Archive for business blog training

Is Your Business Blog “Just Okay?”
Here’s How to Change It

By Patsi Krakoff
Wednesday, August 21st, 2013

Best-Business-BlogLet’s be honest – in the realm of successful business blogs yours is probably mediocre. Not bad, but more likely “just okay.” Hey, at least you’ve got a blog and are doing most things right. But mediocre is a long way from spectacular.

Here’s what I mean by “successful business blog.” To me, in my world of professionals who use the Internet to get found, get known and get clients, a successful business blog is one that works for what it was set up to do. That may differ according to the business goals of the blogger, but it should include goals like:

  • Attracts readers in a targeted niche
  • Grabs their interests in a particular topic or problem
  • Provides interesting perspectives, solutions, and knowledge
  • Entertains in some way, through variety and utility
  • Consistently provides relevant value
  • Offers interactive options such as downloadable information, comments, etc.

How would you know if your business blog is successful?

  • Through a growing number of readers
  • Growing numbers of comments
  • Increasing links from others who cite your posts
  • An increase in the number of people who write or call you to inquire about products or services
  • Increasing opportunities to expand business or marketing
  • Better results on search pages
  • Occasional awards such as “Top 10 Health Care” Blogs, or “Top 50 Leadership Blogs”

The top blogs in any field are usually listed on the Web, and a Google or other search will help you find them. But few business people do this. They don’t research, they don’t learn from what others are doing.

In the past several years I’ve had calls from three people faced with similar business blog dilemmas. They hired me, we worked together for several months. And they went on their ways. Now, all three are on “Top Blogs” lists, and are doing well. Here are a few examples from my clients:

Categories : About Blogs, Content Marketing
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How to Become a #1 Expert with a Blog

By Patsi Krakoff
Wednesday, August 14th, 2013

Dr.CharlesParkerAre you #1? If you’re a doctor, lawyer, author, or consultant, you’d like your clients to believe they’ve come to the best professional around. It may be hard to make that claim. Unless, of course, you can stake out a niche online, and show that you’re a number one expert in your field with a blog.

Dr. Charles Parker, for example, is an excellent psychiatrist and certainly not the only one with years of experience treating people with ADHD – attention deficit disorders. But he is #1 in health care blogs for that specialty, according to ShareCare, a key site that ranks health care providers and links them up with people in need.

Dr. Parker’s blog is at CorePsych. I know him personally because I helped him get started blogging. I didn’t teach him everything, but I remember the day he called me from his office in Virginia, with questions. That initial phone call stands out because I was still in a fog, getting coffee at 5 a.m. in San Diego. He was on ET, of course, and ready to go. I don’t usually pick up the phone that early, but that day I did. Read More→

Categories : About Blogs, Content Marketing, In the News...
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Starting a Business Blog? Read Me First

By Patsi Krakoff
Thursday, September 8th, 2011

I hear it all the time:  smart professionals, who are great at what they do, don’t have enough time to blog, or even start a business blog. Recently someone shared with me how they had started blogging with great gusto – they put in a lot of time – but got stuck, and never went back.  It reminded me of something I once heard…

About 20 years ago I was recovering from an illness and to avoid being bored, I took up needle work, you know, cross-stitching designs on canvas with yarn. One day as I was completing a big canvas, I was listening to a motivational speaker.

All of a sudden, I heard these words:

“Most people just start doing things without reading the instruction manual.”

Loud and clear. I looked down at my needle work and like a shock, it hit me. I’d been doing them all backwards.

Sure enough, a quick reference back to the user manual clearly showed that I was inserting the needle backwards, not producing the right effect. I put down my work and never went back to that hobby ever again.

My point is that I see many professionals who are pretty smart at what they do, but they start blogging without reading any instructions at all. Later, when they get stuck, they complain about not having “enough time” to blog. Read More→

Categories : Content Marketing, How to...Tips, On Writing Better, Writing for the Web, Writing Great Blog Content
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Tips on Blog Post Optimization

By Patsi Krakoff
Friday, July 29th, 2011

What are the steps you need to follow to ensure each blog post is optimized for search engines as well as well-written for your readers’ interests? Oh my… there are a lot. But to keep me out of overwhelm, I wrote them down, and put them into a flow chart.

This is good for days when I’m brain dead and likely to forget something important. But it’s also a good chart for anyone working with a V.A. or assistant who needs to take over some of the tasks for you.

After I decide what it is I want to write about (see my earlier post, Blogger’s Block: Writing Tips to Get “Unstuck“), I follow these steps for posting on my blog:

Flow chart, continued: Read More→
Categories : About Blogs, Content Marketing, How to...Tips, Managing Your Ezine & Blog Tasks, Online Marketing
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Smart Time-Saving Tips on Blogging…

By Patsi Krakoff
Monday, November 1st, 2010

What are the steps you need to follow to ensure each blog post is optimized for search engines as well as for your readers’ interests? Oh my… there are a lot. But to keep me out of overwhelm, I wrote them down, and put them into a flow chart.

This is good for days when I’m brain dead and likely to forget something important. But it’s also a good chart for anyone working with a V.A. or assistant who needs to take over some of the tasks for you.

I recently designed and recorded a presentation for the Content Marketing Institute on everything that goes into creating and publishing a quality blog post. It’s published on a neat tool called Brain Shark: you make a power point presentation, then record the notes over the phone. How neat is that?

I’d like to share it with you here. Tell me what you think:

I realized after I watched this that my diagrams are way too small on this screen. So I’ve decided to republish them below, larger.

And here is the flow chart of all the steps I use for posting on my blog: Read More→
Categories : Content Marketing, How to...Tips, Managing Your Ezine & Blog Tasks, Online Marketing, Social Media Stuff
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How to Start Blogging Today:
It’s never too late to be a noob

By Patsi Krakoff
Friday, May 21st, 2010

Ever wished you could start over? Take everything you’ve learned and pretend to be a “noob’… a newbie blogger? Start with a fresh blog, and see what happens?

Okay, maybe not trash everything, but start afresh, with your current know-how, with a fresh design, a new focus, and improved clarity.

Sort of like when you move and unpack everything, sort it out, get rid of unnecessary stuff…

You can. There’s a great new blog training program that’s launching today: Start Blogging Today. I’ve been give access to their private membership site. I wanted to find out if this program is something I can recommend to some of my clients who are just starting out with a business blog.

It is. Drumroll, trumpets and confetti, please. I highly recommend Start Blogging Today. If you’re new to online marketing, or just starting a blog for your business, don’t waste time and money. Read More→

Categories : About Blogs, Content Marketing
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