Posts Tagged ‘what to blog about’

• I recently came across a situation where one of my clients was told by his business consultant that his  blog was for one purpose only.  To educate people  and share good information.  My client was told that his blog should not be used for “marketing purposes” and I tend to disagree.

• If your blog isn’t to be used for “marketing”, then what is the purpose in having it?  Now don’t get me wrong, educating people and offering your visitors valuable information is crucial to the success of your blog, but factoring self promotion and marketing is also important.  You have to find good balance in your blog to make sure you are educating your readers, after all that is what most people are looking for when they read blogs, they want information and providing valuable information will keep them coming back for more.

• My recommendation to you when creating a blog post is to educate FIRST and market second.  If you approach your posts by marketing first, you will most likely loose the interest of your readers within a few moments.

• The best way to use your blog as a marketing tool is to provide valuable information with hyperlinks directly to your product pages where people can take action with the product or service you are offering.  It serves three purposes:

1. Blogs create fresh content which is what “Googlers” want and what Google wants to provide.
2. Leads potential clients to the place to take action
3. Create links throughout your site or from your blog to your site, which helps with your quest to work with Google.

• To learn everything you need to know about how to blog along with what to blog about read “profitable blogging”

P.S. Thank you for taking your time to visit and hope you find the information useful. I hope to help you learn everything you want and need to know about blogging. I welcome your questions (site specific is good) and definitely your suggestions. I hope to answer your questions before they come up or when you find that you have one. By clicking on the Orange RSS Feed button on the left side of the screen, you will be automatically updated of new information available without having to "check in" to see what's new. It's the easiest way to keep up to date. Thanks again for stopping in, I value your time!

• The word “Blog” comes from the term “Web Blog”.  Web Blogs became a popular and easier way to communicate once the Internet came along than past methods like having a Pen Pal, mailing cards or even writing emails.  With a “blog”, friends and families can communicate with everyone at one time by simply adding a blog post and allowing everyone to have access to it

• When “blogging” first became popular, people used blogs as on-line diaries and journals.  One of the things that made it fun and exciting was giving family and friends the ability to comment on blog posts and interact with one another via their web logs.

• Websites like MySpace, used mostly by teenagers and young adults  really helped blogging  explode in popularity giving users the ability to post something on MySpace page and other users/friends could respond and interact about whatever had been posted.  Posting photos, change themes and customizing MySpace pages to fit personal tastes, the latest trends, or simply rebel against parents made it even more exciting and fun for this generation.

• Blogging became a new way of communicating with friends.  When other social websites like FaceBook and Twitter began to catch on, it closed the generation gap and kids found not only their friends had Facebook and Twitter accounts, they even found their grandparents “twittering” as a way to stay in touch.

• “Twittering” is considered “micro blogging” because you are limited to 140 in each “tweet”.  Read more about Twitter and how to participate in the post “Six Easy Twitter Lingo “Twips”.

• Because blogs offer dynamic content vs. static content with a standard HTML web page.  Search engines like Google have become more fond of blog sites because the content us much more fresh and up to date and therefore end up closer to the top of a search result in many cases.  With all of the talk about Search Engine Marketing and businesses trying to figure out the secret recipe to being indexed on page one of Google, more and more businesses are turning to blogs to create current content, make announcements and keep their clients up to date about their businesses.

• For businesses, a blog could and really should include announcements, market updates along with any and all commentary having to do with the industry the business is serving.  The more relevant and important the information, the more people will frequent the blog.  Businesses who have blogs and depend on their blogs as a communication tool, need to commit to keeping their blogs updated and current.  Businesses who don’t make that commitment and are fortunate enough to make their way up to the front page of Google because of their blogs, will soon find their websites lost in the shuffle without such a commitment.

• With regards to maintaining a company blog, it should fall under the specific job description of someone in the company who should be held accountable to keep it up to date.  In an ideal world, a blog is updated daily, but updating it two to three times per week is totally acceptable as well.

• The big thing to remember is to provide your readers quality and relevant information.  Filling your blog with a bunch of fluff meant to keep search engines happy will not help your business in the long run.

• Learn more about blogging for money by reading the free e-book, Profitable Blogging.  Profitable blogging includes everything you need to know to help you get started.

• Feel free to ask any questions you have regarding blogging or how to blog either below or on the “ask a question page”.

Happy Blogging! ~ Nadine

Setting up Google Alerts

When you are struggling to figure out something to blog about, I often turn to my trusted Google Alerts to see what other bloggers are blogging. I wanted to share this with you to make sure you are keeping up with what Google finds daily on your subject matter. I also encourage you to set up a Google Alert with your name, your blog name, or anything else you feel you should be alerted about.

Here is how to you do it. You need to create a Google Account. If you look at the top right corner of your Google home page, you will see an option to create an account. This will give you access to all kinds of tools Google has that are completely free. Once you are logged in, you will see a bunch of different tools available, you are searching for “Alerts”.

Another easy way to find “Google Alerts”, is just to Google it! It will be the first result you find at the top of your search. Click it.  Click here, I Googled it for you!

The easiest way to understand how cool Google Alerts are is to set up an alert with your own name. Setting up the alert means Google will send you an alert every time it finds your name, once a day or once a week. Choose whatever seems to be best for you. “As it happens” really is a bit overwhelming if you read them….but it also lets you know if Google is finding you, your site, your key words or whatever it is you wish to be alerted about. Once you set up the alert, you just need to tell Google where to email it.

Because one of my web businesses is PrinterBees, an onling printing company, I have many alerts regarding key words like business cards, post cards, online printing, brochures and of coarse “PrinterBees”. It also keeps me aware of any potential “bad press” so I can deal with it immediately. This is one of many great tools that Google has to offer. Make sure to subscribe to the RSS Feed for this site because I have many more cool tools coming your way. Remember, my purpose on this Earth is to teach people, and you have to subscribe to the RSS to make sure you get all of my “tid bits”.

Blessings!