Successful Blog

Go Blogging and See the Results

by Leave a Comment

New Customers written in search bar on virtual screenDo you sometimes feel like your brand is not getting the attention it deserves and more importantly needs?

For some business owners, their websites can mean the difference between a healthy brand and one that is on life support. Whether your brand is doing well or not so well, are you looking to improve it? If the answer is yes, make sure you review your blogging efforts.

Given the fact that more and more consumers are going online to browse and ultimately buy products and services; having a strong website presence (including a relevant and informative blog) is more critical than ever. So, take some time to see how you can improve your blog or even how to start a blog today.

Blogs Matter More Than Ever

No matter what product or service you sell, blogging about your line of work is a great way to not only attract new customers, but also retain current ones.

With a solid blog on your website, you can:

  • Promote your brand – First and foremost, promoting your brand should always be a priority. A stellar blog on your website allows you to do just that and more. The blog can be an ambassador for your brand, introducing your products and/or services to millions of consumers. Make sure the information contained in your blog is relevant, timely, and provides a call to action without coming across as a sales pitch;
  • Be more socially active – Having a solid blog to work with allows you to be more social, meaning go to social media. Promoting your blog posts opens the door to consumers who may not be familiar with your brand. In turn, you are more likely to get inquiries about your brand when you are publicizing it on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and even YouTube. Just like with your blog, you need to be active on social media, meaning share or tweet regularly in order to maximize your opportunities;
  • Engage with industry experts – While some companies decide to do all their blogging in-house, many others welcome guest bloggers. If you decide to work with guest bloggers, make sure they are a good match for your site’s blog. What kind of experience do they have in blogging? Are they an authority on the topics they speak of? Do they have a decent to solid social media following and will they promote their posts and your site? Yes, some guest posters will not be a good fit for your blog, but many others could be just what you are looking for;
  • Use it as a networking tool – In the event your business attends a number of trade shows and conferences during the year, your blog can be a topic of discussion. Along with promoting the respective event on your blog you will be attending, bring a laptop to the event and set the viewing page to your blog. As attendees visit your booth, it can make for a great conversation piece.

If you’re looking to improve your company’s blog or finally getting around to starting one, know that it can help your brand in so many ways.

Photo credit: BigStockPhoto.com

About the Author: Dave Thomas writes about marketing your business on the web.

How to Use a Google Docs Content Template

by 1 Comment

By Andy Crestodina

Sorry, Word. We had a good run. Goodbye Word

We created hundreds of beautiful documents together over the years, but it’s time to move on. I’ve moved up, into the “cloud.” I’ve moved all of my content creation to Google Docs.

Why? There are some obvious reasons:

  • No crashes. No “Oops, forgot to save!” Google has never lost a single word I’ve typed.
  • No version control issues. Everything is easy to share. No more email attachments or wondering if I’m looking at the latest version.
  • Word was always high-maintenance. It’s kind of a resource hog and slowed down my computer. But Google Docs? I’ve got a browser open anyway. Why not use it?

So, let’s use Docs. Here’s how to use a Google Docs content marketing template:

1. Set it up with whatever content standards you set for your own writing.

Use the template to prompt yourself to use the formatting, length, tone, images, keywords, links, calls-to-action and author bios that you know work best for you.

If you don’t yet have a content template, here’s CMI’s own Template for Killer Website Content, which you can adapt from a PDF version into your own Google Doc. I’ve included a link to my own Google Doc content template at the end of this post.

2. Link from it to your favorite resources.

If you’re like me, you’re always referring to online tools while you write. I’m looking up keyphrases (Google Keyword Tool), finding possible experts to contribute or share with (FilterTweeps), or researching possible host blogs to pitch to (Open Site Explorer). It’s fast to get to these when you have links in the template.

3. Link to it from your other planning tools.

Since your draft articles are now online, you can link to them easily from your content calendar or other internal tools. Keep a Google Docs spreadsheet of all the articles you’re working on with links to each.

