Archive for About Blogs – Page 49

Top 42 Content Marketing Blogs – Why this is such a smart marketing strategy

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Do you know any blogs about content marketing, or writing content for business? Joe Pulizzi, whose blog Junta 42 promotes writing great content, has opened nominations for the Top 42 Content Marketing Blogs.

Some of the nominated blogs may be included in his book to be published in 2008, Get Content, Get Customers.

"The team here at Junta42 is compiling a list of the top 42 blogs that focus on some aspect of content marketing – that is helping marketers/businesses create and deliver valuable, relevant and consistent content."

Pay attention to this whole blog nomination process: this is one of the most astute marketing strategies around. Why? Because of the following factors:

  1. Opening up a blog post for nominations will drive traffic to his blog
  2. In sort of a viral way, people who have never heard of his blog before will tell their friends about it
  3. Joe will get to know more good blog authors and form relationships with them
  4. Joe will get new material for his book
  5. Readers will be more informed and curious, and will want to buy the book when it comes out

Smart marketing means paying attention to those people who get it right, and then doing what they do as well or sometimes even better.

I suppose the same can be said of smart writing. Next time you read a piece that’s good, keep it and learn from it.

In the mean time, if you think this blog does a good job of promoting good content, why don’t you visit Junta42 and nominate it? I’m not too proud to ask!

The Great Internet Marketing Challenge…unraveling the secrets to success online

Do you understand what’s going on today with Internet marketing? Everyone seems to have the same big challenge… even those professionals and businesses with a lot of money.

Even when you throw big bucks at web designers and search engine optimization gurus, businesses aren’t getting the results they need for success online. Why is that? The answer may be under your nose and it may be simple, easy and inexpensive.

Read The Blog Squad’s white paper to find out… click here.

The Great Internet Marketing Challenge...Click here to get the free white paper.

What Kind of a Blogger Are You, Anyway?


What Kind of Blogger Are You?

Take this quiz to find out your blogging "type." I really don’t like this image, but hey, it’s for a good cause. It’s all part of the fun for a special day supporting environmental issues.

October 15 is Blog Action Day and you’re invited to participate.

  • 5 days left to sign up
  • 8,033 blogs participating
  • 5,671,653  people in the audience

As you know, I recently bought a low-emission car so as to not be polluting any more than possible. I’ve never been a tree-hugger or an activist, but all of a sudden, these issues seem vital for the survival of our children. Heck, I don’t even have kids, but this is important. Do whatever you can to help.

Bloggers Unite - Blog Action Day

Biz Tips Blog Featured by Typepad: Congratulations, Denise

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Denise’s Biz Tips Blog is featured by Typepad this week.

I have the best partner in the world, but to sing her praises almost seems a little incestuous… But Typepad, the big blogging platform provider, gave well-deserved recognition yesterday to Denise Wakeman and her blog Next Level Biz Tips.

According to Typepad, Denise is "A skilled and savvy Internet marketing strategist." If you haven’t subscribed already, do so now. This is where Denise keep us informed on all the latest time and money-saving tips you need to run a small business.

Denise is always trying out new stuff and keeps us all on our toes for the latest trends. She’s created her About page on a separate blog page to have a separate banner. Quite original, don’t you think?

3 More Quick and Easy Blog Writing Tips

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What problems and challenges do your readers struggle with? Problems and solutions are a great way to provide relevant content on your blog.

How do you know which problems are the greatest for your audience? Here are 3 ways to find out. These will provide you with great content ideas.

  1. 1. Run a reader poll using Vizu.com. This easy-to-use poll widget can be set up for free on your blog. (No tech skills required. I did this by myself without having to email for help!)
  2. Ask readers to comment on your blog and suggest major issues they want you to write about and why. (However, unless you have substantial numbers of readers who aren’t shy about commenting, this will bring fewer responses than running a poll.)
  3. Write a top ten list of great blogs in your field. Ask readers to comment and suggest other good blogs. (This is a great way to build links because people on your top ten list will post on their blog about being included in your list…) You will know by their suggestions, which blogs they are reading, and what kind of information they are seeking out.

What other ideas do you have for blog writing that is meaningful and relevant to readers’ needs?

Related Posts: 15 Ways to Find Blog Content
Writing Better – Lessons from Tennis
Writing Better Headlines – the Power of 3

Quick and Easy Blog Writing Tips

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When Denise and I teach business blogging, professionals often worry about finding the time for writing on their blogs. We understand and struggle with this challenge ourselves. With 10 blogs between us, you know there are a few neglected ones…

So here are some tips to save you time and effort, and maintain a posting frequency of 2-3 times a week.

