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Savvy Blog Growth Tips for Small Businesses

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By Christopher McMurphy

The phrase “adapt or die” has proved true in the animal kingdom, and it has a place in the wild world of marketing as well. Monumental shifts in the advertising landscape since the advent of the Internet have only served to buttress this point. And while larger organizations often have the full weight of entire marketing departments at their disposal, it can be difficult for smaller operations to keep up with the trends. And failing to move with the times can spell certain death for any outfit.

But those small businesses that feel they lack the means to mount an effective online marketing campaign are sorely mistaken. Any organization, big or small, can utilize modern, proven methods to convert leads into customers and generate that attractive ROI. Here’s how.

Set a schedule

Those running an operation themselves may rightly feel they don’t have much time to commit to crafting and posting regular blog posts. That said, there’s no need for the frazzled business owner to overextend him or herself. Owners should commit to a preliminary schedule that involves making at least one post per week. Once a firm schedule has been set, owners can then focus on increasing the output over a period of time, such as to multiple blog posts per week.

Hire out

Some owners may simply be too busy to even commit to one or two posts per week, and that is understandable. However, that is no reason to forgo a blogging strategy entirely. Time-strapped owners can outsource their needs and hire writers from across the web. There are plenty of quality guest bloggers out there, all with the skill and expertise required to contribute authoritative, original blog posts on a variety of subjects.

Engage

In the world of blogging, the hard sell is anathema to success. The most successful bloggers reach large audiences by getting personal with their readers. When it comes to small businesses, owners are going to want to craft an overall theme to their blog posts (helpful DIY tips, Top-5 lists, etc., etc.) and engage while staying on message. Oftentimes owners find success in this manner by adding personal details and experiences within the content.

Offer help

The best (and most successful) blogs contain content that is of some use to the reader. The average web surfer is highly likely to bypass all blog posts that contain nothing more than sales pitches on their way to more helpful content. That means the blogger needs to be credible in the field in which they write about. An auto parts business, for example, should consider publishing posts on DIY auto repair, as this is of use to their target audience.

Be honest

One of the best ways small business owners can achieve success through blogging is by being honest. The most successful blogs around are transparent and forthcoming about what it is they represent. Fine print doesn’t translate in the blog world, so business owners should air on the side of prudence and gain trust through total honesty.

In the end, if there’s one thing that all small business owners and operators should take away from this article, it is the need for consistency. All the content in the world won’t matter much unless it is visible on a regular basis. That means being diligent in adhering to a firm blogging schedule is paramount for any successful content strategy.

Author’s Bio: Christopher McMurphy is a seasoned blogger and expert in the field of digital marketing. Among other things, he focuses on SEO, copywriting and social media.

How Bloggers Can Capitalize on the Second Screen Wars

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By Sam Melton

The Internet has changed the way we live.

Many people gravitate to the Internet to do everyday things and to keep entertained. A decade ago, consuming media primarily involved watching TV, but in today’s technologically advanced world, there are dozens of ways to consume media without sitting in front of a television screen. 

Based on studies conducted by eMarketer, 2013 marks the first year in which the amount of time spent online surpassed the amount of time spent watching television.

According to the study, the average person spends five hours and 16 minutes on digital platforms, compared to 4 hours and 31 minutes with television. Not only has the time spent online increased by more than 15% within three years, the time spent watching television has also declined.

The television screen is taking a backseat to the new first screen – the Internet.

The modern individual and multitasking

Life is all about multitasking. Individuals do a myriad of tasks at once, and the Internet helps. Whether it’s to check email on a smartphone, access apps on a tablet, shop from an online store or pay bills, the modern consumer is capable of getting a lot done in a little time. ??The Internet offers a host of media from all around the world, and TV can be limiting. Although consumers still watch plenty of television, statistics show viewership has dropped by 500,000 households since 2012. This number is expected to decline as more people opt for high-speed services from providers such as Verizon FiOS Internet or Google Fiber.

With connections as much as 100 times faster than broadband, streaming has become a more affordable and convenient media option. Internet service replaces the need for television broadcasts because services such as Netflix, Hulu, and Vudu encourage binge-watching and replace the need for TV. 

Two of the most popular activities on the Internet

Just because the average person spends less time watching traditional television programs does not mean TV content is on the decline. With so many streaming services available, content being consumed online is on the rise, while traditional television viewership has fallen.

Although streaming television shows contributes to time spent behind the new first screen, perhaps the most popular activity to date is surfing social media. According to a research study conducted by Ipsos Open Thinking Exchange, the average user between age 18 and 64 spends 3.2 hours on social media sites daily. 

This emerging trend contributes to Internet surpassing television. 

