I've been blogging now for about 2 years, and I'm amazed at
the amount of traffic that I get from my blog and the
number of people who tell me that they first heard about me
from my blog instead of my website. The word blog is
derived from the term "web log", or an online diary or
journal. If the HBO series "Sex and the City" were being
filmed today, Carrie Bradshaw would be a blogger as well as
a columnist, I think. Why? As she experiences her
revelations about life, love, and relationships, she could
post them to her blog for the world to see and comment upon.
Blogging has opened website creation to almost everyone, as
it takes very little know-how to get a blog up and running.
In fact, many service business owners are using a blog
platform as their primary website, with some of them
creating static pages as you would find on a traditional
website, while others are using the platform as a blog and
are posting updates regularly.
There are several advantages to using blogs instead of
ezines or traditional websites:
1. Search engines love blogs. The strategy that seems to
be attractive to search engines today is regularly updated
content. I can log-in to my blog at the beginning of a day
and submit a post. Within 24 hours I'll get a notification
from my Google alerts account that Google has indexed that
post.
2. Content can be distributed quickly. If you instruct
your visitors to subscribe to your blog via updating
services like Bloglines or Feedblitz, they'll be notified
within hours of any new posts on your blog.
3. Little web programming knowledge is required. Once
your blog is set up, it's simply a matter of logging into
your account, typing the info for your post, adding graphics
or photos as needed, and publishing your post to your blog.
4. Reader feedback. Your readers can give you comments
and feedback about your posts almost immediately after you
log an entry. Blogs are a great way to engage your
audience.
Are ezines and traditional websites dead? No, because
people consume information differently. Some are auditory
learners and prefer to hear the info (great audience for
podcasting, an audio form of blogging), some prefer to
receive updates as they are published (blog readers), while
others like a stable, stationary medium to which they can
refer when they're ready (readers who archive ezines or
bookmark web pages).
How do you begin to blog? Here are 10 simple steps you can
follow:
1. Blogging platform. The easiest way to get started is to
use the free service found at Blogger.com or Wordpress.com.
The ability to customize your blog is limited with the
free services, so I urge my clients to subscribe to
Typepad.com, which will host your blog for you on their
servers, or purchase a hosting account where WordPress can
be installed. The downloadable version of WordPress is
located at Wordpress.org and is free of charge if you need
to install Wordpress yourself on your hosting account. I
use Typepad for my blog, so many of my examples will relate
exclusively to blogs hosted on that platform.
2. Name. What do you want to call your blog? Blog names
tend to be attention-getting and off-beat. However, for
service businesses, I encourage my clients to use keywords
important to their business when naming their blog. You
will also want to acquire the .com version of your blog's
name or your blog's name with the word "blog" attached as
your blog URL. After you have set up your blog, your blog
provider can give you more info about how to map your
domain to your blog. (Note: You don't want to simply
forward your blog to your domain name, as that impacts the
URLs of your individual blog pages).
3. Look and Layout. How many columns do you want to
display? Do you want links to static pages? What colors
do you want to use? How about a signup box for a free
giveaway? Should you use one of the templates provided or
have something custom designed? Do you want your blog
archives displayed? Do you want to be the only author or
do you want to permit others to make posts, as well? There
are many questions you'll be asked in the startup phase
about the look of your blog. A Typepad blog permits you to
change your mind about your layout at a later date. The
best way to determine the look of your blog is to look at
the layout of other blogs and determine what appeals to you.
4. Widgets. There are a number of widgets, or add-on
programs, that you can incorporate into your blog. Check
your blog software's site for more info about what features
you'd like add to your blog. At a minimum you'll want to
give visitors a couple of ways in which they can receive
blog updates through various updaters, or feeder services,
as mentioned earlier.
5. Comments. The newest sp*am making its rounds online is
comment sp*am. Don't these guys have anything better to
do? Set your comments to moderated, which means that you
have to approve any comments to your blog before the post
goes live. You'll save yourself a great many headaches and
time by choosing to moderate the comments.
Once you've gotten this far, you should have a basic blog
established and are ready to begin to blog.
6. Blog content. The time has arrived -- your blog is
ready to accept posts. What do you write about? You can
post content rich articles of interest to your target
market, comment on a current event, answer questions from
your visitors, present a before and after case study
outlining how your business helped someone, etc. Keep your
eyes and ears open for information relevant to your
audience. I use my blog to bring forth info that doesn't
fit well into my newsletter format or something that arises
between newsletter issues. I post my ezine content to my
blog, as well.