  1. What are you doing in your business this week that you could post about that would make your readers’ lives better? (Example: we’ve started a 4-week teleseminar on Branding and Blogging, and for the class, I wrote an outline about blog writing tips; so I’m sharing that with readers here.)
  2. Look at that idea for a post and see how you can make a list of 5-7 tips. Don’t post the entire list in one blog post. Break it up into a series of posts for the whole week.
  3. You can write the series all at once and post-date the publications; or write them up individually and post each day, whichever suits your schedule. (Stay tuned: over the next few days, I’ll post 11 tips for writing easily and quickly so you can save time, energy and money.)

You should be able to post on your blog in 20-30 minutes. That’s not a lot of time to spend on a marketing task that will bring you great results.

Writing on your business blog should always contain information that is relevant and valuable to your readers; you have plenty of that in your head right now, so get it out into a list and start posting. Your readers will appreciate that and your business will grow.

Why I love my life…

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It’s not just the money I get for doing what I love, and I think many other professionals agree that part sure is great but it’s not the best.

The number one reason I love my business is time…having time for tennis in the mornings and sometimes evenings…having time to take yesterday morning off to celebrate birthdays with girlfriends…

It’s not that I work a 4 Hour Work Week like Tim Ferriss suggests we do. I put in my 40 plus some extra to read and learn. But it’s also the quality of the hours.

I spend my time reading, writing and researching, and then teaching what I know to others. I don’t spend my time doing things I don’t like to do, like cold calling, network meetings with people I don’t know, or trying to sell to people I don’t know.

The reason I’m so lucky is that I recognized early on that my time is precious and valuable. I decided that If I could be smart about marketing, then people would call me and I wouldn’t have to go out and find them and call them.

Read More→

Branding and Blogging: Solving 4 Marketing Problems

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If you’re like some of the clients we work with, you’ve probably complained about one of these 4 marketing problems:

• Problem #1: Not enough people know what you do

• Problem #2: Not enough people have heard of your business

• Problem #3: Not enough people are moved into action by your message

• Problem #4: Not enough people can find you

Branding and blogging may be two missing pieces to your marketing puzzle that can ramp up your marketing and really make a difference to your business. Quite frankly, I think branding and blogging solves each of these problems.

Denise and I know from first-hand experience: when we branded our company as The Blog Squad(tm) and used our blogs for business, we grew, and grew… and then grew some more!

Denise and I have joined up with Ruth Klein to work closely with a group of only 20 professionals who want to master branding AND blogging to make more money online. There are only 5 seats left, so act now: www.brandingandblogging.com.

We’ll walk you through a process to find an effective brand that really works for you, and then show you how to optimize your blog for business. Even if you’re new at blogging, you’ll want to know how to do this for naming and writing for your blog the smart way right from the start.

Branding & Blogging:  A four week tele-workshop brought to you by The Blog Squad and Branding Guru Ruth Klein

September 11, 18. 25, and October 2 at 2 pm PT (5 pm ET).

For details and to reserve your place:  www.brandingandblogging.com

Branding for Your Business: How Important Is It, Really?

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Branding: if you’re an American brought up on Western movies, "branding" probably makes you think of cowboys rustling up calves and sticking a hot iron to their haunches. Now that’s gotta hurt, even if it’s only for a little while…

If you’re in business, you should know that having a ho-hum brand will make all of your marketing that much harder – if nobody can remember you or what you do. What really hurts is not having a brand, or having one that doesn’t work.

Now when you combine a good brand name with great blog writing – well, the cows come running…dare I continue the metaphor by saying clients will stampede to your door? Yippey ay yea and git along li’l doggies…

Okay, I’ll stop. The point is, branding and blogging are two marketing tasks you really need to take care of, if you want to stand out from your competitors and make money, on or off-line.

Two things you should do about that right now:

  1. Go over to Build a Better Blog and read some of the Q & A’s Denise is writing about blogging for your brand
  2. Go read about why you should grab one of the 5 seats left in the Branding and Blogging tele-workshop we’re doing starting September 11, next Tuesday, with Ruth Klein

You see, if you are writing online for your business, you will find that everything you write about should reflect your brand, both your personal and external business brand. Most professionals aren’t clear what that means and how important that is for business.

When Denise and I "branded" ourselves as The Blog Squad(tm), the lid blew off our business. It really made a big difference. (And it didn’t hurt at all!)

7 Deadly Branding Mistakes You Can’t Afford to Make

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Last night Denise and I joined Ruth Klein again for our second free teleseminar on Branding and Blogging – what we are naming as the missing link in 9 out of 10 businesses that are seriously under-branded. Close to 400 people were on the line.

You only have a few days left to join our tele-workshop; there are only 6 seats left since the group is limited to only 20 people. We are going to spend a lot of individual time working on finding great branding for your business, and show you how to leverage your blog. It starts Tuesday, September 11 and you can get info and register here: www.brandingandblogging.com.

In doing research on why many professionals were struggling to find clients and build revenues, we discovered some common mistakes. Here are 7 Deadly Branding Mistakes You Can’t Afford to Make.

Read More→