web counter

Mini-Session 11: Turning Business Blogging Around

Filed Under Guest Writer, Successful Blog | 71 Comments

Guest Speaker: Chris Cree

Most of us are at least a little bit familiar with how valuable a blog can be for a business.

Improving search engine rankings, raising company visibility and awareness, driving traffic to the main business web site, and building business reputation are among the many benefits that can be seen when a business starts blogging effectively.

Turn About is Fair Play

Tonight, though, let’s turn it around.

Let’s talk about the idea of turning your blogging hobby into a business.

How do you do it?

How can you make the transition from hobby blogger to business blogger?

Placing ads of some kind on your blog is one way to start.

But what else is there?

Here are some ideas to get the conversation rolling:

  • Freelance writing
  • Publish and sell e-Books
  • Become the go-to expert in a narrow niche
  • Consulting
  • Blog set-up and maintenance
  • Blog Design
  • Create plugins & widgets specific to individual businesses

The ways to earn money on the internet are only limited by our creativity and we’ve only begun to scratch the surface with things like AdSense.

Let’s think outside the box and kick some ideas around.

Thank you, Chris!
_____________________

Chris Cree helps business fuel growth through blogging at his SuccessCREEations –ME “Liz” Strauss
_____________________

Let’s open the Q&A . . .

I’ll go first. Chris, what is the single greatest benefit of business bloggers?


SOBCon 07 link

During the Virtual Conference today, you can take $100 off registration to SOBCon 07.

Tags: , ,

Share This

6 Easy Steps to a Career Basecamp in Cyberspace

Filed Under Branding, Customer Think, Marketing, Strategy, Successful Blog | 29 Comments

It Was Someone Else’s Turn

Personal Branding logo

When our son was 9 months old, my husband said to me, “I’ve done everything I want with my career. From this point I don’t expect a lot of new challenges — 21 years is a long time. It’s someone else’s turn. . . . You’re having such fun with what you’re doing. If you can replace my salary, I’ll stay home with the baby.”

I did. He did.

This morning I realized that 21 years later, I had a similar conversation at a trade show. A VP asked why I started blogging. This was my reply.

“Because I was a VP of Publishing, this industry sees me as a product person. Folks don’t value my experience in marketing, acquisitions, and training.”

He said, “You’re right. When I look at a resume, I look at job titles first. Then, if I’m interested, I look at skill sets.”

“That’s why I blog,” I said. “My blog is a 360 degree resume. It’s an ongoing interview in cyberspace.”

It’s true. A blog can be that.

These days no one has job security. Everyone needs an updated resume. Why settle for only a resume?

You can blog your way to brand that defines who you are and what you do much more completely. Make your blog a foundation — a career basecamp in cyberspace — a showcase of skills and expertise you have that future employers and clients need.

Turn the page. I’ll show you how.

Read more

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Share This

Blogs Aren’t Books, But Revising Is Still Revising: 6 Gating Questions to Make Revising Easier

Filed Under Checklists, Customer Think, Successful Blog | 3 Comments

How to Decide What to Change

Customer Think Logo

So, you’ve looked at your stats, and you’ve found the entry pages where readers frequently land. Now you’re checking them out to make sure that those pages are fresh and welcoming.

How far do you go? Some were written way back when. Do you edit the content? Do you change the design? Scott of 99 shades of grey asked those very questions this morning.

Those are the money questions. I can’t help but note the irony in the name of Scott’s blog, because these decisions are about as far from black and white as decisions can get.

The money answer is

Change what makes a difference leave what doesn’t.

Not much help is it?

That’s why I’m going to give you 6 gating questions to ask yourself about the landing pages you are looking at.

Using them, you can decide quickly and feel confident in what you decide. Take a look.

Read more

Tags: , , , , ,

Share This

10 + 1 Reasons to Write Well, Not Perfect-ley OR Save the World with Realistic Expectations

Filed Under Branding, Content, Successful Blog, Writing, ZZZ-FUN | 10 Comments

You Thought Multitasking Was a Curse

power writing at work

Have you got an inner editor telling you what you write has to be perfect? Perfectionism is a problem that can hurt you. Here are a few light reasons why you should give up trying to create perfect work. — Sometimes fun talk can combat a serious problem.

I don’t write perfectly. You don’t either. No one does. Leonard Cohen hasn’t gotten there — much as I love him. Nope, he hasn’t. Neither has Toni Morrison, nor any other living writer. You can forget Mark Twain, Shakespeare, and the rest of the dead ones too.

There’s no such thing as perfect writing.

Tell the editor in your ear to take a hike on the whole idea. Trying to write perfectly could cause an alien invasion.

Read more

Tags: , , , , , ,

Share This

4+6 Things to a Product Review Even James Bond Would Trust

Filed Under Branding, Content, Successful Blog, Writing | 9 Comments

What You Have Here James Is . . .

power writing at work

Product reviews. We all do them. We love to tell people what we like about stuff. Even more, we love to tell them what’s wrong with stuff. . . .

The President had started a discussion about a product we were prototyping. Our new product was meant to compete with one that had owned the market for 10 years.

“So, what do you think of the product that’s out there?” the President asked the editors.

Each editor was eager to respond and gave in detail the things that she saw in the existing product. The President made sure that every editor had a chance to talk.

“I wonder how it continues to sell 100,000+ units per book per year?” Then he glanced over my way and said, “That’s why no one listens to editors’ opinions. They only talk about the negatives.”

I was the only person in the company who reviewed product for the President.

Where do you get advice about products? Most people trust friends and family first. If friends and family don’t know, research says that 77 percent of online shoppers read consumer product reviews and ratings.

That means you’ve probably done that.

Product review are big business . . .

. . . if folks feel they can trust what the review says.

If you want credibility James Bond would trust, you have to know 4 things before you start and tell 6 things when you write..

. . . Read more

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Share This

keep looking »