Share Your Blog Posts with Social Media

As a blogger, there are two primary ways to get traffic to your blog — Google search engines and social engagement. With SEO traffic, you are working to outshine other blog content so that 

Google will push your post up to the first page of search results.  Social sharing is a bit more fickle, but can also provide lasting impact (especially on Pinterest). Let's work on making your posts as “shareable” as possible.

Click to Tweet

Think about how often you sit on Twitter and wish you could be intelligent or funny or interesting but nothing comes to mind? When you add tweetables to your content, all your reader has to do is hit a button and you’ve done all the hard work for them! Click to Tweet is available free!

Sharing buttons

Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google Plus, and LinkedIn all have their own styles. When you place a sharing button that is customized for that platform, you are not only making your post look good, you are making your reader look good when he/she shares it.  Free sharing buttons are available from multiple online companies.

Tips on How To Find & Work with a Blog Designer

1. Know your final product’s desired capabilities.  It’s important for you to know what you expect your blog to be capable of in the end.  If you want a blog that looks and functions like a website, you should probably research designers who know how to do that. Don’t commit or put down a deposit until you know the designer can execute what you want.
2. Take your time and do your research.  It is never good to rush into a design with someone.  Take your time researching and browsing their website.  But if you have a deadline, don’t wait until the last minute! It can be difficult to work under pressure as a designer – they might not be able to make “that” connection immediately with you.

Some Blogging Advice...

Blogging isn’t easy; it requires diverse skills to publish quality content on a regular basis. The reality is that most bloggers or businesses start with the idea “I’m going to create a blog.” Therefore building the blog becomes the end in itself. Like a more traditional marketing campaign, you build the blog, put some content on it, and you think you’re done. The reality is that your blog isn’t a field of dreams where, if you build it, readers will come. More continuous effort is needed to transform your blog into a quality content entity. One of the biggest reason blogs fail is that the blogger just stops before the blog starts to yield measurable results in the form of branding, thought leadership, lead generation and sales.

The #1 best piece of blogging advice: Keep blogging. (Need help? Here are 30 blogging tips.) It’s that simple. Just keep doing more of what you’ve been doing.
Why should you bother to continue blogging? 68% of marketers plan to invest in blogging in 2014 according to Social Media Examiner’s Social Media Marketing Industry Report. So keeping your current blog going gives you an essential advantage – blog longevity.
- See more at: http://heidicohen.com/blog-longevity-tips/#sthash.lDEHPIAs.dpuf

The #1 best piece of blogging advice: Keep blogging!  It’s that simple. Just keep doing more of what you’ve been doing. Why should you bother to continue blogging?  68% of marketers plan to invest in blogging in 2014 according to Social Media Examiner’s Social Media Marketing Industry Report. So keeping your current blog going gives you an essential advantage – blog longevity.

Use your existing blog to continue building authority with a set of readers, on Google and on social media.

The key to blog longevity:

What are Your Blogging Resolutions for 2015?

Well here we are again, folks – the start of a new year. It's 2015 and generally it's the time of the year when we’re bursting with motivation and promises to not repeat the mistakes of the past.  Spend some time thinking about what your priorities will be for the space, your blog, and your work habits this year. Namely: use my time more wisely, slow down and focus more, and remember to always be useful!


Happy New Year! Here’s to all your successes!

Blogging 101: Write Great Content

In 1996, Bill Gates famously published an article entitled “Content is King“. He rightly believed that, like television, the big money was in content.  Blogs live and die by their content. If you want to develop a successful blog, you will need to focus on publishing high quality content on a regular basis. It is therefore in your interest to improve your craft.

• Spend time improving your writing skills
• Proofread your articles to ensure that there are no grammatical errors or spelling mistakes
• Be honest in your writing and give your opinion on issues you feel strongly about
• Be original – Do not try and imitate someone else and attempt to be something you are not
• Learn from the best – Follow other bloggers and look at what they do well and adapt it into your own writing style

The key is to give value to readers. You can do this through reviews, tutorials, news, and views. If you can help a reader in some way, they will be grateful and more likely to subscribe to your future articles.

The 10 Commandments of Blogging

It is almost a new year. You have another year to achieve your business and blogging goals. There are many things you will need to do this year, but there are a few things you must do to get the most out of your blog. Let's call them commandments. 

