Web logs, or "blogs", have invaded the small business community. Just search Google for "small business blog", and you'll get over 7,000,000 results. Blogs offer an opportunity to communicate in a casual atmosphere with your customers, often for free. Once small business owners are convinced of the promotional power of blogs, they often struggle with the next step: what to write about. Or they don't blog about the right things to most effectively promote their businesses. Use the following list of topics to help guide your blogging efforts, and never worry about "Blogger's Block" again!
Keep an eye on what other small business owners/bloggers are blogging about, and link to related material in your own blog. Include your own thoughts on the topic, agreeing or disagreeing with the original poster.
Post excerpts/tips from a book or Special Report you've written (then link to where your readers can purchase/download it! That's a key marketing concept: make the customer aware of a product or service, convince her she wants it, then advise her where to get it. You can do all that on a blog.)
Post links to positive reviews and/or media coverage for your book/products/services.
Create your own version of an Editorial Calendar to combat Blogger's Block. An editorial calendar can keep your blogging on track throughout the week: pick a topic to cover for each day of the week and stick to it. That way, you always know what topic to write about on a given day. Figure out what works best for you -- choose certain topics for each day of the week, a certain category to post in, or a certain type of post format (interview, top 10 list, etc). Or if you plan to blog only three times a week, decide to blog on upcoming events on Mondays, company news on Wednesdays, and give a project idea on Fridays.
Post a review of the latest resource book – your "insider insights" can help position you as an expert in your field. Or consider reviewing a book that is not marketed to your industry, but has valuable applications.
Mention mainstream newspaper and magazine articles that relate to your field. Show how it is making an impact on general society. Provide your own commentary, then link to where readers can get more info on your books/products/services.
Blog about upcoming book signings, appearances, classes, workshops, seminars, articles, sales/promotions, etc. Describe what you're excited about, who you expect to see there, what topics you're going to discuss, and where people can go for more information. If you're blogging about a seminar, post a screenshot from your PowerPoint to lure people in.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Thursday, July 23, 2009
A Multitude of Reasons For Starting an Online Business By Thomas J. Bronson
Only those who have been living under a rock are probably the ones who have not felt the effect of the economic downturn for the past few years. From your end, what are you doing to counteract the effects of the economic recession?
The good news is this: all you need to have is a computer with an Internet connection and a spare room or a tiny vacant space in your home which you can turn into an office. Naturally, you would need to spend the time and effort to work on it - but these are the only tools which are required for you to run an online business.
Revealing the Reasons why an Internet Business is a Viable Venture
Since there is an economic problem and people are doing everything that they can to save money, who would be the target audience for your online business in the first place?
If you're contemplating on starting your very own online business, remember that people are still buying goods. Some because there's a need, others because they simply want to.
However, they are a bunch of wiser consumers now - which is precisely the reason why you need to start your very own online business. Let's say that you are into affiliate marketing. For this, you will be getting commissions out of the Internet sales which are entered through your website.
The reason why consumers are buying goods online is because the items are cheaper and Internet shopping is more convenient. How can online stores afford to offer discounts to their customers? Take a look at the following reasons:
1. There is no brick-and-mortar office to rent or maintain.
2. There is no need to hire sales clerks.
3. No third-party selling is necessary.
Since there are no overhead costs, the savings can be passed on to the online customers in the form of great discounts. If you're looking for an idea for an online business, you can even start selling an original product yourself and reap the same set of benefits.
In addition, an online business is something that you can work on as hard or as little as you want to. Take your pick from using it as a primary or secondary source of income.
So what are you waiting for? Take advantage of the many benefits of starting your very own online business and have the confidence to say "What recession?".
The good news is this: all you need to have is a computer with an Internet connection and a spare room or a tiny vacant space in your home which you can turn into an office. Naturally, you would need to spend the time and effort to work on it - but these are the only tools which are required for you to run an online business.
Revealing the Reasons why an Internet Business is a Viable Venture
Since there is an economic problem and people are doing everything that they can to save money, who would be the target audience for your online business in the first place?
If you're contemplating on starting your very own online business, remember that people are still buying goods. Some because there's a need, others because they simply want to.
However, they are a bunch of wiser consumers now - which is precisely the reason why you need to start your very own online business. Let's say that you are into affiliate marketing. For this, you will be getting commissions out of the Internet sales which are entered through your website.
The reason why consumers are buying goods online is because the items are cheaper and Internet shopping is more convenient. How can online stores afford to offer discounts to their customers? Take a look at the following reasons:
1. There is no brick-and-mortar office to rent or maintain.
2. There is no need to hire sales clerks.
3. No third-party selling is necessary.
Since there are no overhead costs, the savings can be passed on to the online customers in the form of great discounts. If you're looking for an idea for an online business, you can even start selling an original product yourself and reap the same set of benefits.
In addition, an online business is something that you can work on as hard or as little as you want to. Take your pick from using it as a primary or secondary source of income.
So what are you waiting for? Take advantage of the many benefits of starting your very own online business and have the confidence to say "What recession?".
