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August 29, 2011 By

Are You Making the Most of Your Blog?

Business blogging is a great way to share information with a target audience for many reasons. Unlike other promotional materials like white papers and EBooks, a blog tends to be a lot less formal. It’s also easy to access and update, which encourages a blogger to post frequently. While a steady stream of new, quality content on a blog is extremely important there are a few ways to take your blog to the next level.

First, think about search engine optimization. SEO professionals have been touting the benefits of blogging for a long time. Since a large part of SEO involves content and a blog is a place to post content, it’s like a match made in heaven. The search engines rank websites based on keyword relevancy and a blog is a great place to incorporate keywords. Keywords should be included in the headline and body of the blog post naturally. This improves the chances of the blog post being found in a search for certain keywords.

A blog is especially a great place to target some long tail keywords that you didn’t have the opportunity to target on the main pages of your actual site. While blogging and SEO should work together, it’s important to remember that SEO shouldn’t be the primary focus of blogging. The focus is always on writing quality content that your target audience will appreciate. If you put too many keywords in there it results in a poor user experience and looks spammy. SEO is just a side benefit to blogging.

Blogs are also a great place to connect with others. Long before Facebook and Twitter existed, people set up blogs to share their thoughts and opinions on every subject imaginable with anyone that was willing to listen. The comments section allows blog followers to respond to the post. Not monitoring and responding to comments is a huge missed opportunity for some bloggers.

The whole point of spending the time researching, writing, editing, and posting a blog post is to get someone to read it, right? It’s important for bloggers to show that they appreciate their following, which for a business is mostly their target audience. Taking the time to respond to followers and even check out their content is a great way to network and it can lead to relationships and business opportunities over time.

Another way to take your blog to the next level is to increase its readership. While this may seem like, “Well, duh”, it’s a lot easier said than done. Depending on your niche there might be lots of bloggers out there writing about very similar material. Blog readers only have so much time to dedicate to reading their favorite blogs. Your goal should be to make yours one of them. Unfortunately it takes a lot more than great content and a great design and layout to get people to find your blog in the beginning.

The only way to get readers is to promote your blog. If you have a social media presence or newsletter subscribers, start by promoting your blog there. Encourage your followers to share links to their followers. Submit your blog to blog directories and do some link building for your blog. It may take some time, but it will be worth it in the end!

File under: Blogs & Blogging
July 25, 2011 By

Growing Your Blog with Freelance Writers

Maintaining an active blog presence can be a lot of work. You have to write unique content on a regular schedule, respond to reader comments, promote your blog through social networking, and try to build traffic through links and keyword search ranking. When your blog is only a part of your business, and not the business itself, this can be a lot of extra work in addition to growing your business itself. Fortunately, there are many ways to help promote your blog with freelance writers. Here are a few tips for how to use this vast resource:

Finding Talent

You don’t have to pay high hourly wages for SEO content specialists or professional journalists. You can still find quality writers who are just getting started or who are looking to build up a portfolio of work. Many of these writers — students in college, recent graduates, those who have changed careers, or hobbyists — can produce quality copy, but can’t command the same high rates because they lack the experience. Many of these writers will work for far less. Some will even work for free in exchange for the exposure for their writing.

Quality Control

Sometimes you get what you pay for, so if you find someone willing to write for you for free or next to nothing, you might not be getting high quality writing. Be sure that you review samples of the work of any writer you consider hiring. Look for published samples with a byline attached so you can be sure of the authorship. You can also consider administering a writing test or requesting a sample article based on your specifications.

Setting Expectations

In order to ensure a beneficial working relationship, make sure you clearly define your expectations. Do you want SEO researched posts? Will all content be exclusive to your blog? Will the writer need to use a pseudonym? Make sure you articulate exactly what you expect in the content you get back, the working relationship you have, and the rights of both parties. Don’t let there be any assumptions on your part or the part of the writer.

Limiting Content

If you aren’t comfortable giving over the reins of your blog content to another writer, consider limiting what work you will outsource. For example, if you are hiring a writer, consider only assigning posts that provide informational content, rather than opinion pieces or posts that offer tips or advice. If you aren’t comfortable with outsourcing any of the writing, consider hiring a freelancer to work on blog promotion, which can include social networking, link building, and writing guest posts for other blogs under a pseudonym.