4. Collaborate with your editor, graphics person or other contributors.

Sharing a Google Doc is easy. No sending attachments. No wondering if you’re looking at the latest version.

Sharing Google Docs
Just click the blue “Share” button, decide if they can edit or just view, and Google will send them a link.

Put your own standards for length, tone and topics into the template, so when you share it with possible guest bloggers, they’ll see your guest blogger guidelines right there in the template.

5. Plan your promotion in advance.

It’s smart to think ahead about who you’ll share it with, how you’ll tweet it, what keyphrases you’ll target, and what the email subject line will be before you write something. When the template includes these aspects, it’s impossible to write without promotion in mind.

6. Access it quickly from anywhere. My template is called “Content Template – MASTER” and since I access it so often, I just need to start typing “œmaster” into my address bar and the doc shows up.

Google Docs Template
No need to wait for Word to open. It’s as easy as Evernote. But remember to make a copy of it before you start! Otherwise, you’ll overwrite your template.

Feel free to use the shared version of my own Google Doc content template. Just make a copy, and adapt it for your own content marketing. If you have questions about this template or Google Docs in general, let us know with a comment below!

Author’s Bio: Andy Crestodina is the Strategic Director of Orbit Media, a web design and ecommerce firm in Chicago, where writes about content marketing for the Orbit blog. You can find Andy on and Twitter.

How a Blog Contributes to Your Business Model in Crucial Ways

by Leave a Comment

by
Alex Summers

cooltext443809602_strategy

Why Blogs Are Necessary for Small Businesses

If you have a business, you should have a blog. Period. This is because you need a way to communicate with customers at all times. A blog allows you to communicate product updates, allow customers to suggest new products or features and have a way to be visible at all times. Visibility is important when you are a small business.

Here are crucial ways a blog contributes to a business model:

A Blog Improves Sales

Having a blog allows you to sell more goods. This is because you can link your blog to the section of your site that sells your products. Customers can even find your blog without you having to do anything to attract that customer. Optimizing content for search engines will improve sales by pushing your blog higher on search engine results. Most people will click on the first or second result that appears.

You can get sales training online from many sales and business professionals through a quick online search.

A Blog Allows You to Interact With Others In Your Niche

You can connect with other niche bloggers who are writing about the same topics you are. A company that sells sports memorabilia would want to connect with other businesses that sell sports memorabilia. Having those connections makes it easier to improve sales because there are other businesses who could refer their customers to you. You may have something that their shop may not.

Perhaps you are a better option because you are closer to where a particular customer is located. You don’t get that referral, if you don’t connect to other businesses.

A Blow Allows Customers to Communicate With You

A good conversation on your blog can be great for SEO. Remember that there are usually 100 people reading your forum for every person who actually comments. Your blog could be where people learn more about your products or services. Make sure that you are offering an interactive experience for your customers. Give them good recommendations in an attempt to drive sales of certain items. Customers will generally follow your advice if it is sound enough.

Every small business needs a blog in order to survive online. It will allow you to be found by more people. It can get your referrals from other businesses that you connect with. Your blog can also be a great way to influence customers to buy certain goods or services that your company offers. Make sure that you are taking advantage of this wonderful tool that is available to your company.

Author’s Bio:
Alex is a blogger, freelance writer and recent college graduate. She currently performs market research for an online marketing firm when she is not contributing her own thoughts and observations to the online community.

Thank you for adding to the conversation!

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

Don’t Let Your Business Blog Content Become a Biology Project

by 1 Comment

Just about all of us at one time or another has had to deal with rotten food.

In many cases, we leave something out too long or leave it in the fridge for an extended period of time; hence it soon takes on the junior high science project that many of us thought was cool back in the seventh grade.

In our adult years, however, such projects are not only viewed as unfavorable, but they can be costly when running a business.

