It’s finally happening! I’ve written 17 of my blogging visual e-courses so far to help you create a successful blog. And I’ve also written an 18th one to add as a prize to all those who sign up to my blogging newsletter (go to my blogging pages to sign up). It’s all about how links are beneficial to blogging, and contains information you cannot fail to miss out on. Oh, and I’ve got at least two more e-courses to write! It’s all go at the moment, in spite of it being the summer holidays, so watch this space for more once I’ve sorted everything out.
Posts Tagged ‘information’
Would you like to learn how blogs aren’t scary?
Wednesday, May 6th, 2009Live teleseminar: Thursday 14 May
• Have you been thinking about setting up a blog recently but have been putting it off?
• Do you want to know how a blog can help your business?
• Do you already have a blog but want some more tips on how to improve it?
Would having a blog help you market your business better?
Sometimes just having a website is not enough – you need to have somewhere where you can express yourself, providing on-going news about your business, educate your customers, promote new events or products – all in an environment that is publicly seen throughout the net.
A ‘brochure style’ website is far more difficult to update, needs the use of a webmaster and is seldom visited by the internet spiders. It’s a space on the web that just sits there, looking pretty, but doesn’t encourage interaction from your customers.
So what is different about a blog?
A blog is self-editing, thrives on regular input and spiders visit blogs hourly. It also uses applications to spread your word around the web easily, efficiently and automatically.
It encourages and succeeds on feedback and input from your readers, and can also be used as an archive for your articles and other information, as each post is allocated its individual URL.
The free software provided by the blogging platform is excellent for search engine optimisation, too.
So if you are interested in finding out more about blogs, then join me live for an hour’s teleseminar class (or if you can’t make the day a recording will be available).
You will discover how to:
• publicise your business to a wider audience
• increase your expert status
• let customers check you out before they buy
• bring more traffic to your website
• interact with potential customers
• provide an archive for your newsletter material
• work better with search engine optimisation
• help link you to social networking sites
But above all I want you to realise that blogs aren’t difficult technology to master, and that everybody can and should have one!
I will reassure you how unscary blogs are, and there will be a chance for those on the call to ask questions and provide their own opinions.
When is it? Thursday 14 May
What time is it? 8pm – 9pm (GMT+1)
What happens if you’re not free at this time? Register, and you will be automatically sent a recording of the teleseminar for you to listen at your leisure. Don’t forget if you have any questions, you are welcome to email them to me before the event.
What else is included? I will also send a pdf of the teleseminar’s notes and resource information so you won’t have to write everything down.
How much is it? The initial cost of this seminar is £27 -
but wait – if you book before Friday 8 May at 8pm you can register for only £17!
You will also be eligible for a competition to win my first two blogging packages for free!
• Book before 8pm on Friday 8 May to get the call for only £17 plus the recording
• Enter your name into a draw to receive first two blogging packages f*ree!
Click here NOW to register and reserve your place – and begin your journey to blogging success!
I really look forward to hearing you on this call.
Alice
What’s the similarity between blogging and twittering?
Tuesday, April 21st, 2009Hi Alice
I am new to all this twittering and blogging and I need some help. I have my business and have been told that blogging and twittering are a great form of marketing my business. So I have a blogger and twitter account but am unsure of how these work. I know that you post your little blurbs but how does that send people to my site? Can you help me please?
Kerry
–oo00oo–
Hi Kerry,
Blogging and twittering are similar that they are both a medium for you to express yourself, except that blogging allows a bit more than 140 characters to do so. Twitter is also called ‘microblogging’.
Twitter works on the question ‘what are you doing?’, and you shouldn’t tweet mundane things like what you had for breakfast, but snippets of information about your business that people will want to know more about. Your link in your bio should either lead to a special landing page all about you, or to a relevant page on your website or your blog. Each Twitter post can also link back to your website or whatever (use tinyurls for this purpose) so that your traffic will increase. If you tweet questions or leading statements this will also increase any interested parties.
If you’re starting out I suggest you get blogging under your belt, and then you progress to Twitter. But as you already have an account (mine’s @alicedesigns) you can feed each new post you make on your blog onto Twitter through the RSS feed I’ve been talking about. There are lots of applications to do this, but I expect Twitterfeed.com is the most well known.
Why do this? You want a many people as possible to read your posts, hence why you should also have a well publicised link from your website to your blog. Search engine optimisation thrives on links, and if you can create as many links as possible to both your blog, Twitter and website, your traffic will increase and so will your followers if they like what they see.
Alice
How to spruce up a free blog
Thursday, April 16th, 2009Hi Alice
I’d welcome any feedback you could offer on my shop blog: http://kittyandpolly.wordpress.com/
Thanks, Paula
–oo00oo–
Hi Paula
What a fantastic blog! I love the pictures and the posts are really readable, well done!
I particularly like the links to specific pages on your website and that you’ve created some extra pages. You could have put your pages widget a bit higher on the side bar, but as you have links across the top this probably doesn’t matter.
What else can you do? I don’t want to spoil the overall effect, but you could move the comments widget below the recent posts widget – don’t hide your feedback, encourage it!
You could promote your newsletter on your side bar. As this is a free Wordpress blog you aren’t allowed sign-up forms, but you could get around this by using a text widget with an image of your newsletter linked to a specific webpage with the newsletter sign-up form on it. This has worked for me! Place the text widget high up on the side bar to encourage action.
And why not move your blog icon further up your website to encourage more visitors from that end?
