Posts Tagged ‘blogging’
Do you want people to bookmark your website? By that I mean do you want your website to be a site your customers visit everyday, just to see if anything new has been added? Read on if you are interested in improving your business’s website to have more loyal customers and gain new ones.
Constantly communicate
Entrepreneur.com agrees with me in that blogging everyday should be a no-brainer. If you feel that your homepage should stay the way it is for a while and you have nothing additional you need to add, you absolutely should be blogging everyday. Posting something new and fresh each day will give people incentive to visit your website at frequent intervals. However, you won’t get returning browsers unless you offer something new and exciting with each post. The content you create with blogging and updates should be dynamic, unique, entertaining, valuable, and easy to understand.
Try highlighting a customer every week. Interview them, get some feedback, and then write a post on how your product is continuing to help them. Or talk about how your product got started, what mistakes you’ve made and how you’ve fixed them. There are so many different angles you can take to keep driving customers to your website.
Create a community
If you have dabbled in social media marketing, you understand how important it is to the success of any online location to build a community. Communities have a certain language, people within a community provide information to each other and engage in conversations about certain products and brands. If you encourage a sense of community around your website, you will increase your customer loyalty and provide a sense of belonging to new customers who are considering your product.
Encourage discussion and devote time to ask for feedback and provide answers to those who ask questions. Source people who give you feedback as often as possible. You can even provide an opportunity for customers to submit ideas or designs for your next event or campaign. If you make your customers feel like they are a part of your brand, your customer base will stay strong and continue to grow.
Your small business needs some personality. You need a way to connect with your customers and offer them more than just a product – offer an experience they will remember and refer to others. It is important to develop something unique that makes your small business the one to buy from.
Michael Cage, an avid blogger about entrepreneurship wrote a really great post on his site Entrepreneurs Life, about how blogging can return profits for your business. Although it may seem like a lot of work to keep up a blog, it can be one of the best business decisions you make as a small business owner.
Here is some of Michael’s great advice on blogging for your business:
1. When local retailer’s blog it gives your shop personality.
There’s a business principle that people like doing business with other people, not nameless, faceless corporations. Your blog is your local business’s “name and face,” and gives your customers and clients a way to interact with your business on a personal level. And the more personal they feel their relationship with you is, the more often they’ll chose you over “x retailer” down the road … no matter how cheap or fast or whatever that competitor may be.
2. Introduce new offers, specials and sales on your retail blog.
Instead of waiting until someone is in your doors to tell them about your new new product or service, tell them on your blog and bring them into your business.
For example, you can write a blog post that’s a version of, “The most common question I get asked is _______. So we searched far and wide for (the solution), and narrowed it down to (what you’re selling). Here’s why it’s great. And here’s what you’ll love about it. Come check it out.”
You’ll excite your loyal customers and clients who already know you provide quality products and services. And you’ll make prospects want to work with you because you’ve shown you have their best interest at heart. This is much more effective than the “here’s what we have, take it or leave it” approach most businesses take.
3. Blogging increases referrals and word of mouth marketing.
A viral blog post spreads. Which means word of your business spreads, too. All it takes is one great idea and one rant about it on your blog to increase awareness of your local business. Plus, you can actively encourage referals by making stars of your customers on your blog. For example, highlight a customer who achieved amazing results with something you offer.
When you make a big deal out of someone, they’ll want to make a big deal out of you by referring.
If you have a small business, you probably already understand how crucial it is to have an online presence. Studies have shown how the world of commerce, marketing, and social interaction are all transitioning online, so there’s no reason not to be accessible on the Internet.
Once your online business is set up, you need something to continuously drive traffic to your site. Incorporating a blog into your business website can be one of the best investments you make. While it takes a lot of work and time for the results to show from blogging, the results are definitely worth it.
Why your blog will work
A blog is a low-cost (often free) form of marketing that can produce significant results such as long term relationships with customers and an increase in traffic. When you set up a blog, you can easily (and continuously) update content and publish it for your customers and viewers to see.
