Can you write a blog post and publish in under an hour? How about 20 minutes? That’s my record. But as anyone who’s ever made love knows, fast isn’t always better. And sometimes it is.
There’s usually too much for small business professionals to handle. If you want to stay on schedule, you’ve got to learn to “just do it!” and do it fast.
Here’s how I research, write, add an image, compose a compelling title, and optimize for SEO and publish a blog post in under an hour. Read More→
If you’re in business and have a business blog, you’re frequently challenged by what to write. There’s always a lot you can say about your products and services, but how many different ways can you write about them before your regular subscribers get bored?
In my ebook Content Marketing with Blogs, I suggest business blog posts should be written with the 4 E’s as a guide: What you publish on your business blog should:
As anyone who runs a blog knows, that’s a tall order, and if you score high in one or two of these qualities, you can feel pretty good. But is it enough?
I recently purchased Joe Pulizzi’s new book Epic Content Marketing: How to Tell a Different Story, Break through the Clutter, and Win More Customers by Marketing Less. It’s full of examples from big businesses but all his advice is great for small businesses and individuals as well. Joe is known as the godfather of content marketing as he has been a long-time promoter of quality content for marketing purposes. He founded the Content Marketing Institute.
The book is a treasure of information about the value of content marketing throughout all channels (blogs, e-newsletters, videos, podcast, and social media). Two questions stood out for me as key for any small business owner who wants to (needs to!) publish quality content on their blog: Read More→
How can you attract more readers to your business blog? Blogs have become a social media platform for everyone. When you know how to blog, you can write about anything relevant to your business’ audience that will enrich customers’ knowledge and show how your business will be beneficial to them.
You can provide information on your blog that solves people’s key problems in your field, and they’ll keep coming back and become regular readers.
When your business website has a well-defined blog, and if you write or hire a writer to frequently update new content on it, you can be sure that your website traffic will go only one way – up.
But coming up with a successful blog can be a tough job. You need to make sure that your blog content stands out among other similar blog content on the web. The following tips will help you increasing traffic to your website through successful business blogging.
4 Creative Tips to Attract More Web Traffic Readers
1. Promote articles and posts on a variety of platforms
Social media has become an ever-present phenomenon now. You can’t expect your website to draw in huge numbers of visitors if you don’t have a visible presence on various social media platforms. Facebook, Google+, Twitter, LinkedIn are some names that come to your mind when thinking about content marketing for your website. But these are only a few among the vast resources available online.
Granted these platforms have a large online presence, but if you really want your business website to grow, you should consider specialized niche forms of social media also. Some of these lesser known platforms include Quora, Tumblr, and Empire Avenue. These platforms have a specific crowd following and due to the less competition on these sites, you are likely to have a greater penetration over the market. But search ones that attract your kind of customer, in your target audience.
2. Use SlideShare
SlideShare is another platform that doesn’t have all the hoopla surrounding bigger social media platforms. You, as a content writer, can easily create smaller and sharper overviews for your posts and upload those on SlideShare. These to-the-point overviews will appeal to a larger audience base and you can easily put links of the slides on your website that can be followed to read the overview on SlideShare’s website. Read More→
Business blogs are better when they lead with a spectacular eye-catching image. But are you bored like I am with the standard business photos offered on free photo sites? How many happy smiling people have you actually seen in a business meeting lately? Give me a break and some more coffee.
I’ve got a new toy: Google Images. I was researching planning models for a client ebook I’m writing, and discovered a page of diagrams and charts people have contributed: Google Images for Planning Models. Check it out, there are 3-D pyramids, bar graphs, circles, arrows: wow.
So I wondered what images I could find for illustrating a blog post on how to write and post on a business blog. Not so hot… boring and confusing. Apparently images are best when steps are clear and everyone has a similar process. However, there were some great images for “infographics + blogging.”
Here are some guidelines for adding great images and infographics to your business blog, to attract readers and get their attention.
Let’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:
How would you know if your business blog is successful?
