| |
Archive for the ‘Blogging for Small Business’ Category
Wednesday, February 1st, 2012
One of the platforms behind search engine optimization is content. “Publish useful keyword content regularly” has been the mantra for over a decade now, however, one wonders if that is all about to change and that content on websites could become defunct. I know that will raise eyebrows, but then, we do know that Google, the number one source of traffic for many websites, is trying to escape the inbound link component of their algorithm.
There’s an interesting article on TechCrunch which, while discussing privacy issues related to Google+ and Facebook, also had this to say:
Google’s PageRank algorithm is seriously out of date. It promotes pages based on the number of links to it. Today, pages are no longer the unit of publishing. Far smaller items than a page dominate our senses. And those smaller messages are produced in huge quantity and in real time.
Those smaller messages are references to Facebook, Twitter and many other social media sites, forums included. This raises the question of content on websites – will it become defunct and replaced by short messages? I for one hope it never comes to that. The content on Facebook and Twitter can never really adequately answer a question. Forums are a different story, questions are answered, often in depth, and with a lot of input from a range of users. You are more likely to find an answer in a forum than you will on Facebook or Twitter. Interestingly, most small messages on those two sites generally include links to more indepth answers often on blogs.
Logic would then suggest that the indepth answer is more relevant and more important than the smaller message on a social media website. Keith Teare, the article’s author, is right when it comes to the privacy issues facing social media. However, when it comes to content, I don’t think we’ll be losing that anytime soon. Yes, Google will find a way to reduce the effects of links in its search ranking algorithm, but that will be because they have found a better way to measure worth, and yes, social media mentions will most likely lead that change.
I wouldn’t be tearing down content or reducing the amount published in too much of hurry. Rather, I’d be concentrating on content that individuals find important enough to share with others. Blogging for small business is still one of the best ways to communicate with the rest of the world, and that won’t be changing anytime soon.
Tags: content, search engine optimization, SEO, social media marketing
Posted in Blogging for Small Business | 3 Comments »
Friday, December 30th, 2011
We talk a lot about Search Engine Optimization or SEO. That is one of the most important things a small business website needs. Optimized search engine results. It’s all about content and keywords.
Not only do you need your content about your business on your website, you also need regular content updated often. This means maybe add a blog to your site. Then add articles, or blogs to that section of the site. And, don’t forget back links. Link to other content on your site so that you can keep readers on your site.
Whether you write them or you use content providers (contract writers) it’s important to have content added at least three times a week. Even better if you add content every day. It does need to be something relevant to your business and not something that will make people think you have lost your mind.
Keywords are just as important. Your keywords need to be words that people will use in a search. Use keywords that mean something to your business and your products if you have that for sale on your site. You don’t have to use a ton of keywords for each content article or blog you post, but you do need to mix them up and use about 4-6 for each post. That way you have a few, it doesn’t look like spam and you will get people coming by using different keywords.
It’s a very simple concept and one that anyone can do. It just takes a little time and effort and everyone knows that it takes time and effort to run a small business in the first place.
Tags: blogging, business, content, keywords, online marketing, SEO
Posted in Blogging for Small Business | 5 Comments »
Wednesday, December 7th, 2011
In the business world, advertising is everything when it comes to keeping a business going. Especially small businesses. Yes, large corporate companies advertise all the time and spend large amounts of money to do so. A lot of people can’t do that when running a small business on a budget.
That does not mean you should ignore advertising altogether. Far from it. A small business has to get their name out there in order to thrive against the large corporations. One way to do that is online. Advancing technology is where advertising lies right now. So what do you do? The following tips will help you get more exposure. Which in turn, will bring in more business and will not cost you an arm and two legs.
- Start a free blog about your business. You don’t have to have an expert copywriter do this (although, you can – wink wink). WordPress, Blogspot and other free blogging platforms offer step-by-step tutorials for setting up your business on a blog. You can then write something regularly about your business. You can post your blog to several websites that will send your blog to many areas of the internet. You will have people reading about your business from half a world away.
- Start a fan page on Facebook. Almost everyone is on Facebook today, or Twitter, or LinkedIn. This is a great way to meet people, talk about your business and get the ball rolling. Once again, post something every day about your business. It will bring customers to the door.
- Craigslist is another freebie you can use to advertise your business. The advertising can be put in different time slots so you have a new ad running virtually all the time. Someone, somewhere is bound to see it.
- Use Google Local to list your business. You can put the pertinent information such as phone number, address and any products you sell. Then when someone wants to search for what you are selling such as flowers in Anytown, USA, your business will pop up in the search results for that particular area. People are using this type of search instead of the traditional yellow pages books.
This is just a small sample of what you can do online to promote your business. Why not take the plunge and reap the rewards of online advertising for your small business.
Tags: advertising, blogging, Branding, facebook, google, internet marketing, online marketing, Social Media, Twitter
Posted in Blogging for Small Business | 11 Comments »
Tuesday, October 25th, 2011
Google has said from the beginning that it plans to integrate all of its services with Google+. Well, that integration is happening right now for Blogger, the Google blogging platform.
I’ve kept it no secret that I’m a fan of WordPress on your own domain name, but there are still people who would rather use Blogger as a free blogging platform. Some of them even go so far as to map it to their own domain name. It’s not as effective in terms of SEO as WordPress on your own domain name, but it’s still a blog. If you are a Blogger user and a Google+ user, then I believe integrating your two accounts will cause a big boost in your blog. No guarantee, but I’d almost be willing to put money on it.