By having control over the content, you can update and inform your customers about new products, services, and promotions. Blogs are great because they can spread quickly across the Internet. So long as they have quality information that is worth the reading, you can gain and retain the attention of fleeting Internet browsers.
Blogs are also a great advantage to have when trying to optimize your website for search engines. Blogs are screened much quicker than entire websites by search engines and as long as you have some sort of call to action in your blog posts, it can drive people to your website with established interest.
Blogs also help with establishing customer loyalty. They can be very interactive. For example, a customer can pose a question or request, and you can recognize that in a blog post. This makes that customer feel important and recognized – adding to your credibility and building on your relationship with customers. You can even use blog posts to give your employees some empowerment, have them write posts once in a while so your entire company can be heard.
Do you want to participate in the social media revolution You should. What better way to market your product or service than to engage in the network with the capability of reaching 500 million Internet dwellers at the touch of a button?
Use these steps to begin your social media marketingcampaign.
Step 1 – Perfect Your Website
There are certain things your website MUST have. It must beeasy to navigate – organization is key for retaining visitors. You need ane-commerce page where people can order your product or service safely andquickly. Most importantly however, your copy must be informative, and be filledwith keywords to help your search engine optimization.
Try not to use too many flash players, as search engines donot rank them very high.
Step 2 – Choose Your Channel
While there are literally thousands of different socialmedia networks you have the option to join, choose the ones where you feel youwill actually dedicate time to. Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are the mostrecommended. As for blogging, join multiple blog netoworks like WordPress,LiveJournal, and Blogger. Publish your post to all three blogigng platforms.
Step 3 – Make Friends and Play Nice
If you come crashing into social media with a great salespitch, you may make a few conversions but it is more likely that you are isolatedalmost immediately. There are thousands of spammers out there that use socialmedia as well, try not to sell directly through social media, but begin bynetworking with people and building relationships first, the sales will come.
Step 4 – A Little Goes a Long Way
Try to dedicate an hour or more per day to your social mediamarketing efforts. It is extremely important to continuously join andparticipate in different discussions, respond to comments on your blog post,and simply be a part of the mass conversation that we all know is taking place.
Social media is a great way to drive traffic to yourwebsite. However, in order to begin your social media marketing campaign, youmust have a solid website, join effective social media channels, think of it asnetworking with PEOPLE instead of CUSTOMERS, and participate at least once aday.
Do you want more traffic on your website? How about a few more subscribers every month? Blogs are used for information and interaction, so the most important thing any blogger needs to understand is how to make your blog appealing to your readers.
It is critical to have some kind of hook to catch your readers’ attention at the very beginning of your blog. You need tools and tactics to make your readers want more. While this task may seem obvious, it is difficult to tailor what you’re writing towards what people actually want to read.
Here are 5 ways to make your reader not only interested in reading your blog, but motivated to share it with others through the wonders of social media.
1. Ask a Question
Try opening your blog post with a question, as I did here. In this case, people who are interested in “more traffic” or “more subscribers” will be more inclined to read this blog.
2. Share an Anecdote
A great way to catch your readers’ attention is starting your blog with an anecdote. A short funny story or relevant experience is a very attractive way to help readers relate to your post from the very beginning.
3. Use Imagery
As in any piece of writing, the “show, don’t tell” tactic can be applied to blogging. It is important to make your reader feel as if the post was written for them. By using words like “picture this,” or “imagine yourself…” you can engage your reader into applying what you’re saying into their own lives.
4. Use a Quote
Cite a quote from a famous person. It’s a great way to give your blog importance and relevance. By quoting other people, you can transition from your introduction to your main points while maintaining your readers’ attention.
5. Use Statistics
People listen to facts. It’s as simple as that. Using facts from studies that apply to your post to support what you’re saying.
