Business Blogging - How to Build A Better Blog

What Business Bloggers Can Learn from Hobby Bloggers

2012-02-06T10:21:45-08:00

While business bloggers have the ultimate goal of attracting prospective clients, hobby bloggers have a whole other set of motives. What can we learn from them? This is a guest post by Linda Dessau of ContentMasteryGuide.com While business bloggers have the ultimate goal of attracting prospective clients, hobby bloggers have a whole other set of motives. Here are just three of them, along with some ways you can apply them to your business blog: Free Your Passion Hobby bloggers have the liberty to indulge in deep exploration of their passions, wherever that journey takes them. In an earlier article about what happens when artists call their art a hobby, I noted how that "means freedom from the creative constraints that might be involved once you claim it as a business."  Business bloggers, take note: It's easy to get caught up in how you're going to "monetize" your blog and transform readers into clients. While it's definitely necessary to be thinking about your ideal clients and what they're looking for, if you stray too far from your own expertise and passion you will just dilute your message. Ideally, what they're looking for is the same as what you're really good at and love to do. Once you've figured out what that is, Michael J. Katz says that doing anything else is just "a self-perpetuating distraction." So don't get distracted too much by always trying to blog about the "right" things. Invite more passion into your blog and see who is attracted by that.   Here's an example of a passionate blog: Voted as one of Time Magazine's Best Blogs of 2011, Smitten Kitchen author Deb Perelman must be full of passion. Otherwise there's no way she could pull off these delicious-looking recipes in a galley kitchen and share them on such a stylish and well-organized blog. Keep it real Hobby bloggers are notorious for revealing the good, bad and ugly of their real-life adventures. Whether the result is poignant, painful, hilarious or even mundane, it gives the reader an opportunity to feel a little more connected to the human race. Business bloggers, take note: Will you lose your credibility as an expert if you share your personal experience? Not at all. Just remember to strive for a balance between experience and expertise. If you only share experience, your readers may feel more connected with you on a personal level, but may not think of you when it comes to paying for solutions. If you only share expertise, your readers may respect and revere you, but lose touch if they start to feel lectured to.  Delight in the day When you feel free to follow your passions under no pretense of being someone you're not, it opens you up to more fascination and curiosity. Jeff Korhan wrote about how knowing that you're going to be sharing about your life on social media, including your blog, tends you make you want to live a better and more interesting life. Business bloggers, take note: Put on your blogging goggles and look for interesting connections you can make between your daily adventures and the solutions your prospective clients are looking for. Turn those connections into stories that illustrate a helpful lesson for your readers. Just make sure your stories tie into your business message and stay consistent with your brand.  Here's a hobby blogger example of both keeping it real and delighting in the everyday: Enjoy this story about deodorant on the award-winning blog Pistols & Popcorn by Jodi Nelson Call from Brooklyn, New York. Jodi was a 2011 finalist for the best parenting blog at the 2011 bloggies. Linda Dessau, CPCC, is the author of Write Your Way to More Clients Online and the founder of ContentMasteryGuide.com. She'll help you put on your own blogging goggles in the upcoming free webinar The Blogging Mindset. Sign up now at http://blogging-mindset.eventbrite.ca How would you describe your blog - hobby blog or business blog? Let us know in the comments and share the URL so we can check out your style! [...]