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
What You Need to Take Note About a Corporate Blog? By Alex Liu
Starting a corporate blog is definitely a very powerful choice to grow a business. Blogs are very good tools when it comes to word-of-mouth marketing, effective communication with market, following up, branding, creating customer loyalty and others. However, there're some 7 crucial points you need to take note for a successful corporate blog.
1. Objectives
What are the objectives for the blog? Is it marketing, communicate tightly with the market, announcing products or events, building relationship with customers. If corporate bloggers are blogging just for the sake to join the corporate blogging trend, the blog will loses its attractiveness. I used to own a blog and advertise it heavily. I couldn't understand why visitors are not staying until I realize my blog have no objectives and people don't find it attractive.
2. Readers
Who will read your blog? Who are you targeting? You can write your blog for the market you are in and the customer who you want to follow up with. However, you need to make it clear because your blog will filter readers who are targeted. If you are writing to your customers, customers would find the blog attractive because the blog looks like specially made for them. Besides knowing you are writing for customers or the market, you need to understand your readers. When you blog about your readers problems, pain and questions, they will find the blog even more attractive.
3. Who Is Writing
You need to show your readers clearly about who is writing the blog. What is his position in the company? Clearly defines what will he writes about the company. Don't use the word 'admin' to write blogs. It doesn't sound personal but too official.
4. Design
How your blog is designed is very important. Besides making the blog easy to read, navigate and beautiful, you need to create a unique design that explains to readers what is the blog about. People judge a blog with their feel and experience. Before they start reading, they will look at the design first. If they find the design is bad, they will judge the contents are low quality before reading. Since most internet users surf many websites everyday. So if the design tells them this is not what they are looking for, they will just leave. Your blog's design tells everything about your blog.
5. Writing style
Some corporate would still prefer to make each blog post official to announce events and new products. That's fine. Writing in a conversational style with some personality makes readers feel listening to someone talking rather than reading a newspaper. Conversational style allows you to build strong relationship with your readers. However, make sure your writing style is consistent. Don't switch your writing style. I read many blogs which announce new products and events. They are doing fine.
6. Follow Up
Make sure there's a method to follow up your readers. Encourage them to sign up RSS. RSS is a tool to follow blog readers. You could use autoresponder services too. Every time you update your blog, use the 'broadcast' function to tell your readers you updated your blog and remind them to come and read. This helps building strong relationship with your readers.
7. Comment Policy
Blogs are allowed to comment on. Your readers can give you their comment about your blog and blog post. However, there're people who intent to destroy your blog or people who want to advertise their services. They will give bad comments that impact your blog and readers negatively. Set a policy for your comments. Make sure you delete those harmful comments and reply to comments that contribute to your blog.
Hope you get a big picture about the key points to have a successful corporate blog and start enjoy blogging.
1. Objectives
What are the objectives for the blog? Is it marketing, communicate tightly with the market, announcing products or events, building relationship with customers. If corporate bloggers are blogging just for the sake to join the corporate blogging trend, the blog will loses its attractiveness. I used to own a blog and advertise it heavily. I couldn't understand why visitors are not staying until I realize my blog have no objectives and people don't find it attractive.
2. Readers
Who will read your blog? Who are you targeting? You can write your blog for the market you are in and the customer who you want to follow up with. However, you need to make it clear because your blog will filter readers who are targeted. If you are writing to your customers, customers would find the blog attractive because the blog looks like specially made for them. Besides knowing you are writing for customers or the market, you need to understand your readers. When you blog about your readers problems, pain and questions, they will find the blog even more attractive.
3. Who Is Writing
You need to show your readers clearly about who is writing the blog. What is his position in the company? Clearly defines what will he writes about the company. Don't use the word 'admin' to write blogs. It doesn't sound personal but too official.
4. Design
How your blog is designed is very important. Besides making the blog easy to read, navigate and beautiful, you need to create a unique design that explains to readers what is the blog about. People judge a blog with their feel and experience. Before they start reading, they will look at the design first. If they find the design is bad, they will judge the contents are low quality before reading. Since most internet users surf many websites everyday. So if the design tells them this is not what they are looking for, they will just leave. Your blog's design tells everything about your blog.
5. Writing style
Some corporate would still prefer to make each blog post official to announce events and new products. That's fine. Writing in a conversational style with some personality makes readers feel listening to someone talking rather than reading a newspaper. Conversational style allows you to build strong relationship with your readers. However, make sure your writing style is consistent. Don't switch your writing style. I read many blogs which announce new products and events. They are doing fine.
6. Follow Up
Make sure there's a method to follow up your readers. Encourage them to sign up RSS. RSS is a tool to follow blog readers. You could use autoresponder services too. Every time you update your blog, use the 'broadcast' function to tell your readers you updated your blog and remind them to come and read. This helps building strong relationship with your readers.
7. Comment Policy
Blogs are allowed to comment on. Your readers can give you their comment about your blog and blog post. However, there're people who intent to destroy your blog or people who want to advertise their services. They will give bad comments that impact your blog and readers negatively. Set a policy for your comments. Make sure you delete those harmful comments and reply to comments that contribute to your blog.
