Social Blog Writers And Information For A More Profitable Solution

Yellow Page Advertising – Does It Still Work For Small Businesses?

admin — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 23:48:02 +0000

How long have you used yellow page advertising to market your small business? Why do you keep using it?

If you’ve been considering or using yellow page advertising, it might be time to ask yourself several questions:

Is your client using the yellow pages to find services?
Can you find similar or better quality clients in other ways?
Is this the best use of your marketing dollar for future growth?

Many service businesses advertise in the yellow pages because they always have, and they still get calls from their ad. But how much are you making from these clients? Is it enough to cover your monthly phone bill? And is your client list growing or shrinking by using this form of marketing?

In many households across the country, the phonebooks move from the front doorstep to the recycle bin, without even opening the bag they come in. (I’ve been doing that for more than 10 years now.) If I can’t perform a search and find you in Google, then you aren’t the business for me.

Overall, an online customer is more affluent, better educated, and more savvy in finding the perfect business to suit their needs. They are willing to build a relationship with a company that can provide the service they are looking for.

Online marketing is:

Less expensive – many tools are available at no or low cost
Permanent – it’s not pay or delete like the yellow pages – once you implement a technique, it exists online forever
The way of the future – if someone has a problem or needs a service, they search online and Google it. And with mobile technology growing in leaps and bounds, being findable and mobile ready is just as important.

It’s not about doing what you’ve always done. It’s about going where your clients are. And where you can build a strong, lucrative future.

[Are you a small business looking to trade in your yellow page advertising for online marketing? Our new local business search program may be just what you're looking for. Contact us today.]

Using Video To Sell Your Idea

admin — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 21:02:35 +0000

Once again, I found a video that has gone viral. Loaded just 2 days ago, it already has been viewed over 1.2 million times. Is there a lot of work in a video like this? Definitely. A lot of work and planning took place to make sure this all came together.

But the idea is to find a way to reach out and touch your clients. You don’t have to make it spectacular. You just have to be creative.

And you don’t have to be professional in the manner you present it. Just have fun and get out there and do it.

Video is the way we are moving. As video becomes more accessible to the search engines, you’ll find more uses for it. Use this as your inspiration, and start putting together some ideas.

Being a Content Writer Means Writing For Your Visitors

admin — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 15:28:19 +0000

What’s the hardest thing to do with a blog? Finding new things to write about on a weekly basis.

But in order to stay meaningful to your readers, and relevant to the search engines, being a content writer means doing exactly that – writing content.

Keep these 5 tips in mind when you’re finding new things to write about.

1. What questions do people have when you’re out networking? These are informational ideas that would be great starter posts for your blog. Probably the most common question I get when out networking and talking about how to use social networking for your business is, “Why would people care what I have for lunch?” So that spurred my post on Social Copywriting.

2. What questions do your customers have? A recent client came back several months after we had developed her blog. She stated she still wasn’t having any results, even though she had been blogging for several months. One look at her blog gave me insight – and a reason to create my blog post on Blog Titles.

3.What resources are new in your field? When Sony released their Bloggie Camera earlier this year, we were one of the first in line to buy it – and share it on our site as a resource. If you’re blogging, this is a must have camera. Why not share it as a resource with our followers? What makes a great resource for your readers?

4. What can you teach? Every industry leader has a huge amount of knowledge they can share with their prospects and customers. It’s not about giving them all of the information they need to accomplish everything – it’s more about sharing your knowledge to showcase your expertise on your subject matter. How about a how-to section? You can write your content – or use your Bloggie to create a video.

5. Make people aware of what they might not know. Your customers don’t work in your industry, and don’t keep up with the latest happenings. Put simply, they don’t know what they don’t know. Which is why you are there to remind them of things. When they get that a-ha moment, and you’re the one that provided it, you’re more likely to remain in their minds. And become a valuable resource in their toolbox.

What Does A Blog Writer Do?

admin — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 17:09:34 +0000

More companies than ever are using a Blog Writer to keep their blogs filled with quality content. But how do you know if a blog writer is right for your business? What can a blog writer do for you?

1.Keep your blog up to date. Have you ever been out to a blog, only to find out it hasn’t been posted to in months? What’s your first reaction? If its like most people, you back out as quickly as possible. If they can’t stay up to date on the content on their blog, who knows how well they are doing at business.

Blogging is the best way to capture attention online. Yet it’s also the easiest way to lower your reputation. You have to stick with it and fill it with quality content. What’s your goal with your blog? Is it to build a persona around one member of the team? Or is it there to fill up with quality content to capture attention in the search engines? Either way, hiring a blog writer can guarantee you results on a regular basis.

2. Answer questions. What do people do when they head to the search engines? Usually it’s to find an answer to a question. A blog writer can provide the answers in your blog, capture attention in the search engines, and have people enter your site because of the answers you provide.

3. Develop a following. Millions of people blog every day. But only a small portion of those are doing it for business. Yes, the business portion is growing as more people learn of the advantages. But if you create a quality blog now, you’ll be miles ahead of your competition, and be developing a following of people from around the world – people that like what you do and will probably buy from you now or at some point in the future.