Six Essential SEO Strategies for Bloggers

2012-01-27T08:07:48-08:00

Bloggers can never get enough advice about SEO. This is a guest post by Chrisian Arno at Lingo24. Six Essential SEO Strategies for Bloggers When a blog forms part of your marketing strategy, you need to be confident your words will reach the right people. With search engines constantly refining their algorithms, not to mention the huge amount of information competing for your readers, this can seem like an impossible task. Here are six strategies that can help you regain your confidence with SEO. Do Your Research If you are someone who dashes off blog posts when inspiration strikes, slow... Bloggers can never get enough advice about SEO. This is a guest post by Chrisian Arno at Lingo24.  Six Essential SEO Strategies for Bloggers When a blog forms part of your marketing strategy, you need to be confident your words will reach the right people. With search engines constantly refining their algorithms, not to mention the huge amount of information competing for your readers, this can seem like an impossible task. Here are six strategies that can help you regain your confidence with SEO.Do Your ResearchIf you are someone who dashes off blog posts when inspiration strikes, slow down a little. Keyword research might seem like a chore but this tried and true SEO strategy remains one of the best ways to let search engine robots know you have something to say about a certain topic. Take a moment to find out what questions people are asking and then set your post up to answer it or promote further discussion. If you can echo some of their search terms in your post, the search engines will make the connection and start sending those people in your direction. Use Keywords WiselySearch engines are getting smarter. It's time to give up those black hat techniques that can banish you to the depths of the results pages. While this means you will have to become a better writer, seamlessly embedding keywords and key phrases into your post, it also frees you up to write more naturally. That's no bad thing if you want to build a loyal readership that cares about what you have to say. Aim for variety instead of going overboard with keyword density. Include some long-tail key phrases as well as approaching your main keyword or phrase from different angles.Ask: Is This Relevant?By being more creative with your language you will be less obsessed with ranking for a single keyword and will have a better chance instead of ranking for several keywords and phrases. Take care that in doing this you don't lose focus completely. There's a good chance you will across promising key phrases that aren't entirely on-topic to your post but tempt you with the prospect of related traffic. Resist the urge to throw them in and instead save them for another post. Relevance is becoming a key factor in search engine ranking and needs to be one of your top priorities. Read each draft post and for every new idea that crops up ask yourself: “How relevant is this?”Avoid Lazy Anchor LinksAn anchor link is the text that directs a potential reader to a piece of web content. In this case,we're talking about links that you create around the web to direct readers to your blog posts. Chances are you already know that inbound links can help boost your importance with search engines. Don't throw away this opportunity with lazy linking, whether it's of the 'click here' variety or repeating your blog title in every single link. Opt instead for keywords in your anchor links and also vary your wording. You can do this through a combination of statements (Discover the best sushi restaurant on Mars), questions (Where to eat great sushi on Mars?), and the occasional direct link to your business name (Sushi on Mars) or URL (www.martiansushi.com). Quality Trumps QuantityIn an ideal world, what you have to say is going to make such an impression that people will link back to your blog or to specific posts. This is something you can actively encourage by social networking with the kind of people who have an interest in your business area an[...]

Blogging Without Dates - The pros, the cons and meeting in the middle

2012-01-05T09:32:21-08:00

This is a guest post by Linda Dessau of ContentMasteryGuide.com In his October 2011 post about why you no longer need a blog (in the traditional sense), John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing predicts that soon our content will "no longer be consumed in chronological fashion." When Jim Connolly of Internet Marketing Jam explored the question of why people remove dates from their blog posts, in the end, he came to the conclusion that for his blog, the benefits far outweighed any risks. What are the pros of blogging without dates? What benefits did Jim Connolly see? People were spending...This is a guest post by Linda Dessau of ContentMasteryGuide.com In his October 2011 post about why you no longer need a blog (in the traditional sense), John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing predicts that soon our content will "no longer be consumed in chronological fashion." When Jim Connolly of Internet Marketing Jam explored the question of why people remove dates from their blog posts, in the end, he came to the conclusion that for his blog, the benefits far outweighed any risks. What are the pros of blogging without dates? What benefits did Jim Connolly see? People were spending more time on his site, and older posts were getting more views, comments and social media mentions. His feeling was that people are sometimes turned off by seeing that a blog post is "past due," whether to them that means it's a week old, a month old or six months old. They simply won't click through to read it. Removing the dates, he says, allows your blog post titles and topics to stand on their own merit without that filter. It puts all the focus on the content and makes it easier for your readers to find what they need. Dateless blogging also gives you more freedom to update existing posts - simply treating them like any other page of your website. What are the cons of blogging without dates? "A blog is really a public chronicle of our evolution as writers, marketers and entrepreneurs. While some older content may make me cringe and wish I'd known then what I know now, I try to celebrate my learning and how far I've come." - Linda Dessau, in Is it okay to go back and edit your published blog posts? By presenting an online journal of your evolving views, suggestions, theories, personal insights and business practices, you're inviting your readers - and prospective clients - right into your business, heart and mind. By forcing each post to stand alone with no context of who you were when you wrote it, you remove some of the personality from your blog - some of your personality. The best of both worlds Consider how U.S.-based supermarket chain Wegman's organizes content on their site. They have a separate area for "fact sheet" articles about the core issues they know their customers care about. Then there is the consistently updated Fresh Stories blog, where Wegman's staff post personal and timely food and lifestyle tips. In this article about healthy strategies for the holiday season, they reinforce a core concept from the fact sheets ("half-plate healthy"), but make it current for the season.   Will you keep dating your blog? If you choose to keep dating your blog, there are still several ways that readers can discover your older posts, including: Providing a search box Organizing your posts thoughtfully Linking to older posts from within newer posts  Using the Yet Another Related Posts WordPress plugin or the LinkWithin widget to automatically display more posts for your readers to browse Using the Tweet Old Post plugin  What do you think? Will you keep dating your blog? Will you pull together your content into fact sheets? Or will you go completely dateless? Linda Dessau, CPCC, is the author of Write Your Way to More Clients Online and the founder of ContentMasteryGuide.com. Check out her new free training webinar, Strategic Blogging. [...]