Hope you get a big picture about the key points to have a successful corporate blog and start enjoy blogging.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Blogging Software Comparison - A Comparison of the Top Four Blog Software Choices By Melody Campbell
I have already addressed the question of website vs. blog in another article, but is any blog suitable for building your coaching business? I'm going to explain here what the basic differences of the major blog software options available and give you my perspective on what I believe to be the best option and why.
LiveJournal: This is where I posted my first blog which was more like an online journal for me. There is a cost to use and host at LiveJournal. Customization is limited and complicated for the average user. The addition of simple programming for implementing marketing strategies is also limited and complicated. I suppose it serves a purpose in the social networking but I don't consider it a strong choice for business use.
Typepad: This was my next stop as I learned the benefits of blogging for my business. I actually liked this blogging software, but there are some of the same limitations with Typepad as with LiveJournal. There is a monthly fee for hosting and using the Typepad blog. Customization is a little easier with Typepad but still very limited. They make nice use of widgets that the blogger can add to enhance what the blog "does" in terms of marketability and monetization.
Blogger: this is easy blog software to use. While I have an account / profile there I don't actively post in a blog there. Apparently Google, who owns Blogger, does allow user to post advertising (which is important to the monetization of your blog). But Blogger, which is hosted and operated by Google, has a frequent planned & unplanned outages - downtime, which is extremely inconvenient if you're trying to run a business. I am also told that it doesn't take much to "exceed the bandwidth" and have too many visitors to your blog.
There are probably several more less popular options that because they are less well known there are limited resources for customization and upgraded programming to make your blog more "powerful" in terms of what it can do for your business.
In my opinion, and in the opinion of some of the most popular bloggers on the Internet - Wordpress is by far the most developed software platform for blogging for business.
Wordpress - Wordpress is software which can be operated for a community hosted site at Wordpresss.com or you can self-host on your own domain.
Here's the biggest differences between the community or Wordpress.com hosted blog software. At Wordpress.com there is no software to install - just pick a free theme and start writing posts.
* does not allow ads - such as Google Adsense for the blogger's account
* does not allow programming for lead capture forms
* adds links to other peoples blogs at the end of your posts instead of other relevant posts within your blog
* limited customization available - many free themes but no truly custom premium themes can be used.
IMHO - Self-hosted WordPress blogs are the ONLY way to go if your blog is a serious part of your overall marketing plan. At sites like MySmallBusinessWebsite.com, the blog installation is done for you, however you do need to customize it...but more on that in another article.
* the blogger has full control over customization of blog - much of it is simple for the average user to control with minimal explanation
* hundreds or possibly thousands of widgets and plug-ins have been and are being developed that are completely free to add to your blog
* tools are available for attracting traffic to the blog, capturing leads and engage in with visitors to your blog.
* the blogger can place ads on the blog with out worry of being shut down like other community hosted blog software.
In a future article I will explain "widgets & plugins" - what are they, what to use and why. Is your blog a strategic part of building your coaching business online? Do you devote enough time and attention to developing content that attracts your ideal prospect?
LiveJournal: This is where I posted my first blog which was more like an online journal for me. There is a cost to use and host at LiveJournal. Customization is limited and complicated for the average user. The addition of simple programming for implementing marketing strategies is also limited and complicated. I suppose it serves a purpose in the social networking but I don't consider it a strong choice for business use.
Typepad: This was my next stop as I learned the benefits of blogging for my business. I actually liked this blogging software, but there are some of the same limitations with Typepad as with LiveJournal. There is a monthly fee for hosting and using the Typepad blog. Customization is a little easier with Typepad but still very limited. They make nice use of widgets that the blogger can add to enhance what the blog "does" in terms of marketability and monetization.
Blogger: this is easy blog software to use. While I have an account / profile there I don't actively post in a blog there. Apparently Google, who owns Blogger, does allow user to post advertising (which is important to the monetization of your blog). But Blogger, which is hosted and operated by Google, has a frequent planned & unplanned outages - downtime, which is extremely inconvenient if you're trying to run a business. I am also told that it doesn't take much to "exceed the bandwidth" and have too many visitors to your blog.
There are probably several more less popular options that because they are less well known there are limited resources for customization and upgraded programming to make your blog more "powerful" in terms of what it can do for your business.
In my opinion, and in the opinion of some of the most popular bloggers on the Internet - Wordpress is by far the most developed software platform for blogging for business.
Wordpress - Wordpress is software which can be operated for a community hosted site at Wordpresss.com or you can self-host on your own domain.
Here's the biggest differences between the community or Wordpress.com hosted blog software. At Wordpress.com there is no software to install - just pick a free theme and start writing posts.
* does not allow ads - such as Google Adsense for the blogger's account
* does not allow programming for lead capture forms
* adds links to other peoples blogs at the end of your posts instead of other relevant posts within your blog
* limited customization available - many free themes but no truly custom premium themes can be used.
IMHO - Self-hosted WordPress blogs are the ONLY way to go if your blog is a serious part of your overall marketing plan. At sites like MySmallBusinessWebsite.com, the blog installation is done for you, however you do need to customize it...but more on that in another article.
