Website Words that Work!

The never-ending need for content on your blogging site will catch up with you, so “they” say. And here’s proof that “they” are right: it will. Or, at least, it did for me. I’ve been off in the last couple of weeks writing magazine articles, setting up a couple of Websites for small businesses, and a workshop on blogging.

But what have I NOT done? I haven’t blogged.So that’s how easy it is for blogging to get thrown by the wayside. Business interferes. Life intervenes. Mea culpa. I allowed it. But what to do about such things if you are setting up a blog yourself? (And you know that when you set up a blog, you set up expectations in your client base.) Excellent question. From my experience here on the Harlan Editorial business blog, I’d say,

• Make blogging a priority.

• Put it on the Calendar — Make time for it.

• Keep a notebook handy for flashes of insight to include.

• Don’t just read other blogs, drop in formally and share your thoughts.

 (Now, if I can just listenn to my own advice and remember to do some of this stuff myself, you’ll see me back in a mere day or two or three.)

 Back online, Judith

Tags: Business blogs, How to blog, Online Content, Small business blogging // Add Comment »

I just signed up for the upcoming global teleseminar, and in my books this is a Do-Not-Miss opportunity, a chance to tune in on leading marketing and career gurus  – all free — and it’s coming up fast: Nov. 8. . 

What am I talking about? If you’re asking then you have not yet heard: there’s an all-day global teleseminar on Nov.8; it’s sponsored by A Brand You World, and features marketing leaders such as David Meerman Scott (New Rules of Marketing & PR; See what he says about the event on his site), also Richard Nelson Bolles (What Color is Your Parachute), John Jantsch (Duct Tape Marketing), and, as they say at the carnival, So Much More! Come one, come all!

This is one of those free and valuable Web events. I’ll be there. Check it out. I’m betting there’s something there for all small business owners on marketing in this new Web world.

Tags: Free Advice, Marketing Blogs, Small Business, Small business blogging // Add Comment »

Connecting, engaging, listening.

I think these are my three big reasons to blog. I’m not sure they’re everyone’s, but they seem to resonate with me. Here’s how:

• Connecting with the community makes it easy for clients to find me, makes it easy for me, too, to find others in fields related to mine, to share knowledge and experiences. And by golly, I learn alot from these great blog colleagues!

• Engaging with the community — blogosphere as well as local business clients — pushes me to think further, past the generic to what works for each individual, to see that what’s working for me is not what might work for you, to combine and create. (That’s the sort of thing that keeps a writer’s brain engaged, too! And that’s always a good thing.)

• Listening helps me shape my business to meet your needs. That close listening led me to create a NON-blogging site for my client this month. Life lesson: Blogging’s not for everyone. Business lesson: Build for the client, not for yourself. And above all, listen. But back to blogging and listening: great place to tune in to you who email me and post here, as well as to lots of others blogging in the Web world. And who said, “listen and learn”? Probably mom, a wise wise woman.

Tags: Blogging, Small Business, Small business blogging // Add Comment »

Don’t talk.

Bloggers are infamous for chattering too much and listening too little.

Use your blog to reverse the information flow: Give customers a place to tell you what they think instead of you telling the customer what you’re selling.

That’s my reason number 3 to have a blog. It can be a place to Listen.

Sound upside down? It is, but that’s the ultimate in a business blog, one that’s so successful that your customer is posting more on it than you are. And when you’ve engaged your customers to that extent, then they have a vested interest in keeping you in business. Can there be anything better than that?

Tags: Business blogs, Free Advice, How to blog, Small business blogging // Add Comment »

Blogs are great tools to engage your customer. And an engaged customer builds a vested interest in your product.

A bookstore, for example, is an excellent candidate for a blog. Bookstores sell to customers’ passions — passions for literature, learning, politics. And we all love connecting over our passions. Give us a blog that tells us about the next book-signing, has a bit about the author, has a blog posting BY the author. Add in an RSS feed so we’re alerted to new events at the store. Have a section where we can comment on bestsellers. Have a section for the book club that meets there once a month.

Do all that, and you’re steps closer to engaging your customers, to creating that old-time feeling of the general store as a gathering place and of the storekeeper as a friend and confidante. And that goes for whether you are selling a product or a service.

Blogs can create that cozy, general store feeling. As we get to know you, the owner, manager, blogger, we become invested, engaged. We care.

Tags: Blogging, Business blogs, Online Content, Small business blogging // Add Comment »

Tags: Blogging, Business blogs, Marketing Blogs, Small Business, Small business blogging // Add Comment »

Here’s a topic that does not go away. How much should I —  must I –  blog? Last month, in response to a blog by Debbie Weil, corporate blogger, I said, maybe not so much.

Maybe that’s not the full answer, though. Nick Stamoulis, blogger, author, at Brick Marketing, weighs in this week with his thoughts. A must-read! So, surf over there and check it out. My blog  on the topic is still live, and you’ll want to see the comments there, too. Chris McElroy picked up on the resurfacing of the conversation and his 2 cents is for more, not less, blogging, as he says in the comments to my blog.

So, do I have the definitive answer for you on how often to do your small business blogging? We need to keep exploring the topic. And maybe, just maybe, the answer is individual as well as SEO-related: as in, what’s YOUR goal for your blog?

Tags: Blogging, Business blogs, Marketing Blogs, SEO, Small business blogging // 4 Comments »

Can you use a blog site without ever blogging? Using it as a Website instead? I’ve been asked this question by potential clients who do not want to blog but want to be able to make their own changes to their small business brochure sites. The answer is yes. Absolutely. You can use the software and it is mighty easy to use. That’s one of its greatest assets and what’s made it so ubiquitous in so many professions and fields of business.

Blog software, though, is not the only answer for small businesses. Other content management software might better serve a small business site. And some of it is free, too, just as the popular blog software is. So, if you’re thinking about building a quick blog to replace a static site, we may have a better answer for you. 

Tags: Blogging, Business blogs, Functionality, Small Business // 1 Comment »

Tags: Blogging, Business blogs, Online Content // 5 Comments »

I was at a local meeting of the American Marketing Association (AMA) at lunch and was reminded of all of the links that bloggers create. The speaker, from LeverageSoftware.com, a company that sells online community software, talked about all of her Facebook, MyPlace, and blog connections.

I haven’t personally done a lot of Facebook or MyPlace, but I do have a LinkedIn account, and I was reminded that I had not visited it for some time. Been neglecting it. So I dropped in and I invited a few friends and colleagues to link to me (and me to them). That linking is a valuable part of this whole new Live Web. It plays into the blogging we’re doing. It’s the exciting part where I plug into your thoughts and you plug into mine. It’s that virtual clink, that LinkLinkLink we hear in the blogosphere.

Linking and connecting is the heartbeat of blogging for business.

Ultimately, the idea is to get way way beyond just shooting SEO keywords back and forth to optimize sites; ultimately, Live Web is about connecting and listening to each other’s comments.

Is that listening happening a lot? That’s something I’d like to know, something that will either make blogging a big part of my life and business, or not. IMHO, the jury’s still out on that one, but I’m rooting for success.

Tags: Blogging, Business blogs, SEO, Small Business // Add Comment »