Many business owners in the world today are still trying to grasp the concept of social media and what it can do to help build their brand, as well as extend their customer base and increase customer loyalty. One such method people in all fields-from professional, to academic, to a simple blog-journal-have found useful for achieving their goals is by maintaining a blog.
A blog can be useful in a number of ways: it can showcase your expertise in a certain area, give a name and voice to your business and your products/services; it can provide interesting/important information about your industry to those who read it, and can generally just be a fun way of learning for those who are interested...not to mention, if utilized properly, a blog can increase knowledge of your company and increase web traffic to your main site.
For a small business entrepreneur, maintaining a blog in addition to everything else might seem like an added burden-but when done correctly, you may find blogging to be fun and informative. When creating a blog, it's important to first determine what your overall theme will be: Business advice? Politics? Technology news? Blogs I personally read deal with incorporating the lessons of yoga into one's business ventures, knitting, public relations news, and Chinese philosophy.
Creating well-written content for your blog is a necessity. One suggestion: proofread, proofread, proofread! In my opinion, nothing says 'unprofessional' quite like typos and spelling errors in any written publication. Depending on the theme you've established for your blog, you'll need to generate a list of important keywords-not only will reoccurring words drive your point home to the reader, but it can be useful for search engines that may display your blog. If you're feeling overwhelmed or unsure of what to write, don't worry too much: when beginning your blog, a minimum of one post a week is sufficient, but you'll want to increase the number of posts over time (anywhere from 2-4 posts a week).
The more knowledge you have and the more you learn over time is a resource to be shared with others; if you have important lessons learned, share them on your blog. Personal stories that readers can relate to is a great way of encouraging debate and discussion, and your responses provide a human element that large companies may be lacking. Creating a blog that promotes discussion is also a great way of generating web traffic and creating interest in your business.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Small Business Blog Help - Pages Versus Posts
Content is what it is all about when it comes to your blog. You want to write good content that is useful to your target audience. Content that will pull them into your blog and have them coming back again and again. A new customer of mine is setting up her blog and recently sent me an email asking about the difference between pages and posts and where was the appropriate place for her content.
If you are using WordPress as the platform for your blog, there are two different places to post your content - pages and posts. There are some key differences between these two places and it can sometimes be confusing when you are just starting out with a blog. We will address some of the confusion with pages and posts and discuss when it is best to use one over the other.
Posts - a blog post will appear on the "home" page of your blog. In other words, when someone opens your blog, the first items they see are your posts. By default posts are shown in chronological order, with the most recent post showing at the top. With the latest version of WordPress, you can select a post to always be at the top of all other posts, this is referred to as a sticky post. The steps to make a post "Sticky" are:
Open your post in Edit mode
Under your Publish options to the right you will see Visibility, click Edit
Put a check mark on "Stick this post to the front page"
Update your post.
You can also change the order of your posts with plugins. These are supplemental programs that are free and increase the functionality of your blog.
Here are some other attributes of posts:
Posts are dynamic. They should be updated on a regular basis with new content. They are what will keep your readers coming back for more.
Posts can also be assigned categories. This will allow the ready to see a relationship between your posts and read them as a group.
You can also create tags with posts which will allow search engines to index your posts into topics on which your readers are searching.
Post will also be linked to your RSS feed.
Pages - are separated from your blog post. Where they appear will depend on the theme you have selected for your blog. They could be navigation buttons on your header or listed on the side navigation bars.
What are the attributes of pages:
Pages are static. They remain consistent from day to day. The usually don't change. Examples of pages are an About page that tells about you or your product. A Contact Us page that gives pertinent contact information.
They are not related to categories or tags.
Do not appear in RSS feed.
Pages can have sub-pages. For example your About page could have a subpage for each product or service that your offer.
With this information in mind, you will be in a better position to know where is the best place to place your content within your blog.
If you are using WordPress as the platform for your blog, there are two different places to post your content - pages and posts. There are some key differences between these two places and it can sometimes be confusing when you are just starting out with a blog. We will address some of the confusion with pages and posts and discuss when it is best to use one over the other.