* the blogger has full control over customization of blog - much of it is simple for the average user to control with minimal explanation
* hundreds or possibly thousands of widgets and plug-ins have been and are being developed that are completely free to add to your blog
* tools are available for attracting traffic to the blog, capturing leads and engage in with visitors to your blog.
* the blogger can place ads on the blog with out worry of being shut down like other community hosted blog software.
In a future article I will explain "widgets & plugins" - what are they, what to use and why. Is your blog a strategic part of building your coaching business online? Do you devote enough time and attention to developing content that attracts your ideal prospect?
Friday, July 17, 2009
The Use of Blogs in Promoting a Business By Kat Nocom
Business entrepreneurs can promote their respective companies through weblogs. With the advent of advance technology, more and more people are making use of the Internet to search for specific products and solutions. With this, businesses maximize the full potential of online promotion through the use of blogs. Here are a few things that must be done to benefit from other blogs, and from creating a company blog.
Blog Commenting
Searching for quality readers can be done through blog commenting. Leaving a valuable opinion on a specific blog post will interest targeted readers, and encourage them to view your site. It is also advisable to focus on particular business-niche-topics on other blogs, to gain exposure from people who might be interested in a specific product or solution offered by your company. Moreover, continuous interaction among bloggers can increase the possibility of promoting a company's website, weblog, and the company itself.
Posting Reliable Content
It is important to regularly maintain a blog through posting quality article contents. The articles must be informative and useful for specific readers. For companies that aim to target small businesses, marketing tips can be incorporated on the company's weblog. On the other hand, for business firms that cater to design and photography, they can include articles about design tips, and post attractive photographs as well. Blog owners must design their blog by using appropriate theme or customizing an existing blog theme. It is also recommended to put a feedback section on a blog to gain response from readers and visitors.
Hosting a Contest
Blogs can also be used to run daily or weekly contests, a great means of keeping customers coming back to a particular website. A contest trough blogs is a great low-cost alternative for paid online advertisement. The contest must be aligned with a specific event or product line. The rules must be clearly defined so that interested people will be able to know if they're qualified or not. Through holding contests, companies can gain more traffic for their website or weblog. Furthermore, a sample of specific products offered by a certain company can be offered as prize for the winner.
Taking advantage of the opportunities provided by other blogs can increase online traffic for a specific weblog or company website. Moreover, there will be more online readers and bloggers who will be interested in viewing a company's website or weblog.
For more reliable content, you can visit here.
Blog Commenting
Searching for quality readers can be done through blog commenting. Leaving a valuable opinion on a specific blog post will interest targeted readers, and encourage them to view your site. It is also advisable to focus on particular business-niche-topics on other blogs, to gain exposure from people who might be interested in a specific product or solution offered by your company. Moreover, continuous interaction among bloggers can increase the possibility of promoting a company's website, weblog, and the company itself.
Posting Reliable Content
It is important to regularly maintain a blog through posting quality article contents. The articles must be informative and useful for specific readers. For companies that aim to target small businesses, marketing tips can be incorporated on the company's weblog. On the other hand, for business firms that cater to design and photography, they can include articles about design tips, and post attractive photographs as well. Blog owners must design their blog by using appropriate theme or customizing an existing blog theme. It is also recommended to put a feedback section on a blog to gain response from readers and visitors.
Hosting a Contest
Blogs can also be used to run daily or weekly contests, a great means of keeping customers coming back to a particular website. A contest trough blogs is a great low-cost alternative for paid online advertisement. The contest must be aligned with a specific event or product line. The rules must be clearly defined so that interested people will be able to know if they're qualified or not. Through holding contests, companies can gain more traffic for their website or weblog. Furthermore, a sample of specific products offered by a certain company can be offered as prize for the winner.
Taking advantage of the opportunities provided by other blogs can increase online traffic for a specific weblog or company website. Moreover, there will be more online readers and bloggers who will be interested in viewing a company's website or weblog.
For more reliable content, you can visit here.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
16 Ways to Drive Traffic to Your Blog By Denise Wakeman
You've got your blog set up and you've started posting pithy, useful information that your niche market would benefit from and enjoy. Days go by, you keep publishing, but no one comments and your traffic stats are barely registering. What do you do?
Like any website you own, you must do some blog promotion to start driving traffic to your site. Here are 16 steps, in no particular order of importance, that you can start doing now to get traffic moving to your blog.
1. Set up a Bloglet subscription form on your blog and invite everyone in your network to subscribe: family, friends, colleagues, clients, associates.
Http://www.bloglet.com
2. Set up a feed on MyYahoo.com so your site gets regularly spidered by the Yahoo search engine (see tutorial on http://www.biztipsblog.com)
http://www.my.yahoo.com
3. Read and comment on other blogs that are in your target niche. Don't write things like "nice blog" or "great post." Write intelligent, useful comments with a link to your blog.
4. Use Ping-0-matic to ping blog directories. Do this every time you publish.
http://www.pingomatic.com
5. Submit your blog to traditional search engines:
http://www.submitfire.com
6. Submit your blog to blog directories. The most comprehensive list of directories is on this site:
http://www.masternewmedia.org/rss/top55/
Tip: Create a form to track your submissions; this can take several hours when you first start so schedule an hour a day for submitting or hire a VA to do it for you.