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:
Want to make money with your business blog? There are a lot of different ways to use your blog to make money. One of the most common is soliciting blog sponsors who pay a set dollar amount monthly or yearly to write sponsored posts.
A sponsored blog post can be a paid opportunity for a guest author; sometimes a company will sponsor a post written by the blog author about their product or service. Your business blog can use these sponsored posts to provide a valuable service to your readers.
These sponsored blog posts must be on a topic that would be interesting to your blog’s reader base. The blog publisher can negotiate how much to charge for sponsored posts. And sometimes, the post is published free, but the blog owner gets a commission for any referral sales.
Here are some pros and cons when it comes to having sponsored blog posts on your business blog –
Pros:
Cons: Read More→
Do you do all your own blog writing? If you’re a lawyer, financial adviser, doctor or consultant, should you write your own blog? Or can you outsource it to writers and guest bloggers? One of the main reasons to have a blog and publish frequently is because it helps you get found, get known, and get clients. Yet professional service providers are often pressed for time.
Visitors to your blog want to know more about you, your expertise, your talents and focus. They expect to read what you write to get familiar with you before they call or consider hiring you. This means you will need one or two hours each time you write a fresh post. And a good blog has fresh content at a minimum once or twice a week. How can you ensure you’ve got the time for blog writing so that you build up quality readership?
The solutions: The systems I’ve found to work best with the clients I serve involves a combination of learning to write quick posts, getting contributions from qualified guest authors, and using an appropriate content subscription service. I’ll explain each. Read More→
Liberace was well-known for his flamboyant lifestyle both on and off stage. During the 1950s-1970s he was the highest paid entertainer in the world. That’s pretty amazing considering he was a pianist. His career spanned five decades. I just saw the HBO film “Behind the Candelabra,” with an amazing performance by Michael Douglas in the starring role, with Matt Damon as his lover. (And, yes, these two actors do kiss in the movie!)
Why do you think Liberace was so popular? I loved the movie, and found myself strangely attracted to this character. I remember my stepmother gushing over Liberace and wondering why. I think it’s because we love drama, and we love it when people are excessive.
What can we learn from Liberace about better business blogging? Although he was a master at expressing himself through music, Las Vegas shows, records, TV, and concerts, he didn’t write. Had the Internet been around, however, he would have skillfully used it in the same way he employed public relations expertise to deny his homosexuality and project “family values.” Remember, this was a time where no one was openly gay.
How can you make your business blog a little more flamboyant or sexy? Here’s how you can take away some of Liberace’s style and wisdom and apply it to your business blog:
Want to make your blog stand out? Try finding unusual facts and weird blog content. Give your blog a unique look and feel by publishing unusual blog content. With such an abundance of content available on the Internet, how can you make your blog unique?
By providing information that is uncommon enough to intrigue a visitor. Where can you find this unusual blog content?
1. Infographics – Infographics are a popular trend when supplying facts. Normally, they are based on real information and designed in a way to give it visual appeal. Proper developers of these factual images cite their sources which you are able to verify yourself. Be wary of false imagery, however. Anyone can build a so-called infographic without using true information. It’s always better to research the source for these facts in order to remove doubt and prevent damaging your reputation. Read More→
Clearly, one of the most important things that you can do when it comes to a business blog is to share new content. But what about those older blog posts that are hanging out on your blog somewhere?
Why not make good use of older content? Make it easy for your blog readers to learn more about your solutions to their problems. This requires that you do more than just write an article from the heart. Yes, writing with passion is great, but as long as you’ve got readers on your blog, lead them to older posts.
For business blogging, you’ll need to become keyword-savvy, and use a plugin or two will help make it easy and automatic.
The screen-capture image at the top is a sample from Chip Scholz’ LeaderSnips blog showing how at the end of each post you can provide suggestions for related posts. It uses the YARPP plugin.
Business blogs can be tricky creatures. While it seems like blogging should be pretty straightforward, there are a lot of nuances to building a successful business blog that your potential clients can actually find. Read More→