By using these simple tools, you can hook your readers into reading your blog posts. Eventually you will increase your blog traffic and with interesting blog posts to read, you will increase your credibility.
Having an online business is critical to your success as an entrepreneur. More and more people are turning to the Internet to find information about products, services, prices, and reviews. Engage online and learn how having a productive website for your business can increase your revenue and customer loyalty. Build an internet marketing strategy that works for you.
Here are 6 tips to help your online business succeed.
Step 1. Sell a Solid Product
The best choice in terms of picking a product to sell is something you own or have made. That way you have more control over the distribution, trademarks, patents, or copyrights. If not, be sure to research the most reliable wholesalers available. Buying wholesale from reliable companies is critical for your business success.
Research your target market and have a clear understanding of what your consumers are looking for.
Step 2. Buy your Domain Name
In order to appear higher up on search engines, your URL should be simple, descriptive, and easy to find. If possible, make it the exact same name as your business. Search engines generally rank .com sites higher than .org or .net, if possible, purchase all three domain names and redirect the .org and .net pages to your .com site.
Pay for a 5 year reservation because search engines rank websites that have been or are going to be around for a long period of time. Fly-by-night sites are not ranked very positively.
Having an effective URL will automatically boost your Search Engine Optimization.
Step 3. Create your Website
Keep things simple, concise, and easy to navigate. Use social media marketing by having a Social Media Platform in order to market your business at an affordable cost and interact with your customers. Use relevant keywords and backlinks to help with your Search Engine Optimization.
Step 4. E-Commerce
The fastest and easiest way to set up an online payment program is to use Pay Pal. Any individual with an email address can securely and easily send and receive payments online. Pay Pal has a well-known reputation of having a solid fraud prevention system.
Step 5. Use Search Engine Optimization
Relevant keywords are critical for your Search Engine Optimization, or your page rank within search engines. Try Google Adwords or other keyword testing programs to see what kind of results you might get on search engines with the keywords you have in mind. Google your own company or product and see what kind of words show up the most often.
Step 6. Have a Blog
Blogging is one of the best ways to drive traffic to your site. By blogging, you can insert useful keywords and backlinks. It is a social media marketing strategy that is sure to see results.
If you would like to make your blog famous, popular, or merely visible, there are certain codes of conduct to follow. Many people who give blog writing advice say the same thing. Write properly, communicate, and use search engine optimization.
Here are 10 tips to help you do just that:
1. Write Everyday
The idea is this: the more posts you have, the more interesting you are. In order for your blog to appear relatively high on search engines, you need to write a post at least once a day. While this task may seem daunting for those of us that are spur of the moment writers, the end results are well worth it.
2. Write Well
Use proper grammar and spelling, and double check your work. These simple little things are the key to making your blog credible versus just another post among the masses in the blogosphere.
3. Participate in Discussions
Forums are a great way to learn what people are interested in. Also, you can post links to your blog on a forum so people you’re communicating with can see a bit of your background, and maybe inspire conversation on your blog itself.
4. Use Social Media
First of all it’s free. Secondly, Facebook has over 500 million users, so the chances of your blog traffic increasing are pretty high when you market your blog via social media. Using social media to engage with other people is paramount when it comes to driving traffic to your blog.
5. Use Keywords
Keywords are important for your readers to understand the main topic of your blog. Most importantly though, keywords are for search engine optimization. The more relevant keywords you have in your post, the more likely you are to be noticed and ranked by search engines.
6. Use Links
By linking to other blogs and sites, you inspire communication between your audience, other bloggers, and yourself. It is important to use links to other sites to open up a network of communication and valuable information.
7. Use Tags
Tagging your blog also helps with search engine optimization, also it gives visitors to your site an easier way to filter through blogs. You want to keep visitors interested, not throw them off by having to filter through several different topics.
8. Give Your Blog Link to Everyone
Include a link to your blog on your business cards, email signature, and anything else you might be handing out. It is definitely worth spreading the word about your site any chance you get.