Social media and streaming usage are on the rise, and this contributes to more time spent online. When more time is spent online, it takes away from what the average media consumer can spend watching TV. Although digital television services aren’t putting TV networks out of business, as a whole, the Internet is now the first screen.

How to capitalize as a blogger

Bloggers are well-positioned to take advantage of this shift.

No doubt the allure of the written word draws readership, but we can easily take it a step further.

  • Podcasts
    You don’t need expensive audio equipment. Such an addition to your blog gives your readers a chance to hear the voice behind the words. If you make it a regular feature, you’ll likely see a spike in readership.
  • Slideshows
    Flickr.com has an incredible tool that will allow you to easily construct a slide show of your photos on the side for your blog. It will even generate HTML code to place in on your page.
  • Vlog
    Give readers a visual and auditory version of you. It’s an interesting way to express an opinion. Be sure to make the content as engaging as your written word! It’s a good idea to find other vloggers’ styles you like.

Are you working to get own your slice of the screen time pie?

Author’s Bio: Sam Melton is a business professional turned freelance writer specializing in business technology. He blogs at: sammeltontalks.blogspot.com.

Get your Blogging Zest Back

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Are you still zesty?

get your blogging zest back

When you first start blogging, you are like a kid in a candy store with a million bucks to spend. Ideas flow readily, creative juices are on tap, and the world is yours. Who knows how many shares your next post will get? Maybe you’ll hit the bigtime and huge brands will knock on your door to advertise. Maybe you’ll get a book deal!

Time passes.

Many posts are written.

Daily demands start to distract you from your initial excitement.

You go three weeks with no comments.

No book deal yet.

It’s been a year or so, the magical tipping point, right?

Where are all of my readers? Why doesn’t my Google Analytics page view chart look like the Himalayas instead of a flatlining heart patient?

Stop the shame spiral, and stop torturing yourself.

How to Get Your Blogging Zest Back

Take a short break

Maybe you’re posting too frequently. If you are pushing to crank something, anything out several times a week, and it’s a chore, consider scaling back to once a week, or even every two weeks. If you need to get more drastic, tell your readers you’re taking a sabbatical of one month and stop blogging for a while. I promise the world won’t end.

Go someplace weird

Maybe it’s time to get out of your rut. When is the last time you tried something new, or went to a strange location? Stimulating our senses or intellect with new experiences is a great way to get a jolt. Take a road trip, go skydiving, start the cold shower regimen recommended by Julien Smith…anything that shakes up your world.

Have an at-home retreat

You know those corporate retreats where everyone does the trust exercise? You can do that for yourself. Set aside a weekend, or a couple of work days to focus, and revisit why you started the blog in the first place. What made you say, “I’m going to be a blogger?” Write down your reasons, and keep them handy.

Pretend you shuttered your blog

How would you feel? If it’s relieved, then it might be time to actually do it. Blogging should be joyful and rewarding. If you’re doing it right, it’s an outlet, not a draining slog. In fact, ask yourself if you would keep blogging even if no-one was reading it. That’s where you need to be.

Get an outside opinion

Talk to your friends or colleagues who have read your blog. Ask them why they read it. Do a quick survey of your readers (even if that’s only a small group of people) and find out what they think. You might find out that your writing is inspiring people. A lack of comments doesn’t mean a lack of impact. Read this amazing story about the power of 5 blog readers, if you don’t believe me.

Write for the trash can

Maybe you’re trying to live up to a blogging ideal that’s unrealistic. Take the chains off for a while, and just start typing. Write as if no-one will ever read it (hey, you already think no-one’s reading anyway). Get all of that stuff out of your head and onto the page, and then sort it out later. Sometimes a loss of zest is simply coming from an out-of-control negative voice. Shut that sucker down and get your groove back.

Share something personal

Even if you’re writing a pure business blog, you can let your human side out. Maybe you’re having a hard time because you’re trying to put on a facade of “corporate” when all you want to do is run through the sprinkler. Don’t go TMI, but try adding a personal story into your writing and let your community inside. Perhaps that will encourage your readers to come out of the woodwork and share their own personal stories too.

What do you do when you’re feeling squeezed dry?

Author’s Bio: Rosemary O’Neill is an insightful spirit who works for social strata — a top ten company to work for on the Internet . Check out the Social Strata blog. You can find Rosemary on Google+ and on Twitter as @rhogroupee

Photo Credit: Patrick Hoesly via Compfight cc

5 Tips On How To Choose The Right Layout & Design For Your New Blog

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By Reena Cruz

Everyone has a reason for starting a blog: passion, hobby, business, information sharing, you name it. Whatever compels you to the blogging dashboard, you’ll find yourself wondering how your blog layout and design can best attract your target niche.

