners continually add new and fresh content to their blogs. (In addition, I offer other insider strategies to be easily “findable” – included ‘backstage’ in my membership section).
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Dialogue with your visitors, effortlessly. Would you like your prospects and customers to share their comments, feedback, ideas, and concerns with you? What would your business look like if you created a whole new successful product line from a prospect’s ingenious idea, or retain a segment of your customers through an honest concern expressed? You can accomplish this efficiently through feedback forms on your blogs. This ‘feedback loop’ can be worth thousands or millions to your business. Of course, if you’re concerned about irreverent comments, they can be moderated prior to publishing.
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Leadership through blogging. If you blog regularly and consistently add value to your readers, you’ll begin to develop a readership that likes and trust your style, perspectives, rants, thoughts and opinions. This is where you can build your platform for being the thought leader or expert in your specific field or market. With this leadership comes influence and power… use it wisely.
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Podcasting and video casting, simplified. Podcasting is the distribution & syndication of media files – be it audio or video, or both. This technology made simple can be used for business, sports, politics, religion, family, and even silly homemade videos. Basically, any topic of your choice can be delivered through audio & video podcasting, published on a blog, easily and effectively.
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Showcase photo and image galleries. You can easily showcase product shots, pictures of staff servicing happy customers, and even business location pictures. Or if you’re using your blog for personal reasons, you can showcase family snapshots, baby photos, and special events pictures like your child’s birthday or graduation. Imagine the possibilities. How about offering your photos in a gallery or offer your blog visitor to view it in a slide show. Yes, it can be easily accomplished with a blog.
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Imagine the possibilities… Blogging can move your business forward - whether it’s bridging the gap with your customers, saving time and money, achieving stronger search marketing results, enhancing your credibility, or even distributing your multimedia. Blogging can also be fun and personal. Think connecting families abroad, via text, audio, video, photos – even Grandma from Bhagya Nagar can see little Agni walk his first step in New York, USA.
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Next step … Now you know why to blog – for fun and profit – what platform should you use to blog?
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From its inception in the year 2006 to its current avatar, IEEE-GIT’s annual inter collegiate state level tech fest Paanchajanya has grown into an event that brings about the best among the technical talent across the state and our neighboring states. Four years old and growing better and more youthful every year, Paanchajanya defines professionalism in organizing and flair in the participation.
Paanchajanya ‘09 will have many eye catching, engaging, yet fun filled technical and non technical events. Everyone from all disciplines and semesters of engineering can participate in this fest that will truly, as its punch line says, unleash prodigies!!
Battle Days : 12th to 14th November 2009
For more details visit : www.Paanchajanya.com
Yes!! Your web page, your world, your ideas. A personal webpage designed, maintained and run by you, full of your ideas. That’s what we look for at Spin Your Web. If you have your own blog, that’s well and good. If you don’t have and want to have a go at it, then start NOW!!
Yes, starting the moment you send us your personal web page/blog’s address, it’ll be monitored as a part of our competition. What is the content of your site, how well are you at presenting it, arranging stuff, interacting with your audience, how popular is your page, what makes your personal space on the internet so different from the others. All these will go in judging your website.
Rules and Regulations :
- This is an individual event.
- All the participants must be registered Paanchajanya delegates.
- The blog has to be created on www.belgaumpages.com only.
- Any Paanchajanya ‘09 participant can gain entry into the competition by posting his blog link on the IEEE-GIT forum. The participant also has to mail his blog url to web@paanchajanya.com . Particpant has to mention his/her PCH No. in the mail.
- The participant is free to choose any subject of his / her interest
- Any content that is explicit or offensive in any way will result in the immediate disqualification from the contest.
- Links to the official IEEE-GIT website (www.ieeegit.org) and Paanchajanya website (www.paanchajanya.com) have to be provided compulsorily in the form of the respective logo.
- Participants can add widgets/components that can enhance the functionality of the blog. For example – widgets indicating number of visitors to the website.
- The participant has to add Google Analytics (www.google.com/analytics) code to their site and provide the event co-ordinators access to the statistics.
- Blog articles have to be genuinely written by the participant itslef. If duplication is found, it will result in an immediate disqualification.
- Embedding media content from external sources is permissible provided that a link to the source is made. eg: Embedding YouTube videos.
- The decision of the judges and coordinators of the event will be final and binding.
Late Date for Submisson of your site : 13th November by 12.00pm
Blog Reviews :
An session is organised to review the submitted sites. The judge will provide you an general review of the sites submitted. He will also provide information of an development of an ideal site. This session is open to all including non registrants !