9. Create Backlinks
Backlinks are important for your search engine rankings. To build more backlinks, either link relevant posts to each other, or have multiple blog sites that all link together.
10. Respond to Comments
Your blog is for your readers. So, when people take the time to comment on your content, you must take the time to respond. Not only does it encourage conversation, but it can increase your visibility on the web.
You may be thinking: “This sounds like a lot of work.” You’re right. However, it’s well worth it. If you aspire to make money from your blog, you need the traffic. Driving traffic to your blog will help your search engine optimization and your social media presence altogether.
How to be A Productive Blogger
Posted on: July 23, 2010
If you are an active blogger, you know that it’s difficult enough to maintain concentration as you write. Not only that, but you have to pump out a new blog everyday with quality content an interesting topic. How do successful bloggers avoid falling into the “I’m just going to write this and get it over with” mental trap?
To be a productive blogger, there are certain disciplinary measure you need to take. Follow these steps and watch as your content improves, your search engine traffic increases, and you gain more readership.
Are You Addicted To Your Email?
You could be wasting valuable time by sending or receiving personal email. According to a 2009 Gallup Poll, the average employee spends over 75 minutes per day using office computers for non-business related activity. This does not include an email marketing strategy, strictly personal use.
When it comes to the block of time you designate to sit down and write your blog post, the only reason you should be checking your email is to see if you have any feedback for recent posts that you might be able to include in your new one. Save email for later.
Expound On Your Creativity
Every writer knows what it feels like to be on a creative roll. You feel like you can write forever, in fact you may feel like you can barely type fast enough to keep up with the flowing train of thoughts. If you are ever in a creative think tank, try writing a few additional articles and saving them for later.
There are always some days when you’re feeling the woes of blogger’s block, so you will be grateful to have stashed (quality) articles for days when you need a copywriting break.
Make A Schedule
Yes, we’re writers, some of us love creative chaos and write simply when an idea pops into our heads. Many bloggers have a difficult time writing as per specified schedules.
So, although this may not sound ideal, it works. Create a posting list, with a list of topics and a brief outline of how you want to discuss that topic. This will make writing on schedule without struggling for a topic so much easier.
When you are able to write blogs productively, on an interesting topic, and with quality content, you have the ability to focus more time on gaining visibility and increasing your traffic. Be sure to write with Search Engine Optimization in mind, and spend as much spare time as possible expanding your Social Media influence.
Blogging can be a great tool for online marketing as well as search engine optimization. By inspiring online conversation, or viral marketing, you have the ability to spread your audience reach and start gaining some brand recognition on the Internet.
However, time is of the essence and you probably cannot afford to spend an hour to two hours everyday writing your blog. Daily blogs need to be about 300-400 words, so it should not take up too much time.
For many writers, the actual writing isn’t the difficult part of blogging. It’s coming up with ideas and the ways to make them work together that’s the most difficult.
Here are 5 tips to help you with your ideas and write a blog in 20 minutes or less:
1. Be Inspired
No one can argue that coming up with fresh ideas everyday is difficult. If you’re struggling with inspiration, go to your local news channel site and see what has been happening lately in your field of interest. If they’re covering a controversial Facebook post, or some big-wig in your industry was sentenced to house arrest, you can find it in the news.
News is interesting and fresh. Generally if you find a news piece that interests you, it won’t be difficult to find an angle towards the event that you can use for your blog.
2. Topics Are Everywhere
Keep a notepad with you everywhere you go, in your car or purse. If a topic idea pops in your head, write it down. Having a list of topics will be helpful in that when you have a list of ideas, you can always add to them or change them. Seeing all of your ideas in one place can clear your mind and allow for creative thinking.
3. Use A Deadline
If you sit down and dedicate thirty minutes to writing your blog, without distractions, you will not only finish it, but write a quality piece. Many times bloggers get the itch to walk away from the desk for a while and come back to the piece, this can drag on the process, disrupt the flow of writing, and make it difficult to stay on topic.