Pitching to bloggers - the do’s and don’ts of blogger pitching

2011-12-19T10:51:22-08:00

This is a guest post by Kristy Shaw of Punch Communications. Pitching to bloggers… the do’s and don’ts of blogger pitching Life as a PR has certainly changed over the last few years; with the rise in popularity of blogs it has meant having to adapt the way I pitch to different types of media. Bloggers can be just as influential as many print publications and therefore should always be on PR agencies radars. Pitching to bloggers is a world away from traditional pitches to journalists; there are many more things to take into account. For example, in contrast to... This is a guest post by Kristy Shaw of Punch Communications. Pitching to bloggers… the do’s and don’ts of blogger pitching Life as a PR has certainly changed over the last few years; with the rise in popularity of blogs it has meant having to adapt the way I pitch to different types of media. Bloggers can be just as influential as many print publications and therefore should always be on PR agencies radars.  Pitching to bloggers is a world away from traditional pitches to journalists; there are many more things to take into account. For example, in contrast to traditional media journalist’s blogging may not be the full time job of the writer, but instead something they are passionate about or a hobby.  Building a rapport with a blogger can be just as easy as building a relationship with a journalist. Here are some top tips for pitching to journalists: Research your blogger. There is nothing more frustrating for a blogger than receiving an e-mail about children’s toys when they’re a food writer with no children. As with pitching to journalists, do your research about who you are pitching to, take a look at their Twitter and previous blog posts. Use tools such as Google Blog Search to find blogs in the sector you are trying to reach, but don’t rely on this 100%, do your own research before hitting the send button.  1. Press releases are not a bloggers best friend: Bloggers don’t write stories based on press releases, they may use one for ideas but sifting through a press release is not the best use of their time. A brief, tailored pitch is a much better way to approach a blogger, and make sure you keep the pitch relevant; images or quotes should be chosen to suit the bloggers style and interests.  2. Keep it personal: Don’t copy and paste a generic e-mail. The blogger is taking time to read your pitch, so take the time to write them a personal e-mail. Include references to previous blogs of theirs that you like (but be genuine) and what you can offer them for their blog, but don’t waffle! Remember, blogging may not be their full time job and so time is precious.  3. Interact: It’s important to be aware of the bloggers in your area of interest, therefore take time to read a few blogs every week. Where possible, comment on blog posts you like or have something to add to. Also don’t forget to follow or become a fan of their social media profiles.  4. Nothing is “off record”: Just like when you are speaking to a traditional media journalist, nothing is “off the record”. If you have an embargo to stick to, remember to mention it to the blogger- updates can be instantaneous and therefore it is very easy to publish news on a blog before the story has been officially broken. About the Author: Kirsty Shaw is an account manager at PR, social media and SEO agency, Punch Communications. Punch is based in the UK and delivers integrated services for local and global, B2B and B2C clients. Need more visibility for your business? Get free immediate access to 7 simple tactics to boost your visibility on the web... Buffer [...]