1. Thou shalt write every day.
Words are your hammer and nails. Know how to use them, and they will build your blog and business. The only way to master writing is to write a lot, so set aside time every day to write a few paragraphs. Over time you'll find your style and voice.
2. Thou shalt publish once a week.
I've neglected this commandment before and suffered. A blog is a living organism, and you must feed it with new content. A blog without fresh content will be ignored by readers and Google, drying up your traffic, leads and sales. Your traffic will increase as you post more frequently. Be careful to balance frequency with quality. No one will return to a blog with shoddy content.
3. Thou shalt build an email list.
You must identify readers who want a deeper relationship with your content. These readers will become sharers, leads and sales. Even if you don't plan to sell anything to them, collect their email addresses. Your email list is your first and most important business asset. 

Blog Posting Services

Blog posting not only helps bring natural, organic traffic directly to your site, it also helps with your site's search engine results page (SERP) as well. Of course, the higher your website ranks in those results, the more likely searchers are to click your link. That's why high placement is imperative.

The way blog posting services work is to hire a professional writer (us)  to create quality content that is relevant to your site. Using relevant keywords in the article as anchor text with backlinks to your website, the articles are then submitted to blog sites. When readers click on the embedded links, they will be directed to your website, thereby increasing traffic. These backlinks will also be recognized by search engines, which will help boost your site's ranking in the search engines exponentially.

Blog Designs 4 Less provides professional blog posting services in addition to a number of other services which will greatly enhance your website's search engine ranking and overall visibility. We take a multifaceted approach to achieving the desired results, which begins with a detailed analysis of your website. This analysis will determine your targeted keywords which we will use to create high quality content that is relevant to your website. 

Blog Posting Service FAQs:

Benefits of Blogging for Home Businesses

Blogging provides several benefits for home businesses or online businesses on restricted budgets. Here is Why:

• Blogging can provide a great forum for a small or home business owner to discuss their products, services or industry in a straightforward, easy-to-understand manner.
• Blogging offers small business owners a very accessible promotional tool for upcoming events or other noteworthy goings-on.
• Blogging provides a platform for a home business owner to become viewed as an expert on the topics at hand.  Business owners are experts on their products or services and there is nothing wrong with them playing this fact to their advantage. If the knowledge is there, leveraging it is simply smart.
• Blogging opens the door for small business owners to directly engage clients, customers or readers. The simple beauty of blogs is that most of these tools are interactive. This means readers or clients can leave comments or even ask questions directly, which the writer or writers of the blog can then answer.  This is a fantastic way to develop rapport and most especially credibility. 

What does Blogging Provide to Small Business?

• Once we get your blog started, blog software is easy to use. Simply write your thoughts, link to resources, and publish to your blog, all at the push of a few buttons.

• If you cannot afford a website and a blog, blogging is a low-cost alternative to having a web presence. For small business owners without the time to learn web html or the money to hire a website designer/developer, blogging offers an inexpensive method to get your company's name out on the Internet.

Create a Business Plan for your Blog

Do you have a business blog or are you ready for us to design one for you? Are you ready to start publishing blog posts, but don’t know where to start?  Before you start a blog to support your business, you need a comprehensive plan!

We'll show you how to create a business blogging plan in six easy steps and we will be there along the way to make it happen successfully!

10 Reasons to Start a Blog

Blogging is becoming more and more popular everyday. Should you join the blogosphere? Take a look at this list to help you make your decision about blogging.  If you decide it is time for you to start blogging, give us a call to get you started!

1 . To Express Your Thoughts and Opinions

You have something to say, and blogs provide a place to say it and be heard

2 . To Market or Promote Something

Blogging is a great way to help market or promote yourself or your business, product or service.

3 . To Help People

Many blogs are written to help people who may be going through similar situations that the blogger has experienced. Many parenting and health-related blogs are written for this purpose.

How to Write a Blog Post

• Brainstorm ideas based on the topic and/or title in the editorial calendar or a new idea that’s come up for one of your existing themes (categories). Sketch out a rough outline of the post, including possible subheadings and main points.

• Make an outline. Make sure you get all of your ideas down on paper so you don’t forget anything.

• Research your topic online to add relevant links, facts, stats and photos to your post.

• Polish and finish the draft of your post, including the photo(s), as well as all of the promotional text it needs (i.e., the post excerpt/summary) and teaser messages you’ll use on each social media platform.

• Proofread your post for typos, grammatical errors and readability.

• Load your article text, links and photos to your blog platform. Include keywords from the article in the image “alt” text, optimize the post for search engines and schedule the post to publish on the right day at the right time.

