Easy Screen Recorder
Bluff Titler
Blogs are an effective and powerful marketing tool for businesses of all sizes and types. Like any tool, though, you need to know how to use it correctly to maximize your results.
You can pat yourself on the back if you’re one of the thousands of small business professionals that have set up a blog to communicate with your potential clients. Or, maybe you haven’t started your business blog yet, but intend to. Take note now so you can avoid some of the consequences of do-it-yourself blogging.
You’ve set up your business blog.
1. You don’t know how to use your blogging software, yet you expect to look like an expert and build credibility. How could you know? Blogs haven’t been around that long, and the blogging software is continually being upgraded. You need to learn how to use your blog features that increase your findability on the Internet and readership. For example, you need to regularly use trackback, pinging, and permalinks features.
2. You are writing in a vacuum, without knowing what questions your clients want answered. You haven’t done any keyword research, or asked your current clients what they’d like to read. Even worse, you under the impression that a blog should be like an online diary. You are writing about your personal life and details, detracting from the on-target, focused purpose of your blog as a business building tool.
3. You haven’t researched other blogs in your field, or spent any time on them, leaving comments. You need to get out there and raise your hand in the blogosphere, so people will know you’re there. You also need to know what’s going on in your field.
4. You haven’t put a subscription form on your blog, and you don’t understand the whole RSS feed thingy. Your readers can’t find you or know when you have updated your blog.
5. You haven’t put any images on your blog and your blog doesn’t look as neat and tidy as your business is. It doesn’t reflect your business image or brand.
6. You haven’t put any content-appropriate ads on your blog, that don’t distract from your own products. Your blog has a non-professional, non-business look and feel to it.
7. You haven’t used categories for your blog posts and your readers are confused about wide-ranging subjects you write about. What is your core message? What is the focus of your blog? And important question you must answer for your readers: What’s in your blog for them?
8. You haven’t written anything for a month. When you’ve got a blog that has lack-luster traffic, your enthusiasm for writing begins to wane. Why bother posting, if no one is reading your words of wisdom? Then your blog slips even further, and begins to look like a ghost town. Worse, it’s still up on the Web, and people will find you and decide you maybe don’t care, went out of business, or changed your mind.
Here’s what is promised by having a blog:
- Search engines will find you better website traffic galore
- Instant credibility in your area of expertise
- A way to communicate with people interested in your field
- Dialogue through comments with potential clients
- Increased sales of your products, whether tangible goods, informational products, or servicesHow could you possibly know the most effective blogging strategies and tactics without learning and guidance by experts? Sure, blogs are for everyone and the software makes it easy and cheap for anyone to start a blog.
But a professional business blog that drives traffic and gets clients must be optimized correctly and treated as a valuable marketing strategy.
Here are some solutions:
1. Study the professional business blogs in the blogosphere and model their strategies.
2. Buy an ebook on how to set up and optimize a professional business blog
3. Take an advanced course in blogging (not one that just tells you how to get a free account and set it up, but one to explain how to optimize for business.)
4. Hire a team of professional blog experts to coach you in using your blog for your business.
5. Hire a business blog consultant team to help you tweak your blog, or do an extreme makeover
6. Delete your blog and start all over again
Blogs are an effective and powerful marketing tool for businesses of all sizes and types.Like any tool, though
, you need to know how to use it correctly to maximize your results.
More Related Articles From This Website...
Setting Up and Securing Your Wireless NetworkThere are more and more individuals opting to work from home than ever before. The advantages to this are many including avoiding the morning and evening rush hours, being able to spend time with your kids and significant other, and doing everything on your own time. Though the pitfalls are many, the one that I will be focusing on in this article is that of setting up a secure wireless network for your home based business. Right now somewhere out there, there is someone with a receiver waiting to pick up on an unsuspecting person's wireless local area network. Their....
Tips On Promoting Your BlogBlogging can be a great deal of fun for some bloggers but for others it is a source of income. Whether this income is earned through an AdSense campaign, paid advertisements, affiliate marketing or some other type of revenue generating source one of the key elements to maximizing this profit is by driving greater traffic to the blog. This is because the more visitors the blog receives the more opportunities there are for the blogger to have visitors click through the advertisements in the blog. There are a few basic techniques which bloggers can rely on to promote their....
How to Set Up a Blog the Media Will LoveRecent studies indicate 79% of the major media use blogs to find resources and experts. Here are tips on how to maximize your blog so it attracts big media players by giving them what they need. Not long ago I attended a call with some of the top journalists working today. And I learned that not only do 79% of these editors find their sources and their story ideas from blogs -- a healthy number start their day by reading their favorites. An editor from Wired said he actually....
The 6 Top Reasons Marketers Should BlogIf there is a downside to blogging, I have yet to find it. The more you learn about blogging, the more there is to like.In fact, here are 6 mouth-watering reasons why every marketer should be blogging:1- Fast Search Engine Spidering and Indexing of Your Site:Did you know that Google owns the most popular blogging platform on the planet? blogger at http://www.blogger.com is used to produce thousands of blogs. Even a complete internet newbie can set up a blog in about 5 minutes at Blogger. And guess who can be counted on to....
