Blogging 101: The Care and Keeping of Your Business Blog

So you’ve got your business blog up and running. Congratulations! But don’t think that your job is done yet. Starting a blog is kind of like keeping a pet. It’s fun and exciting and new at first, but there’s a lot of maintenance that goes into it, and if you don’t take care of it, you’re going to have one heck of a mess on your hands.

Blogs are a major benefit to your business, there’s not doubt about it. But you’ve got to put quite a bit into it in order to really reap the rewards.

Protect your Blog from spam

Many people aware of the power behind blogs will attempt to find programs that allow them to auto post spam to your blog in the form of comments and unless you take the necessary steps may end up with the wrong kind of audience. Most blogs will allow you to require that people create an account on your blog first, which we strongly recommend.

Update frequently

You don’t have to update every day (though it would be nice if you could), but once a month, or even once every two weeks, is not going to cut it. If you let your blog go too long without a post, people will quit reading it. Not only will that hurt your blog, but it will also reflect negatively on your business. People may think that your company is going out of business, or simply old and tired because you don’t put the effort to continue something you started. Pick a schedule, be it daily or twice a week or whatever, and do your best to stick to it.

Don’t talk if there’s not something useful to say

The only thing worse than a blog that never updates, is a blog that updates with posts about nothing. The concept may have worked for “Seinfeld,” but it’s not a good philosophy for your business blog. Posts that don’t say anything are boring, and people aren’t going to read boring posts. Remember your target audience here. Keep a log of topics to write about that they would find interesting, and stay abreast of industry news.

Length isn’t important

No, a post that’s two sentences long is not the way to go, but neither do you have to write a novel of “War and Peace” proportions for every blog post. If you’ve just got a little company blurb that’s 150 words long, don’t worry about stretching it out. What you’re saying is far more important than how many words you use to say it. Interact!

If you’re lucky enough to have people actually responding to your blog posts, rejoice. Now you’ve got to talk back to them. If they ask a question, answer it. If they bring up a good point, mention it and give them your own feedback. If they have something negative to say, give them a polite, professional counterargument. It’s called “social media” for a reason. If you want to take it one step further (and you should), read some of your posters’ blogs and comment on those. You could end up making priceless business relationships.

Track the things that matter

So Google Analytics regularly tells you how many people are looking at your blog. Those metrics are easy to check, but are they really what you want to know? You may assume that the more readers you have, the more customers you’ll get, but that’s not necessarily the case. Don’t focus so much on the analytics numbers. Find out from your readers what works and what doesn’t, and fix your blog accordingly.

Don’t let your blog founder because you weren’t sure how to maintain it. Take care of your blog, and you’ll find that it will benefit your business for a long time to come.

By Tony D. Baker

Advanced SEO - The Characteristics Of A Perfect Incoming Link

What is a quality incoming link? This article describes the key characteristics of a perfect link. For explanation purposes, the sample company is a shoe retailer called Fred’s Sports, and the keyword phrase being optimized for is “blue Nike sneakers

Key word phrase in anchor text

Unless you put your keyword phrase in the anchor text (the text that describes the web site being linked to), you are wasting a lot of link power. Unfortunately a lot of people don’t know this an end up putting their company name in the link text rather than the keyword phrase that they want their company to be found by. Much better that they link anchor says “blue Nike sneakers” than “Fred’s Sports Store”.

The link is from a relevant page

Google and the Google-powered search partners seek relevance in the interconnectedness of web pages. Incoming links should be from pages where the content on that page is related to the content of the page that is being linked to. A fishing related page linking to a casino site is an example of a non-related link. A jogging related page linking to a blue Nike sneakers product page is related and is looked upon favourably by the search engines.

The link goes to a relevant page

Another mistake that people make is always linking to the home page rather than to the most relevant page to the anchor text. If the link anchor text is “blue Nike sneakers” then the link should go to a page about blue Nike sneakers, not the home page. This is by far and away the most common linking mistake.