Blogging is still one of the most powerful online marketing tactics. Blogger has done a lot to help new businesses go online. It’s a decent place for new small business bloggers to their start in the blogosphere.
So what’s next for Google+ integration? Your guess is as good as mine. I’m pretty sure that YouTube integration is on the way, but whatever Google has up their sleeve, you can bet it will be an improvement.
Tags: blogger, blogging, google
Posted in Blogging for Small Business | 4 Comments »
Sunday, September 18th, 2011
People who don’t spend much time on the Internet will often ask me, “What is a blog?” It’s a hard question to answer.
Trying to answer that question for someone who doesn’t spent more than 5 hours online each week or month is like trying to explain the nature of the universe to someone who failed science in elementary school. You can do it if you use the right words, but you have to be careful to really use the right words and to make it really simple. I’m going to try to do that right now.
Take a look at the page you are on. You are reading a blog. It’s a separate section of my website. If you were on the main page of my blog you’d see a series of headlines, each one followed by some text. The headlines would be in blue and would be followed by a date and then the blog post. If you click on a headline, you’d be taken to that specific blog post. All you’d see is the content on that page and my sidebars.
So what makes a blog special. The way it is ordered. You’ll typically see 10 blog posts on the main page. They’ll be in reverse chronological order, the last one written first.
Blogs are done this way because they are like online journals. A sort of a diary. It’s a website, or a piece of a website, that you can update periodically and that others can read. For a business a blog can be great marketing tool. You’re reading mine, aren’t you?
Tags: blog, business, website
Posted in Blogging for Small Business | 4 Comments »
Wednesday, August 31st, 2011
So you’ve decided that your small business needs a blog. Now you’re ready to move and get it going. You’ve designed it, you’ve SEOd it, and now you’re ready to write it. Did you know the most important thing about your blog is yet to come?
What exactly is the most important part of your blog? Do you know?
The most important aspect to your small business blog are your blog post titles.
Yes, titles. Here’s why:
- Blog post titles are the first thing visitors will read on your blog. If your blog post title doesn’t capture their attention, they won’t read the blog post.
- Search engines place high emphasis on blog post titles in SEO. If you do it right, your blog posts could rank well based on the title alone.
These two things make your blog post titles the most important element of your blog. Its one goal is to get people to read your blog post. It must be interesting, informative, say what the blog post is about, optimized well for search traffic, and not be too long.
If your blog post titles achieve all of the above, they will attract readers and your blog will be doing the job you want it to do.
Tags: blog post titles, blogging, SEO
Posted in Blogging for Small Business | 6 Comments »
Sunday, August 28th, 2011
Seth Godin, a veteran Internet marketer and one of the first business bloggers, is well known for his short bursts of blog content. They’re only about 200-300 words each, if that. But many other bloggers these days tend to write longer blog posts. Some bloggers won’t write one less than 1,000 words.
So that brings up the question, Does size matter? Are longer blog posts better than shorter ones?
In general, more content is better than less. In most cases. In fact, Google has recently penalized content pages for not having enough content on them. But what constitutes “not enough content?”
More important than lots of content is the idea of quality content. You can get by with shorter blog posts if your content is high quality and original. Seth Godin, after all, isn’t hurting in the search engines and his blog posts are some of the most read blog posts in the world. But he does have a reputation, one that he built both online and off line.
You are I, of course, are not Seth Godin.
For most of us, we cannot rely on reputation. We have to use all the tools at our disposal, and that means SEO. Long blog posts might be better than shorter, over all, but high quality original content trumps all. If you can write high quality original long blog posts, then your content will be golden.
Tags: blog content, blogging, content, Reputation Management, SEO
Posted in Blogging for Small Business | 4 Comments »
Tuesday, July 12th, 2011
If you know who John Battelle is, then you’re doing good. He’s one of the pioneers of the Internet and actually has quite a following. He recently decided to turn the comments to his blog completely off.
OK, so why should you care?
Because John’s blog, Searchblog, is not on WordPress. And why is that a big deal? As he mentions in the blog post.
Moveable Type’s spam blocking is terrible.
Woops!
Who knew John Battelle was using Moveable Type?
At one time, Moveable Type was one of the leaders in blog platform software. As was several other early blogging platforms like Greymatter. And it surprises me, but people still use that one!
WordPress, however, has emerged as the industry leader in blogging software. There are several reasons for this:
- It is free
- It is open source and therefore easily manipulated for one’s own purposes
- There is a strong support community
- There are tons of free themes as well as premium themes on the market for WordPress
- A virtual marketplace of free and premium plugins make WordPress infinitely more robust
- A huge development community is always at work to make WordPress better
- WordPress has natural built-in SEO benefits
If you know that you are going to start a blog for your business, don’t bother using another software. Go straight to WordPress. In addition to the above benefits, it has the strongest spam protection of any blogging software on the planet. And it’s easy to use.
Tags: blogging, wordpress
Posted in Blogging for Small Business | 4 Comments »
|
|
|
|
| |
|
Stop The Spam, Please!
Thursday, July 14th, 2011There are a variety of forms of spam. One particular type of spam that I find particularly egregious is blog comment spam because I see so much of it. Here are five specific ways I can tell a blog comment is spam and why I won’t approve it.
These are pretty standard blog comment approval policies. I don’t hold any ill will toward anyone wanting inbound links to their website, but I only approve comments for this blog if they are of some value to my readers. And I’m not unique in that regard.
Don’t be a spammer. Please add value to your comments or they won’t be approved.
Tags: blog comments, blogging, spam
Posted in Blogging for Small Business | 4 Comments »