• Promote your post on social media and notify anyone you mentioned in the post. Generate engagement as you monitor and reply to responses, comments and shares.

What is Blogging?

What is Blogging?  Blogging is the act of posting content on a blog (a Weblog or online journal) or posting comments on someone else's blog.

Why Blogging is so Popular?
Blogging is very popular today because it allows people to interact with each other. Blogging has also become a popular search engine optimization (SEO) tool because search engines like Google and Yahoo know that a blog is frequently updated with content or visitor comments, so their spiders visit blogs frequently looking for new content to include in their index.

Additionally, blog content can be delivered automatically via electronic RSS (Really Simple Syndication) data feeds. Visitors subscribe to a blog's feeds in order to stay up to date with content that's being posted on subjects that interest them. Blog feeds are then read by what's known as blog feed reader software, widely available for free, so users can scan for recent blog posts of interest on the blogs to which they subscribe.

Using Blogger for your Organization's Website

Blogger is a hidden gem in the area of website development, providing advanced services for customers at a greatly reduced cost. Behind every Blogger blog is built-in Content Management System (CMS) functionality which provides for most customer needs where a unique CMS is unnecessary. 

With the added benefits of Google-backed hosting, built-in security and an easy to use editor, it further lowers the learning curve for any customer's management of their site while being feature rich, intuitive, and customizable. As these services are provided by Blogger without cost, there is already a significant return on investment before any custom templating or other advanced development services are required.

Blogger can easily be used to create the “standard” 5 page corporate website, but a Blogger solution can also be used to great effect to engage a company's customers and fans. Using the native blogging functionality, it can alert your customers to new products, services and events, establish you as an expert through informative articles, showcase your achievements, and even make your business more approachable by highlighting your friendly and knowledgeable employees.

How to Increase Traffic on Your Website by Blogging

Blogging can be an ideal way to increase the amount of traffic your website receives. In addition to providing your audience with interesting or useful information that will bring back repeat business or visits, blogging can largely increase the amount of indexed pages and keyword usage on your website; allowing search engines to rank your website higher in search engine results. Read the steps outlined below to learn how you can increase traffic to your website by blogging on a regular basis.

1.Determine the keywords and phrases that bring visitors to your website. When you write blog posts that contain keywords that are relevant to your industry or business, the keyword density on your website will increase and result in more visitors.

2. Write blog posts that contain your main keywords. For example, if you run a business selling coffee, and your main keywords are "coffee" and "coffee beans," blog about different types of coffee beans, recipes that include coffee, how to grind coffee beans, and more.

3. Publish blog content on a consistent basis. The frequency at which you publish new blog posts can vary depending on the nature and size of your business, your writing style, and how often breaking news updates occur in your industry.

Get Your Business Online for $100

From a small lawn care business to a banking institution, in this day and age, it is imperative that you have some sort of online presence.  People are online looking for services and products and if your business is not online, you are losing customers.  Period!

This is where we come in… we have years of experience building web/blogs and submitting companies to all widely used free sites available on the internet.  We will get your business online for $100.  The ROI for putting your company on the internet is huge!  You would be making a huge mistake if you did not look into this opportunity today!

Here are 10 Reasons why your business needs a blog:

1.     Small businesses with blogs generate 126% more leads

2.     A business with a blog has 434% more indexed pages

3.     Companies that blog have 97% more inbound links

4.     B2B marketers using blogs generate 67% more leads

Reasons Why Small Business Owners Should Blog in 2014

Reasons Why Small Business Owners Should Blog in 2014

1. Best sales tool – A blog works for you 24/7/365, never calls in sick or takes a vacation. It also never flirts with the lady in accounting.
2. Share you expertise – A blog is an excellent platform to showcase your knowledge and expertise. The ultimate positioning tool.
3. Answer questions – A blog is an excellent place to answer any/all questions you’re received in the past from customers and/or prospects.
4. Forces creativity – Being consistent with your content marketing strategy forces you to be creative with what to write.

Why Should I Start a Blog for My Business?

Blogging is one of the most valuable tools that businesses have to engage with customers and ultimately make their lives easier. If you’re not blogging, it’s time to get started or get left behind. If you need a bit of inspiration, here are 19 reasons (in no particular order) why your business should be blogging.

Why Should I Start a Blog for My Business?