The link is from an authority site

Links from high Google PageRank sites are worth more, a lot more, than links from other sites. It’s all about trust. A link from a trusted site tells the search engines that the sites linked to are also trusted - it’s a vote of confidence from a credible source. Links from .gov, and .edu sites are also reported as having more weight than standard links. They are also more difficult to get adding to their perceived quality.

The link is at top of the page

Links from the top of a page (except for the header), are said to have more weight than links at the bottom of pages. It’s the same with keyword phrases. A keyword phrase in the heading is worth more than in the body text.

The link is one-way, not reciprocal

Google’s algorithm looks for link exchanges between sites and rates these links lower than straight one-way links. If possible, look for one way links by creating link bait - compelling content that will encourage people to link to your pages.

The link is within the body copy - not an advertising zone

Linking should be a natural part of the body copy. Recent reports suggest that the search engines will derate links from parts of the page that are traditionally sold for advertising. these tend to be the margins, header and footer areas of the page.

The link does not have a nofollow tag

The nofollow tag is a recent innovation that tells the search engines that although I am linking to this other page, I do not vouch for the page’s integrity. In short, the nofollow tag tells the search engines to ignore the link. Obviously you do not want links to your web pages to have nofollow tags. Be careful with link exchanges. Some dishonest people will exchange links with you but use nofollow tags in the links to your pages to preserve their own link power.

There are few links on page (less than 20)

One link to your web site from a page with hundreds of links does little for your SEO results. The page’s SEO power is being distributed over all the other links on the page. Goo;le’s guidelines recommend no more than 100 links per page, but I believe 20 is a reasonable goal. You never know when the Google algorithm may change. The perfect page that links to your pages should have no more than 20 links.

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By John Hacking

Tips On Writing a Good FAQ

Many companies’ help lines are usually crowded with customers trying to find an answer for their questions. Some of these questions are legitimate; others seem to be made just to annoy the help staff. FAQs are supposed to prevent such situations by offering potential help line “customers” the chance to find the information they are looking for on their own, without necessarily picking up the phone or sending e-mail.

What Are FAQs?

FAQ is the abbreviation for Frequently Asked Questions. FAQs are organized “collections” of valuable information that usually comes from questions (and their corresponding answers) for the most common issues raised by users, on various topics. Companies make up such information compilations in order to fulfill their customers’ need for answers.

They are also a means to ease the burden of the customer support group by providing answers in written form to the most commonly asked questions.

FAQs can be available online or offline, burnt on CDs or DVDs. The second choice is more viable for people who don’t have access to the Internet, though this is a highly unlikely situation.

Writing an FAQ

Why should you write an FAQ?

The most common advice when it comes to writing FAQ documentation is that, if you have some experience in a particular field, if you have ever come across issues that you finally managed to solve, it’s good to let other people know it too. FAQs are basically about sharing information in a non-selfish manner.

When you submit your FAQs to the appropriate newsgroups, you stand a good chance of getting good feedback on your work, and thus your efforts will be rewarded.

An FAQ will almost automatically make you an “expert” (more or less) in your field. People will contact you and will help you maintain your FAQ up-to-date either by asking yourself more questions (in this case you’ll have to do some research and update your work), or simply by getting hold of more relevant information, based on their own experience that can be added to your FAQ.

What should you write about?

The possibilities are endless. Practically, any subject will do. There will always be questions, let’s say, regarding the compatibility between a particular piece of hardware and some software, or about configuration errors, etc. If you figure out which could be the most common problems and you have the answers for them, just go ahead and write.

Special considerations

It’s a good idea to include a disclaimer in your FAQ. You should mention there things like the fact that, that as far as you know, the information provided in the FAQ is accurate (or was accurate at the time you posted the respective FAQ on the Web or in a newsgroup), but that you cannot be held liable for any inconvenience caused by following those instructions or using that information.

You can also copyright the information in the FAQ that you submit for public use. Specify the terms under which the information can or can’t be used without your specific consent, under penalty of law. It can give you the legal basis just in case.. Yet, experts say that this usually does not work since there are numerous companies that gather loads of FAQs from directories on the Web, burn them on CDs or DVDs, and then sell them.

