I have been playing around with a ridiculously easy blog platform called Tumblr. Why should you care? Because Google apparently loves these little blogs. Much the same way it loves Squidoo lens. They are easy to use. Easy to maintain. And dare I say, fun? You remember fun don’t you? That feeling you used to get before you decided to make money on the Internet. Yea. Fun.

So what’s the big deal? Well let’s say I have 5 PLR articles needing to be deployed. I could build a WordPress blog and all the pain that goes into that with themes, plugins, etc. (and yes I know you spammers can build a WP blog in 2.3 seconds. I’m talking about REAL blogging here) and post the articles.

Or I can build a tumblelog and be ready to post an article in about 30 seconds. Literally.

I built a tumblelog Sunday night with with PLR articles utilizing keywords that I got from Nichebot keyword research (I don’t write or build a thing until I do keyword research now). Monday afternoon it was indexed in Google Blog search. OK, so it’s not a super star in the main index, but the site is alive and kicking. It took NOTHING to build. And Google is interested in them.

You really have to see just how easy it is to post these things. You can post text, photos, quotes, links and video. You could build a dozen of these things a day and not break a sweat. I hate to say as much because it will end up getting overused and spammy like Squidoo is becoming. We Internet Marketers sure know how to use and abuse a good thing. If you like Squidoo and Blogger, then you’ll like Tumblr.

Anyway, I was thrilled with how easy and fast it was to update a tumblelog. If you are so inclined simply update it from your mobile phone. They also have a little bookmark you can use. If you’re surfing along and find something you want to post to your tumblelog, simply click the bookmark link and add the photo, video, link or text in the little pop-up window. It’s then posted to your tumblelog with virtually no effort. It’s all about the speed.

The potential is real with a tumblelog. Personally I could see using these logs to build a simple affiliate site. Here’s what I would end up doing: 1) I’d find something to sell. 2) I’d go grab 10-15 really great keywords from Nichebot on my topic 3) I’d write up 3-5, 200-400 word articles on the topic using my keyword phrases. 4) I’d grab a tumblelog and use one of my keyword phrases to name the tumblelog (such as topic.tumblr.com) and also the title of the log. 5) I’d promote my RSS feed as usual.

So what’s the downside? Control, as usual. Maybe Tumblr stays in business. Maybe it doesn’t. Maybe it’s too simple for some, but I see that only as a good thing.

And, getting a little off topic, honestly it’s beginning to make less and less sense to pay for your own hosting. Blogger, Wordpress.com, Squidoo, Shoutpost, Tumblr, are all free and have fantastic technologies to enable you to build money-making sites. Sure, you don’t own the domain and will be stuck with a subdomain, but honestly who cares? The search engines don’t as long as you aren’t trying to spam. Build good quality sites and you’ll be rewarded.

Anyway, I’m digging Tumblr. Maybe you should too before one of the guberus sends his army out to bomb the service with spam. Wonder how long it will be before the $47 report “Tumblr Secrets” comes out? Let me save you some money right here. Don’t buy it and just get in there and start posting. There are no secrets and you don’t need a guide to building a tumblelog.