Working in marketing full-time and doing freelance writing on the side, I literally come in contact with dozens and dozens of business blogs on a daily basis. The number one threat to their existence in my opinion is stale content.

When some business heads feel like the content is just there to fill space and show both current and potential customers that the site is active, I just want to come up to them and shake them for about five seconds. My main question as I am shaking them is what are you thinking? In many cases, they probably are not doing much of that in the first place.

What is the Purpose behind Business Blogs in the First Place?

Company blogs come in all shapes and sizes, be they for someone just beginning to run a business or someone who’s been around the block a time or two. In many instances, the blog is used as a tool to attract current and potential customers to the site, and then provide them with worthwhile information that they can take away.

On the surface, that sounds like a great premise for having a blog in the first place. Where that becomes an issue is when the lead content is left to sit on the site for days and days and days and….

Soon, visitors coming to the site begin to see the same old and tired copy anchoring the site. Before long, what was once good content starts turning into that bagel or loaf of bread that was left sitting out on the counter for weeks and weeks. You get the picture, it isn’t pretty.

As someone that has written and overseen a number of business blogs over the years, I cannot stress enough the importance of maintaining fresh content on the site.

Among the obvious reasons to do so:

  • Search engines will be more favorable to your site if the content is regularly updated;
  • Fresh content puts your company blog out there as an authority on a subject or subjects, singling you out from competitors;
  • A continuously updated blog site makes it much easier to approach potential advertisers that will want to get their name linked to your site;
  • With updated blog content, you can have real-time interaction with readers, leading to more opportunities to convert potential customers into customers.

One small business blog I recently came across, one which I will not name, was last updated in the fall of 2011. Last time I checked the calendar, we were coming up on the middle of March.

My first thought was maybe this company had gone under and the site was still showing up on Google searchers. As it turns out, the company sure is still business and looking for new clients as we speak. If I were consulting them, I would not advise them to start their sales pitch by referencing the site’s blog.

I make it a habit to clean out my refrigerator once a week so that nothing can become a biology project behind that closed door.

Perhaps more business owners should take on a similar project to make sure their company blogs are not festering something nasty.

Remember, the time for conducting science projects was back in school, not when you are running a business.

Photo credit: marqui.com

Dave Thomas, who covers among other topics workers compensation and credit card processing, writes extensively for Business.com, an online resource destination for businesses of all sizes to research, find, and compare the products and services they need to run their businesses.

Reach Out and Touch Someone with Your Company’s Blog

by Leave a Comment

In the small business blogging world, there are good blogs and there are not so good blogs. That being said, how would you rate your blog?

As a small business, what is your goal behind having a blog in the first place? Do you use it as an opportunity to promote your company’s products and services? Is it more of a forum for you to get things off your chest or talk to other business owners? Or is it just something you felt you had to have given your competitors have one?

Like many small businesses that sport blogs, the initiative to grow the blog is often there, but the time doesn’t seem to be. What ends up happening is the blog takes a back seat to other more important matters, the content becomes stale, and next thing you know you have a blog whose hits become less and less.

Growth is Possible

If your company’s blog is collecting dust on the Internet, there are means by which to grow it and enhance your company’s online profile.

Among the initiatives to employ are:

