Aug

8

Blogging For Business: Make Sure They Know How To Follow You

Filed Under Blogging For Business, Blogging Tips | 1 Comment

If you are in a tiny niche, or a niche that isn’t Internet savvy, your prospects and customers may not even know they are reading a blog. They just simply like the information you are providing.

The important thing isn’t to make sure they know they are reading a blog; it’s to make sure they know how to follow you on a regular basis. Start by understanding RSS, and how it can work for you.

Understand RSS. RSS is still a relatively new concept – one that not all of your prospects and clients may understand. RSS (really simple syndication) provides an easy way for you to connect up and share information with your readers. There are a variety of ways to do this. In it’s easiest format, every blog comes with some type of RSS feed.

Highlight your feed, and tell your clients about it.

In Internet Explorer, when you click to subscribe, a new screen will appear that will ask you to subscribe to the feed.

When you click, it will open up a box. Here you can change the name it’s saved under, and assign it to folders within your feed favorites.

Now that you are subscribed, you can visit your feeds anytime you like. In Internet Explorer, you have a favorites button in the top left hand corner. You can store your Favorites, which are your favorite web addresses, or your Feeds from your favorite blog RSS feeds.

Then any time you click on your favorite Feeds, you can instantly see who has posted new entries to their blogs. Bold entries have new posts. No new entries if its not.

Other browsers work in similar manners.

This is the simplest way to begin getting followers. From there, you can get even more sophisticated, which we’ll follow up on in later posts.

The important thing is to understand it yourself, and request your prospects and clients follow you.

Jul

14

10 Tips For Building Your Online Presence

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“It’s easy to build a site in 30 days”
“Zero to one million in less than a month”
“Become an Internet guru and build the lifestyle of your dreams”

You see those kinds of headlines all over the place. Enticing copy that tells you its super easy to build a site, all you need is a couple hours a day for a month and you’ll be making six figures a month.

Is this really possible?

Well from my experience, I would have to say no. I’m sure it has happened occasionally to a few lucky souls, but for most of us it takes hard work and commitment.

So what does it take for the rest of us?

1. Start with the basics. A child learns to crawl before she walks. As a business owner, you have to learn the basics before you become more advanced. If you don’t have a website, start one. If you don’t blog, start. There’s nothing better than a little experience with a tool.

2. Don’t be perfect. I’ve known several people that never get their website up online because its never quite the way they want it. So they go months – even years – without a new site because it isn’t quite the way they want it. Online the only thing that matters is having a presence. Start with a few pages and build from there. The most important thing is to have your information out there for people to find.

3. Tweaking is mandatory. Now that your site is online – tweak away. Don’t like a photo. Change it. Want to add a new promotion? Add it. Your site is meant to change on a regular basis. With a phone book or an advertisement, you’re stuck. But your website you can change daily if you choose.

4. Try something new. What’s a blog and can it really help my business? The only way to find out is to do it. Technology is affordable and easy to do. So jump in and give it a try.

5. Start setting up strategies to keep yourself up to date. Things change daily online. And the only way to keep up with it is to get out there and experience it. Attend a teleclass. Work with a coach. Sign up for an ezine. Make a commitment to learning something new each week.

6. Look. Listen. Learn. Have you ever read a magazine and found an ad with a website that sounded intriguing? Or watched television and heard someone rattle off a web address? Do you follow through with it and look at the site? This is one of the easiest ways to find new ideas and services.

7. Ever get an email asking you to join a group? I get those every week. And I usually join them. I’ll spend a few minutes searching through the site to see if it has any real value – then I sign up. At the least I’ve secured my name and presence in that site. And I may have found a dynamic tool that will really help grow my business.

8. Program your time. I get up in the morning, check email, do a little research and surfing the net, write some posts, and then start my day. I can do a ton of networking online in under an hour every day. It’s my schedule. What’s yours?

9. Ask a kid what they like to do online. You may be surprised at the answer. Then go out and follow their advice. I find a lot of cool sites by listening to the younger generation.

10. You don’t have to have a website, right? Well, maybe. If you start a blog and make a commitment to using social sites, you can build up your name pretty quickly. Are you promoting you or your business? Sometimes a business may still need a site. But there is a ton of places you can build and grow. The important thing is to just get started.

Want more personalized advice? I’ve been working with several clients helping them build their online presence . I’d love to help you too.

Jun

30

Blogging For Business Is Different Than Blogging As An Individual

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I’ve spent the past few days catching up on my reading. That may sound easy, but I have books and magazines piling up in several rooms of my home. While I can’t say I got through them all, I did get through a bunch of them.

It seems everything I pick up has something written about blogging. Blogging had picked up steam over the past year, and is now the "in-thing" for all business owners.

Unfortunately, a lot of what I see written is for the individual who wants to break away from their job and start writing/blogging for a living.

There is a distinct difference between blogging as an individual to create your own business - your own income source outside of a traditional job - and writing a blog for your business.

Here are three things to keep in mind:

1. When an individual decides to blog, she can choose anything of interest to her. She can start with a general topic, or niche it down to something she loves. It can change all the time.

When a business decides to blog, the owner must lay down ground rules on what to blog about. The structure needs to be in place, especially if others will be writing for them.

2. In many cases an individual starts blogging because they have a love for something. They fill their blogs with content, and then decide how to monetize it after achieving some success.

A business owner must decide how to monetize a blog before they start blogging. Will you be using your blog to attract clients for your services? Will you be placing graphics on your site to sell your products?

3. When individuals become professional bloggers, they usually make a good portion of their income from advertising other companies products/services. They sell ad space on their blogs, and make income from a variety of sources.

A business owner has to think of their own business first. In many cases selling ad space to other companies may not be appropriate - why would you want to sell your competitors products?

In all cases, a business owner must constantly assess the blogs purpose, and make sure you’re blogging for your own business’s benefit.