Posts - a blog post will appear on the "home" page of your blog. In other words, when someone opens your blog, the first items they see are your posts. By default posts are shown in chronological order, with the most recent post showing at the top. With the latest version of WordPress, you can select a post to always be at the top of all other posts, this is referred to as a sticky post. The steps to make a post "Sticky" are:
Open your post in Edit mode
Under your Publish options to the right you will see Visibility, click Edit
Put a check mark on "Stick this post to the front page"
Update your post.
You can also change the order of your posts with plugins. These are supplemental programs that are free and increase the functionality of your blog.
Here are some other attributes of posts:
Posts are dynamic. They should be updated on a regular basis with new content. They are what will keep your readers coming back for more.
Posts can also be assigned categories. This will allow the ready to see a relationship between your posts and read them as a group.
You can also create tags with posts which will allow search engines to index your posts into topics on which your readers are searching.
Post will also be linked to your RSS feed.
Pages - are separated from your blog post. Where they appear will depend on the theme you have selected for your blog. They could be navigation buttons on your header or listed on the side navigation bars.
What are the attributes of pages:
Pages are static. They remain consistent from day to day. The usually don't change. Examples of pages are an About page that tells about you or your product. A Contact Us page that gives pertinent contact information.
They are not related to categories or tags.
Do not appear in RSS feed.
Pages can have sub-pages. For example your About page could have a subpage for each product or service that your offer.
With this information in mind, you will be in a better position to know where is the best place to place your content within your blog.
Why Blogging Helps Your Success
I have been blogging from the last couple of months and believe me I am enjoying it. But there are some issues that bothers my mind: is blogging doing any good to society? Or is it just a waste of time? I don't think that it is a waste of time because there are so many Bloggers who not only earning from the blogging but also benefiting the society in their own ways. Also some times the question which bothers my mind! Why I am blogging? Am I blogging for fashion? Or I have got something special to write for my readers? Here is a list of reasons that I feel make me to blog.Â
Here they are:
It's Free: Most of the blogging websites do not charge anything for staring a blog like Google Blogger. In fact you can earn some money from blogging by incorporating advertising programs like AdSense.
Tech Savvy:Â Being a Software Engineer/tech savvy guy I think that you should have presence on the web. Being a software engineer, I have got lot of technical knowledge that I wish to share with the world and nothing better than doing it on your own blog.
Original:Â Do you know what requires to be a good Blogger? You should have the ability to write something original no matter how the readers are going to take it. And I think that I have in me the ability to write something fresh.
Time:Â I have lot of time on my weekends and we usually waste it watching Idiot Box (TV) or doing something else. And I find the blogging an exciting way to enjoy my weekends. Blogging relaxes your mind and provide a sense of satisfaction.
Social Service:Â If somebody benefits from my blog in anyway I think that as a social service. I think that we all should do some kind of social service in a field we are in. Donating money to poor is not only social service; in fact a piece of technical advice could also be a social service.
Money:Â Last but not the least it gives you a chance to add some more money to your pocket. Nothing better than blogging and also earning a fair amount of money and which I think is very important in present days.
Here they are:
It's Free: Most of the blogging websites do not charge anything for staring a blog like Google Blogger. In fact you can earn some money from blogging by incorporating advertising programs like AdSense.
Tech Savvy:Â Being a Software Engineer/tech savvy guy I think that you should have presence on the web. Being a software engineer, I have got lot of technical knowledge that I wish to share with the world and nothing better than doing it on your own blog.
Original:Â Do you know what requires to be a good Blogger? You should have the ability to write something original no matter how the readers are going to take it. And I think that I have in me the ability to write something fresh.
Time:Â I have lot of time on my weekends and we usually waste it watching Idiot Box (TV) or doing something else. And I find the blogging an exciting way to enjoy my weekends. Blogging relaxes your mind and provide a sense of satisfaction.
Social Service:Â If somebody benefits from my blog in anyway I think that as a social service. I think that we all should do some kind of social service in a field we are in. Donating money to poor is not only social service; in fact a piece of technical advice could also be a social service.
Money:Â Last but not the least it gives you a chance to add some more money to your pocket. Nothing better than blogging and also earning a fair amount of money and which I think is very important in present days.
How Can A Sticky Blog Help Bring More Visitors To Your Website?
Not only does your blog need to produce community but it needs to be what is called 'sticky' as well. Stickiness is a word that internet publishers utilize to describe the power for your blog to bring in return visitors.
