7 Tips for New Business Bloggers

• Category: Blogging, Marketing, SEO
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Businesses who want to use a blog to aid in promotion and build credibility have a long road ahead of them. A blog is not a ‘set up and forget’ marketing solution but rather a platform to build on weekly or even several times daily. Newbie business bloggers often struggle in the beginning because there is just too much information floating around, it seems impossible to consolidate anything logically. But with patience and some practice, even the most inexperienced bloggers can manage success rather quickly.

Here are 7 tips for successful blogging:

Pick a Niche

Depending on your industry or specialty, there can be a ton of topics you’ll want to cover. It will be better for you and your readers if you narrow down to a niche topic that does not have a lot of competition. If you specialize in home building, research what other companies are talking about and then select a niche subject with which you are familiar but doesn’t have a lot of available information online. This allows you to become ‘the source’ for this specific information. You can certainly discuss other topics from time to time as well so you aren’t limiting yourself.

Outline Beforehand

To keep blogging from getting totally overwhelming, start by outlining your ideas on paper before hitting the Internet. An outline will help guide you into a logical method for writing posts. Remain flexible with your guide

Keep It Simple, Classy

You want your blog to look professional and be easy to read and navigate. Feel free to make it unique but not necessary an art project. You can use images or styles that may directly relate to your business but don’t overdo it. Readers come for information and will leave quickly if it’s too hard to find.

Speak to Everyone

Keep your writing clear and to the point. Use simple language and short paragraphs. Subheadings and bullet points are preferable to readers who generally scan the information to find what they are looking for. Writing for the Internet is different than writing for other mediums. If you are not a good writer, consider hiring someone to do your posts. If you are doing it yourself, proof posts for grammatical and spelling errors.

Link to Your Other Information

When you are writing about a particular product or service you are promoting, be sure to provide direct links in your post so readers can click and instantly be taken to your website. You can make faster sales with this method too because you are making it so easy to shop.

Open the Door for Feedback

Be sure to enable reader comments. A blog is a great way to communicate with your customers and potential customers. Allowing them to ask questions allows you to respond directly. You’ll learn quickly what people want to know and in turn, you can provide the solutions that lead to bigger profits.

Advertise Your Blog

While you don’t have to take out a full newspaper advertisement, you should put the direct blog URL on business cards, letterhead, email signatures, and your website. Never assume people will find it on their own. A good giveaway is also a fantastic free advertisement. Realistically a blog can be a waste of your time if no one knows it exists.

Should You Worry About Local Search and SEO?

• Category: Google, Marketing, SEO
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Many factors might play into your search engine rankings. It can be difficult to determine which are important and worthy of your time and attention and which are passing fads that don’t need your immediate concern. One of the things that is becoming more prominent in search engine rankings is local search. So do you need to incorporate local search terms into your SEO strategy or are you just fine without them?

Not long ago, your physical location didn’t seem to matter much unless they were specifically included in the search terms typed into Google. With the advent of local search, however, you may be noticing that local search terms are showing up in SERPs whether you request them or not. So does this affect your SEO strategy? It just might, so you need to do a little research. The problem is local search results may be showing up at the top of the SERPs when someone types in your keywords- whether they are asking for local results or not. Because a computer’s ISP provides the location to the Google spiders (and everyone else’s) geography is a factor and those local business might just show up ahead of yours automatically- and this can cost you customers.

Google Maps, and other search engine mapping software, has become very efficient and accurate. Your business will be mapped according to where your URL is located, regardless of where your service area actually is. This is great news for a brick and mortar business that services local customers, but if you are an online entrepreneur who works globally, local mapping can cause you problems. As an example, let’s consider a web design company located in Topeka, Kansas. You may specialize in trendy, hip, urban designs perfectly suited for clubs in huge cities like L.A. or New York City, but regardless of your keywords, you may not rank at the top of the SERPs in those areas because Google thinks you work in Kansas. In fact, you could have trouble even if you do provide service to local companies. If you are located in the suburbs or even away from the main business area of a major city, your rankings may drop based on your address.

There are a couple of fairly easy fixes that can significantly help you in the local search rankings. One is to make sure your business is categorized carefully and properly. Appropriate categories can jump your listing from # 5 to # 1, so check yours and make sure it is correct. Another thing that will help is making sure your keywords are in the title of your business in the local search listings. While not everyone can just change their business title to make sure your keywords are included, you can make great improvements by using the keywords in your tagline.

Local search is important in SERPs and SEO and these two quick fixes can help your business battle against the automation of Google Maps and local search results.

How To Promote a New Blog

• Category: Blogging, Content, Marketing, SEO
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Blogging is a successful part of company marketing because it’s relatively easy and it works. Thousands of companies start a new blog every day that can be a perfect springboard for reaching their target audience. However, many of these blogs often languish because once the blog is set up and launched management fails to promote it correctly.

Businesses and individuals alike can use blogs successfully to prove their expertise and knowledge about a particular subject but without the proper promotional avenues, their experience is a moot point. Here are some important tips to help a new blog stand out and reach the right people:

Write Constant Content

New and relevant content is key to generating traffic. Provide fresh material at least weekly if not daily so your audience will become more dependant on what you have to say.

Link to the Blog

Companies with already established websites should immediately provide a direct link to the blog on the main navigation page and subsequent pages to help attract attention.

Blog Link in Every Email

If you have composed your signature on outgoing emails, edit it to add a link to the blog. For every email that goes out to colleague or customer, you are continually promoting the blog.

Make an Announcement

A new blog is a great reason to prepare a national/international press release. Let the press know what the blog contains in order to attract a new audience.

