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Blogging For Business

Posted on 01. Jul, 2009 by Pete Hollier in Search Optimization, Social Media

Blogging For Business Promotion

The business blog is one of the most powerful Search Engine Optimization and Social Media Marketing tools you have available to promote your business, your services and your products.

I am often amazed at the number of businesses which still do not have a blog, or if they do have a blog do not make regular blog posts. When businesses are asked why this is the case often the reply is “We depend on our web site for online promotion.” or “We just don’t have the time or resources available.”

Without doubt Blogging is an effective Social Media Marketing technique, the time and effort spent on the development and promotion of your company’s Blog will have a positive ROI for your business. The time to act and develop your business blog is now.

Why Blog For Business

Content is undoubtedly King, and for businesses to have successful Social Media and Search Engine Optimization programs they requires fresh relevant content to keep generating the required interest in your business and its services and products. Blogging enables you and your company to:

• Broadcast informative content about your products and services
• Optimize for an extended range of keywords
• Educate consumers of the benefits to be gained by using your products and services
• Be a recognized expert and influencer within your market niche
• Increase visibility in both Social Media Networks and in Search Engine Results Pages

Search Engines and Blogs

Without doubt fresh content is one of the most effective methods to attract the interest of Search Engines. Fresh relevant content is an important aspect of Search Engines Algothrim which seek out fresh content and place the blog post in the Search Engine Results Pages accordingly, improving the Search Engine traffic to your web site and your Search Engine visibility.

In many cases Google will index a new Blog Post within hours if not minutes of the post being published if the proper steps are completed using a Pinging service such as Ping-o-Matic.

Social Media and Blogs

Blogs and Social Networking Web Sites are the primary Social Media tools.

Social Media is about engaging with your customers and prospects. In many cases the company web site offers static content which rarely changes and offers limited opportunity to engage and interact with consumers. Blogs however, enable your business to provide additional information and expert commentary to assist your target audience to make informed decisions about the products and services you offer.

The comment feature of Blogs encourages an interaction and ongoing conversation between your business and consumers, enabling you to ascertain consumers views on the topics your Blog discusses and to gather the information enabling you to understand better what topics and issues are important in you market niche.

Getting Started in Blogging

Although there are numerous Blogging Platforms available, I am a fan of the Wordpress blog offering due to Wordpress’s ease of use and absolutely endless functionality. Other Blogging Platforms include Blogger, Typepad, B2Evolution, and NucleasCMS

Hosted Blogs

Hosted Blogs are by far the simplest and fastest way to get Blogging register with Wordpress or other Blogging site such as Blogger or Typepad and you can be Blogging in minutes.

Hosted Blogs although simple to use and set up are not an ideal solution for businesses due to the following reasons:

• Lack of flexibility and customization
• If you move blog to a self hosted solution you will lose all back links the blog has acquired which is detrimental to your Search Engine Optimization Program

Self Hosted Blogs

Self hosted Blogs are the optimum Blogging option providing you with endless options for customization and functionality. The Search Engine Optimization benefits of the Blog hosted with your web site are endless. However, the primary advantage is; self hosted Blogs are an effective technique to develop inbound links to your web site which is a very important factor when attempting to improve Search Engine Results.

To utilize the self hosted Blog you will need:

• A Blogging Platform such as Wordpress
• A Domain Name
• A web hosting account

If you currently have a business web site, adding a Wordpress Blog on the same hosting account and domain is a simple process which your web hosting provider should be able to assist with.

Promoting the Business Blog

The Internet has become far to competitive and expansive to allow for the old adage “build it and they will come”. Without Blog promotional activities you efforts will have minimal ROI if any. Being found on the Internet is becoming increasingly difficult due to the huge increase in content in part, content which has been developed through Web 2.0 interactions.

Methods used to promote your blog are similar to those used for any web site and of course why would they differ as a Blog is essentially a Web Content Management System (CMS)

• Keyword and Search Engine Optimization
• Social Networking web sites
• Social Bookmarking web sites
• Active commenting and interaction within the Blogging community such as Technorati and Blogged
• Pay Per Click campaigns
• Ping Services such as Ping-o-Matic

Making Blogging Work

Blogging does provide numerous benefits to your business. Commitment and regular posts are required to ensure your business benefits from a Blogging program.

It is not always easy to develop the fresh relevant content some days the content will come off without a hitch and others will seem like they require constant re-writes and your still not satisfied by the results. But at the end of the day the Blog post is published and you will gain satisfaction for being able to voice your views in a casual not always business manner.

There will be some ups and some downs but the reality of blogging is it is a truly enjoyable and rewarding task.

Written by: pete@seowizardry.ca a Web Site Performance Consultant

Want to use this content on your web site? If you would like to use this article on your web site please contact pete@seowizardry.ca for an html version. All I request is you provide Pete Hollier and Seo Wizardry with a reference to this article and provide a link back to www.seowizardry.ca

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