1. A blog is a simple, easy-to-use platform for connecting with and sharing timely and relevant information with customers. It’s your direct communication channel.
2. Your blog fuels SEO. Search engines love valuable content and will reward you for it.
3. You don’t have to be a professional designer.  Trust us! We’re writers and designers.
4. 60% of businesses who blog acquire more customers, according to a recent HubSpot survey.
5. Your blog is the heart of all of your content marketing efforts. It’s fodder for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, email newsletters, e-books, etc.
6. It gives your company a voice. A blog creates a place to talk about new products, or services, comment on timely news topics or market trends, and share company initiatives beyond your website. It’s also the place let your brand’s personality shine and show people what you’re all about.
7. Blogs share your expertise. How else will you position yourself as a subject area expert and thought leader?
8. A blog creates a two-way conversation with customers, prospects and industry peers. It encourages interaction, comments and feedback. Make sure you reply to all comments!
9. It can be fun. Blogging can be energizing, stimulating, and something you look forward to.
10. Blogging makes you think…about newsworthy topics, your industry, your customers and the world around you.
11. A blog keeps you focused on your content marketing strategy. You must create a schedule and stick to it to continuously deliver purposeful content.
12. It creates free PR. Business bloggers are often interviewed by journalists as industry experts. Get some press!
13. A blog builds confidence, relationships and sales. Customers will look to you as a reliable resource for information on your industry; then come to you to buy.
14. Blogging sharpens your business focus. To create a blogging strategy you must define who you are blogging for and why. A blog with no focus attracts no readers.
15. Helps you stay ahead of the curve. You have to stay on top of news, trends and competitors to be a successful blogger. It helps you be a leader, not a follower.
16. You can tell your brand story. A blog is a great place to offer more insight into your company, philosophy, employees, and ideas. Tell your customers why you’re in business and how you can help them.
17. Blogs are cost-effective marketing investments. Every post you publish is a long-term asset that helps build brand awareness and promote your expertise, products and services.
18. Gives you insight into your audience. Blog analytics allow you to track readers, click-through, popular topics, shares and comments. You can even tell what day of the week your visitors prefer to stop by.
19. Blogging is inspiring. You’ll start to see ideas all around you..talking with friends and colleagues, watching movies, reading, and just walking down the street.

Personal Blog Design Services

Personal blogs (and websites) are becoming increasingly popular. They can be used effectively for personal interests, job searches, personal branding, and just for communicating with friends and family.

These personal blogs can often serve as a creative outlet and allow the site owner more freedom than they would have with a website that is tied to their business. Personal blogs also allow the owner to change directions easily if their interests or purpose for the site changes at some point in the future.

We can get you started on your blog and teach you how to maintain it.  Give us a call or send us an email to discuss today.

Benefits of Blogging - Infographic

5 Tactics to Promote a Business Blog

Relevant, Consistently Updated Content + Flawless Technical Functionality & User Experience = Perfect Blog Launch.  What’s missing from the equation above? You guessed it: blog promotion.
Creating a glitch-free blog with informative content means next to nothing without attracting readers.
Start promoting your blog today with these five effective tips:

1. Involve influential industry bloggers.

By linking to popular blogs, you can gain the attention of both the influential blogger and his or her readers.  But your blog won’t be the only one to benefit. You’ll be giving the other blog a little link juice – and be paying them a compliment at the same time.
Try out a few of these ideas for leveraging other blogs:

• Create a post around an interesting concept published by an influential blogger: Be sure to attribute the information to the blogger and link to his or her post. And don’t forget to offer additional unique insight to make the post your own.
• Interview an influential blogger and turn it into a Q&A post: That blogger is sure to link to your post, and his or her readers are likely to visit your blog as a result. Side benefit: Including the insight of a thought leader will help position you as a thought leader as well.
• Create a list of influential blogs: Include popular blogs from your industry, and include a link, short description and even a screenshot. Online Marketing Blog has successfully done this with its BIGLIST of online marketing blogs. Publish a blog post each week highlighting one or two new blogs to promote the list and acquire another link to the list.

2. Promote your blog via social media.

If your organization already has a solid presence on Twitter, Facebook or other social media channel, leverage your followers or fans to promote your new blog.  For example, when a new post goes live, create a short tweet with a link back to the post – and provide the link on your Facebook fan page.
A few tips to keep in mind:

• Whenever possible (we know how quickly 140 characters can be used up!), include the blog name in tweets and other social media messages.
• Auto-feed new posts to your social media accounts with tools like FeedBurner. But if you choose this option, make sure your headlines are as compelling as possible for social media.
• Maximize promotional efforts by asking employees to add the blog URL to their signatures and personal social media accounts. Employees can also re-tweet posts that they find interesting.

