Blog And Blogging Articles

Jumpstart Your Blog: A Business Blogging Workout Regimen

Do you know what gym regulars call the surge of people who show up in January as part of a New Year's resolution?

Tourists.

The same could be true with the influx of businesses that join the blogosphere each and every day. Some join with the best of intentions. Others start a blog because someone from marketing twisted their arm. Still others were on a drunken bender and couldn?t find a tattoo shop, so they settled for starting a blog.

The fact is that because of lack of time, commitment, or a good strategy, the majority of these blogs fail. Later, when a prospect finds these abandoned blogs--either through a forgotten link on the company's Web site or a search engine result--they?re left with a negative impression of the company.

Don't let this happen to you! A blog is a terrible thing to waste. It does take time and commitment, but with a plan in place, your blog will increase your search engine visibility, establish your credibility, and provide more online leads than you can handle.

Here's a regimented workout that will help jumpstart a new or stalled business blog and prevent you from being just another tourist in the blogosphere.

(Please consult your physician before beginning any new blogging regimen, and always remember to stretch.)

Write Three Posts a Week

Once your blog has an established readership you may be able to cut back on your frequency, but to begin you should plan on writing three times a week. Schedule recurring blocks of time in your calendar so "urgent" but less important items don't prevent.

Posts can be of varying lengths and varying styles. Numbered lists, how-to articles and commentary on your or your customers' industries are proven winners.

To ensure that people can find your posts, use keyword-rich titles that will drive traffic from the search engines. ?Some Thoughts I Shared with HR? will never outperform ?Employee Retention: 10 Ways to Keep Star Performers Happy.?

Estimated Time: 2 hours/week.

Leave Two Comments a Week

One of the most important things you can do for the success of your blog is to network with other bloggers in your niche and become part of the community. This means reading and commenting on related blogs.

The comments you leave on other blogs create links back to your own blog. Although comment links rarely carry any search engine benefit, intelligent comments will attract notice from the blog owner and his or her readers, driving qualified leads to your own blog.

Estimated Time: 1 - 2 hours/week, including reading time.

Blog Popular Search Terms

Blog search engines like Icerocket and Technorati often display the most popular current search terms. If you can work a popular topic into a new post you place your blog in front of thousands of potential new readers.

Just make sure the topic is relevant to your business; while more visitors are nice, the goal here is to get prospects reading your blog. Working an American Idol reference into your blog on global commodities trading probably won?t bring you a lot of repeat visitors.

Estimated Time: 2 minutes/post.

Make It Easy for People Subscribe & Share

I?m always perplexed when I discover a blog that doesn?t offer an RSS feed, or relegates it to some dusty corner or to the bottom of the page. One of a blog?s biggest strengths is its ability to syndicate content. People can subscribe and receive new posts whether or not they?re at your blog.

Feedburner and Feedblitz are two services you can integrate into your blog that allows visitors to subscribe via RSS feed or email.

You should also leverage the current fascination with social media by adding appropriate bookmarking tools to the bottom of each post. Giving readers the ability to add your post to Digg, Facebook, Twitter, or any other social networking site with a single click increases the chance that they?ll spread the word about your blog.

Estimated Time: Less than 1 hour of setup time when you start your blog.

In Conclusion

An abandoned blog is a black eye for any business. A regularly updated, narrowly focused blog is a powerful magnet for search engines, new business, and journalists looking to speak with an industry expert.

By dedicating the time necessary to building a strong blog, you?ll have your investment returned to you a hundred times over in search engine visibility, new prospects and lower customer acquisition costs.

Rich Brooks is president and chief blogger at flyte new media, a Web design and Internet Marketing company. Download his free article, The 11 Biggest Mistakes Small Business Bloggers Make and build a better blog today.

Other Article Sites

findabook.com  moneycd.info  a-mortgage.info   about-lemon-laws.info  aboutstudentloans.info
all-about-publishing.info  auctions-articles.info  bestcollege-university.com  bestispconnection.com
biblefolder.com  blogger-website.com  books-used.info  brokers-guide.info  buywindows.info  cable-dsl.info
career-miner.com  carpel-tunnel.info  cashinaflash.info  cashloanreviews.info  casinobell.com  chat-house.info
clearmycredit.info  collegeloantips.info  crones.info  depression-articles.info   dirnic.net  dishguides.info
divers-below.com  expodog.info   financewizz.com  fire-insurance.info  getgood.info  handleit.net   it-idea.info
health-supplies.info  hosting-right.com  insidealert.com  insurance-facts.info  jobs-employment.info
justgood.info  lookgold.net   lowcost-travel.info  money-source.info  myhostzone.info  numisblog.com
peoplesearchfinder.info  pr-articles.info  realeas.com   refinancing-guides.info  spyware-remove.info
telelot.info  the-law.info   toppaid.info  travel-deals.info  travelcorrect.com  wedding-guide-site.com
your-blog.info  your-credit.info

New Blog for Pet Auto Safety
www.PetAutoSafety.com has opened a new informational blog for pet owners, allowing them to learn more about automotive safety for pets and the products that make their pets' security easy to maintain.