Let's face it - there are a lot of internet sites out there for individuals to pick from! No matter what subject you choose, there are bound to be oodles of other web sites on the same subject. Your goal ought to be to make your blog stick out and get individuals coming back for more over and over again.
When you produce your blog and your posts, you have 2 Particular groups of individuals you need to be targeting - fresh visitors and old visitors. Fresh visitors need to be able to immediately tell what your blog is all about. This stands for the fact that you need to have a tagline at the top of your blog that explains your focus and main idea. This statement, exhibited below the title of your blog, will provide your fresh visitors an instant snapshot of what you are about and what will be found on your blog. Make the sign up box for your RSS feed stand out and you'll get fresh subscribers.
Your older visitors need to be catered to in addition to the fresh visitors. Keep your Material fresh and update your blog on a regular basis. When you think of it, each and every post you make is a Chance to turn a loss on or continue getting visitors. Blog readers can be fickle.
If you do not furnish them with something intriguing and stimulating to read, they will march on to the next blog on the same subject. You really need to go about each blog post with Exuberance and a plan.
If you think you are able to simply throw a couple of articles up on your blog and be done with it, you're incorrect! Standard web sites with static article pages do not produce community and they do not produce a ready body of buyers. A blogging platform is not just a stand-in for HTML. If you utilize your blog like a regular web site, you're leaving money sitting on the table.
Let's face it - there are a lot of internet sites out there for individuals to pick from! No matter what subject you choose, there are bound to be oodles of other web sites on the same subject. Your goal ought to be to make your blog stick out and get individuals coming back for more over and over again.
When you produce your blog and your posts, you have 2 Particular groups of individuals you need to be targeting - fresh visitors and old visitors. Fresh visitors need to be able to immediately tell what your blog is all about. This stands for the fact that you need to have a tagline at the top of your blog that explains your focus and main idea. This statement, exhibited below the title of your blog, will provide your fresh visitors an instant snapshot of what you are about and what will be found on your blog. Make the sign up box for your RSS feed stand out and you'll get fresh subscribers.
Your older visitors need to be catered to in addition to the fresh visitors. Keep your Material fresh and update your blog on a regular basis. When you think of it, each and every post you make is a Chance to turn a loss on or continue getting visitors. Blog readers can be fickle.
If you do not furnish them with something intriguing and stimulating to read, they will march on to the next blog on the same subject. You really need to go about each blog post with Exuberance and a plan.
If you think you are able to simply throw a couple of articles up on your blog and be done with it, you're incorrect! Standard web sites with static article pages do not produce community and they do not produce a ready body of buyers. A blogging platform is not just a stand-in for HTML. If you utilize your blog like a regular web site, you're leaving money sitting on the table.
5 Ways How Perfect Blogging Helps Perfect Businesses
Blogging have come up as a great way of expanding ones business through the net and in a much cheaper way. Here are some of the best 5 points I can make out from my experience that are stated to be needed for "PERFECT BLOGGING FOR PERFECT BUSINESS".
1- Best and Easy way to Advertise - Blogging has become very useful and one of the best way to advertise your business freely, independently, cheaply and globally. There are various free platforms like Blogger, WordPress, TypePad and others which offer their free hosting for the starters and as you want to grow more and more you can start-up with your own hosting and domain which will make you more comfortable with your businesses with Perfect Blogging. Business people are giving more and more time to bogging as their perfect marketing solution and are attaining great results through it.
2- Cheap way to Advertise- Since blogging is an online way to advertise it is comparatively very cheap than other resources of advertising your business and getting more exposure. You can easily expand your business through the word of blogging with your minimum expenses and as you see your business growing with your growth in blogging you can also hire some of the experts and also some social media marketing firms that can further grow your business with their knowledge and experience in the field.
3- Blogging Meant for all- Blogging can be compared to a tree which provides shade and comfort for all. Blogging is meant for every one whether small or large. Smaller businesses are today making use of Perfect Blogging to make their businesses grow globally and worldwide and thus gaining them more profits from those new customers. Blogging is meant for all the small-scale as well as large-scale businesses according to their capacity and budget which can include social media marketing, outsourcing, SEO and other expenses. But this hardly matters at the time of start and when your business starts growing through blogging you can of course invest into it on to these ongoing process which will further improve your lead generations.