3. Create “link-bait” posts and “sticky” headlines.

Creating compelling headlines or posts that resonate with social web users is another way to garner attention for your new blog.

Try some of these ideas:

• Write counter-intuitive posts – i.e, “The 10 Worst Online Marketing Ideas” or “The 5 Quickest Ways to Get Caught in the Spam Filter.”
• Incorporate celebrities into posts (if appropriate for your industry) – i.e., “Top 10 Celebrity Tweets of the Week”
• Leverage the sticky headline formula, “number + adjective + sticky message” – i.e., Lee’s recent post, “10 Must Read Tips to Start a Small Business Blog” (see image below)

• 4. Promote the blog on your corporate website.

  It’s important to gain some valuable real estate on the homepage of your corporate site – particularly in the early stages of getting a new blog up and running. Create a button with a link to the blog to appear on the homepage, or at the least provide a link to the blog in the nav. Blog Design 4 Less does a good job of promoting its blog on the homepage of its corporate website.

• 5. Promote the blog offline.

  For all of the online channels available to promote your blog, there are just as many offline channels to leverage. Don’t limit yourself to the online world. Instead:
  
• Add your blog URL to business cards.
• Promote your blog at industry events.
• Get print publications to pick up blog posts.
• Use word of mouth to let customers and business partners know of the new blog.
• Include the blog URL in the boilerplate of press releases (and in online releases, too).

Of course, these five tips are just a few of many ways to promote and market business blogs. Whatever promotional efforts you choose, look for tactics that will help you reach business goals whether they are increasing awareness, garnering buzz in the media or driving additional website traffic.

Our Blog Designing Services

Blogs are used for different reasons. You may use a blog as an online venue for self-promotion, business promotion, to promote an event or support a cause. The possibilities are endless!

To get the best out of your blog, you need great content. Content is always king. But great content is not enough. The design of your blog needs to be professional and user-friendly, with the content properly arranged, categorized, and customized.  This is where we come in.

We do our blog design and development using the best Content Management System (CMS): Blogger.  If you need a Blogger theme design, we will create a custom-designed theme according to your requirements.

Do you want visitors to stay and read your content? Your website needs to be visually pleasing and attractive and the information easy to find. You don’t just need a lot of graphics; you need the best color combination and layout for what you are trying to say.

Our experienced designers and developers can put together a professionally-designed blog utilizing the best available plugins and widgets to make sure your every need is met.

We design blogs with social media integration, allowing visitors to easily share about you on social networks. We can even help you with search engine optimization (SEO).

Why wait? You can get a quote and consultation for free. We will make your blog/website outstanding.

8 Ways to Make a Blogger Blog Look and Act Like a Website

Does your Blogger blog look too "blog-like" for your tastes? Here are some tips to make a Blogger blog look and feel more like a full-service website:

1. Buy a custom domain name and point your account to it. 

Instead of having your URL be www.yourwebsite.blogspot.com, you can have your URL be a more professional www.yourwebsite.com. You can buy a custom name either at a domain registration site or through Blogger (for less than $10 a year). Either way, set up the name by going to Settings --> Publishing ---> Publish on a custom domain. You can choose either to register with Blogger or you can use another registration site (if you do, follow the "Switch to advanced settings" instructions).

2. Play with the advance layout options to customize the look of your site.
Blogger has a fair variety of templates for your site. They aren't as snazzy as Wordpress templates, especially the premium (paid ones), but they are fully customizable. Here are three easy things to do:

• Add a custom header.  At the "Layout" page, click on the Header box and add your own custom header image.
• Add a custom background. Go to "Template," click "Customize," and pick a basic template to start. Click the "background" link to add a custom background. 
• Add custom details. Go to "Template," click "Customize," and start playing with all the details of each element of your blog. Here's an example of changing the various colors of links:

Before you hire a blog designer...

Know What You Want Your Blog To Do

Give some thought as to the functionality of your website. Do you want your readers to be able to search your content with a simple search box?
Or can you offer something more?
If you are a food blogger, you might want to give some thought to recipe search.
Or maybe you have a product you’re selling on Etsy. Can you highlight your store using something more than simply an Etsy widget in your sidebar? Being able to articulate what you want your site TO DO is critical. Don’t worry about whether you know the name of a particular plugin. Your blog designer can research a solution for you.