Finally sign up to feedburner.com or feedblitz.com to get your blog’s RSS URL, and place the code for a RSS button and new post subscription link in a text widget. This is to encourage more readers to follow your latest activities. And remember to place the widget at the very top of your side bar where it is really noticeable.
Other than that I think your blog is truly great!
Alice
How does a blog add value to your business?
Wednesday, April 15th, 2009To gather feedback on business blogging, I subscribed to a number of forums and asked how many people had a blog. This is one of the responses and my answer to it:
Hi Alice
I have just started my business and I’m still going through the process of designing a website, etc.
I am thinking about adding a blog to my site, but I want to know how to do this so that it adds value rather than potentially damaging my image when I am just starting out.
I have been in property for a number of years now so the business model is investment properties both commercial and residential in the UK and overseas. This is primarily targeted at pension fund managers, IFAs as well as largely investors. Obviously a great deal of negativity surrounds the property market currently.
What would you suggest?
Lindsey
–oo00oo–
Hi Lindsey
A blog is an essential piece of kit if you want to a) make yourself more visible to the outside world, b) communicate effectively with your existing customers, c) show your expertise to potentially new customers, and d) gain more followers and therefore a larger audience for your business.
Use a blog to counteract the negativity you speak of, punctuated with valuable advice and golden nuggets of information. Blog posts should be short and sweet, regular, relevant and of value, and focused on an end result like targeting your readers to your website or to a special landing pages to facilitate an economic response.
Increase your readership by adding RSS feeds (facilities that enable readers to follow your blog, and allows your posts to be automatically transferred to other social networking sites for a wider audience) to increase the visual exposure of your business.
Your blog could either become part of your website or stand alone with its own URL, and its special programming language assists with search engine optimisation and therefore increased traffic to wherever you want it.
Take a look at my blogging pages and join my newsletter to be the first to know of any new developments!
Alice
Does your business need a visual aid?
Tuesday, March 31st, 2009
Would your business like more exposure?
Would it benefit from a wider audience?
Do you feel your existing website is too restricted in selling your company to potential customers?
I would like you to imagine your business as an iceberg. What is visible, what your customers get to see and understand, is like the area above the waterline: only a tiny proportion.
And under the water lies the remainder: the cogs and wheels, the inner workings, the nitty-gritty, what your business is really like. Packed full of examples, stories, good news, new ideas, all the things your website hasn’t the room to include.
And so it shouldn’t: a ‘brochure style’ like website should not be cluttered with all this extra stuff. In today’s busy world people haven’t the time and inclination to sit and read loads of text and description, they need quick-fire facts and figures, features and benefits, to show the appropriate impression of your business. In fact, each webpage has just three seconds to get their message across…
So how can you communicate the ‘other bits that we do?’ How do you invite customers below the waterline to view the remainder of your business?
The answer is: a blog.
Imagine somewhere that could archive additional relevant information about your company.
A medium that can be regularly updated with the latest news, stories, testimonials, special offers, new ventures or whatever.
Another space on the net that can be edited without a webmaster, so anyone can easily make regular contributions.
Like an on-line newspaper (or diary if you wish), a blog provides continuous material for its readers, both present and past. This also contributes to search engine optimisation, assisted by links to your website, to and from commenters providing feedback, and to other resource material – in fact, the key is to get as many links included as possible.
And don’t forget that spiders visit blogs far more frequently than websites.
Don’t just create your blog and neglect it. Use RSS (really simple syndication) to feed into other locations on the net, such as social networking sites, search engine reader pages, Twitter (which feed into Facebook and other similar sites), and application widgets that provide links of past and present posts on your and other websites/blogs. All valuable towards attracting a passing audience as well as keeping your existing followers informed.
Visit our blogging pages to find out more >>>
What do you use your blog for?
Thursday, April 16th, 2009Hi Alice
I have a business blog: http://pensarmarketing.blogspot.com
I am not sure how to use it, I have heard different things from different people. My posts vary from personal to business as this is what I have been told works. To be honest I do not use it very often because I am unsure of how to get the best from it.
I would like to use my blog for business more than I do and possibly earn a small revenue from it eventually.
Any advice would be gratefully appreciated!
Thank you, Sara
www.pensarmarketing.co.uk
–oo00oo–
Hi Sara
Took a look at your blog, and I’m afraid my first reaction is why do you use a black background? It makes my eyes go shimmy and I find it very difficult to read.
Blogs are to provide your customers with another insight into what your business is all about. Fill your posts with valuable content to raise your expertise status. Keep them fairly regularly spaced apart (they don’t need to be done very frequently), bt regularity is the key: spiders will soon learn this and visit your blog accordingly.
Increase the search engine optimisation (SEO) by including categories and tags for your posts. The categories are like chapters which provide a place to store your posts for future search, and the tags resemble keywords that give the spiders food to help with getting your post into the search engines.
Add an RSS feed to increase your readership, especially within the social networking sites. Without one your blog is very lonely as it cannot be regularly followed whenever new content is posted.
How to make money? Each post should have a purpose, whether it is to increase your expertise and your following, link to your website for more traffic, guide your readers to sign up to an event or direct them to a squeeze page to pay for a service or product. Don’t blog aimlessly, it may be nice to read but not good for you.
Want to know more? Join up to my blogging newsletter from my blogging pages to keep in the loop! Or listen to my teleseminar on 14 May – watch this space!
Alice
Tags: blog, blogging, call to action, comments, customers, expertise, feedback, gain business, increased traffic, information, interaction, keywords, links, marketing, newsletter, RSS, SEO, social networking
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