Promote In Newsletters

If your company produces a newsletter whether online or in print, make a special announcement about the establishment of the blog and include the link in every newsletter.

Make It Social

If you are already working with social media tools to promote your company, product and services, be sure to let everyone know about the new blog.

Share Links

Get in with other bloggers and have them recognize you by linking their blogs to yours. You can make friends with other bloggers and add them to your blog roll. Request they do the same.

Write Content for Others

Whatever your niche and experience is, you can write content and provide relevant content to other bloggers free of charge. Contact other bloggers whose core audience is related to your target market and ask if you can guest post for free in exchange for a brief bio and link back to your site.

Promote a Giveaway

A quick way to bring attention to a new site is to host a giveaway. Donate a free product or service to the winner but make sure the gift is something worthwhile to others. Sometimes a big ticket item is worth the cost for the attention it will bring but only give away what you can afford. Send out press releases and announcements about your giveaway contests.

Social Media Expands Again- But the Buzz Isn’t All Happy

• Category: Google, Marketing, SEO, Social media
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One of the most popular ways to build a network and get to know new partners and prospects for your business is through social media. While most marketers and online entrepreneurs are very familiar with some of the social media standbys like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, there are some new players in the game, including one entry from none other than the gurus at Google – Buzz.

While it’s clear that FaceBook and Twitter enjoy uber popularity in the world of social media, we all know that when it comes to innovation and prolific invention, Google rules. They have once again raised the stakes in recent days with the introduction of Buzz- Google’s latest social media contender. The verdict is still out on Buzz- in fact it is so new that most of us are still trying to figure out exactly what it is- and how on earth we became a part of it without even trying.

If you make use of any of Google’s technological favorites, like Gmail, for example, you’ve likely seen the icon and label for Buzz suddenly show up in your list of folders on your Gmail page. The familiar red, blue and yellow balled icon popped up and led millions of Gmail users to click onto Buzz to see what all the fuss is about. What a surprise when you get there and see that you have followers and are in fact following others. Your contacts who use Gmail are now your fellow buzzers and you are automatically following them. Like other types of social media, you will see blog posts and other posts, with the organization that only Google can consistently obtain. You have several (maybe dozens or more) threaded conversations, so you can all keep up with each others’ conversations.

You can share photos, updates and your Google Reader information, Picasso updates and Google Chat talks all right in Google Buzz – and in fact, you will do so automatically, unless you opt out. This little feature is creating a stir amongst users, who aren’t used to having these kinds of decisions simply made for them. We are all quite used to double opt-in, permission based marketing, so to have the Google Giant take it upon themselves to share our stuff in a whole new app without our permission is upsetting plenty of people.

Other Google users are feeling a bit of overwhelm in the social media world. After all, how much time do we have to continually socialize when we’re trying to earn a living with our blogs and websites? It appears that Google’s motivation is to spare us some time, with their automated participation.

There is a link on the bottom of Gmail’s page to opt out of Buzz, but from some appearances, the application will occasionally add you back in, even after you opt out. So what is the consensus about Google’s latest product? The jury is still out, but don’t be surprised if the Buzz wears off rather quickly.

How Fresh Is Your Expertise?

• Category: Content, Marketing, SEO
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You establish an online blog or website to sell product. You use those sites as a springboard to getting your audience to rely on your knowledge and expertise. You then generate sales from repeat customers who feel they can trust what you have to say. That is the basic principles behind online marketing. You make yourself available to a target audience and provide answers and solutions to their problems so they will turn to you when they need help. To master this technique, you constantly provide your readers with information you have gleaned from your own experience in the form of blog posts and articles. However, if you have been at this for a long period of time, it may seem you have already covered all your bases. When that happens, you can easily make the mistake of allowing your content to get stale. Readers who come back searching for news and up-to-the-minute article posts can quickly become dissuaded by your lack of new information.

How To Stay Fresh

If you have written all of the content yourself over the months or years since you have established your site, even topics you love can become old. The key to getting and sustaining interest from readers and search engines alike it to always provide something new. This may be the right time to go back over and review all of your posts to date. Are there any new angles you can use to expand on old information? Have you been following industry news and events? Brainstorm ideas based off old posts. Look to your own audience for feedback to find out what information they really want to know that you have not yet provided.

Depending on your niche, it can be difficult to keep current without rehashing what you have already put out there. It can also be difficult to keep up with the writing of a single site, let alone several. Many business site owners are reluctant to outsource the content portion of their website because they are concerned about a writers’ lack of experience in the industry. They also have stayed away due to the difficulty of navigating or keeping up with bidding sites freelancer writers use to acquire jobs. In the end, rather than look for help, many site owners simply fail to keep up with the writing and posting that is vital to their website.

How to Outsource Successfully

Freelance writers do work out of popular bidding sites but there are also many content writers who are experienced in web writing that look to establish long-term relationships with small and medium sized business. A new trend that is gaining speed is the use of write-on-demand sites, such as ReliableWriters.com where customers can enter specifics about articles or blog posts like word counts and topic guidelines and have completed posts emailed within 24-48 hours. Establishing a relationship with a content provider can be instrumental to a busy site owner who is also working to shore up the sales end of the business. Write-on-demand sites also eliminate contracts or other obligations associated with hiring employees to write site content.

Site content is an essential part of any online marketing plan. From white papers to full length articles and even social media posts, website owners need to invest time, money, and a lot of effort into their online marketing if they are looking for success. The bottom line is if you can’t do the writing yourself, invest in someone who can.