Ask the Right Questions

Never apologize for questions that you might have. It’s far and away better to get everything answered up front, than it is to remain silent and hope for the best.
Here are some questions to consider:

• What is your designer’s background? Do they have a degree in art/programming, or are they self taught? How long have they been doing this?
• Do they do their own illustration or will they be using Clipart?
• Will you own any and all art created, or will there be limited licensing?
• Can they provide references to past clients?
• What is their turnaround time?
• Do they ask for a deposit? Will you be charged an hourly rate for any changes or edits?

The Power of Blogging for Businesses

This newest web phenomenon can rank your site #1 in search engines, boost traffic and sales, and establish you as an expert in your industry. I'm sure you've heard about one of the biggest things to hit the web in the last few years: blogging.

A "blog" (derived from the term "weblog") is basically just a website with two key differences: First, it's extremely easy to add information to it. A blog is like an online journal, so you just log in, type what happened today, post it, and you're done! Second, you can add a simple little feature that automatically tells a whole bunch of other websites that you've made an update to your blog--every time you make a change.

However, what you may not know is that a blog can also be a very powerful marketing tool for your business, and some people actually earn an income just from blogging alone.

The fact is, blogging is fast becoming an extremely important strategy for any online marketer. An effective blog can:

• drive swarms of traffic to your main website,
• generate more product sales,
• create an additional stream of advertising income,
• be a great customer service tool,
• and much more!

Blogs have an informal, conversational style, and readers can join in by commenting on each post. Blogs can be chatty, informative, opinionated and often humorous, and it's this "human" aspect of blogs that draws many people to them.  But the best part about blogs is how accessible they are to everyone. Blogs are free (or very inexpensive) to set up using services like Blogger (which is what we use)  They're also easy to promote with all the new tools and resources that have been created specifically for blogs.

How You Can Use a Blog to Accelerate Online Success
The fact is, blogs are no longer just online diaries of people's personal lives. Both online and offline businesses can use blogs to take their products and services to a wider audience, increasing their traffic, leads and sales.
Let's look more closely at a few of the extremely powerful ways your business can benefit from a blog. With an effective business blog, you can:

• Humanize your business. Because a blog is much more informal than other websites, you can write posts in your own voice and give your business more of a human face. This helps reassure prospective customers that there's a "real person" behind the website who'll take care of their needs. It also allows you to inject much more of your own personality into your online business than your main sales site could do.
• Improve your customer service. Your blog can act as a kind of interactive FAQ, allowing your customers to submit questions and you to answer them. You can also provide product updates, how-to articles, and other information of relevance to your customers. Prospective customers who see your blog will be encouraged by your commitment to good customer service.
• Give your target market the information they're looking for. With its automatic archiving feature--by date and category--a blog is a fantastic content-management system. It's easy for you to post new information on a regular basis, and it's easy for your visitors to find the information they want. With a well-written, regularly updated blog, you can become a reliable resource in your industry and build a following of loyal readers who depend on your content. These people will be your best potential customers.
• Drive traffic to your sales website. If you already have a website, a blog can give your traffic levels a real boost. For starters, your blog will attract new visitors that you can then redirect to your main sales website through links and special offers. But an even more effective technique is to use strategic keywords and links to specific sales pages to dramatically improve the search engine rankings of both your blog and your main website.
• Build your credibility and establish yourself as an industry expert. You can give your credibility a real boost by regularly posting valuable and relevant information on your blog. It's a great way to establish yourself as an expert in your subject area, and allow your visitors to feel much more comfortable buying from you.
• Promote your products or services. You can actually sell products directly from a blog, or you can use your blog to mention new products and direct visitors to your sales website.
• Generate extra income. There are now several advertising programs available, such as Google AdSense, that allow you to monetize your blog and generate an extra revenue stream.

3 Key Tips for Starting a Business Blog

Excited yet? You should be--blogging's not just a winning strategy, it's also a lot of fun! The beauty of blogging is that you can easily incorporate it into your daily schedule of tasks. You can even blog when you're on the road.  But what does it take to become a really successful blogger?

1. Great content: If your content isn't interesting and relevant to your target market, your blog won't work. It's as simple as that. You'll be surprised, however, how easy it is to find things to write about if you really put your mind to it. It could be news articles about your industry, product updates, interviews, personal insights into topics of importance to your target audience, and much more.
2. Regular updating: I won't lie to you: there are some days when I really find it hard to find the time to post a new article. But if I don't post, no one will come back. It's like subscribing to a daily newspaper but only getting a copy delivered now and then! So post often and your audience will keep coming back. And regularly adding fresh content to your blog also gives you a boost in the search engine rankings.
3. Your own distinct voice: It's important that you write in your own voice. A blog is no place for formality and corporate speak. It's more of a forum, a place where ideas can flourish and topics of current interest can be debated. You don't even need to be a brilliant writer; you just need to be able to relate to your audience and give them good content.