7. Posting frequency. Blogs are just like gardens -- they
need watering regularly and require some care and
attention. For maximum effectiveness, you need to post
several times a week to your blog. I try and post 4 times
per week in my blog -- 2 posts are items I run across or
comment upon as noteworthy in the moment, and the latter 2
are the contents of my ezine posted over 2 days. And,
respond to reader's comments when they arrive -- blogs
provide a great forum for ongoing discussions.
8. Blog traffic. In the same way that you publicize your
website URL on everything that you do, you can similarly
publicize your blog. Submitting your blogs to blog
directories is another way to get traffic. A very
comprehensive list of blog directories, RSS Top 55
(http://www.masternewmedia.org/rss/top55/) has been
compiled by Robin Good. Searching out blogs that appeal
to your target market and making comments to those posts
will also drive traffic to your blog. Another trick is
to post your blog on social bookmarking sites like Reddit,
Digg, StumbleUpon, and del.icio.us.
9. Measure the results. Some blog programs, like Typepad,
have built-in statistics so you can view details of your
blog traffic. Some of the feed/updater programs have
built-in statistics as well, or you can install a metrics
program as an add-on to your blog. Review your statistics
regularly to determine how much traffic your blog generates.
10. Rinse and repeat. Don't let the novelty of blogging
wear off. Blogging is effective only if you continue your
blogging efforts regularly over a long period of time. I
know of several individuals who have gotten book deals from
their blog and radio and TV interviews as well. Just
think -- your blog might be your ticket to fame!
Every service business can benefit from blog technology.
Few other marketing strategies provide the quick immediacy
that blogging provides.
===========================================================
Online Business Resource Queen (TM) and Online Business
Coach Donna Gunter helps self-employed service
professionals learn how to automate their businesses,
leverage their expertise on the Internet, and get more
clients online. To sign up for more FREE tips like these
and claim your FREE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing
Toolkit, visit her site at http://www.GetMoreClientsOnline.com
===========================================================
Copyright © 2007 Jayde Online, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
SiteProNews is a registered service mark of Jayde Online, Inc.
the amount of traffic that I get from my blog and the
number of people who tell me that they first heard about me
from my blog instead of my website. The word blog is
derived from the term "web log", or an online diary or
journal. If the HBO series "Sex and the City" were being
filmed today, Carrie Bradshaw would be a blogger as well as
a columnist, I think. Why? As she experiences her
revelations about life, love, and relationships, she could
post them to her blog for the world to see and comment upon.
Blogging has opened website creation to almost everyone, as
it takes very little know-how to get a blog up and running.
In fact, many service business owners are using a blog
platform as their primary website, with some of them
creating static pages as you would find on a traditional
website, while others are using the platform as a blog and
are posting updates regularly.
There are several advantages to using blogs instead of
ezines or traditional websites:
1. Search engines love blogs. The strategy that seems to
be attractive to search engines today is regularly updated
content. I can log-in to my blog at the beginning of a day
and submit a post. Within 24 hours I'll get a notification
from my Google alerts account that Google has indexed that
post.
2. Content can be distributed quickly. If you instruct
your visitors to subscribe to your blog via updating
services like Bloglines or Feedblitz, they'll be notified
within hours of any new posts on your blog.
3. Little web programming knowledge is required. Once
your blog is set up, it's simply a matter of logging into
your account, typing the info for your post, adding graphics
or photos as needed, and publishing your post to your blog.
4. Reader feedback. Your readers can give you comments
and feedback about your posts almost immediately after you
log an entry. Blogs are a great way to engage your
audience.
Are ezines and traditional websites dead? No, because
people consume information differently. Some are auditory
learners and prefer to hear the info (great audience for
podcasting, an audio form of blogging), some prefer to
receive updates as they are published (blog readers), while
others like a stable, stationary medium to which they can
refer when they're ready (readers who archive ezines or
bookmark web pages).
How do you begin to blog? Here are 10 simple steps you can
follow:
1. Blogging platform. The easiest way to get started is to
use the free service found at Blogger.com or Wordpress.com.
