Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

I was curious how many others here are using a blog as part of their business marketing and promotion? 

I was hesitant at first, in regards to adding one more "to do" to my already large workload.  Instead of making it a daily task, I make additions to bLog-oMotives a two to four times a week commitment.  I also find that I can create several possible entries in advance for posting at a later date.  With the tagline "Tips, trips, observations, clickety-clacks, & an occasional "toot!" along the tracks from Jeff Fisher LogoMotives" I`ve been able to post writings about a wide variety of topics - and have found it another method of distributing my own press releases.

The result has been an incredible amount of traffic being driven to my business web site and many more potential clients contacting me after having read posts on my blog.  That is in part to my blog URL being part of both my email and forum signatures. My blog has also resulted in print media coverage and recently being asked to write an article about designers making use of the online dairies as a marketing or portfolio tool.  Search engines seem to love my blog as well, with 13,200 references listed as a result of a Google search for  "bLog-oMotives" this morning (I was just curious where my blog was showing up on the Internet).

With the success of blogs for many I know in the design profession, I would like to know how other businesses are making use of this promotion method with their business ventures?

- J.


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Jeff Fisher | Jeff Fisher LogoMotives | Tweet! Tweet!

Jeff - you`ve just about hit on every marketing advantage blogs can offer:

• Establishing your credibility as an expert in your field
• Generating frequently updated content that makes search engine spiders happy - you increase your indexed content, you can optimize the content for search, and the results can be realized very quickly
  
• Providing a vehicle to publish variatey of content types - press mentions, article-type content, rants and raves, product reviews - your only limitations on the content type are those that you set yourself

To those I`d add the powerful effect of RSS feeds - blogs are tailor made for RSS, and once you have a subscriber you`re able to get in front of them every time they check the feed.  It`s like a supercharged email opt-in - they`ve opted in to seeing every new piece of content on your blog.

I`d just caution anyone thinking about the blog route that Jeff`s concerns about commitment are well-founded - if you`re not able to dedicate yourself to consistently updating the content, you`re not going to see great results.  Just ask Joel Welsh about how much I hassle him to keep his blog up to date.


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chuck fuller

Hassle? Hassle??

Yes, it`s true. If it get`s past 2pm Chuck shows up at my office door with that "are you blogging today?" look on his face.

I have to say, though, that it`s truly a joy. Chuck is my blog coach and he provides me with all the tools, strategy and motivation (if the "look" doesn`t get to me, the "you`re a loser if you don`t blog soon" sticky-notes he leaves on my computer screen usually do the trick) necessary to make blogging successful.

We`re extremely purposeful about our blogging. Strategically identified keywords that aid in SEO are always a part of the blog title, and links to supportive content on StartupNation.com are sprinkled throughout the entry. Sure, sometimes I just start typing whatever`s on my mind - but I find that once you get into a daily (well, almost daily) routine it does come easier.

You can check out this strategy in practice over at my blog titled Hitting On The Game of Entrepreneurship. We`ve also done an On Demand Seminar on blogging titled Blogs Create Brand & Site Traffic.

Oh shoot!! It`s past 2pm - gotta go blog before Chuck starts throwing darts at my door.

Joel speaks eloquently about this topic in his blog today.  I have felt for a long time, way back when I started to see people like Gawker and Wonkette getting a lot of mainstream media press -- that blogging would become a very important marketing tool....it is my understandng that executives within corporations now have them to keep employees up-to-date on important announcements, events, etc.

Considering I have an addiction problem with SuN...and I`m running The Pet Set, it`s a wonder I have time to do a piece a day on blogfabulous.com...but I have to tell you, traffic to our site has increased and it`s a lot of fun...I love when I am working on something that gets my brain and my readers` brain pumping.  (plus secretly, I feel like Carrie Bradshaw from Sex and the City.)

Blogging is my number one marketing tool.  My challenge is to build credibility in my industry as a business expert.  My blog does that.  People get a "sample" of my advice and opinions on the scrapbook industry.  About every 3rd entry is an all-out ScrapBiz commercial.   

I have learned to use "key words" in my posts that will get picked up by the search engines.  If someone searches "Starting a scrapbook store" at any of the big search engines, my blog comes up on the first page and from there, they can springboard to my website. 

My next endeavor will be to figure out podcasting.

~Kim

ScrapBiz

Yay Kim...you`ll have to give the rest of us techno nerds a free lesson on the keyword thing.

I`ve been posting to my Family Travel blog for about 3 months, and just this week really got smarter on RSS feeds.  They really help me to collate tons of information and sift through it quickly for story ideas (I`m a freelance writer.)

When I read in Dwight Silverman`s TechBlog that 78% of RSS users are male, I decided to go figure it out why I should care about these feeds, then I wrote about my thoughts on my blog.

Hope you folks find it useful.

Sheila

www.sheilascarborough.com

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Seafarer

Author Web site |

Family Travel blog |

Every Dot Connects blog

this is a great topic and one that deserves more discussion. effective blogging can be a huge marketing PLUS!

to take the topic to the next level, my question would be, what makes a blog most effective?

here are some elements for consideration:

1. make it educational - give people something to take away and use
2. make it entertaining - create a fun factor for subscribers
3. make it irreverent - blogs are in concept a little more free-form than other written content, so don`t be shy about stepping out a little bit
4. make it real-world - some of the best blogs cut through the BS and get right to the bottom line, nitty-gritty, in-the-trenches stuff
   
5. make it topical and urgent - "urgency" gives people a sense and expectation that they NEED to check back to see what`s next.
6. make it easy - be sure to provide a simple way to sign up for automatic notifications (RSS feed) so people are informed of latest postings.

thoughts?


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Rich Sloan , Co-Founder, Chief Startupologist, StartupNation

I`ll add a few to Rich`s list:

7. Make it literate! Nothing is more unprofessional than spelling and grammatical errors, or typos.

8. Make it consistent. You don`t have to write about the same thing every time, but there should be continuity in style, tone and general subject matter.

9. Make it navigable. It should be easy to cruise around, links should be relevant and labeled appropriately, layout should be logical.


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Roughstock Studios | Notes From the Rodeo | Newsletter
Strategic communications without the selling of souls.

Thanks for reviving this topic -- I looked back and was amazed that my last entry was April 2006 -- boy have I learned a lot about blogging since then!

As a writer, my blogging work is an absolutely essential part of my portfolio and has led directly to offers of writing jobs.  In addition to the aforementioned Family Travel, I`ve now picked up four paid blogging jobs.  Two are travel-related (one is blogging for Disney at Kid Trippin`) one is motorsports (mostly NHRA drag racing but also some NASCAR) and one is running a blog carnival plus some other work for Home Turf Media. 

You couldn`t ask for better publicity than having thousands of your words out there all the time for people to read, on a variety of topics.  Bloggers also like to do online interviews, so I`ve been featured in blogs based in Bahrain, in New Zealand and in Working at Home on the Internet.

I`m also meeting a senior editor of a major national travel magazine for dinner next month, based on our shared interests discussed in the comments section of, you guessed it, her blog.  Why dinner?  Well, we`re both going to the same blogging conference, so of course we`ll get together. 

Can`t beat all that for marketing....

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Seafarer

Author Web site |

Family Travel blog |

Every Dot Connects blog