Whether you are new to corporate blogging, or trying to find ways to blog more effectively, there are some great tools out there that can truly enhance your blog. Most are free to use, while others do have a small fee. However, this is definitely time and money well spent, since many of these tools can mean the difference between failure and success. Let’s look at some of the best tools that you should be using.

1. Google Analytics –

This is a free stat program that delivers a powerful punch. Not only will you get to see where your visitors are coming from, or how they found your site, but you can also track campaign effectiveness, set traffic goals and measure the ROI of your advertising campaigns. This is truly one of the most efficient and effective stat programs in existence.

2. Google Keyword Suggestions/Popularity –

Google recently released these two tools that are commonly associated with AdWords, to the general public. You can use these tools to determine how to target your niche more effectively and to get ideas of what keywords you should be using. This is also a great tool for breaking through writer’s block and the keyword suggestions are very helpful.

3. Submit Express Link Popularity Checker –

This is a vital tool for corporate bloggers that is also free to use and very powerful. Ever wonder how popular your links are? Want to know which sites you should be targeting for links back to your own site? This tool can tell you that and a lot more. This is a great resource for any webmaster, but it can be particularly effective for corporate bloggers.

4. Wordtracker –

This is a paid service, but they do offer a limited version that can be used for free. While this is a little more expensive than some of their competitor’s offerings, you can use these services to really get more out of your blog. Whether you need to see what people are searching for, or how you can expect your keywords to perform, this is a very helpful tool.

5. Multi-Pinging Tool –

There are several of these services out there, so it is difficult to pick the ideal one. However, if you are not pinging your blog, you are missing out on a lot of potential traffic. These services can be used right after you add a new post to your blog and they will automatically notify many popular blog listing sites that you have new content. You can actually pick up quite a lot of new visitors with the right pinging strategy.

6. Technorati –

This is often overlooked in corporate blogs, but it can be helpful when used properly. While the main focus is of course technical topics, there are plenty of other topics that are still popular. We also recommend visiting Technorati for topic ideas since their tag clouds can give you an idea of what people are interested in right then and there.

The proper toolbox will help you build your corporate blog up and make it more popular.

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Originally posted 2008-10-08 05:45:08. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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Be a news source –

New things are always happening in the world, regardless of the topic. Advancements in technology, new ideas, or even new markets come up all of the time. Thanks to this, you really should have no problem finding things to write about. You could use RSS feeds, or subscribe to a Google Alert for the topic or topics you cover, so that you can be the first person to blog about news-worthy items and topics. You can just give your readership a heads up, or do a commentary on it. Or you could start with a heads up and announce that you will be trying it out, and report back in a month or so with your results.

Be part of the conversation –

On the internet, you are never alone. It does not matter what you are writing about, there are people who will be interested. If these people also have blogs in the same vein as yours, they can be valuable friends as well as assets. When one of them writes something good, you can make mention of it on your blog with a link to their article, and then go on to add your own commentary on it, be it agreeing with what they say or disagreeing (which could also spark a debate, which would keep things lively for a bit).

Questions and Answers –

Another great idea is to let your readers ask you questions directly. If someone poses a question that would be beneficial or informative to all of your readers, you could post your answer for all to see, so that all may learn, or ask further questions. You can also browse other popular blogs that are in your niche, looking at the user comments there to find questions to answer. By beating that user to the punch in answering the question, you can garner more eyes on your own blog.

Know thy audience –

Tools for keyword suggestion can be a great friend. Use keywords that are related to your niche in one and see what comes up. You might find ideas in the listings for topics that you haven’t covered yet that you can write about. Obviously you will want to target the keywords you found so that you can drive traffic from that search engine to your blog.

Do some reviews –

There are always things that you can review, be it a book on your niche, a service that you have been using, the ad network you have been with, sites or blogs regarding fringe elements of your niche, and the like. You really cannot ever say you have run out of ideas for posts. Everybody gets writers block from time to time. Using some or all of these suggestions when you feel you are out of ideas will help ensure that you have no problems with keeping your blog and its content fresh and appealing.

Last but not least, keep it fun. It is always hard to do something when it feels like an obligation. It grinds on you. If this happens, take a bit of a break. Instead of being a daily poster, try cutting back to three or four posts a week for a bit. This will help you rest a bit more, and will also allow it to retain it’s fun nature, instead of being just another job.

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Originally posted 2009-02-13 05:03:49. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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