7. Add a link to your blog in your email signature file.
8. Put a link to your blog on every page of your website.
9. If you publish a newsletter, make sure you have a link to your blog in every issue.
10. Include a link to your blog as a standard part of all outgoing correspondence such as autoresponder sequences, sales letters, reports, white papers, etc.
11. Print your blog URL on your business cards, brochures and flyers.
12. Make sure you have an RSS feed URL that people can subscribe to.
The acronym RSS means Rich Site Summary, or some may consider its meaning as Really Simple Syndication. It is a document type that lists updates of websites or blogs available for syndication. These RSS documents (also known as 'feeds') may be read using aggregators (news readers). RSS feeds may show headlines only or both headlines and summaries.
To learn how news aggregators/RSS readers work, see this site: http://www.rss-specifications.com/rss-readers.htm
13. Post often to keep attracting your subscribers to come back and refer you to others in their networks; include links to other blogs, articles and websites in your posts
14. Use Trackback links when you quote or refer to other blog posts. What is TrackBack? Essentially what this does is send a message from one server to another server letting it know you have posted a reference to their post. The beauty is that a link to your blog is now included on their site.
15. Write articles to post around the web in article directories. Include a link to your blog in the author info box (See example in our signature below).
16. Make a commitment to blog everyday. 10 minutes a day can help increase your traffic as new content attracts search engine spiders. Put it on your calendar as a task every day at the same time.
Tip: Use a hit counter to track your visitor stats: how many unique visitors, how many page views, average length of visit. You can get a free hit counter at http://www.sitemeter.com
Like any website you own, you must do some blog promotion to start driving traffic to your site. Here are 16 steps, in no particular order of importance, that you can start doing now to get traffic moving to your blog.
1. Set up a Bloglet subscription form on your blog and invite everyone in your network to subscribe: family, friends, colleagues, clients, associates.
Http://www.bloglet.com
2. Set up a feed on MyYahoo.com so your site gets regularly spidered by the Yahoo search engine (see tutorial on http://www.biztipsblog.com)
http://www.my.yahoo.com
3. Read and comment on other blogs that are in your target niche. Don't write things like "nice blog" or "great post." Write intelligent, useful comments with a link to your blog.
4. Use Ping-0-matic to ping blog directories. Do this every time you publish.
http://www.pingomatic.com
5. Submit your blog to traditional search engines:
http://www.submitfire.com
6. Submit your blog to blog directories. The most comprehensive list of directories is on this site:
http://www.masternewmedia.org/rss/top55/
Tip: Create a form to track your submissions; this can take several hours when you first start so schedule an hour a day for submitting or hire a VA to do it for you.
7. Add a link to your blog in your email signature file.
8. Put a link to your blog on every page of your website.
9. If you publish a newsletter, make sure you have a link to your blog in every issue.
10. Include a link to your blog as a standard part of all outgoing correspondence such as autoresponder sequences, sales letters, reports, white papers, etc.
11. Print your blog URL on your business cards, brochures and flyers.
12. Make sure you have an RSS feed URL that people can subscribe to.
The acronym RSS means Rich Site Summary, or some may consider its meaning as Really Simple Syndication. It is a document type that lists updates of websites or blogs available for syndication. These RSS documents (also known as 'feeds') may be read using aggregators (news readers). RSS feeds may show headlines only or both headlines and summaries.
To learn how news aggregators/RSS readers work, see this site: http://www.rss-specifications.com/rss-readers.htm
13. Post often to keep attracting your subscribers to come back and refer you to others in their networks; include links to other blogs, articles and websites in your posts
14. Use Trackback links when you quote or refer to other blog posts. What is TrackBack? Essentially what this does is send a message from one server to another server letting it know you have posted a reference to their post. The beauty is that a link to your blog is now included on their site.
15. Write articles to post around the web in article directories. Include a link to your blog in the author info box (See example in our signature below).
16. Make a commitment to blog everyday. 10 minutes a day can help increase your traffic as new content attracts search engine spiders. Put it on your calendar as a task every day at the same time.
Tip: Use a hit counter to track your visitor stats: how many unique visitors, how many page views, average length of visit. You can get a free hit counter at http://www.sitemeter.com
Thursday, July 9, 2009
How To Use A Corporate Blog To Grow Your Business By Dana Prince
Do you need a blog for your business? Can the blogosphere really do all that much for you?
Many corporate websites for companies large and small today have a blog attached to their website. A blog is a fantastic tool for doing multiple things. It can drive traffic, get you more customers, increase customer satisfaction and improve your SEO rankings.
First, it helps you communicate with your customer. If you have a voice, you don't appear to be a nameless and faceless corporate entity. Customers like dealing with people and a blog helps your customer feel like they are buying from a real person. It gives you a chance to share information and news with your customers. It's a great vehicle to drive information to your client base without pushing information at them too aggressively. They choose to read your blog and choose to find out about your company. They can also choose to comment and they can help spread the word. Blogs get syndicated and people do social bookmarking with them as well. Your blog is ideal for viral marketing!