Different themes and layouts will work well with certain goals, for example, and some won’t. Thus, you need to decide on the best blog design that will work with and emphasize your main goal. It may sound easy, but any veteran blogger can tell you that it isn’t.

Visually and technically planning out your blog’s design requires a lot of testing and refining. So to help ease the process for budding bloggers, we offer some basic advice to help you start achieving your blogging goals effectively.

Blogs Focusing On Sales & Ads

For most, blogging will be considered a business first and foremost. Or your blog could be a business, itself, selling services and information. As such, affiliate links, sponsorship ads, Adwords and advertising are all things you’ll be aiming to fit onto your pages. Though many people are turned off by these, if you’re discreet and highly selective, you can work these into your layout.

The location of ads is crucial to a user’s reading experience. It’s everything. Take a look at the home page of TechCrunch.com for instance. Their blog contains ads and sponsored links, but only features them in five visible places and in two spots on the side bar. No more.

In the posts themselves, ads are located in secondary places (the header above the title and below the article before the comments section). These locations don’t interrupt your reading and actually catch your eye in logical places as it naturally moves across the page. So carefully consider where you should put your ads or sponsors and how many you should have in direct visible competition with your written content.

Blogs On Design, Graphics & Images

The design and image oriented blogger should consider a clean, minimalistic approach to put more emphasis on the visual content and eye-catching artwork. After all, if you’re showcasing graphic design work and high-res images, you don’t want to bury it in text or have it compete with other content elements.

For this, try picking themes that are highly customizable and allow for easy image viewing, like ones that offer the ability to add image sliders or ones where you can specify the size of posts on your home page. Keep content on the sidebars to a minimum, as well. And don’t forget the social media sharing buttons to popular image sharing networks like Flickr or Pinterest. Check out sites like Abduzeedo and Colossal, popular design blogs that put these tips into practice.

Social Media Oriented Blogs

Social media blogs are all about sharing, networking, interacting with multi-media, and spotting the latest viral post. You can get the same interaction on your blog, but with a few careful decisions.

We know that you want all the social media extras, but select ones that effectively serve a purpose for your readers. For instance, you may want to include social sharing widgets that indicate the virality of the post, allowing users to easily fish out popular posts. Or, to spark some social interaction, choose commenting systems that include ranking, pingback, and replying features.

Social media and pop culture blogs like Mashable.com or The Verge are great examples. Notice that their sharing options are carefully chosen to include one-click sharing to certain social networks—not every single one out there. In addition, their content is laid out Pinterest-style, encouraging users to visually pick out what they want to read. How your content attracts the user’s eye and lets them interact with it will play a big role in your blog’s design.

Professional Company Blogs

These kinds of blogs are great as they can act as a built-in platform for customer interaction, sharing helpful information, and promoting services. As such, you want to keep your blog professional looking.

Eliminate ad elements like Google ads or sponsored links, that is, unless your company is in partnership with some of them. Keep social media buttons available for easy sharing. To convey a sense of professionalism, your blog’s theme should work with the same layout and colour palette as your company’s website. Also, consider adding subscription buttons to update your customers automatically.

In short, be sure that your blog is in line with your company’s overall message and goal. Companies like Intuit and Hubspot have blogs that are good examples of this. They’re businesses with blogs that tie in professionalism, social sharing, and related content (both in posts and sidebars). In short, each blog element works to tie in the company’s brand and services.

Blogs Geared Towards News Sharing

It’s common for bloggers to want to share the latest news in their niche. For this, you may want to consider adding a feature that keeps buzz worthy news stories highlighted. Related ads to quality services will also be a good element to add if your readers welcome the resources. Interaction with posts via comments is also a necessity. And make good use of your web real estate by keeping it organized.

Big tech news blogs like Macrumors.com and GigaOM take different approaches. In both cases, each has some of the same elements. They highlight recent articles and have trending content in the sidebar. For comments, Macrumors uses a forum community for lengthy discussions; GigaOM gives users the ability to share their comments on social networks. Lastly, because news can cover so many topics, each blog breaks the content down into different categories. So decide how you want to handle the never-ending onslaught of daily news, first. Then you can decide on the easiest way your community can consume it and form discussions around it.

Conclusion

It’s ultimately up to you to decide which layout and design works out best. No matter which direction you choose for your blog, ensure that its theme is practical for presenting content, interacting with it, and achieving your main goal.

As bloggers and blog readers, what advice do you have?

Author’s Bio: Reena Cruz writes for the Investintech.com blog, where she shares tips about PDF converter technology and software in general. As a tech-geek, she enjoys learning about new tech trends and sharing productivity tool tips online. You can find her on Google Plus.

