Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

You can use blogs in various ways... to announce, to inform, to converse (with customers/ potential customers), to entertain, or pass on news/information from other sources.

 

The subject matter can also variety from very specific to your business to general information on a wide variety of topics.

 

How you use your blog depends on you and your target audience... and your purpose (to build a relationship, to get new customers, etc).

 

An important benefit of a blog is it`s affect on search results... and bringing traffic to your site. Blogs can be a way to "notify" the world / and search engines that you have something to say.

 

Proactive rather than reactive

In general terms, when you post a blog entry... your blog sends a message to blog search engine that a new item has been added. This is different than changing text on your website, where you have to wait to search bots to read your site for new content (reactive)... a blog can actually "push" your new post out to the search engine (proactive).

 

So be proactive and blog!

 

~Roland

You`re right Roland.  And I think more and more people are taking advantage of that opportunity.  Blogging is good!  Unfortunately, I always think about..."I have to think so much about what I could write".  I guess I need to hire a House of Jerky blogger. :)

 

Anyway when you get my new product pics up, I`ll let the world know.

 

Janie

I`ve just started blogging over the past few months but I think it`s fun, too.  I hope that it will help the businesses over time.  I usually post articles and information from our newsletters.  I have been doing those longer so I have a backlog of items I can post.  You can use the blog to answer questions about your products that people ask, or to tell them about a sale or special you are running, or just to tell them the background of a product.  I think I wrote one the other day titled "Why I love Staurolite."  It is the coolest mineral, but you can read my blog to find out why. 

 

Roland, I do have one question for you though.  One of my blogs get about 50-100 spam comments per week.  Any way to stop that?  Luckily, they don`t post because I have to approve all comments.

 

Janie - I would definitely read a blog about jerky.  I`ve never tried it (I`ve lived a sheltered life, I know) but my husband likes it so I would love to read entries about what to try if you`ve never had it or what types the experienced jerky eater would like.  You could have a very cool blog.

 

Tracy

Tracy, you would really read a blog about jerky?  Thanks!  You  that made me realize I could have a few things to blog about!

Pm me your address, so you can try it!  . 

 

Wow, that many spam posts, Tracy??. Hopefully Roland has a good answer for you.

 

.

Tracy, 

Yes you can stop some spam. If you use WordPress there is a function that filters spam. Use the Akismet comment filter... that comes with WordPress.

 

~Roland

Thank you Roland!  I had it chosen that on one blog but not the other which makes sense why that one was getting tons of viagra ads!

 

Tracy

Since I have been hearing so much lately on blogging; I decided I need to join the band wagon and start blogging myself.  However, I don`t even know where to go to start one.   Blogging is totally new to me; I have never even commented on someone`s blog.

 

 I signed up for Google Alerts on various topics, and receive these on a daily basis.  When I read through them a large portion of them are blogs that some one has started but they were mostly all created on various different blog web sites.  And I noticed, since there are so many that posts a blog, on so many different web sites that no one posts comments back to them. 

 

SO, my fellow SuN family, which web site would you  recommend  me to start blogging on?

 

Thanks,

 

 

It is best to post on your own blog (hosted at your domain).

 

Alternatively or in addition, you can post comments on any blog...assuming that blog allows posts. To get a search engine benefit, include a text based link to your site in your post (if allowed on the blog).

 

~Roland

this is an interesting post.  while there are some blogs out there that are doing well and while i dont mind blogging much (in fact i write mostly in blog format), there is a long standing debate of whether you should be spending your limited quality time blogging or building a website?

 

there are several discussion points to be made on either side of the fence and i am not sure i am fully convinced of one or the other.  an excellent read to consider is the following article on blogging vs. building a website.  definitely eye opening and makes you think. made me think at least.

 

in the end, i think anything you dedicate yourself to works. and like ron said, be proactive...trying something (no matter what) is better than not trying at all.