Date : 14/11/2009
Time : 12.30pm – 1.30pm
Venue : F8 Hall ( Aryabhatta Seminar Hall)
]]>” BuddyPress will extend WordPress MU and bring social networking features to a new or existing installation.
BuddyPress is a suite of WordPress plugins and themes, each adding a distinct new feature. BuddyPress contains all the features you’d expect from WordPress but aims to let members socially interact. ”
Buddypress Ads Plugin :
This plugin will allow you to publish ads through your buddypress site(with wordpress mu) Supports multiple ad networks including adsense , adbrite and many more. Just replace the ad code below with your own ad code. This is the easiest way to monetize to wordpress mu and buddypress community.
The plugin approved by wordpress : http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/buddypress-ads
You can download the plugin here : Download Now !
Installation :
–> BuddyPress Admin bar should be enabled site wide.
–> Replace the ad code in bp-custom.php file with your ad code.
—> Copy the bp-custom.php into your /wp-content/plugins directory
—> Done !
Note :
–> Buddypress Ads plugin does not require any activation.
–> Buddypress Ads plugin will not be displayed under wordpress plugin dashboard.
–> This plugin is dependent on buddypress admin bar.
How is this plugin help BelgaumPages ?
BelgaumPages is a community portal. We are running the service free of cost, but it costs actual money to maintain and develop the site. Since we do not plan to charge members, the only source of income for us will be advertisements. We will use the revenue generated from this site for the future development of the site itself. We are currently using Google Adsense for advertisements . We are displaying minimal ads on the member sites hoping that some people will click on it. Google will pay us for the clicks the users make on the ads. Meanwhile the user are free to monetize their sites with their own ads. In the coming days we will try to post tutorials on monetizing your blogs. Keep reading our blog !
We hope this plugin make the tasks of many people who are looking around to monetize budypress site 
Bottom Line : Belgaum Pages is now featured on Wordpress Plugin Directory for live demo of BuddyPress Ads Plugin
A special thanks to all members of Belgaumpages for inspiring us to develop a plugin for wordpress
Featured User : Sandeep Badavanache
The Indian media and entertainment (M&E) industry is one of the fastest growing industries in the country. Its various segments—film, televisions, advertising, print media and music among others—have witnesses’ tremendous growth in the last few years.
With A.R. Rahman and Resul Pokutty having won Oscars for their commendable work in Slumdog Millionnaire, the spotlight has shifted on India and the immense talent and potential it offers. Another Indian who has been in the news recently is Raju Narisetty, a prominent journalist, who has been appointed as the managing director of the Washington Post, a leading US daily.
According to a report jointly published by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and KPMG, the media and entertainment industry in India is likely to grow 12.5 per cent per annum over the next five years and touch US$ 20.09 billion by 2013.
Radio
The cheapest and oldest form of entertainment, reaching 99 per cent of the population, this segment is likely to see many dynamic changes.
According to the PwC study, revenues from radio are likely to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 24 per cent over the next five years and the industry will grow from US$ 150.52 million in 2007 to US$ 370. 22 million in 2012.
Private FM radio has emerged as the fastest growing segment in the media, notching up an average 30 per cent growth in advertising revenues, compared to the industry’s average of 18 per cent, according to ACNielsen’s Radio Audience Measurement (RAM) service. Moreover, it is expected to increase to US$ 218.49 million over the next two years from US$ 133.52 million today.
FM radio broadcasting has expanded at a rapid pace and India today has over 300 FM radio stations.
There are several ways to set up your own radio station. It depends on how serious you are about it. The single most important thing you should know before you get started is why would you need to start your own radio station?
According to the list of cities suggested by BECIL where FM stations should be allowed in the State are Belgaum, Bellary, Devangere, Hubli-Dharwad (all four stations each), Bijapur, Bidar, Chitradurga, Chikmagalur, Gadag Betigeri, Hospet, Hassan, Kolar, Raichur, Shimoga, Tumkur and Udupi (all 3 stations each).
Now how to start the FM in your city?
Whether you are looking for information on how to start up a FM radio station that operates on a low power FM basis operates on a full power frequency or alternatively streams on the internet, it is essential to first establish what the options available to you are. It is also important to understand the process for obtaining a frequency, what the licensing requirements are, and also what type of FM broadcasting equipment and studio gear you will need to run the radio station.
The following is a brief outline of some of the options that may be available. Please that not all options may be available in all countries, as license conditions do vary.
When it comes to how to start up a FM radio station, one of the options is low power FM. This type of radio station operates at lesser power than commercial stations and so they cover a smaller area. The exact area they will cover is dependent on terrain and the exact amount of power you are permitted. Again depending on the country you live in, the low power FM service may enable you to broadcast anywhere near from 500mW to 100W, and may be license-free or alternatively it may be licensed. This level of power is sufficient to cover anywhere between a radius of a few kilometers to several kilometers.