4- Best way to reach out Global- Blogging is a best way to reach out to your Global customers present online whom you have never met and can never know if you don't know about blogging. Thus blogging has come up as a great way to reach out globally to your potential customers in a very cheap and effective way.
5- Effective way to Get more Potential customers- Blogging is a best way to know your customers and provide them with the best services they need. Blogging and social media marketing help you out in conversing with your customers and making use of resources which can make you serve your customers better. And it is a Fact that cannot be ignored that if you can serve your customers well you will get more and more of your potential customers.
1- Best and Easy way to Advertise - Blogging has become very useful and one of the best way to advertise your business freely, independently, cheaply and globally. There are various free platforms like Blogger, WordPress, TypePad and others which offer their free hosting for the starters and as you want to grow more and more you can start-up with your own hosting and domain which will make you more comfortable with your businesses with Perfect Blogging. Business people are giving more and more time to bogging as their perfect marketing solution and are attaining great results through it.
2- Cheap way to Advertise- Since blogging is an online way to advertise it is comparatively very cheap than other resources of advertising your business and getting more exposure. You can easily expand your business through the word of blogging with your minimum expenses and as you see your business growing with your growth in blogging you can also hire some of the experts and also some social media marketing firms that can further grow your business with their knowledge and experience in the field.
3- Blogging Meant for all- Blogging can be compared to a tree which provides shade and comfort for all. Blogging is meant for every one whether small or large. Smaller businesses are today making use of Perfect Blogging to make their businesses grow globally and worldwide and thus gaining them more profits from those new customers. Blogging is meant for all the small-scale as well as large-scale businesses according to their capacity and budget which can include social media marketing, outsourcing, SEO and other expenses. But this hardly matters at the time of start and when your business starts growing through blogging you can of course invest into it on to these ongoing process which will further improve your lead generations.
4- Best way to reach out Global- Blogging is a best way to reach out to your Global customers present online whom you have never met and can never know if you don't know about blogging. Thus blogging has come up as a great way to reach out globally to your potential customers in a very cheap and effective way.
5- Effective way to Get more Potential customers- Blogging is a best way to know your customers and provide them with the best services they need. Blogging and social media marketing help you out in conversing with your customers and making use of resources which can make you serve your customers better. And it is a Fact that cannot be ignored that if you can serve your customers well you will get more and more of your potential customers.
Blogging Helps Generate Leads And Traffic To Your Website
The most important benefits of blogging are the immense presence and visibility they create on the internet. It also helps to generate traffic and leads to your website. Search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing love blog posts if they are regularly updated with quality contents.
You can employ search engine optimization or SEO as a technique in your blog to bring it higher in Page rank on the search engine rankings.
Blogs are basically another form of websites where you can make entries or posts and are updated in a chronicled manner. The posts are dated and will be stamped with your name if you are the only author named in the blog.
Blogs helps build communities because anyone can comment on your posts. You may restrict your users to register with you first before they can even post their remarks and you may want to approve it before it can be published to prevent any spamming.
Blogging today is not what it is use to be when it was first started. Today, blogging is not only a form of platform to be engaged with your visitors or customers but business owners are tapping it as a marketing tool to promote their products.
Besides it helps to build and strengthening your marketing network efforts, yours constant engaging with your readers would help in your prospecting new prospects and selling them your products and services.
Also if you have quality contents in your posting, it will surely attracts other experts in your field who would spent some of their time to leave comments on to your posts, thus adding to the information value and credibility of your blog.
Blogs can be tapped with other Internet marketing methods such as article marketing, email marketing to bring in the traffic to generate more leads for your business.
You can employ search engine optimization or SEO as a technique in your blog to bring it higher in Page rank on the search engine rankings.
Blogs are basically another form of websites where you can make entries or posts and are updated in a chronicled manner. The posts are dated and will be stamped with your name if you are the only author named in the blog.
Blogs helps build communities because anyone can comment on your posts. You may restrict your users to register with you first before they can even post their remarks and you may want to approve it before it can be published to prevent any spamming.
Blogging today is not what it is use to be when it was first started. Today, blogging is not only a form of platform to be engaged with your visitors or customers but business owners are tapping it as a marketing tool to promote their products.