5 Tips for Beefing Up a Short Blog Post

2011-12-02T07:08:16-08:00

Even after the best writing session, the results sometimes fall short of your expectations. The quality may be there, just not the quantity. Here are five tips for how to beef up a blog post and turn it into an article.This is a guest post by Linda Dessau of ContentMasteryGuide.com In How to Be a Weekly Blogger, I remove the pressure of having to write a feature article for your blog every week. Instead, I suggest that you aim to write one feature article per MONTH, and then in the weeks in between you can play off that topic with connective content. Connective content combines your expertise and opinion with something that's already been created; whether that's a post on your own blog or someone else's, or a movie, book, website, product or story that relates to the topic of that month's feature article. How to turn a blog post into an article The funny thing about relieving pressure is that it can really open a channel for creativity. You may produce some wonderful content this way, and you may decide that it deserves a bigger audience - whether that's via an article directory or as a guest post on another blog. But since connecting posts tend to be shorter than feature articles (I recommend 250 words as a broad guideline), you may need to make some alterations before you can share this content in other settings. Some article directories, for instance, require a minimum of 500 words. Here are five tips for how to beef up your blog post and turn it into an article: Show as you tell - Provide an example that supports what you've written, such as a personal story, a client story, or something about a well-known public figure. Note: If you have (or want) a global audience, be sure to provide enough context that the story is relatable even if the reader hasn't heard of the person. Set the stage - Introduce your article with some standalone text such as a quote or a powerful question. Or use your opening paragraph to get your readers' attention and compel them to keep reading. What's in it for them if they do? Why is this an important topic for their particular situation? Work them up - As they finish reading your article, inspire your readers to take an action or make a change. Give them hope that if they do, they will see better results in their business or personal lives (depending on who is your ideal client). Sprinkle in some stats - Support your main point by sharing numbers and facts (charts and graphs are powerful as well, but won't do anything to add to your word count). You can also reference other bloggers, authors and experts and describe their findings or opinions. Mine your mountain - Look to your own collection of content for phrases, sentences or even entire paragraphs that you can bring over into the post. Freshen them up and rework them for this new setting. This reinforces the core message of your blog, plus it's likely these new audiences missed it the first time around.  If you've written a blog post you love, there's no need to keep it hidden on your blog just because of a low word count. Try beefing it up with these tips and get it in front of some new eyes. Linda Dessau, CPCC, is the author of Write Your Way to More Clients Online and the founder of ContentMasteryGuide.com. She'll be delving into how to create powerful openers and closers for your blog posts in the free training webinar, How to Write a Blog Post. Click here for the details. Do you have any short blog posts you've wanted to share in other settings? How might you apply these suggestions? [...]

Social Networking Poll - Have you voted?

2011-11-30T09:34:58-08:00

If you missed it on DeniseWakeman.com, I'm taking a short, one question poll to find out what social networking site you use the most for business purposes. If you haven't voted yet, I would appreciate it if you would take one minute to click over to the poll and vote. Thank you and blog on!

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Blogging Brings YOU into the Writing

2011-11-04T08:24:52-07:00

This is a guest post by Linda Dessau of ContentMasteryGuide.com In academic writing or journalism, we're usually asked to chose whether we're going to write subjectively (an argumentative or persuasive essay, opinion piece or editorial) or objectively (an expository essay, investigative report, profile or news feature). In blogging, we see a delightful mixture of all of these types of content, sometimes even within the same blog post. Here, you can bend the rules and choose both objective and subjective writing. You can bring more of yourself into everything you write, not just your personal posts. For example, we may offer...This is a guest post by Linda Dessau of ContentMasteryGuide.com In academic writing or journalism, we're usually asked to chose whether we're going to write subjectively (an argumentative or persuasive essay, opinion piece or editorial) or objectively (an expository essay, investigative report, profile or news feature). In blogging, we see a delightful mixture of all of these types of content, sometimes even within the same blog post. Here, you can bend the rules and choose both objective and subjective writing. You can bring more of yourself into everything you write, not just your personal posts. For example, we may offer practical action steps about how to implement the ideas in a passionate thought piece, or we may introduce a "how to" post by telling a story. After all, people learn just as much from our experience as they do from our expertise. When I visit a blog, I'm not just looking for information. I want to get to know the voice and personality of the business owner behind the blog. You may have some concerns about using a more narrative style of writing, especially if you'd had lots of experience with more formal styles of writing. For example: Shouldn't my blog posts be all about helping my reader, not about me? Often your blog and your business ARE about you, especially if you're a member of your target audience. Your journey can inspire, inform and guide your readers and clients. Doesn't it diminish my credibility to prospective clients if I write in a casual style? Just the opposite. By writing authentically in your own voice, people who are drawn in by the real you will recognize that connection right away. Plus you'll quickly weed out the people who aren't the right fit. What if someone looks at this in six months or a year and it doesn't make sense anymore? It's true that writing about current events in your life or business will put a time stamp on your blog post, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. It is these narrative elements that make blogs such a wonderful chronicle of our evolution as writers, marketers and entrepreneurs. What if a new reader doesn't understand my post because they haven't been following along? Even though some readers will stumble upon your blog without knowing any of the back story you may be referring to in your narrative, this is a key step of building that relationship. You want to write to your readers as if you’ve already had a positive interaction and this is a continuation of that conversation. What if I want to submit my blog posts to article directories? If you're planning to submit a blog post to an article directory in the hopes that it will be republished in other blogs, newsletters or print publications, you may want to limit your narrative and focus on delivering the concrete information that readers and prospective clients are looking for. Once they've had that positive introduction, people will want to keep in touch via your mailing list and your blog. And that's where you can show your readers more of YOU! Linda Dessau, CPCC, is the author of Write Your Way to More Clients Online and the founder of ContentMasteryGuide.com. The freedom to mix narrative writing into other styles is just one of the three formal writing rules she will help you let go [...]