The Power of the BLOGDear Friend,Can a Blog earn you a prison sentence? Ask Mojtaba Saminejad. He is an Iranian whose Blog, published in the Farsi language, earned him a two-year prison sentence in June 2005. The online community is fast waking up to the power of blogs which have spread across the internet like wild fire. If you are still grappling with the word BLOG, these are online websites which are diary-like in approach and people are free to publish news or their ideas and thoughts. Blogs are very popular as....
Blogging Tips and ToolsAs a business owner, You'll not want to miss out on the additional revenue you can generate by using blogs to add revenue streams to your business . Displaying Adsense ads, affiliate banners and links, and developing another source of traffic to your core business are just a few of the benefits associated with blogging. Once you have a large consistent flow of readers, selling advertising space might become a viable option. This will of course depend on your marketing skills and your ability to provide quality and useful content. Setting up a new blog with Wordpress is pretty simple and....
Blogging – Whats in it for You?Is making money blogging even possible, and a full-time income at that? Well, I have been reading an E-book that talks all about making money blogging. The title of this book is 'Blogging to the Bank,' written by Rob Benwell. According to this book, making money doesn't necessarily come from blogging insomuch as it comes from advertisements (affiliate links, etc.) optimally placed in and around your blog. You also have to have a specific focus for your blog, one that people will want to read about. Of course, you can have more than one blog talking about....
The Art of Staying FocusedMany new and even seasoned internet marketers find it hard to stay focused on their tasks. When you work online it can be nearly impossible to get anything accomplished when you run across new opportunities, are tempted to visit websites, watch videos, check email, browse forums, check your stats, listen to tele-seminars, browse Google and do other distracting online activities. Not to mention other offline distractions. Here are a couple things you can do to diminish distractions. 1. Work alone in a quiet space If you have young children you’ll understand how crucial it is to work in a quiet space where other people....
Blogging for BusinessBlogging is really hot and yet many people still have no idea what it is or what it’s for. I usually get one of two responses when I tell people that I recently launched a blog: ‘A what?’ or ‘Great, where can I find it?’ It seems people are either completely aware and involved with blogging or unaware of its existence. Don’t be left behind and miss out on a fabulous opportunity to connect with more potential clients and partners. Some people have heard about blogs and have a negative impression of them. Yes, there are people who have blogs that consist....
How To Optimize Your Blog For Search EnginesMany clients ask me how to drive more traffic to their blogs. By now you have probably heard that blogs are an excellent resource to get leads as well as clients for your business. The best way to do that is by creating search engine friendly blog posts that get indexed in search engines. When people search for information on topics you discuss in your blog it appears on the search engine result pages. Potential customers then are able to read what you have to say and get on your mailing list.So now it....
How To Create A Blog With Income PotentialLearning how to create a blog that will make you money is not rocket science. In fact the process is straight forward and rather simple. You see any successful business blogs you find on the internet generally all have one thing in common: they're all built upon diligent market research. If you expect to make money blogging you absolutely need to devote some time to the research you do when selecting your niche market first. As I've said this is not rocket science although it will require some patience on your part if you are up to it. For the....
This blog now has defined niche specific contentAfter reading a post submitted to my blog... here by Greg Hall, I decided to take his advice and change the focus of my Pro Blog Tips website to blogs and blogging. Have removed over 300 articles that related to other subjects that were not really blog related. Must admit that taking the plung and removing so many posts was a bit scary as I'm sure that for at least the next few months traffic to Pro Blog Tips will be effected. Not long ago I took the same steps with a number of dating blogs. Found that traffic dropped for about....
Multimedia Blogging: Don’t get left behind!There are many various multimedia advances happening to the good old blog. Although the blog is only a few years old, technology has kept right up there with it. Now, you have the ability to do a number of fascinating things with it. As the blog owner, this can mean huge potential dollars in marketing. If you are just a blog reader, you can now access your favorites online any time that you feel like it. There are several areas in which the blog has entered the multimedia world. Here are some of....
Blogging: Advances In The NumbersThere are many various multimedia advances happening to the good old blog. Although the blog is only a few years old, technology has kept right up there with it. Now, you have the ability to do a number of fascinating things with it. As the blog owner, this can mean huge potential dollars in marketing. If you are just a blog reader, you can now access your favorites online any time that you feel like it. There are several areas in which the blog has entered the multimedia world. Here are some of....
Banner Advertising: How To Make It WorkWhen it comes to banner advertising, the same rules don't apply to everyone. If you want to make your advertising work, it's more than just having an attractive banner. For example, are you trying to develop awareness of your brand, attract prospective customers to your site, or actually make sales? Is banner advertising for you? Ask yourselves these questions before making any rash decisions. But whatever you are trying to achieve with banner advertising, there are few key rules to getting it right. Don't lose sight of your objectives If building....
Trackback URL for this post:
http://www.problogtips.com/business-blog-savvy-avoiding-the-8-pitfalls-of-do-it-yourself-blogging/890/trackback/
Posted by Jaron in the catagory of... General Interest