A Few Tips for Writing FAQs

When you set out to write an FAQ, it is good to follow a few guidelines. Among these, we consider that it’s worth mentioning:

* Put yourself in your audience’s shoes; figure out what questions might be asked and provide the answers that you’d like to hear/read
* Mind your grammar and spelling; always remember to review what you write, or have somebody else do it for you
* Be concise enough to offer the necessary information in the least amount of words and time, but don’t be as concise as to leave the reader under the impression that they have gained nothing by reading what you have written. Check also an article about writing good software documentation
* Remember to use bullets when you have lists

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By Adriana Iordan

The Death Of Email Marketing?

Many internet marketers have deduced that email marketing faces the worst crisis since its discovery. They base this conclusion on the massive increase of unsolicited emails better known as SPAM. Recent research has shown that email campaign clicks have been reduced to their lowest point. In the past years, email campaigns were very productive with click percentages of 15%-25%. Unfortunately the click ratio is now averaged at 2%.

Since every internet user receives a huge amount of spam email messages, the time for distinguishing the legal opt-in subscriptions messages from spam has increased considerably. Therefore, it’s more likely that users will erase the genuine messages with the spam messages.

Although these facts are true, the “Death of email marketing” as some internet marketers call it, will not happen. There is solid proof that many corporations, small businesses, and home business entrepreneurs are running successful and profitable email campaigns.

All these successful email marketing campaigns have something in common, some specific principals that any online business entrepreneurs should incorporate into their marketing plans.

Personalization

Research has proven that when Personalization is used the click through rate of the email increases dramatically. A friendly tone is the key to build rapport with the subscriber. Most of the auto responder services and email software contains this feature. One thing must be specified though. There must be no exaggeration in the personalization otherwise the results will be reversed.

Email marketing schedules

The frequency of the mailings is extremely important. Although it seems tempting to send emails daily, with that strategy many of the subscribers will unsubscribe, especially if the mail contains advertisements most of the time and no useful information. One of the best email marketing tactics is to broadcast one time per week and not exceed two times per week maximum.

Which is the Best Day for campaigns

The answer is simple, Friday. The internet user has the whole weekend to check his email and distinguish the spam with the luxury of time, something not possible on other days of the week.

Use of double opt-in

Subscribers who are double opt-in are extremely targeted, because they verified their interest for the newsletter and are more disposed to buy the products or services the email list owner recommends. Plus, this feature provides maximum safety to the newsletter owner from spam complaints and the associated consequences.

Recommend not sell, plus unique content

The internet user searches for information on the internet. The same happens with the user’s email. The subscription happens for that reason over 95% of the time. Messages must contain a combination of useful information and personal recommendations of tested and proven products or services.

No Co-Registrations

This is the easy way to boost the number of the subscribers of an email list. Co-Registrations offer forms to users with many other email list owners with different fields of interest. The danger of spam accusations relies on that method and the effectiveness is questionable.

Buying leads to send emails

Another hyped email marketing technique. The list owner who bought the leads will not be clearly informed how the “subscriber’s” emails have been acquired. Have they been gathered with ethical opt-in methods or has an email script crawler been used? There is no control on that tactic and herein too lies the danger of spam accusations.

No Red flag words

Words and phrases like free, discount, bonus, make money, opportunity, income, etc. lead the email to spam folders. These phrases should be avoided at all costs. There is software that provides spam check features for that and free services as well. One of them is http://spamcheck.sitesell.com .
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By Christos Varsamis in Featured

Getting Your Press Release to Somebody Who Cares

Newspapers, both online and print, are inundated with hundreds of press releases every day. With that kind of capacity, you’ve really got to make sure that yours stands out from the pack if you want it to catch the eye of the editors and make it in front of their readership.

Don’t start at the top

One of the best ways to increase your chances of getting published is to hunt down the person at the newspaper who cares about what you’re trying to say. The editor-in-chief probably doesn’t have the time to look over every press release that comes in, and if you’ve got a press release about a new pet product, chances are that the business editor won’t care too much.