The Art of Planning Your Blog

2011-10-30T14:29:21-07:00

This is a guest post by Mitch O'Conner. The Art of Planning Your Blog Thinking of starting a blog? So is everybody else. According to BlogPulse, there are over 174 million blogs on the Internet as of October 2011, and over 7,000 new blogs are created every day. On the other hand, a 2008 Technorati survey indicated that 95% of blogs end up being abandoned - meaning that the vast majority of bloggers either post very infrequently or completely give up on their blog within a very short amount of time (sometimes after a couple of months, sometimes after a...This is a guest post by Mitch O'Conner. The Art of Planning Your Blog Thinking of starting a blog? So is everybody else. According to BlogPulse, there are over 174 million blogs on the Internet as of October 2011, and over 7,000 new blogs are created every day. On the other hand, a 2008 Technorati survey indicated that 95% of blogs end up being abandoned - meaning that the vast majority of bloggers either post very infrequently or completely give up on their blog within a very short amount of time (sometimes after a couple of months, sometimes after a single day). But this doesn't mean that there's less competition - it simply means that blogging is hard. It takes a lot of work to develop and maintain a blog, and even if it's well-operated, there's still no guarantee that you'll get a lot of traffic or see any income being generated. This is why it's almost impossible to overstate the importance of planning. The more you think ahead, stay focused on your goals, and keep your basics covered, the higher your chances will be of becoming successful with blogging. What Will You Blog About? The content and focus of a blog are the first things a blogger must decide on. What are you trying to accomplish? Let's examine three blog types: Personal Blogs - These are the most traditional, "online diary" sort of blogs. Basically, a personal blog is for sharing ideas, reflecting on life and just communicating thoughts in general. These blogs rarely see extensive traffic or income, but it's not impossible to become popular if your content is engaging enough. Genre Blogs - These are blogs that chiefly discuss a specific topic such as politics, fashion, home improvement, parenting, music, and travel. Business or Organizational Blogs - These are blogs that are part of a larger business or organization, such as a large corporation or non-profit club. Of course, these categories can overlap. There are plenty of "genre blogs" that also promote specific products that the blogger is selling. So, if you're just looking for a unique communication outlet that allows you to make posts over 140 characters long, then you don't need to do quite as much planning. But if your endgame is to make a profitable site that you can eventually sell if you want to, you'll have to consider many more things. The first of these considerations is your niche market. Your blog has a much better chance of becoming popular if you're serving a marketable need that's under-serviced. Does the world really need another blog about poker? Well, maybe. If you can provide excellent, expert insight into the game as well as keep readers informed of everything going on in the poker world in an engaging, unique way, then you could probably pull it off. But you might have more success creating a blog about something with a little less competition like antique clocks, dog training, or Halloween costumes. One of the best ways to decide this is to ask yourself what you're interested in and what you have expertise in. This will help ensure the longevity of your blog. Market research is important here as well - if you're really serious about creating a profitable blog, you may want to take some marketing classes to get expert advice about niche markets. The Basics There are a few basic things you should decide on before you even s[...]

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