SEO and the Corporate Blog
A blog does great things for your SEO (search engine optimization). Search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Altavista love blogs and will often index them faster than websites. Linking a blog to your website can increase the number of links out there and increase your website relevancy in your niche which can doubly impact your PR. How? It can impact your public relations and your page rank!
Your blog should be optimized for your keywords just as much as your website is in order to attract the right audience. Blog posts should give value to readers and encourage participation. You can also use your corporate blog to announce contests, special discounts and to get feedback from your customer base.
How do you manage your business blog the right way?
If you don't know that you can keep the content fresh and write it in a way that will bring you the right traffic and get you the right SEO value, hire a professional blogger. A professional blogger can work closely with you to ensure that your blog provides maximum benefits to your business.
Many corporate websites for companies large and small today have a blog attached to their website. A blog is a fantastic tool for doing multiple things. It can drive traffic, get you more customers, increase customer satisfaction and improve your SEO rankings.
First, it helps you communicate with your customer. If you have a voice, you don't appear to be a nameless and faceless corporate entity. Customers like dealing with people and a blog helps your customer feel like they are buying from a real person. It gives you a chance to share information and news with your customers. It's a great vehicle to drive information to your client base without pushing information at them too aggressively. They choose to read your blog and choose to find out about your company. They can also choose to comment and they can help spread the word. Blogs get syndicated and people do social bookmarking with them as well. Your blog is ideal for viral marketing!
SEO and the Corporate Blog
A blog does great things for your SEO (search engine optimization). Search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Altavista love blogs and will often index them faster than websites. Linking a blog to your website can increase the number of links out there and increase your website relevancy in your niche which can doubly impact your PR. How? It can impact your public relations and your page rank!
Your blog should be optimized for your keywords just as much as your website is in order to attract the right audience. Blog posts should give value to readers and encourage participation. You can also use your corporate blog to announce contests, special discounts and to get feedback from your customer base.
How do you manage your business blog the right way?
If you don't know that you can keep the content fresh and write it in a way that will bring you the right traffic and get you the right SEO value, hire a professional blogger. A professional blogger can work closely with you to ensure that your blog provides maximum benefits to your business.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Business Networking And Blog Courtesy-working On A Professional Link Campaign For Blog SEO By: Chuck Crawford
Business is all about networking, right? Plus, you likely know that you need to get some links to your website to build traffic. Since you’re a pro blogger, of course the first place you look for those much needed links is the blogosphere.
However, some manners are in order when it comes to posting comments and linking to your blog from other blogs.
It comes down to common courtesy. We’ve all heard the ‘golden rule’, right? Do unto others and all that jazz? The goal is for us to get a much needed backlink to our website, that’s true. But that’s not all we want. Spammy backlinks can be obtained pretty easily. There’s even software out there that will blast your links to a million different blog posts comment areas. But it’s not really what we want or need.
I’ll tell you one reason why.
Before even thinking about the other guy’s blog, and common courtesy, let’s consider your overall professional appearance. Think of your backlink campaign as one big press release for a minute. If you were blasting a press release to the major news networks today, you would want to present a super professional appearance right? You would want the world to see you as the undisputed expert in your field, professional, classy, the very best. Right?
Then why would you use a different approach and spam your link across the blogosphere? Making you and your website (translate: your company) look cheesy and unprofessional? If you knew that was the way the world perceived you and your business, you probably would have thought twice about it before you used a link blaster and posted your link to a million spam blogs. The problem is that many businesses and many bloggers don’t think the internet is part of ‘the real world’. They don’t stop and think about the fact that their actions on the web can have the same negative impact that they would have in the real world when it comes to cheesy and sleezy promotion tactics.
Nope, the internet is different in their eyes. They only know they need a bunch of links. It’s not important to them to build an overall web persona. PR is not a concern. But it should be. Because the web is no different than any other advertising medium. People are people, and if they read crappy comments that make you and your company look bad, they are not going to do business with you.
Now, let’s also consider the other blogs out there and some basic manners. In the real world, that is the one that doesn’t have a keyboard attached to it, you need to have some etiquette when it comes to business networking, right?
For example, if you are a member of the local rotary club, you don’t walk into the meeting each week shouting, “Make $5,000 every day using my secret methods”!
Do you?
No. You network. You shake everyone’s hand and say hello. You get into conversations and have intelligent discussions. You add something to the group as a whole. When asked, you give your expert advice and opinions and you build new relationships that turn into new client relationships.
So why would you do it any differently online?
When working on links from other blogs and other business communities, have the same manners you would if you were in that rotary club meeting. Be a contributing part of the conversation. Get involved and work on your professional appearance at the same time. Post relevant comments to the current discussion. Don’t interrupt like a thirty second commercial break, changing the topic so that you can promote your new product or service. Stay on topic and contribute something useful.
It’s o.k. if you don’t agree with someone. Good debate can be good for business. Some people will agree with you and visit your site based on your professional opinions. But only if your argument is written professionally and with some class. Stay out of name calling sessions and stay away from labels. Don’t call anyone an idiot or a moron. In the end, you end up looking like one.