Final Thoughts
Of course, starting a blog is the easy part; turning your blog into a strategic tool that drives traffic and sales to your online business is a completely different matter.  Building a truly effective blog that keeps people coming back again and again takes a lot more than five minutes; it takes time and dedication to develop a blog that keeps your audience coming back for more.  We have the experience and expertise to make your blog successful.

How to Use a Blog to Promote Your Business

Blogs offer an inexpensive and relatively easy way for you to gain visibility for your business, and to interact with your current and prospective customers. Your blog also helps keep your web presence fresh. Even if most of your site has evergreen content, your blog can provide a steady stream of new (and keyword-rich) content that helps draw new visitors and pique the interest of repeat visitors.

When you blog for business, you essentially have a blank slate on which to etch the personality of your company and your brand. Here’s how to use it to the greatest advantage:

Plan Your Content

Your blog has to be current to be valuable. When your most recent post is dated more than a month ago, you’re in trouble. Nip this problem in the bud by creating an editorial calendar. Map out how many posts you’ll do per week, and decide what general topics you’ll tackle. Of course, your calendar doesn’t need to be set in stone. If something interesting or timely comes up, feel free to swap out topics. The calendar will give you something to fall back on when you’re not feeling quite as inspired. And it will hold you accountable to a deadline.

Write About the Super 7

Several types of content are particularly well-suited to company blogs. Remember, you have much more control over the content of your blog than you do via other social media channels. Use it to your advantage with these 7 content strategies:

1. Promote new products and services
2. Position you as an expert (i.e., offering tips, advice, and guidance to readers)
3. Announce new or recently completed projects, launches, etc.
4. Share flattering stories about your company (for example, how you went out of the way to provide great service)
5. Answer customer questions
6. Publicize accomplishments, awards or industry recognition
7. Advertise job openings

Plant Those Keywords

When you’re planning out your content, keep keywords in mind. All content on your blog, from your titles to your tags, should be optimized with keywords. Spend some time researching popular keywords in your industry (Google Insights  is a handy tool for finding good keywords) and sprinkle them liberally throughout your content. For help with keyword research and search engine optimization for your blog.

Submit to Search Engines

Well-placed keywords will get you more clicks–if you’ve submitted your blog to relevant search engines. Submit your blog’s URL to Google, Yahoo,  Bing, and Technorati . In some cases, you’ll need to create a free account to complete the submission process.

Link to Other Blogs

See a post on another blog that you find useful? Talk about it on your blog and post a link to it. Be sure to comment favorably on the original post and include a link back to your blog. It’s a good way to entice readers to check out what you’re saying about the topic. When you link, set a trackback or a pingback. These are special types of links that automatically inform another blog owner that you’ve linked to his/her blog. Usually, a trackback URL to your blog will appear with your comment. Many blogging software's let you set trackbacks fairly easily, or automatically.

Write a Guest Post

Find a heavily trafficked blog that’s related to your area of expertise and offer to do a guest post. Popular blogs are often hungry for fresh voices and perspectives. (As a courtesy, should also extend an offer to the blog owner to write a post for your blog.) When selecting a blog to guest post for, look for ones that concentrate on separate but related fields to yours. For example, if you’re a real estate agent, find a home improvement blog and write a post about the “5 Home Improvement Projects that will Increase Your Home’s Value.”  Make sure to include a trackback (see above) to your blog and website.

Integrate with Other Social Media Channels

Every time you publish a post, put a link to it on all of your social media channels; especially Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Or automate the process by connecting your accounts. (For more about how to do this, join PowerUp; our free email curriculum includes helpful tips on automation as well as overall social media strategy, planning, content and more.)

Market Your Blog

Even after you hit Publish on your business blog, there’s still a lot more work to do. Next, you’ll want to distribute and share it with as wide an audience as possible.

Everyone is using Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn to promote their content. It’s tempting to focus only on these four networks because they have popularity and community numbers on their side.


However, you get a competitive advantage when you share your content on smaller or less well-known networks. These sites often have active, focused audiences and offer less competition for attention, so your content will stand out.