There are many ways that you can use freelancers to outsource work to your blog and help grow traffic without having to put in all the work yourself. No matter who does the work, you are still ultimately responsible for quality control, so be sure that you choose freelancers who you can trust and that you delegate work that will help develop your blog.

File under: Blogs & Blogging, Business, Marketing
June 22, 2011 By

The Vancouver Brand

Recently when the Vancouver Canucks lost the Stanley Cup to the Boston Bruins, several thousand “fans” went nuts in Vancouver’s downtown outside the stadium. It shocked the entire country, and has led many to ask the question, “Will this hurt Vancouver and by extension – Canada’s pristine brand’s world image.” Depending on how they handle this, I don’t think it will.

Like any of us know in business, brand damage from an unfortunate event has everything to do with with how you handle the problem. Done correctly and swiftly, this event will be brushed aside. Running and hiding will exasperate the problem and harm the brand. Perception is reality – right? So, handling it correctly, can make a negative, a huge opportunity for Vancouver. It can come out of this stronger and better.

I’d like to ask the readership here at Small Business Branding, if you believe that this sports riot will harm the brands of Vancouver and Canada for years to come. Is it even on your radar?

File under: Blogs & Blogging, Branding, Business
May 23, 2011 By

Does Your Business Really Need A Blog?

If you’ve been trying to promote your business on the Internet, no doubt you’ve received the advice to start a business blog.

Internet marketing experts consider a blog to be an essential tool to succeed online. In fact, I’ve made the decision recently to give more attention to my blogs — even if it meant giving up some paid gigs writing for other people’s blogs.

But is blogging right for YOU?

Benefits of A Blog

A high-quality blog can have many benefits, such as:

Search-engine Friendly

Blogs get indexed and ranked in search engines faster than static HTML sites. One way to increase the traffic to your business website is to add a blog.

Interactivity

Because a blog has many features that allow your readers to interact with you and with each other, a blog is an effective tool for building a community of like-minded individuals who are all interested in your field. They make the ideal prospects, because they’re already tuned into you.

Share-ability

Blogs have functionalities that make it very easy for you and your readers to share links to your blog posts. For example, you could link your blog’s RSS feed to your Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook accounts. Your readers could share the link to your blog post with a click of a button.

This makes it much easier for you to reach new audiences and tap into other people’s social networks.

Easy to Use and Customize

Most blogging platforms, such as WordPress, are much easier to use than plain HTML site builders. They come in templates that look good and have plenty of features right out of the box. At the same time, some templates are fairly easy to customize, even for those of us who don’t know any coding. Blogs have made web masters obsolete.

Multimedia

It’s also easy to add multimedia elements to a blog. These may include photo galleries or slideshows, audio recordings, and video. You can display your Flickr or Facebook albums automatically on your blog. You can also easily embed YouTube videos — yours or other people’s — into your blog.

Inexpensive

You can get a blog up and running for under $10 a month, including domain name registration (one domain name is often free for with the cost of hosting). You can no longer make the excuse that you can’t afford a blog.

Available 24/7

Assuming your hosting service doesn’t go down, you can expect your blog to be available 24/7, fully searchable and able to attract an audience of prospects for you.

Authority

A good blog will help establish you as an authority in your field. What better way to demonstrate your expertise in a subject than to publish content-rich articles on your blog regularly for months or even years.

List Building

By putting an opt-in form on your blog, you can easily build and grow a list of people who are interested in learning more from you. Imagine, these are people who have given you permission to communicate with them regularly! If you take care of them, they can easily become your biggest fans and lifelong customers.

Opportunities

An established blog will attract plenty of potential partners and other opportunities for you. These may include advertisers, joint venture partners, speaking engagements and other opportunities to reach other people’s audiences, and even paid consultancies and gigs.

With all that said, a blog does have its downside.

Disadvantages of A Blog

Endless Content

The lifeblood of a blog is a continuous and consistent stream of high-quality content. You need to publish good posts frequently (at least once a week) and consistently to attract and sustain traffic, build a community, engage with your readers, and network with other bloggers.

The constant need for fresh content may be draining for a blogger. You may soon find yourself burning out and getting disillusioned with your blog.

Technical Requirements

A blog is easy to use, but it does require SOME technical knowledge nevertheless. You can’t take a completely computer-illiterate person and turn them into a superstar blogger overnight. Some basic and not-so-basic computer skills are necessary.