4. Print It Out
I’m all for saving trees, but reading something on paper is completely different from reading things on the computer screen. On paper, you’re forced to slow down a little and you will undoubtedly recognize mistakes you may have overlooked onscreen.
5. Use Sections
If you divide your article into sections, it is not only easier for your reader to ingest your article, it makes it easier for you to write. By separating a 400 word article into three 100-word sections with a 50-word introduction and a 50-word conclusion, you’ve broken it down and made it easier to complete. Outlines, bullets, and sections are fantastic ways to crank out an article at top-speed while also staying on topic.
If these tips still don’t help you, do a search and read another blog that gives you a list of ideas to write about. Many will say “write about a color on your desk,” or something completely unhelpful, but it’s worth browsing through. It may even give you inspiration for something else.
If you’re a blogger, then your content is how you attract search engine visitors. So in order to get even more search engine traffic to your blog posts, you’re going to have to take a number of steps to fine tune and perfect their search engine optimization. And even if you aren’t a blogger, it isn’t hard to apply these steps to your own site.
Optimizing your content takes patience and effort. After all, you’re going to need to pay attention to the little details of your post that you usually wouldn’t even think about. If you’re prepared to take extra time during the writing of each of your posts in order to properly optimize them, great! Then we’re on the same level. If you don’t feel like taking the time to increase your search engine rankings, all right, that’s your choice, but it’d be better if you stopped reading right now, so you can save yourself even more time.
If you’re still with me, awesome! Let’s get started with our 5-tip guide:
Write with on-page optimization in mind
While you should always be thinking about catering to your visitors with your blog post, you should also always keep in mind that the posts should be keyword-rich. However, you shouldn’t over do this, as this becomes very repetitive and uninteresting to readers. The point is that your readers want quality content, and you should give it to them, but only in a keyword-rich way so that you can benefit too, from search engine traffic.
Within your page title, be sure to focus mainly on SEO
Your page title doesn’t have to be the same as your post title. Instead, your page title should be keyword rich and should focus mainly on search engine optimization. Usually, your post title doesn’t have these qualities. A good example of an optimized page title is the title of this page: “Blog Post Search Engine Optimization”. It clearly states the most important keywords of this post while still telling the user what it’s about. Still, overdoing the optimization of your page title can really screw up your entire post in the reader’s eyes. “SEO Search Engine Optimization Tips ForSEO” is a terrible page title. If you can’t figure out why, you might want to reread this tip.
Use headings effectively
No blog reader has an attention span of more than a few seconds. Seriously. If your post title won’t attract readers, nothing will. But we’re not talking about post titles, we’re talking about headings. And we’re not focusing too much on readers, but more on search engines. Headings are the “” (1-6) HTML tags, and they could easily be used to influence your search engine rankings. In the eyes of search engines, headings have a lot more importance than regular text. That’s why it’s essential for you to optimize headings in the same way that you would optimize a page title. Take note that the h1 tag, (which shouldn’t be used more than one on ANY page) has the most importance as a heading while the h6 tag has the least.
Bold keywords
Bolding keywords is a similar scenario to making them big headings: as a blogger seeking search engine traffic, making important keywords stand out from the rest of your content is essential to your success. After all, with blog posts having so much content that may not be so focused on keywords, search engines might not know what to rank you high for. Bolding keywords and making them stand out helps solve this problem so that you can increase the search engine traffic coming to your well-written blog posts.
Categorize
It’s always been important to properly categorize each of your blog posts. But this doesn’t just help visitors find what they’re looking for. It also helps you boost the search engine rankings of your content. Ever notice that when a post backlinks to the categories it is in, they aren’t usually nofollow’ed? This doesn’t hinder your search engine rankings, it actually helps them through internal linking and link circulation. What does this mean? The more posts categorized correctly, the better overall search engine rankings of your entire blog.
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