December 31st, 2008 — blog design, content, goals, money, networking, public relations
Every week, new corporate blogs spring into existence, but many are doomed to fail from the start. How can you be assured that your blog is going to be a success? Follow in the footsteps of the leaders and learn from their mistakes! There are three main secrets to successful corporate blogging, that any business owner can implement. They are easy to follow and you’ll be able to start seeing the benefits right away.
1. Be Original.
This can be broken down into three main sub categories: Design, Content and Promotion. Let’s look at the first one, design. There are thousands upon thousands of free themes out there for most blogging platforms. That doesn’t mean that you should be using one. When you’re running a corporate blog, you don’t want to have the same theme as some crazy teenager that’s a little bit emo and a whole lot desperate. It gives the wrong impression. Spend the money to have a theme designed for you that is original.
Next, let’s look at content. Sure, it’s easy to lift content or use snippets of other articles that have already been published. But why would anyone want to read that? You’ve got to put yourself in your reader’s shoes. You may be busy and a blog post may be the last thing on your mind, but you’ve got to take that time to write an original post. It will pay off. Lastly, promotion. You’ve got to find an original way to get your site noticed. This means using social networking, PPC ads and having a great campaign that will get the attention of readers.
2. Be Prolific.
The best blogs are the ones that publish every day, and in many cases, more than once a day. Frequent publishing has many benefits. First, you’re giving your readers an excuse to come back more than once and to visit every single day. Second, you’re building more opportunities for search engine indexing. The best corporate bloggers take the time to really knuckle down and commit to producing lots of original content every single day. It does pay off.
3. Be social.
Today’s online world is social and if you’re not taking part, you’re missing out. Encourage comments on your blog, talk to your readers, not at them. There are many little ways that you can be social on your blog. We’re not saying drop that veneer of professionalism, but you’ve got to find a way to reach out to them. Remember their names, use social networking sites, leave comments on other blogs. These are just a few ways that you can be social and increase your readership.
If you’re not comfortable commenting on another blog, mention one of their more interesting posts. Chances are they’ll be thankful for the publicity and they’ll return the favor. This is an easy way to build up your blog’s readership and make some great contacts in the blogging world. Corporate blogging is a great tool, especially when it is utilized the right way.
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Originally posted 2008-09-01 05:04:21. Republished by Old Post Promoter
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December 30th, 2008 — advertisment, blog design, money, planning, revenue
Many companies don’t consider the fact that they could actually make money from their blogs. The popularity of online advertising has made it easy to include ads from all over the world, and Google Ads in particular make it very easy to target your readers with advertisements that they will be interested in. While it can be very fruitful to include ads on your corporate blog, there are a few considerations you should be aware of before you take that step.
1. Always make sure that you can filter the ads.
The main problem with banner networks is that some of the ads are highly inappropriate for certain audiences. You may not want your company associated with the latest ads for male enhancement – and this happens a lot. It is vital to choose an ad service that will allow you to filter out the type of advertising that you do not want. Be advised however that these filters do not always work. You may need to add actual sites to a list to make sure that their ads do not appear on your site. It is best to monitor the ads that appear on your site as much as possible to avoid getting stuck with reader complaints and a bad public image.
2. Beware your competitors.
The popularity of online advertising means that it is highly likely that your competitors are using it. You don’t want to promote their sites, but if you are using PPC ads that are keyword based, the chances of this happening are very high. Make sure that you collect the URL’s for all of your competitors and then choose a PPC service that will allow you to block ads from that domain. You don’t want to shoot yourself in the foot by promoting another company. This is a frequent problem that affects companies in many different sectors.
3. Do the ads enhance your site or take away from the content?
The whole point of having a corporate blog is to get people to read it. Are the ads going to make them leave your site? While extra revenue is nice, is it worth the risk that your readers are going to click on the ads and as such, leave your blog? This is a consideration that should be weighed heavily before moving forward. Secondly, it is important to make sure that your ads do not diminish your content or make it look badly. Work on ad placement that integrates well with your blog design, and is not terribly prominent.
Having ads on your corporate blog is a bit of a double edged sword. When used properly they can create extra revenue. However, you should always weigh the premise of a two cent click versus a potential sale. If your ads are harming your business, there is just no point in having them. If you do go with advertising, make sure that it is professional and that you do not rely too heavily on it.
