Ok, so you’re sold on the value of writing a blog for your business, but you don’t know the first thing about blog writing. Fair enough. If you’re observant, you can pick up many good tactics as you develop your blogging skills. Pay attention to what other bloggers are doing, and blog writing will become [...]

Creating value is key to an online marketing strategy. Most Web sites are sales pitches, and what’s the value in that? Some businesses look at their Web sites like they’re electronic billboards. You can do that to your Web site if you want to, but the problem with doing that is that once your [...]

Yesterday, I wrote about why small businesses should blog, and said that one of the primary benefits of blogging was the ability to reach specific consumers. Blogging also provides a great opportunity for small businesses because many big competitors don’t take advantage of social media. The opportunity isn’t limited to writing blogs, either. Blog advertising [...]

There’s a (long!) blog written by Amanda Lewis on the Yale Herald site regarding self-promotion as it relates to blogs. Although she takes her time, she does a decent job of covering the basics of self-promotion and the benefits that come from doing it well.
The piece is written from a student perspective, but don’t discard [...]

Business blogging shouldn’t ever be confused with advertising. They’re two different animals with two different goals. The goal of advertising is to raise awareness. The goal of business blogging is to develop a long-term relationship with a consumer based upon an area of mutual interest.
If you’re using your blog like an advertisement, chances are good [...]

To make the most of business blogging, you’ll need to commit some time and energy toward learning good blogging techniques. While your blog content should focus on your audience, you’ll want to stay mindful of the opportunities you’ll have to promote, optimize and market your blog.
A good training course can help you recognize and manage [...]

There are many ways to start and support a business blog, but to make your efforts productive, consider how your blog fits into your overall site.
Unfortunately, many business blogs are not truly integrated into a corporate Web site. They look like an afterthought, and optimization efforts suffer as a result. The very best business blogs [...]

Business blogging isn’t an accidental venture. The best business blogs look like they’re unplanned, but they’re really the product of a lot of thought about how a business blog fits into the author’s business objectives.
If you understand how your business blog relates to your business objectives, developing blog marketing and content strategies will become much [...]

Last week, I talked about the value of enabling comments on your blogs. Comments from readers are like gold because they can tell you how well you’re reaching them with your message. Leaving comments on other blogs is likewise valuable, not only as a blog promotion tool, but also as a way to keep up [...]