Another option is operating a full power licensed radio station. This type of frequency will give station maximum coverage and will enable you to reach as many listeners as possible. Depending on the country you live in, there can frequently be provisions to operate on a full power frequency, but either on a commercial, non-commercial or educational basis. However, operating a full power FM radio station can be a somewhat complicated process – especially during the initial stages of determining whether there are frequencies available in your area and also costing the equipment that is needed. If you want to start up a full power FM radio station, then it is essential to get expert guidance at the earliest stage. This will ensure you get the information you need to make an informed decision.
If these options don’t appeal or are not available in your area, you have one other method for how to start up a FM radio station. You are able to establish a station that streams on the internet. It will be available to a worldwide audience and can stream in your choice of format. Common formats include Winamp and Windows Media Player, although generally we recommend the latter as most people won’t need to download any additional software to listen to your station. This type of radio station can use a great deal of bandwidth, so it is important to have a fast speed internet connection with a high data cap limit.
For information visit the source blog : http://omharri.belgaumpages.com
]]>More about BelgaumMirror.com
As explained earlier, we thought the BP page was getting too cluttered and thought Belgaum news deserved a separate entity. Hence we started BelgaumMirror.com . The best feature(according to us) is that it’s User-Generated. That’s right! It means you are the boss. You get to choose what news get’s on it and vote accordingly. In this site you will find features such as
1>. Live
Imagine getting news about Belgaum to the minute, to the very second! Impossible? Check out the “LIVE” section in BelgaumMirror. In this section, you can view news being uploaded in Real Time even as it happens!
2>. Upcoming News
This section will basically get you the info on the up and coming topics in Belgaum that are making news. Thats right! Get informed even before its published.
3>. Vote the Hottest Topics
You finally have the power to control the news. For decades, printing presses and online news website just publish what they have found useful. Now you can too! Vote for the news that you think everyone should know about and get it on the front page.
4>. Comment
BelgaumMirror gives you the chance to express your own views about the news article that you read. We find it fair that everyone who reads the news has a comment and it should be heard. Now you guys have the platform. Don’t miss out on it. Comment on articles and give your opinion!
5>. Subscribe
Perhaps you are interested in the developments of a particular story or just prefer having the hottest news about belgaum delivered right to your mailbox ? Then just hit the Subscribe Button. All you need is an e-mail address and we’ll do the rest! 
6>. Earn some Cash
Vote for your favorite stories and GET PAID! Yeah…you heard right. Can it get more easier?. It basically works in this way: You submit interesting news/articles related to Belgaum and as the users read your news and vote on it’s popularity, you get paid accordingly. For further details, you can check out the link
http://www.belgaummirror.com/faq-en.php
Not only that. BelgaumMirror has got loads of other features which are very useful.
So get over there right now! Go Submit,Vote and Earn!
Nevertheless failure is a step to success. BelgaumPages is now back again with lot of new features and more will be added in the coming days. Let us give you an overview of the components of Belgaumpages:
- Free website
Building a site is pretty easy with BelgaumPages, as simple as signing up for an email id. You will get an free subdomain like http://example.belgaumpages.com with 100Mb free webspace. Making your site look great with 100’s of themes to choose from. It would hardly take 5 minutes to have a website of your own but well it will need time for you to write something into it, BelgaumPages won’t do it for you.
- Profile
A profile is nothing but a collection of personal data associated with the user. User’s profile represents his identity on BelgaumPages. The user can also upload his own profile picture. All the activities around BelgaumPages will be associated with the users profile.
- Private Messaging
BelgaumPages private messaging works like internal site email. Members can message people on their friends list as well as forward and reply to received messages.
Each member will have their own individual Inbox, Sentbox, and Drafts folder. They will be notified of new messages by a new message count as well as email notifications if enabled.
Sending of messages to multiple friends, as well as site wide messages by an administrator are also possible.
- Friends
Members of BelgaumPages can be connected together by one member adding another as a “friend†and then the other member accepting the friendship request.
Each member has a visible list of their friends on the site. Friends lists are browsable and members can click on each friend to see more information – or add them as their own friend. Profiles are not restricted as a whole.
The ability to search for members by and piece of profile information is also included in with the built in members directory.
- Groups
Groups in BelgaumPages are a gathering of members, wires posts and forum topics. In future versions members will be able to post any sort of content to groups including blog posts, images and links.
Any member can create a group in BelgaumPages. They then become the group administrator giving them heightened privileges within that group.
Every group includes a place for group information, and the latest group news which can be kept up to date my group administrators. Groups also include a group forum , and wire where group members can engage in discussions. These features can be selectively enabled by group creator.