Maintenance

If you use WordPress, you know that it’s constantly getting upgraded. Your theme and plugins will also have to be updated as necessary. And don’t forget to back up your files and keep your blog secure while you’re at it.

If you can’t or don’t want to handle blog maintenance, then you need someone else on your team who can do it for you.

Promotion

Aside from maintaining and publishing your blog, you also have to promote it. Just because you built it, doesn’t mean the readers will come.

You can attract traffic through both paid and free methods. Either way, you’ll have to invest some time, energy and possibly money to gain readers. Paid methods may include Google Adwords as well as banner ads and text ads in bigger blogs.

“Free” traffic-generating methods include article marketing, guest blogging, and social networking. I put the word “free” in quotation marks, because even if you don’t have to pay for these methods, they do take time and effort (both of which translate to money).

To Blog or Not to Blog

That is the question!

When deciding whether or not a blog is a good fit for your business’ online marketing strategy, realize that a blog is a huge commitment.

You must be willing to allocate time, energy and money to make it succeed.

However, if you persist with blogging, you will reap the rewards. Soon, you’ll have content that can bring you prospects and clients, literally even while you take a vacation. This is also content you own completely and can reuse, recycle and repurpose to your heart’s desire.

Your Thoughts Please

What do you think – is blogging worth it? If you’ve been blogging, what pros and cons have you experienced? If you’re still deciding whether to blog, which weigh more heavily to you now, the advantages or disadvantages of blogging?

Let us know your thoughts. Share them in the comments below or let us know on Twitter or Facebook.

PS: I teach a class showing business owners how to use a blog and email marketing to attract more prospects and customers. If you want a blog that works and avoid getting overwhelmed by all the little moving parts of online marketing, then check out my Magnetic New Marketing eClass.

File under: Beginners, Blogs & Blogging, Business
October 27, 2010 By

13 Business Blogging Dos and Don’ts For Creating Relationships

There are thousands of blogging dos and don’ts. This list is specifically for business bloggers and is focused on dos and don’ts that help build relationships with your visitors.

Dos

1. (An obvious one.) Do have an opt in and an RSS feed so people can follow you or choose to hear from you again. Even better, offer something for free when they subscribe. I suggest having both of these. Some may just want to subscribe to your RSS, so offer both.

2. Do put Archives & Categories in the sidebar or footer. Many times when visitors come to your blog they want to know what else you blog about. Give them easy ways to browse so that you can engage them and keep them there longer.

3. Do define your area of specialty so people know exactly what you do. If your tag line is too general, you won’t capture your audience’s attention. Be specific. It pays.

4. Do create banners/ads for your own products/services. This tells people what your business offers. Products you sell are your business. Featuring other people’s products suggests that they are the expert, not you.

5. Do highlight other places you’ve blogged at. This reinforces your expertise and builds relationships with other bloggers.

6. Do invite guest bloggers to post. This also helps build relationships with other bloggers and shows visitors that you are part of a bigger community and that it’s not just you (solo-preneur). It’s a bonus to show different points of view and get free content.

7. Do show social proof (ie: number of subscribers, testimonials). Showing social proof lets people know what others think of you.

8. Do reply to every comment and use plugins to notify commenters of responses. One plugin for this is called “Comment Reply Notification.”

Don’ts

9. Don’t have ads for other people’s stuff if you are selling your own. You’re basically telling your potential clients to go somewhere else. Of course, if you’re not selling anything yet, then creating something to sell should be a priority and until that day, using affiliate products is fine. But not for long :)

10. Don’t stop and start. Keep it consistent. Create an editorial calendar and schedule posts ahead of time. Inconsistent posting is like not calling a friend for a year and expecting your friendship to remain the same.

11. Don’t make it difficult for visitors to get your free stuff. Make it easy to download or view videos. Having optins that are only available to subscribers makes your readers jump through hoops. Most of them will give up rather than subscribing. Let them decide to subscribe after they decide they enjoy your offers.

12. Don’t sell in an email. This is slightly off topic, but emails and blogging shouldn’t be about selling. That’s what landing pages/sales pages are for. Definitely link to those pages from a blog post, but don’t try to sell right in the middle of your blog.

13. Don’t be anonymous. Have a great “about” page that shows people who you are and or what your business is all about. Be unique and original. No one likes boring.

There you go. Now start developing relationships with people that come into your virtual world.