Stand Out From the Crowd: 5 Personal Branding Tips for Entrepreneurs

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By Ava Morrison

Entrepreneurs often become the public faces of their companies. Follow these five branding tips to build a reputation for yourself as well as your company.

Branding Tip #1: Use a Consistent Voice That Emphasizes Your Identity

Consistency is a key component to effective branding, especially when it comes to the voice and personality that you portray online. No matter what platforms you use, you want to maintain a voice that your fans and followers can easily identify.

Assuming that you have a personality that your target audience will like, you just have to be yourself. Everyone has off days, though. Always read over your posts and tweets before sending them out. You don’t want to distance your fans just because you’re having a bad day.

Branding Tip #2: Establish Your Twitter Handle

Twitter is a great branding tool that lets you send out short messages to your followers. You can use it to comment on current events, mention upcoming promotions for your business, or just make random observations about the world.

Justin Bieber has the world’s most popular Twitter account. That’s partially because he’s one of the world’s most popular entertainers. Give the young man some credit, though. He uses the Twitter machine to deliver positive messages daily. He releases info about his own work, but he also promotes other stars and lesser-known artists.

Even if you’re not a fan, following his Twitter feed will show you how to use the platform well.

Branding Tip #3: Register Your Own Name as a Website Domain

Having your own domain name makes it easier for you to separate yourself from similar entrepreneurs. Many people use their websites to showcase their careers. You can also use it to help people connect to the other platforms that you use, like Facebook and Twitter.

You don’t have to spend a ton of money registering a .com domain. For example, the popular Pastor Ed Young uses a .info page that provides information about himself and his work. It’s basically a comprehensive biography of his work and life.

He also has a .com page that emphasizes his entrepreneurial activities, such as book sales and speaking tours. That’s important, but his personal page offers straight-forward branding that avoids direct advertising.

Branding Tip #4: Update Your Blog Frequently

Your blog gives you a chance to talk about any topic that interests you. You’re not limited to 140 characters like you are with Twitter. Plus, you can use your blog content to push readers towards your static webpage.

Like any other type of branding, make sure you use a consistent voice that describes the world from your point of view.

Branding Tip #5: Use Social Media to Get More Followers

Currently, Facebook has more active users than any other social media platform. Having a personal page that’s separate from your business page will let you keep in contact with your fans and colleagues.

Facebook is a great tool because it can help you attract fans for your other social media pages and websites, too. Post YouTube videos, blog entries, and Twitter messages to Facebook to reach more people.

What other branding tips should entrepreneurs follow? Have you found online platforms that you like more than those mentioned above?

Author’s Bio: Ava is a freelance writer who resides in Tampa, FL. She likes to travel, workout and spend time with the people she loves.

3 Steps to Finding Your C-Spot

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I’m talking about blogging, people.

Your C-Spot is your creativity spot, your happy place, where you feel your flow, mojo, juices, ideas, you get the picture.

Sometimes it feels as though great writing is like lightning in a bottle–fleeting and electric. But I think you can do some specific things to capture the lightning.
Writing is like capturing lightning in a bottle

This is our homework assignment for the coming week.

Step One – Find the Perfect Time of Day to Create

Let’s use a sample writing prompt (in case you need one). Write for 30 minutes on the subject of “what I learned from my first job that I’m still using today.” Liz has written some inspiration for finding your writing voice. When you’re ready:

  • Day 1, write first thing in the morning, right after you eat breakfast.
  • Day 2, write in the afternoon, after you’ve already gotten your non-writing tasks done.
  • Day 3, write just before bedtime, when it gets quiet in your house.
  • BONUS Day, if you normally write during the week, try a weekend (or vice versa).

Take note of how your “flow” feels in each time-frame. Was it easy to write, or did you stare at the screen for a bit?

Step Two – Find the Perfect Physical Location to Create

Using the same writing prompt (substitute your second job), choose three different locations where you can write. Try your dining room table, your desk at work, in bed with your laptop, out on the porch, wherever you feel comfortable.

Did this affect your writing?

Step Three – Add Ambiance for Creative Flow

Some people need to have music playing in the background, and some need to write in absolute silence. Using what you already know about your style, experiment a bit with your writing environment. Light candles, turn the TV off or on, put on noise-canceling headphones, try writing with pen and paper instead of a keyboard…go crazy.

How did that work? Did changing the ambiance change your attitude? Did it spark new ideas?

At the end of the experiment, you can try mixing and matching your time of day, physical location, and ambiance to find your perfect “C-Spot.”

Want to share yours?

Author’s Bio: Rosemary O’Neill is an insightful spirit who works for social strata — a top ten company to work for on the Internet . Check out the Social Strata blog. You can find Rosemary on Google+ and on Twitter as @rhogroupee

Image: Flickr CC