  • Who is my audience? – If you haven’t already answered this key question, you’d better. You can spin your wheels on your blog if you don’t know the answer to this question. In order to make your company blog stand out, you need a niche, something that sets you apart from the competition;
  • Determine the time factor – It is important as a business owner with a company blog to determine how much time and effort will go into it. If you have a marketing person/team in place, the blog typically falls to them. If not, and you are the one primarily responsible for the blog, set time limits each week as to how much time will go into the blog;
  • Good copy is imperative – Whether you are writing your company’s blog or a staff member is it is imperative that it offers good copy. Your content needs to be interesting, useful and timely. Make sure that the blog provides both current and potential customers with information that peaks their interest, is important to their lives and is up to date. Also, keep the blog postings relatively short, given that the time demands on readers are greater than ever;
  • Just as important as good copy is, your blog needs a clean look. How many blogs have you visited where the design is cluttered, hard to follow and looks like a kindergartner laid it out? If you’re not a design guru, find someone who is so that the blog looks and acts professional;
  • Reach out to others – Another key is linking to other blogs and commenting on other’s posts. When you scratch someone’s back, they will hopefully do the same in return;
  • Respond to comments – In the event you are getting comments on your blog, by all means respond to them. This shows the reader that you are engaged in the conversation brought by others, along with getting you noticed more throughout the blogging community;
  • Know your metrics – If you’re writing a daily or weekly blog but not checking the statistics, what’s the point? Company bloggers want to know how many people are clicking on the blog, what demographics do they represent, when are they clicking on the blog etc. Find the right analysis program to track your numbers and see what your traffic reports look like.

 

While these are just a few of the areas you should zero in on, remember, YOU control the look and sound of your company’s blog.

Don’t expect the company blog to itself bring in a ton of revenue, but look at it more as a component of your overall strategy to reach out and touch someone, in this case, customers.

Photo credit: thefosburyflop.com

Dave Thomas is an expert writer based in San Diego, California.  He writes extensively for an online resource that provides expert advice on purchasing and outsourcing decisions for small business owners and entrepreneurs at Resource Nation.

Take Readers on Your Travels

by Leave a Comment

You love to travel and want to put pen to words, be it before summer ends or down the road.

If you’ve thought of creating a travel blog, it is probably easier than making your travel plans, packing up the suitcase, and making sure you have a good time.

In order to craft a good travel blog to draw in readership on a regular basis, have a few basics in place.

Content, Content, Content

First, review different travel portals online to see how others do it, what to avoid, and what niche you may be able to fill that readers could be missing.

Whether your travels take you not too far from home or halfway around the world, the goal of any quality travel blog is to make readers feel like they’re along for the ride with you.

In order to have your blog followed regularly, the first and most important aspect is providing regular content.

While you’re probably not going to be able to afford to travel every month (unless you do it for a profession), a blog that is sparingly updated stands much less of a chance of gaining a regular following.

The next and most obvious factor is having a clean looking blog that is grammatically correct, flows nicely, has attractive pictures, and makes the reader feel like they’re part of the journey.

While your writing tone should be informative and to the point, don’t make it out to be an instruction manual. We travel for the simple purpose of getting away and enjoying new experiences or rekindling old memories, so keep the tone of the blog enjoyable.

It sounds rather obvious, but it is important to maintain a travel journal during your journeys so that you can look back and pinpoint items to a rather exact science. Hopefully your travels involve lots of fun activities, so recording them for posterity will make it easier when you begin to blog.

 

Adventures in Life

When traveling down the blogging road, be sure to engage your readers in your adventures. If your readers comment or ask questions about your journeys on the blog, be sure to respond in kind.

Another plus to writing a travel blog is that it can lead to new friendships with others who also like to set sail on new adventures. In some instances, you might actually find new travel partners to share journeys with. Sharing blogging information is also a plus, as travel bloggers can promote each other’s sites, therefore leading to more readers.

While travel bloggers should not expect to make a fortune or even any money early on with their sites, there is potential to profit from one’s journeys.

Assuming that your travel expenses are not going to come easily, making some money off of a travel blog can help assist in covering some of those costs.

In closing, a travel blog should be done in order to convey your travels to others and share the good times that traveling can bring.

Update the blog regularly, engage in conversation with readers, and make the experience one that is fun and doesn’t seem like a job.

If you follow those basic rules, your travels and writing about them will be a vacation.

Photo credit: freetraveltime.com

Dave Thomas is an expert writer on items like call center services and is based in San Diego, California.  He writes extensively for an online resource that provides expert advice on purchasing and outsourcing decisions for small business owners and entrepreneurs at Resource Nation.