How To Promote Your Business With A Blog
In order to succeed, business owners realize that they have to promote their business. Often times, they need to find creative ways to accomplish this. One way that is being used more and more is blogging. It is a wonderful way to get the word out about your business without spending thousands of dollars on advertising. One of the first things that you should do before you start to blog is determine who is going to be your target audience.

Rain Shadow Gardens Gives Customers a Forum to Talk with a New Blog
www.RainShadowGardens.com has launched a garden-related blog to help their customers with additional product information, gardening discussion, and other opportunities to talk about their hobby.

How To Monetize Your Blog And Earn Money Online
There are many people who are not really very comfortable about monetizing their blogs. In fact, for some of them, such though of putting ads and affiliate links in their site is totally unacceptable. Sure, nobody really likes to have their site filled with advertisements and stuffs like that but we all need to earn a living somehow and monetizing your blog could bring in some extra cash for the family. In fact, there are many noted bloggers our there who are earning more than enough to keep their family comfortable. If you are one of those people who are open to the idea of monetizing your blog, here are some tips for you.

Free For All Blogging Websites- Free Interesting Facts
Finding specific information about free for all blogging websites might not be easy, but we have gathered very helpful and relevant information about the general subject matter, with the ultimate aim of assisting you out. Even if your search is about other free for all blogging websites information, such as credit card fraud cases, the big moo, make your blog or even popular blog, this article will prove very helpful, without saying a lot.

New "Legal Newsroom" Blog Gives Timely Briefs on Personal Injury Law
Liever, Hyman & Potter releases "Legal Newsroom" blog.

Getting Started With Video Blogging
Getting started with videoblogging

It Makes Sense to Add AdSense to Your Blog
Google AdSense is easy to install on a web page or blog and constitutes additional source of income without spending anything. You have to apply on-line for Google AdSense Program and generally approval comes from Google within two days.

New Blog Forum for Doxies R Cool Builds Community for Dachshund Enthusiasts
In an effort to connect Dachshund enthusiasts/owners with the resources of their peers in the online community, Ruth Lyn Orr of www.DoxiesRCool.com has opened an informational blog to help build a community presence. Located at www.DoxiesRCoolBlog.com, Ruth Lyn hopes the blog will become the hub of a distinctive network for Dachshund lovers to connect and share information.

Full Tilt Poker and Noted Poker Author Michael Craig Team Up to Create Exciting New Poker Blog
Best-selling author shares exclusive insights into the game and its players that readers won’t find anywhere else online.

Seeing A Blog As A Dual Marketing Tool
Blogging is only successful if you can see it as a dual marketing tool. The third part of the blogging business triad is a dual product. There is the product you are selling on your website (or from others) and then there is your opinion. You can?t sell a product through blogging unless you can convince the reader to ?buy? your opinions. Whatever you decide to sell make sure you can back it up with your reputation because when it comes to blogging what you are blogging can be gold.

Franchise Circle Launches First Video Blogging Site for the Franchise Industry, Franchisor.tv
Franchisor.tv is a video blogging or 'vlogging' tool, where entrepreneurs, franchisors, industry suppliers, and area developers can output video to interested Franchise Circle.com users. "Franchor.tv was launched because video is destined to be a very hot marketing tool for many franchisors because there are not that many of their competitors using it", says Margaret McEntire, founder and CEO of Candy Bouquet International, the world's largest candy franchise.

19 Year Old Blogger Becomes Mentor to Hundreds of Followers
Just over three months ago, Shannon Lilly started InfectedByBugs.com with the intention of showing others how they could make money online. In this short period of time, InfectedByBugs.com has already become one of the authorities in the industry.

The Ultimate in Wardrobe Luxury: Belisi Announces Launch of Blog
Peter Belisi, the maker of fine finishing pieces signifying the utmost in luxury for wardrobes, announces the launch of his blog.