Besides it helps to build and strengthening your marketing network efforts, yours constant engaging with your readers would help in your prospecting new prospects and selling them your products and services.
Also if you have quality contents in your posting, it will surely attracts other experts in your field who would spent some of their time to leave comments on to your posts, thus adding to the information value and credibility of your blog.
Blogs can be tapped with other Internet marketing methods such as article marketing, email marketing to bring in the traffic to generate more leads for your business.
How Blogging Helps SEO For Your Online Business
If you are new to the world of online marketing and online advertising, then perhaps you are not sure whether blogging will help you promote your online business or not. While it makes sense to blog about the products and services that you are trying to promote, a budding online marketer like yourself certainly still has a number of questions.
One of the common online marketing questions among new marketers is this: How does blogging help SEO? A lot of newbie marketers are still unsure of the effects that blogging has to their search engine optimization campaigns and nearly half of them have no idea how blogging benefit SEO campaigns.
As we all know, blogging is perhaps the easiest way to publish content in the internet - whether it is video, photo, or plain written text. But beyond that initial function, blogs can also be used as a tool to optimize a website for search engines.
When you closely look at blogs, they are no more than website content management systems that has a number of additional tricks and functionality such as leaving comments, trackbacks, and RSS feeds subscriptions. So in a general sense, blogs are just like websites with a little twist.
To further detail how blogging helps search engine optimization, below are some of the benefits that blogging provides for people or for companies running an online marketing campaign.
Blogs have simple URLs.
Most of the blog domains and blog addresses that we have today have uncomplicated URL structures, which makes it very easy for the different search engine crawlers to notice the blog and browse through the blog content.
Blogs link to each other without fuss.
The greatest benefit that blogging provides to search engine optimization campaigns are the links that it gives out and attracts. Blogs link freely to each other, perhaps a dozen fold more than websites do.
Blogs are usually rich in social news and varying media content such as video, audio, text, and photos which makes it all the more easy for a blog to attract different links from other blogs in the web.
Blogs have fresh content on a regular basis.
Blogs are known to be updated, getting fresh content from the blog owner. And fresh content is just what both readers and search engines want from web sources.
Blogs that regularly updates itself with new content are rewarded with repeat visits and from a search engine's perspective that means more chances of your website to get indexed by the different search engine spiders.
Blogs belong to an active community.
Because people can leave comments on every blog post, it creates a virtual interaction or connection between reader and blogger. That active community will then lead to an engaged audience with the willingness to appreciate your offers.
One of the common online marketing questions among new marketers is this: How does blogging help SEO? A lot of newbie marketers are still unsure of the effects that blogging has to their search engine optimization campaigns and nearly half of them have no idea how blogging benefit SEO campaigns.
As we all know, blogging is perhaps the easiest way to publish content in the internet - whether it is video, photo, or plain written text. But beyond that initial function, blogs can also be used as a tool to optimize a website for search engines.
When you closely look at blogs, they are no more than website content management systems that has a number of additional tricks and functionality such as leaving comments, trackbacks, and RSS feeds subscriptions. So in a general sense, blogs are just like websites with a little twist.
To further detail how blogging helps search engine optimization, below are some of the benefits that blogging provides for people or for companies running an online marketing campaign.
Blogs have simple URLs.
Most of the blog domains and blog addresses that we have today have uncomplicated URL structures, which makes it very easy for the different search engine crawlers to notice the blog and browse through the blog content.
Blogs link to each other without fuss.
The greatest benefit that blogging provides to search engine optimization campaigns are the links that it gives out and attracts. Blogs link freely to each other, perhaps a dozen fold more than websites do.
Blogs are usually rich in social news and varying media content such as video, audio, text, and photos which makes it all the more easy for a blog to attract different links from other blogs in the web.
Blogs have fresh content on a regular basis.
Blogs are known to be updated, getting fresh content from the blog owner. And fresh content is just what both readers and search engines want from web sources.
Blogs that regularly updates itself with new content are rewarded with repeat visits and from a search engine's perspective that means more chances of your website to get indexed by the different search engine spiders.
Blogs belong to an active community.
Because people can leave comments on every blog post, it creates a virtual interaction or connection between reader and blogger. That active community will then lead to an engaged audience with the willingness to appreciate your offers.
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