Whether you’ve got a story that needs to get into the right hands, an unusual topic that needs a special reporter, or you just want better coverage for your piece, finding the right person at the newspaper can make all the difference.

Good things take time

Unfortunately, building a press list is not exactly an instantaneous process. Finding the right person at a newspaper can take quite a bit of time and research, but if it can get your press release wider distribution, it will all be worth it.

In addition, you’ll have the contact information for future releases, and if you’ve treated your newspaper contact right, then you’ll have an established relationship, which could be mutually beneficial in the long run.

Search for similar stories

Initially, try searching Google News and Yahoo News to locate individual reporters who might be interested in your story. If you’re looking on a national level, look for people who have written several articles on subjects similar to yours, without a regional focus.

Don’t just look at titles, and don’t just look at one story. Actually read the stories to get a feel for the writer and the tone they take. That will help you make your decision about who to send your release to.

Broaden your focus

Think outside the box. You may have a press release that hits multiple categories. For instance, a technologically advanced gizmo that vaporizes dog poop would probably be of interest to both a pet writer and a technology reporter.

One exception to that rule is writers who work for the same publication. Tempting as it may be, don’t send your release to more than one writer at a publication. This is a serious faux pas, and will build a very bad foundation for future press relationships. Rather, take the time to figure out whose style best fits your piece, and send it to them.

Make it easy for them to contact you

Above all, make sure that no matter what, your contact information is clearly printed on every press release you submit. Few things are more frustrating to a reporter than having a good press release and no way to contact the company for more information about it.

Searching for the right person is going to take a long time. But finding the right person for your press release will make it a lot easier to promote your business in the long run. Ensuring your release gets into the right hands is an investment that’s well worth the time spent.

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By Jessica Cox

How to Optimize for MSN!

Last week I discussed the best tactics for achieving rankings in Yahoo, the web’s number 2 most popular search engine. Now it is time to pick on the third most used search property – MSN, which has 6.6% of the search market (src: Hitwise) and is currently found at www.live.com. MSN’s ranking algorithm has its own nuances which will be noted in this article but in many cases the rules of optimization may be the same as Yahoo’s in which case I will occasionally duplicate information from my “How to Optimize for Yahoo” article or source it for more information.

WEB SITE OPTIMIZATION

Except for the following elements, optimizing for MSN is identical to optimizing for Yahoo.

Fresh Content is King: I suppose technically this is not an element of ‘optimization’, however, this article would not be worth its salt if I didn’t express how highly MSN regards fresh content. If your site is in a competitive marketplace and you are finding it difficult to get a leg up on your competitors in MSN then write original content in order to build up your site and reputation. MSN appears to elevate websites that regularly update their content and a blog is a great way to post this content for others to read and favour you with links. If you would like some information on how to get a blog up and running from start to finish then I suggest reading Blogs 101.

Themed structure: this topic is identical to that of my Yahoo article, however, it is vital enough to mention it again. Construct your website using a themed structure where core site topics (themes) have their own unique section of the website to themselves. When the search engine spiders index the content within this section they will be given absolute clarity as to what the section is about. For more information see the example within the Yahoo Optimization article.

Basic optimization principles hold true: take out your SEO basics handbook and follow the rules when optimizing for MSN and you have done the best you can. Specifically focus on inline links (links to pages within sentences) and the use of heading tags to fortify rankings at MSN.

Navigation: pages with text navigation which lends itself to simpler and more relevant indexing are performing well.

WEB SITE SUBMISSION

Unlike Google and Yahoo, MSN does not yet have a fully operational Webmaster Central for webmasters to submit sitemaps and to acquire insight into their website profile on MSN; it is currently in private beta so it is not available yet. That said I feel that submitting a website sitemap is extremely important. Fortunately there are two known ways to get your sitemap submitted to MSN:

Option 1) The best method for submitting your sitemap is by adding a sitemap reference in your Robots.txt file using the following format:
Sitemap: http://www.xyzname.com/sitemap.xml

Option 2) A back-door strategy can be used to submit your sitemap to MSN through the news aggregation service called Moreover. To submit your sitemap substitute the bolded text with your own information in the following URL:
http://api.moreover.com/ping?u=http://www.xyzname.com/sitemap.xml

