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Archive for October, 2011

How to Blog for Business

Every month, on average, 550K people globally and 49.5K people in the U.S. use Google to ask “how to blog for business”. Clearly there are a lot of people looking into this, but I suppose the more important question is why should you create and keep up a blog for business? After all, as a business owner you have a lot of things you have to do already and blogging takes time.

Blogging or blog marketing should be part of your overall marketing strategy. According to eMarketer, 39% of U.S. companies already use blogging as part of their marketing strategy. Does that mean you have to? No. But it does make you wonder why so many people are doing it and if it isn’t a good thing to consider. I’m sure most people think it will take too much time, but read on and see if you think it is worth the effort for your small business.

Why do 39% of companies already use a blog for business? Here are a few interesting facts taken from Hubspot and Jupiter Research:

* 65% of daily internet readers, read blogs daily
* 46% of internet users read more than one blog per day
* Blogs help people narrow choices and influence buying decisions for products and services
* Companies that blog have 55% more website visitors

There are many more statistics, but blogs drive traffic to your website and help customers to make product and services decisions. Also, if you host your blog on the same site as your main website and you blog once or twice a week, you will have a consistent flow of new quality content on your website which is something search engines love.

So what are the steps to get going on your blog for business?

1. Decide on the goals and target audience for your blog. Goals could be to increase your Google ranking to drive more people to your website, increase brand awareness, to build customer community and loyalty, or to establish yourself as an expert (on the product you sell or service you provide). Your audience is who you want to read your blog. This is would typically be prospects and customers if you are creating a blog to help maximize your business.

2. Create your own blog website or have someone create one for you. If you are a small or midsize business owner, you may want to have someone set up your blog for you so that you can focus on running your business. There are many options, but if possible you should look into hosting it on your website. Also a part of creating a blog is getting it found by search engines and people, so be sure to discuss this with whoever implements your blog.

3. Decide how often you should blog and create an editorial calendar to keep you on track. Blog posts (entries) are typically 500-700 words and should not be shorter than 350 words or you may get penalized by Google. How often to blog is really up to you, but to keep your readers interested and coming back for more, try to add new content no less than twice a week.

4. Start writing. Review your goals and make sure you are addressing them. Provide compelling and rich content. Draw your audience in with your titles and keep them interested with insights into your industry or business. A large part of blog marketing is about engaging your audience – you want them to comment on what you write and come back for more. Remember, a blog for business should be fun, so have some! And do not get discouraged when people don’t just show up. At first no one will be reading your blog but you. Invite your customers via your email list, keep up the good content, and use good search engine techniques and people will come. You might also want to consider putting your articles on an article directory like EzineArticles. That made a big difference in my article readership.

That should help with the how, but on the “what to write” you can always get ideas by looking at what is going on in your industry and/or business and discuss that. If you are a restaurant owner, perhaps you have a great new seasonal menu you’d like to share, a new recipe, or is there a new food trend that’s interesting? Or if you are in retail, what’s new? What’s the newest toy or product on the market? You can also use the blog directory on Google. Simply Google some keywords from your industry, such as “photography” or “beauty products” and on the left side of the Google page, click on blog. You can look at what others are saying to get ideas, but for goodness sake make sure to add new, fresh content or a new perspective.

Does blogging take effort? Yes it does, but with some effort and creativity, you will see that a blog for business can make a difference and help you reach your marketing goals.

These days, building websites is something that almost anyone can do. There are many tools available across the web to help people who have no background in web design or development build good looking websites quickly and easily. For instance, Webs.com and WordPress.com are both websites that allow a user to build a beautiful website or blog for free without having any previous knowledge of web languages, such as HTML, CSS, PHP, etc.

However, if you’re like me, there’s something about your brain that makes you a little bit more curious than this. Personally, I want to know the inner workings behind a website and the code that makes it run. I’d like to be able to build something from scratch rather than use the building blocks that someone else is providing.

Well, the good news is that for people like you and me, there are plenty of resources available that start from square one with web design. W3Schools.com is one of my favorite resources, and it provides beginner, to intermediate, to advanced info and tutorials for anyone to read and learn from. If you’re planning on taking up website design and development as a hobby, it is good place to start because you can learn at your own pace and the lessons take you from the fundamentals to the more advanced tricks of the trade.

Tutsplus.com is also another great website that you might want to look into, although a lot of the tutorials and articles provided are for individuals with more advanced knowledge. This might be the places to go once you’ve finished several of the lessons and tutorials provided by Tutsplus.com, and when you have also decided to invest in some basic software that will help you with your work.

Speaking of which, there are so many design and development applications and programs out there today, which makes it really hard to decide on what to use. Especially if you are going with a paid app or program, it is important to do some background research before making any purchase. Oftentimes, paid apps or programs will offer potential customers a free trial period, which usually consists of 15 to 30 days. As a casual hobby, this can help you decide whether or not the purchase will be worth it to you in the long run. But hey, if it makes working easier and more enjoyable for you, I say go for it.

If paid apps and programs don’t sound like something you would be interested, you’re in luck. There are many free, albeit less feature rich and polished, programs and applications available for junior and casual web designers. In fact, some free utilities are so functional and well built that even seasoned, professional web designers and developers still use them. For instance, at the last Colorado web design company I worked for, we used Cyberduck, which is a free FTP utility, and the GIMP, which is a free photo editing tool with capabilities almost akin to Photoshop. If you think about the fact that Photoshop will cost you between $400 and $600 depending on which version you purchase, going with the GIMP or another free photo editing tool sounds pretty appealing.

Wherever you go for information and tutorials and whatever tools you decide to use, always remember to keep things fun and enjoyable. If you aren’t doing this kind of work professionally, then the only compensation you’re getting from it is your love for your work. Once you get adept enough, I would suggest asking family and friends if they could use your skills: it’s a good way to get experience and even more fulfillment out of what you’re learning and doing.