The ability to customize your blog is limited with the
free services, so I urge my clients to subscribe to
Typepad.com, which will host your blog for you on their
servers, or purchase a hosting account where WordPress can
be installed. The downloadable version of WordPress is
located at Wordpress.org and is free of charge if you need
to install Wordpress yourself on your hosting account. I
use Typepad for my blog, so many of my examples will relate
exclusively to blogs hosted on that platform.
2. Name. What do you want to call your blog? Blog names
tend to be attention-getting and off-beat. However, for
service businesses, I encourage my clients to use keywords
important to their business when naming their blog. You
will also want to acquire the .com version of your blog's
name or your blog's name with the word "blog" attached as
your blog URL. After you have set up your blog, your blog
provider can give you more info about how to map your
domain to your blog. (Note: You don't want to simply
forward your blog to your domain name, as that impacts the
URLs of your individual blog pages).
3. Look and Layout. How many columns do you want to
display? Do you want links to static pages? What colors
do you want to use? How about a signup box for a free
giveaway? Should you use one of the templates provided or
have something custom designed? Do you want your blog
archives displayed? Do you want to be the only author or
do you want to permit others to make posts, as well? There
are many questions you'll be asked in the startup phase
about the look of your blog. A Typepad blog permits you to
change your mind about your layout at a later date. The
best way to determine the look of your blog is to look at
the layout of other blogs and determine what appeals to you.
4. Widgets. There are a number of widgets, or add-on
programs, that you can incorporate into your blog. Check
your blog software's site for more info about what features
you'd like add to your blog. At a minimum you'll want to
give visitors a couple of ways in which they can receive
blog updates through various updaters, or feeder services,
as mentioned earlier.
5. Comments. The newest sp*am making its rounds online is
comment sp*am. Don't these guys have anything better to
do? Set your comments to moderated, which means that you
have to approve any comments to your blog before the post
goes live. You'll save yourself a great many headaches and
time by choosing to moderate the comments.
Once you've gotten this far, you should have a basic blog
established and are ready to begin to blog.
6. Blog content. The time has arrived -- your blog is
ready to accept posts. What do you write about? You can
post content rich articles of interest to your target
market, comment on a current event, answer questions from
your visitors, present a before and after case study
outlining how your business helped someone, etc. Keep your
eyes and ears open for information relevant to your
audience. I use my blog to bring forth info that doesn't
fit well into my newsletter format or something that arises
between newsletter issues. I post my ezine content to my
blog, as well.
7. Posting frequency. Blogs are just like gardens -- they
need watering regularly and require some care and
attention. For maximum effectiveness, you need to post
several times a week to your blog. I try and post 4 times
per week in my blog -- 2 posts are items I run across or
comment upon as noteworthy in the moment, and the latter 2
are the contents of my ezine posted over 2 days. And,
respond to reader's comments when they arrive -- blogs
provide a great forum for ongoing discussions.
8. Blog traffic. In the same way that you publicize your
website URL on everything that you do, you can similarly
publicize your blog. Submitting your blogs to blog
directories is another way to get traffic. A very
comprehensive list of blog directories, RSS Top 55
(http://www.masternewmedia.org/rss/top55/) has been
compiled by Robin Good. Searching out blogs that appeal
to your target market and making comments to those posts
will also drive traffic to your blog. Another trick is
to post your blog on social bookmarking sites like Reddit,
Digg, StumbleUpon, and del.icio.us.
9. Measure the results. Some blog programs, like Typepad,
have built-in statistics so you can view details of your
blog traffic. Some of the feed/updater programs have
built-in statistics as well, or you can install a metrics
program as an add-on to your blog. Review your statistics
regularly to determine how much traffic your blog generates.
10. Rinse and repeat. Don't let the novelty of blogging
wear off. Blogging is effective only if you continue your
blogging efforts regularly over a long period of time. I
know of several individuals who have gotten book deals from
their blog and radio and TV interviews as well. Just
think -- your blog might be your ticket to fame!
Every service business can benefit from blog technology.
Few other marketing strategies provide the quick immediacy
that blogging provides.
===========================================================
Online Business Resource Queen (TM) and Online Business
Coach Donna Gunter helps self-employed service
professionals learn how to automate their businesses,
leverage their expertise on the Internet, and get more
clients online. To sign up for more FREE tips like these
and claim your FREE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing
Toolkit, visit her site at http://www.GetMoreClientsOnline.com
===========================================================
Copyright © 2007 Jayde Online, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
SiteProNews is a registered service mark of Jayde Online, Inc.