File under: Blogs & Blogging, Business, Communication
March 25, 2010 By

SBB Small Spark Challenge 2010: Guest Blogging May Cost You Sales

Many blogs are not written just by the owner. There are others who come in as guests to give the readers a new face to watch now and again. But, be careful about how much guest blogging you do. It may be costing you more than you think.

Why do people use guest bloggers? For one, they are having a hard time keeping their blog up to date. A guest blogger fills in the gaps that are sometimes present. Your readers get fresh content and you get a break.

Also, guest bloggers can increase your reputation. If a popular blogger agrees to work with you, then you are moving up. Their readers will follow them to the ends of the earth and, in the beginning that may be your blog. No hard feelings though, because you are getting a chance to wow them with your website.

And that is the rub, guys and gals. The second point works in favor of the host blog not your blog necessarily. To be sure that they get what they want from you, the blog owner will give you a topic or a list of titles to write on. This is okay because they don’t want any surprises showing up on their blog on Monday morning.

But, blog owners aren’t going to ask someone who doesn’t know their way around words. Your writing skills are influencing their viewers. Too bad it isn’t an equal partnership.

What You Stand to Lose

Your words are filling in gaps but also driving traffic to their site. Sure, the readers may like your words but they will credit that to the host blog who gets the majority of the traffic. As a result of the increased traffic, their potential for more sales is increased. It would be surprising if a great guest blogger doesn’t increase their revenue.

If this is a new topic for you, your own blog might not be representative of it. This means that the only place that this type of terrific content is found is you guessed it, their website. Your website may not see that traffic even though you have put in the work.

And, you can’t profit as much as you’d like from the articles you post there. If they were featured on your blog, you could spin them and post on article sites and other sites you own. As it stands, you can link to them and send traffic to the other site.

Guest blogging has benefits but there is a downside. Consider that when you decide to accept or reject a request for your awesome writing services as a guest blogger.

File under: Blogs & Blogging
March 20, 2010 By

SBB Small Spark Contest 2010: Maximize Your Time

Maximize Your Time with Guest Bloggers

When you operate a blog, with or without the online business to go with it, it takes up a lot of your time. Readers want fresh content on a regular basis. Sometimes it is hard to keep up with their voracious appetite unless you have help.

Blogging Help

Seek out writers for your blog. Think of it as another writing project. If you are familiar with ghostwriting services, you can hire writers to write posts for you that you can then publish yourself. With this type of help, you are asking a writer or writing service, to provide you with content for your website or blog. The credit goes to you for the work.

Finding a guest blogger is different from outsourcing blog content. With guest bloggers, they are getting a chance to write for your blog but with the posts being credited to them. You’ve got a few options about how you approach a guest blogging situation.

1. You can look for an ongoing contributor who blogs on a regular basis for your blog. Some contributors will blog for free as long as you’re giving them credit and helping them with their own blog or website promotions.
2. You can hire a writer to write for your blog (this will require payment, especially if you’re looking to claim the content as your own). For a certain fee, you can assign them topics and ask that they write one or two blog posts per week. Usually one is enough unless you are truly busy and need more to fill the space.
3. You can ask other experts in your field to post occasionally to help relieve some stress from having to post yourself all the time. Most of these guest bloggers will oblige and do not require any more than a link or two to their site or products in their posts.

Benefits of Guest Bloggers

Now, you can breathe a little easier. You want to keep your blog fresh and new but there don’t seem to be enough hours in the day at times. A guest blogger can take that pressure off of you so that you can devote your time to other needs:

• Marketing
• Networking
• Administrative Duties

As long as your readers stay happy, you can rotate a guest writer in and out to provide them with interesting content. Guests can also respond to reader comments and build a relationship of trust with your audience. If they have their own traffic from their sites, you have a chance to impress their readership when they come to read the posts. They can also browse your work and take an interest.

At the beginning, you may have to review posts and schedule their publication just until you feel comfortable with the writers and their styles. Once you see they do a good job, let them publish their posts immediately or schedule them without your help. This will go a long way in saving you time.

The first time that you don’t have to write several blog posts over the weekend or in your wee spare time, you won’t want to go back. How long a writer will blog for you depends on your needs, but the extra time may lead you to make it an ongoing thing.

Besides the fact that you are benefiting, so is the guest writer. They gain a reputable forum for their work, possible networking opportunities and greater visibility.

File under: Blogs & Blogging, Featured
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