- The Wire
The wire is a place where friends and other members can come along and post messages to a specific piece of content within Belgaumpages.
The wire will work with any component within BelgaumPages, custom or official. For example, within the components explained on this page – profiles and groups use the wire component. This allows members to post on other members profiles or leave messages for other group members.
- Activity Streams
Activity streams aggregate all of your activity across BelgaumPages. All of your friends activity is also recorded so you can check what others are doing on the site.
Every component can make use of the activity stream component, which means any sort of activity can be recorded. Wire posts, blogs posts, new friendships and blog comments are among the most popular activities recorded.
- Blog Tracking
The blogs component will aggregate all blogs, blog posts and comments for a member across the entire installation. This means other members can easily find all blogs that a member belongs to or owns, as well as their recent posts and comments.
The blogs component also adds an easy to use screen for creating new blogs built right into the theme.
- Facebook Connect
Adds support for logging in via Facebook to BelgaumPages. Currently only supports logging in, but in the future support for news feed publishing and friend list integration will be added
New in v2.0 !
- New Logo
After a lot of feedback’s from our member we finally revamped BelgaumPages logo. The earlier logo emphasized more on Blogging(pages) while the new logo emphases on the community. The new logo brings along a new refreshing look to BelgaumPages website
- Better Navigation
As per to some of the reviews we got from our members the navigation around BelgaumPages was not comfortable. We have improvised it this time and continue to work further on it. The site wide activity is split up into “Achievements”, “Blogs”, “Friends”, “Groups”, “Profile” and “Status” with an multipage listing. The admin bar remains there on top throughout the site including the member blogs making it easier to look around.
- BelgaumPages Blog
The post you are reading now is a part of BelgaumPages blog Through this blog we aim to reach out our members with latest happenings around BelgaumPages. We will provide useful tips for blogging including search engine optimization, monetizing the blogs and so on. We shall post one post from our member’s blog as an featured post of the week. This post shall be made every Sunday and shall provide an link to the member’s blog. We also aim to publish some guest posts which shall help our members to enrich their knowledge. We are open to the feedback’s from the members and try to make post on the topics they demand.
- Forums
The forums component allows groups to create and manage their own forum. Group members can post and reply to topics all from within the group’s page.
- Achievements
This was inspired by the Achievement system in World of Warcraft and the various user points plugins for systems such as phpBB. Achievements in BelgaumPages are self-contained goals which aim to help encourage people to keep using and contributing to your website.
- Hosted at Belgaum !
BelgaumPages is now being hosted at Belgaum city itself. The site runs from an dedicated server, with an 2mbps airtel connection maintained inhouse by eth1 Network Solutions , Belgaum. A weekly backup of the site will be taken by us. We hope this will improvise the speed and performance of BelgaumPages.
Lot more features coming soon …
As all of you know BelgaumPages is built of Wordpress with the help of buddypress component . The site will be in sync with the future development of these open source scripts. We will be continuously working to make belgaumpages better day by day. We request the support of all our members to help us grow the community.
]]>In this increasingly modernizing world, “NETWORKING†is the fast evolving power word. It drives people to meet, interact and exchange ideas, experiences and emotions. Belgaum Pages implements the concept of local networking for the people of Belgaum. We aim to increase the online presence of Belgaumites with this portal offering free websites. This is a small step from dotCORD IT Solutions Pvt. Ltd Belgaum for building “Brand Belgaum“. Belgaum Pages is built upon the popular WordPress platform and hosted with eth1 Network Solutions, Belgaum. It provides a plenty of features and more will be added in the upcoming days.
You just register yourself, choose a sub domain like: http://sandeephegde.belgaumpages.com and that’s it your site is ready for the whole world to see. You can show off your online presence with your free website. You can also discuss your views with other members; share your memories and experience. Building a site is pretty easy with variety of ready themes to choose from. It would hardly take 5 minutes to have a website of your own but well it will need time for you to write something into it, BelgaumPages won’t do it for you.
You could find your old pal and get connected with him/her. When you get bored just search around Belgaum Pages and make new friends. Unlike other social networks here there will be a high probability that a friend you make on Belgaum Pages is worth it. Discover inside connections when you’re looking for a job or new business opportunity. You can also form your own groups within the site. There is an internal mail system too for keeping in touch.
By having your website on BelgaumPages you will automatically come in search listings like that of Google and Yahoo. So you do not have to work here either. Well if you are very serious about your site and want to market it team at dotCord will be always happy to help you.
If someone wants to have a specific theme or design to be developed for a site contact the dotCord team and we will do it for a nominal fee.
We hope you find it a resourceful, friendly, and fun environment!
- Team dotCORD
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