Your comments are mini press releases. They are little road signs showing how professional you are. Or how unprofessional you are. Your public appearance is up to you. So have some courtesy when posting your comments. It will make the difference when it comes to how successful your linking campaigns are.
However, some manners are in order when it comes to posting comments and linking to your blog from other blogs.
It comes down to common courtesy. We’ve all heard the ‘golden rule’, right? Do unto others and all that jazz? The goal is for us to get a much needed backlink to our website, that’s true. But that’s not all we want. Spammy backlinks can be obtained pretty easily. There’s even software out there that will blast your links to a million different blog posts comment areas. But it’s not really what we want or need.
I’ll tell you one reason why.
Before even thinking about the other guy’s blog, and common courtesy, let’s consider your overall professional appearance. Think of your backlink campaign as one big press release for a minute. If you were blasting a press release to the major news networks today, you would want to present a super professional appearance right? You would want the world to see you as the undisputed expert in your field, professional, classy, the very best. Right?
Then why would you use a different approach and spam your link across the blogosphere? Making you and your website (translate: your company) look cheesy and unprofessional? If you knew that was the way the world perceived you and your business, you probably would have thought twice about it before you used a link blaster and posted your link to a million spam blogs. The problem is that many businesses and many bloggers don’t think the internet is part of ‘the real world’. They don’t stop and think about the fact that their actions on the web can have the same negative impact that they would have in the real world when it comes to cheesy and sleezy promotion tactics.
Nope, the internet is different in their eyes. They only know they need a bunch of links. It’s not important to them to build an overall web persona. PR is not a concern. But it should be. Because the web is no different than any other advertising medium. People are people, and if they read crappy comments that make you and your company look bad, they are not going to do business with you.
Now, let’s also consider the other blogs out there and some basic manners. In the real world, that is the one that doesn’t have a keyboard attached to it, you need to have some etiquette when it comes to business networking, right?
For example, if you are a member of the local rotary club, you don’t walk into the meeting each week shouting, “Make $5,000 every day using my secret methods”!
Do you?
No. You network. You shake everyone’s hand and say hello. You get into conversations and have intelligent discussions. You add something to the group as a whole. When asked, you give your expert advice and opinions and you build new relationships that turn into new client relationships.
So why would you do it any differently online?
When working on links from other blogs and other business communities, have the same manners you would if you were in that rotary club meeting. Be a contributing part of the conversation. Get involved and work on your professional appearance at the same time. Post relevant comments to the current discussion. Don’t interrupt like a thirty second commercial break, changing the topic so that you can promote your new product or service. Stay on topic and contribute something useful.
It’s o.k. if you don’t agree with someone. Good debate can be good for business. Some people will agree with you and visit your site based on your professional opinions. But only if your argument is written professionally and with some class. Stay out of name calling sessions and stay away from labels. Don’t call anyone an idiot or a moron. In the end, you end up looking like one.
Your comments are mini press releases. They are little road signs showing how professional you are. Or how unprofessional you are. Your public appearance is up to you. So have some courtesy when posting your comments. It will make the difference when it comes to how successful your linking campaigns are.
Blog Marketing: 7 Small Business Blog Topics
Web logs, or "blogs", have invaded the small business community. Just search Google for "small business blog", and you'll get over 7,000,000 results. Blogs offer an opportunity to communicate in a casual atmosphere with your customers, often for free. Once small business owners are convinced of the promotional power of blogs, they often struggle with the next step: what to write about. Or they don't blog about the right things to most effectively promote their businesses. Use the following list of topics to help guide your blogging efforts, and never worry about "Blogger's Block" again!
1. Keep an eye on what other small business owners/bloggers are blogging about, and link to related material in your own blog. Include your own thoughts on the topic, agreeing or disagreeing with the original poster.
2. Post excerpts/tips from a book or Special Report you've written (then link to where your readers can purchase/download it! That's a key marketing concept: make the customer aware of a product or service, convince her she wants it, then advise her where to get it. You can do all that on a blog.)
3. Post links to positive reviews and/or media coverage for your book/products/services.
4. Create your own version of an Editorial Calendar to combat Blogger's Block. An editorial calendar can keep your blogging on track throughout the week: pick a topic to cover for each day of the week and stick to it. That way, you always know what topic to write about on a given day. Figure out what works best for you -- choose certain topics for each day of the week, a certain category to post in, or a certain type of post format (interview, top 10 list, etc). Or if you plan to blog only three times a week, decide to blog on upcoming events on Mondays, company news on Wednesdays, and give a project idea on Fridays.
5. Post a review of the latest resource book – your "insider insights" can help position you as an expert in your field. Or consider reviewing a book that is not marketed to your industry, but has valuable applications.
6. Mention mainstream newspaper and magazine articles that relate to your field. Show how it is making an impact on general society. Provide your own commentary, then link to where readers can get more info on your books/products/services.
7. Blog about upcoming book signings, appearances, classes, workshops, seminars, articles, sales/promotions, etc. Describe what you're excited about, who you expect to see there, what topics you're going to discuss, and where people can go for more information. If you're blogging about a seminar, post a screenshot from your PowerPoint to lure people in.