We will find these networks for you as part of our blog design services. 

Key Success Metrics to Your Blogging Strategy

The first step in that process of course is knowing why it is that you’re blogging. This sounds simple, but it’s shocking how many bloggers aren’t clear on the core business rationale behind their blog initiative.

1. Blogging for Content
This is the scenario where you are writing a blog with considerable emphasis on search optimization, attempting to drive traffic to the blog via strategic content creation and keyword inclusion.

2. Blogging for Commerce
Related to the first, but commerce-oriented blogs are more interested in conversion events than in traffic generation. Funneling traffic from the blog to some other Web destination (typically a corporate site or lead form) is the prime objective.

3. Blogging for Community
These blogs seek to guild a consistent readership that interact with the blogger(s) and advocate on behalf of the content on other social outposts.

If you are blogging for content, I see these as your key metrics:

• Total visits
• Percentage of new visits
• Visits from search engines

If you are blogging for commerce, I’d opt for these success measures:

• Average length of stay
• Number of pages viewed per visit (both of these metrics measure depth of engagement, a key consideration when you’re trying to educate a potential customer and get them to take action)
• Referrers from other sites (if there are other sites that are driving significant traffic to your blog, you need to know what they are, to try to replicate that success with other sites of similar type)

If you are blogging for community, I’d pay closest attention to these statistics:

• Repeat visits
• RSS subscribers (repeat visits and subscribers both measure stickiness and consistency, blog elements that build community over time)
• Comments
• Referrers from social outposts like Twitter or Digg

Note that the recommended success metrics are entirely different for each type of blog.   This is especially misplaced with group written blogs, where the broad content focus and inconsistent tonality makes RSS subscription less likely. Imagine subscribing to a magazine that was about tennis one month, and about cooking the next month.

Blogging success is a slow march, not a mad dash. If you create consistently good content, and promote it vigorously, your blog should eventually succeed. But, to ensure you aren’t disheartened in the meantime, select success metrics that are appropriate for your goals.

5 Reasons Why Your Business Needs a Blog!

Are you still not convinced of the value of business blogging? Are you afraid that you will be wasting your time with no real return on your investment of time? Nothing could be further from the truth. The ROI of business blogging is real and it is measurable. Following are five reasons you need to start blogging for your business NOW.

Community Building 
Business blogging allows you to build a community around your business and identify your most loyal brand advocates. Offering frequently updated information on your business blog gives you the opportunity to engage with your brand's customers in the comments section of your blog and form lasting customer relationships with your readers. In addition to your business' niche-specific content, the comments section of your blog is an excellent opportunity to offer ongoing customer support too.

Lead Capture
Offering free downloads relevant to the content supplied on your business blog is a crucial way to capture leads and move potential customers closer to a sale. Not only are you supplying information your readers are interested in, you are growing your brand's reputation as a knowledgeable source of information. By providing helpful information in exchange for an email address, you make it easier for customers to trust your brand authority and your commitment to an informed public. An important caveat; never jeopardize that trust by spamming your list with unwanted emails.

Blogging Forces You to Remain Knowledgeable
An often overlooked benefit to business blogging is that providing content to your customers on a regular basis forces you to stay up-to-date on current trends within your own industry. You can't rest on your past achievements or offer information that is out-of-date as your competition will likely be the first to point out your shortcomings in the comments section of your blog. Remaining focused on changes within your industry helps you to stay on the cutting edge of technology and industry standards. This industry awareness is essential to remaining one step ahead of your competition.

Blogging Feeds Your Social Media Engine
By creating content for your business blog on a regular basis, you are feeding your social media engine. Having fresh and knowledgeable content to share, gives you unlimited opportunities to re-purpose your content in multiple forms. From images with embedded content quotes for Pinterest and Twitter, to Vine videos or Instagram pics related to your blog posts, the opportunities to cross-promote your business blog are only limited by your imagination.

Search Engines Love Fresh Content
In addition to the above-noted reasons for business blogging, a crucial reason you need to be adding fresh information to your company's blog is to remain current for search engine optimization. If you are stuck for blog post ideas, you can post visual elements like info-graphics or videos to your site to improve the odds of potential customers finding your company's information. Providing information that is helpful to your potential customers not only builds your brand authority but it also creates an evergreen link for search engines. Businesses that blog a minimum of fifteen times a month are five times more likely to achieve a sale as compared to businesses that do not blog at all. Can your business really afford to not be blogging?