blogging for small business Tag

21 Nov

Posted at 14:39h in Small Business, Social Media by
By Drew Hudson,  Grovo.com This is the first in a series of three blog posts from Drew. Great social media tricks and tips even for the more experienced social media communicators!  Of all the ways to promote your business, social media for many is by far the most nebulous. On top of trying to decide what social platforms to market your company on how can you tell whether your campaigns are successful?  At Grovo, an online learning platform that trains people on leading cloud apps, social media tools and Internet trends, we put together the top 10 tips that will help make your social efforts not only more manageable but also more streamlined.

1. Track the Performance of your Tweets

There are many ways to advertise your business, this way has 140 character restrictions. Twitter helps your business build an audience, broadcast your message and send followers to your site. Tracking your tweets' performance allows you to see how popular your tweets are over time, as well as get information about the people who follow you. To track tweet performance, go to ads.twitter.com and log in. The following video will give you a better understanding of using Twitter’s Analytics, to dive into your Timeline activity, followers influence, good and bad tweets, and more. 2. Host Your Tumblr Blog on Your Own Site A blog for a company can be an invaluable way to connect to your audience, learn about who they are, and start two-way conversations that humanize your brand. While it's easy to start a blog, there are tricks and tips that will help you optimize that blog for your business, drive SEO efforts, create shareable content that highlights your expertise and establish a voice for your company.When you set up a Tumblr blog, you are automatically assigned a Tumblr URL where your blog is hosted. If you'd prefer, you can host your Tumblr blog on a custom domain that you've purchased previously. On the Tumblr settings page, select the blog whose domain you wish to change and check off "Use a custom domain name." Below, type the URL for the domain where you want to host your Tumblr blog. Click "Test your domain" to verify that your settings are correct. Note that you will need to adjust the settings of your hosting provider before your blog appears on the site. Click "Save" below to preserve your changes. Note that this process may take a few days to complete. 3. Promote a Page Post with Facebook Ads

28 Jun

Posted at 09:45h in Uncategorized by
[caption id="attachment_3297" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Sire, methinks you need more links. "][/caption] Google Panda has made it even more essential that you use high-quality links in your blog posts - and all of your web content for that matter. But you have to know what constitutes a ‘high quality link’. Some may have more rigid ideas about what this means, but I think there is some room for interpretation. Too many low quality links can hurt you in the long run. Here are three good suggestions for finding links that add value to your blog or site: 1) Leading sources – government sources, top industry blogs etc are the ones that Google considers the most reputable. These sites do offer a way to put some quantitative research into an article that you’re writing, so they’re good for more than simply ranking benefits.

21 Jun

Posted at 12:31h in Uncategorized by
Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve explored the cons (and pros) of Google Panda as well as some tips to make sure your blog meets the new criteria. This week, I want to look a little bit more generally at the things that you need to do if your website has already been hurt by Google Panda.

31 May

Posted at 06:17h in Uncategorized by
By Beth Graddon-Hodgson It doesn’t matter how you are or what you are writing about, at some point, you are going to fall under scrutiny for something that you did or didn’t say, or about the style of your writing. Sometimes  when you’re a writer, it may be your client that questions your choices. But, more often than not, the scrutiny comes from your readers. We’ve talked about dealing with criticism before on a larger scale; this time, we’ll focus on exactly what you should ask yourself before you decide how to deal with that criticism.

17 May

Posted at 06:35h in Uncategorized by
With these columns, we focus a lot on tips that help you get your blog started – things that will help you generate that readership, get them to engage and so on. It isn’t often that I talk about what happens AFTER you’ve got a captive audience available and how it should change your content.  Like anything good you do in life, your blog content needs to evolve. Once you’ve got that interest of readers, you need to keep it, and evolving your content is the only way that will happen. To help you better understand what I am going to explain (in my next post) with regards to content for highly established blogs, let’s look at what I typically suggest you do with a blog that is just getting started.

18 Apr

Posted at 08:32h in Integrated Marketing by
Thanks to Wes Towers for this easy yet powerful list for business owners. Here's how you turn blogging into marketing. Marketers understand blogging is one of the best ways to reach out to their target audience. It has become an efficient way to share updates, news and other information to your customers and prospects. It is also a great way to share thoughts on issues as well. Although it will never replace the power of the telephone for one-on-one communication, blogging wins hands down for communicating to the masses in a cost effective manner. A blog site sitting along side your main website lets you as a business owner boost your online presence. It’s an opportunity to share your company’s latest news, events and what’s happening in the industry. The problem is, many set out and never seem to get the readership required for it to really be of benefit to the business. Now, let’s just say that you already have set up your blog and have even started posting content. What are you doing to let your target audience know about it? What have you done to increase your blog readership? Nothing? Sadly, that’s the answer most people give. Here are a few pointers to help you turn your blog into a powerful marketing strategy:

22 Mar

Posted at 06:55h in Uncategorized by
As our regular readers likely know by now, my strategies in blogging typically find a happy medium between having a technical-minded SEO focus and a customer-oriented approach.  I’m all about balance and a big believer that regardless of what your SEO stats tell you, if you’re not connecting with your clients, you’re not accomplishing enough. I bring this up only because there is one area where it’s just dawned on me that my views differ, and it relates to inserting hyperlinks on your blog. Should Hyperlinks On Your Blog Be About Customers or SEO?

18 May

Posted at 05:15h in Uncategorized by
Photo from fOTOGLIF
By Beth Graddon- Hodgson Any journalist will tell you that a headline; a simple few words, holds as much importance as the body of an article. When writing a blog, the headline or title is of equal importance. However, the approach needs to be different, because you’re not just looking to grab the attention of readers; you need to do that while grabbing the attention of search engines!