1. Keep an eye on what other small business owners/bloggers are blogging about, and link to related material in your own blog. Include your own thoughts on the topic, agreeing or disagreeing with the original poster.
2. Post excerpts/tips from a book or Special Report you've written (then link to where your readers can purchase/download it! That's a key marketing concept: make the customer aware of a product or service, convince her she wants it, then advise her where to get it. You can do all that on a blog.)
3. Post links to positive reviews and/or media coverage for your book/products/services.
4. Create your own version of an Editorial Calendar to combat Blogger's Block. An editorial calendar can keep your blogging on track throughout the week: pick a topic to cover for each day of the week and stick to it. That way, you always know what topic to write about on a given day. Figure out what works best for you -- choose certain topics for each day of the week, a certain category to post in, or a certain type of post format (interview, top 10 list, etc). Or if you plan to blog only three times a week, decide to blog on upcoming events on Mondays, company news on Wednesdays, and give a project idea on Fridays.
5. Post a review of the latest resource book – your "insider insights" can help position you as an expert in your field. Or consider reviewing a book that is not marketed to your industry, but has valuable applications.
6. Mention mainstream newspaper and magazine articles that relate to your field. Show how it is making an impact on general society. Provide your own commentary, then link to where readers can get more info on your books/products/services.
7. Blog about upcoming book signings, appearances, classes, workshops, seminars, articles, sales/promotions, etc. Describe what you're excited about, who you expect to see there, what topics you're going to discuss, and where people can go for more information. If you're blogging about a seminar, post a screenshot from your PowerPoint to lure people in.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Can a Blog Help Promote Your Small Business? By Lauren Hobson
You may find it a bit surprising, but blogs are turning out to be a very effective method of promoting your business on the web! Not too long ago, lots of people thought of blogs as little more than a tool for teenagers to journal every mood swing online. But today blogs have become quite mainstream, and people from all walks of life are embracing the technology and finding value in using blogs, especially for business purposes.
So what exactly is a blog, anyway? A blog (short for “web log”) is basically a simple web site with an interactive format that allows users to “post” comments and add new information (entries) to the site. This interactivity is really what differentiates blogs from other web sites. Blog entries are typically posted in reverse chronological order, with the oldest information appearing at the bottom of the page and the most recent information at the top.
There are blogs on almost every topic imaginable, and businesses are finding that having a company blog helps them communicate with customers, get better search engine rankings, and attract a much larger customer base. Here are a few highlights of how a blog can help promote your business online:
- Search engines LOVE blogs because the content is being updated constantly, resulting in higher search engine rankings for your business.
- Niche visitors are more likely to discover your business because blog entries can be very specific, often containing words that might not otherwise be in your web site text. This will attract customers that would not have otherwise found your business!
- Blogs can be organized by topic, making it easy for readers to find topics that interest them.
- Blog entries continue to bring in web traffic 24/7. Like many other forms of marketing on the web, blogs provide content and links that act like ripples in a pond – they continue to be shared, indexed, and published all over the web long after you have finished doing the work.
- Information on your blog can be easily distributed directly to your readers with an RSS newsfeed. RSS feeds automatically notify your readers whenever new content has been posted to your blog.
- You can differentiate yourself from your competitors with your blog. You may even find that your competitors don’t offer this type of interactive communication with customers, which gives you an excellent opportunity to stand out.
So if you’re looking for a low-cost marketing strategy that can help extend your reach, improve your search engine rankings, and give your business an edge with customers, then you may want to consider a blog!
So what exactly is a blog, anyway? A blog (short for “web log”) is basically a simple web site with an interactive format that allows users to “post” comments and add new information (entries) to the site. This interactivity is really what differentiates blogs from other web sites. Blog entries are typically posted in reverse chronological order, with the oldest information appearing at the bottom of the page and the most recent information at the top.
There are blogs on almost every topic imaginable, and businesses are finding that having a company blog helps them communicate with customers, get better search engine rankings, and attract a much larger customer base. Here are a few highlights of how a blog can help promote your business online:
- Search engines LOVE blogs because the content is being updated constantly, resulting in higher search engine rankings for your business.
- Niche visitors are more likely to discover your business because blog entries can be very specific, often containing words that might not otherwise be in your web site text. This will attract customers that would not have otherwise found your business!
- Blogs can be organized by topic, making it easy for readers to find topics that interest them.
- Blog entries continue to bring in web traffic 24/7. Like many other forms of marketing on the web, blogs provide content and links that act like ripples in a pond – they continue to be shared, indexed, and published all over the web long after you have finished doing the work.
- Information on your blog can be easily distributed directly to your readers with an RSS newsfeed. RSS feeds automatically notify your readers whenever new content has been posted to your blog.
- You can differentiate yourself from your competitors with your blog. You may even find that your competitors don’t offer this type of interactive communication with customers, which gives you an excellent opportunity to stand out.
So if you’re looking for a low-cost marketing strategy that can help extend your reach, improve your search engine rankings, and give your business an edge with customers, then you may want to consider a blog!
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