LINK BUILDING

MSN places a great deal of weight on incoming links and does not appear to apply as many filters to the links that Google or Yahoo do. As a result, ethical or not, many link building strategies such as reciprocal link building and paid links appear to pay dividends.
It is also noteworthy that MSN’s spider is very active so any incoming links that you receive will often be spidered within a week. Furthermore, MSN’s link filtering systems are not as bogged down as the other search engines (less traffic perhaps?) so incoming links appear to affect rankings faster which tends to help when tweaking a campaign and measuring the value of links.

CONCLUSION

As you can see there is little to report on the intricacies of optimizing for MSN because, quite frankly, MSN is fairly predictable and by the book; write good original content, optimize it well using the techniques outlined in the Yahoo optimization tutorial and ensure to submit your sitemap to MSN. If you combine those elements with a solid link building campaign then you are sure to move into a ranking where you can continue to tweak your optimization until you reach the top.

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By Ross Dunn

The Central Problem in Web Marketing… and Its Solution

The Web is supposed to be a wonderful, powerful, exciting new marketing medium. But many businesses simply do not get the return from their websites that they want. What’s going on?

From every size of company, from downtown corporations to home-based businesses, we hear the questions, “Why don’t we get more visitors to our site?” and “Why don’t more of them buy?” There are many problems, challenges and concerns in web marketing, but there is ONE thread that runs through them all — not enough sales.
A signpost to the cause, and, therefore, to the solution, is indicated by what people say to each other about their websites; “Who designed your site?”, “Do you know a good web designer?”, “I like this design.” and (maybe), “Do you use an open-source CMS?” In other words, most companies, most of the time, are focusing on design and technology.
You rarely hear people say, “Who wrote your site copy?”, “Who helped you decide what information to include?”, or “Who helped you market your site?”
Attractive, professional design and appropriate technology are certainly critical for a successful business site. But not to the extent of investing 95-100 percent of the thought, time and money in only these two aspects of the website’s construction and use!
The potential of a well-developed website is enormous. Indeed, building an effective website may be regarded as much more than simply important; it may very well be essential to the future viability of your business. At the very least, it can be a major marketing channel, bringing you new clients and reinforcing your relationships with current clients.
So what can you do to make your site more effective? The fix is not in design. Nor does it lie in technology. Doing more of the same is not the answer.
To find a more useful direction, consider the critical tasks your site needs to accomplish — bring people to the site, make the sale, and develop relationships with prospective and current clients. When thought of in these terms, it is clear that design and technology do not actually do any of these things. Yes, absolutely they can enhance, but they don’t actually DO.
The solution to lower-than-desired sales is to remember what a business website actually is — a marketing tool. What needs to be improved is marketing. A business website must, therefore, be based upon, permeated by and used according to the most profound and powerful marketing principles. Does that sound like your current site? For the business strength and profitability you want, you may need to improve three areas:

1. Strategic Planning to make every component of the site, and tactic for its use, as powerful as possible, and to integrate the use of the site most effectively within your current business and marketing plan.

2. Content development: Crafting the site as a marketing and service/product delivery tool.

3. Effective promotion to bring high-quality prospects.
So in summary, we have FIVE key components for an effective website: Strategic Planning, Content Development, Design, Technology, and Promotion. Strategic planning is arguably the most “supercharging” component, and is frequently the most neglected. But “strategic” is a word often misused. It is not just a big tactic, or a collection of tactics, or the latest “cool and sexy” tactic. Truly strategic planning can make a difference to the power of everything you do that is like the difference between a handful of flashlights and a laser.
Something I like to remind clients of: You are not WEB marketing; you are MARKETING on the Web. In other words, the key word is not “web”, it’s “marketing”. The effectiveness of almost ANY website will be enormously improved by the inclusion and ongoing implementation of proven, powerful marketing principles. The potential return, in terms of business building and profitability, is staggering.

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by Michael Linehan is the founder of Marketing Alchemy.