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Originally posted 2008-08-21 05:26:58. Republished by Old Post Promoter
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December 19th, 2008 — advertisment, brand awareness, public relations, publicity, search engine
As more companies get into the world of corporate blogging, the word is spreading that this is a great way to reach out to the public. There are five specific benefits that any company can reap as a result of setting up a corporate blog.
1. Cheap means of marketing.
Let’s face it, you need to save money on marketing whenever you can. If you are looking for a very cheap way of increasing your site’s visits, adding a blog is a great way to do it. It will take time to build your readership, but the more you post, the greater your chances are of doing just that. If you promote your blog the right way, you can guarantee that you will be noticed. In addition, corporate blogging allows for organic marketing that really doesn’t require any additional effort. Search engines will be indexing each post you make and you’ll have that many more opportunities for discovery on these directories.
2. Build a strong brand.
Every company out there needs to have a strong brand that is instantly recognizable. One of the easiest ways to accomplish this without having to spend big bucks on a nationwide marketing campaign is to set up a corporate blog. By integrating this blog into your site, you’re setting up that visual link. As your readers get to know you, that trust relationship will begin to form and that right there is worth its weight in gold.
3. Make your company more customer friendly.
Customers typically see companies as nameless, faceless and very cold. By giving your blog the personal touch, you are reaching out to your customers and showing them that your company is indeed run by humans and that you do care about them. This is a vital link to any successful business and a corporate blog is one of the easiest ways to accomplish this without spending a lot of money.
4. Search Engine Optimization.
We touched briefly on this in the first point, but it bears going into further. If you have a static site that has a few pages, you are not giving search engines enough content to index you appropriately. You can only have so many relevant keywords on each page and you are severely limited. With a blog, especially if you post every day, you’ll have new opportunities to promote your company using a variety of different keywords. In addition, by posting frequently, you are increasing your chances that search engines will rank you higher and they will spider your site more frequently.
5. Incredibly economical.
Each of the points above all had one thing in common - each is a means of marketing, branding and building a customer base that does not require a lot of money. For smaller companies that have a limited marketing budget, this is perhaps the best reason to set up a corporate blog.
If you are interested in taking advantage of these benefits, contact a blog management company that can help you build a powerful blog that gets noticed.
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Originally posted 2008-06-26 05:34:11. Republished by Old Post Promoter
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December 16th, 2008 — advertisment, audience, blog design, money, search engine, social bookmarking sites
Once you’re ready to set up your own corporate blog, you’ll need to figure out what your audience is since this will determine how you write your blog. If you already have a set group of customers that you feel will be reading your blog, you’re already pretty much set. However, if you want to reach out to a new audience, there are a few things that you will have to do first.
1. What is your demographic?
This is actually quite important when it comes to writing your blog. A younger crowd is going to want to see a blog that is more fun and integrated with social networking features, while an older crowd may feel more comfortable with a more staid blog. It will really depend, but these are some wide guidelines to help you. If you don’t know your demographic, it’s best to shoot for the middle of the road when it comes to style and the types of features that you offer on your blog.
2. How do you plan to find new readers?
Once you know your demographic, this will determine how you go about attracting new readers to your blog. For those under 35, promoting your blog on social bookmarking sites such as Digg will deliver your audience to you. However, these readers are very savvy and don’t appreciate over commercialized posts. You’ll need to learn how to walk that fine line between that and getting your message across.
Other readers can be reached through a PPC ad campaign targeting keywords that are well suited to your blog. This is a little expensive and most companies prefer not to have to spend money to promote their blog, but this is a good method. A secondary choice would be to release a press release detailing what your new blog will be doing.
3. The third option is just to let your readers discover you through search engines.
This will take the longest amount of time when it comes to building up your readership and it is a bit hit or miss. You’ll need to be very patient if you’re trying to grow your blog using only this method and you may never have the results you’re looking for.
The best bet is to combine all of these marketing tools into one to help you target your key audience. Once you’ve done that, word of mount will help you continue to grow your blog. Remember that you’ll need to keep writing compelling content if you want your audience to stick with you. A blog management company can assist you in writing posts that will get attention and they are also very useful when it comes to promoting your blog and handling the every day tasks that are associated with it. If you don’t have a lot of time to devote to building your blog’s audience, this is a very good solution that works well for most companies, big or small.
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Originally posted 2008-07-10 05:05:50. Republished by Old Post Promoter
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