4. Share facts. Remember, your blog isn’t about selling, it’s about sharing. A blog post is meant to share helpful information around your product, service or industry – not attempting to sell it. If you sell a liquid drain cleaner, a post entitled, “How Do I Unclog a Drain?” or “Why Does My Drain Smell Bad?” will lead them to the conclusion your product can help them accomplish the job. If your product is green, you can incorporate facts that make green cleaners better than more traditional ones. The facts point to your product; your post confirms you are the expert and the one to trust in this field.

5. Build a persona. Different businesses have different personas. An estate lawyer will take on an entirely different persona than a stand up comedian. A bog writer understands this, and works to discover how you want to convey your message to your audience. You are still in control – you still have final say over your content. A blog writer simply gives you the time and freedom to do what you best, while reaping the benefits of having quality content added to your site on a regular basis.

Are You Using Social Sites To Announce PleaseRobMe

admin — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 18:45:56 +0000

Have you ever felt like your life has become an open book? You shout out to your Twitter friends when you’re heading to a meetup. You ask your Facebook friends if anyone will be attending the upcoming seminar in Las Vegas. And hey, maybe you even chat about your vacation, posting photographs along the way to share with all your newfound friends.

Have you ever thought about the other side? You know, the “what if” the wrong person gets this message, and now has all the information they need to head over to your place and rob you?

That’s the idea behind PleaseRobMe.com. The purpose of the site isn’t to let would-be robbers in on an easy way to find the next house to rob. Instead, it’s a way to bring attention to the fact of how you are releasing your information – and a good reason why you may wish to change the way you share.

PleaseRobMe.com is linked in with two of the top social sites being used on mobile devices – Twitter and Foursquare. The concept behind both of these popular tools is to let people know what you are doing – right now. But if you take that concept too far, you’re also letting potentially millions of others know where you are, what you’re doing, and how long you’ll be away. So a little post like:

Yes, Friday. Two weeks in Europe start tomorrow-can’t wait. Will share photos on my Flickr acct along the way.

Can potentially tell someone they have two weeks to find you, choose the right time to head in to your place, and have plenty of time to pick and choose exactly what they want.

Blog Title – It’s More Than A Few Words

admin — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 15:24:26 +0000

How do you choose a perfect blog title for your blog post?

In many cases, people barely think about it. I was on a wedding planners site recently, and one of her blog post titles was “Jessica and Andrew’s Wedding”.

But is that the best way to do it? Should your blog title just be an afterthought – something that gets your information on to your site with little thought to anything else?

If you’ve always done it this way, its time to give it more thought.

You can spend hours creating the perfect post. You can write, edit, and edit some more. Yet it doesn’t matter how much you put into your post if your title doesn’t accomplish two things:

1. Attract the attention of your readers
2. Attract the attention of the search engines

A blog title is important because:

It’s the first thing people see – they make a split decision to keep reading or not.
Your title becomes your long tail – will it help find you traffic in Google and other search engines?
Your title feeds into your title tags, and can also help you gain traffic in the search engines.
It sets up your story. It’s what people see if you are using RSS to announce your information in other places.

So with that much riding on your title, saying more than “Jessica and Andrew’s Wedding” again and again should become your norm.

Name your post first
Before you even write your post, what will it be about? Let’s head back to the “Jessica and Andrew’s Wedding” idea. Jessica and Andrew will love the post. And they’ll send all their family and friends there. But who else will truly have a desire to read it?

This post was filled with photos and information about the wedding itself. But from a wedding planner’s perspective, she should want to share so much more with her prospects and clients. She should gear this post to future contacts, not completely with her current clients. How about renaming the post “Planning A Beach Wedding With Jessica and Andrew”? See how it changes the perspective? Jessica and Andrew will still love it. And yet it opens up the post to so many more readers.

Think from their perspective
When someone heads to Google to find information, they won’t know to type in your company name, or your clients’ name. Hence, the “Jessica and Andrew’s Wedding” title will never be found. But they will type in things that pertain to them. So they have every chance of typing in “planning a beach wedding” if that’s their goal.

By combining the two into a post title “Planning A Beach Wedding With Jessica and Andrew” you’re taking care of both sides – your potential prospects, and your current clients.

But now that you have a post title post “Planning A Beach Wedding With Jessica and Andrew”, don’t get stuck in the same title rut. In other words, you wouldn’t want your next five posts to be:

Planning A Beach Wedding With Anne and Jared
Planning A Beach Wedding With Amber and Michael
Planning A Beach Wedding With Bree and Justin
Planning A Beach Wedding With Melanie and John
Planning A Beach Wedding With Lauren and Conner

One look at that and your prospects would back out as quickly as possible. Boring.

Instead, play it up.

A Beautiful Sunset Ceremony With Anne and Jared
A Wedding In Cabo San Lucas: Join Amber and Michael
Bree and Justin – A Wedding At The Biltmore Estate

See the difference?

Your readers are your top concern.

Understand your readers. What do they want to learn, read about, and understand better?

Define your topics. If your blogging about photography, they want to see titles that give them more information about what they love. “The Fate Of Wedding Photography” was hugely successful on my photography blog because it captures the attention of my readers.

Be clear – but have fun too. What made “The Fate Of Wedding Photography” so much fun was it played on emotions. A lot of businesses are in trouble in this economy. Readers can clearly see what the post is about – wedding photography – and yet it’s asking a question that’s on a lot of studio owners’ minds. Of course they want to read to find out what my take is on the whole industry.

Be original. Your blog is your voice. It has your personality. People come to it because they like what you have to say. So keep saying it. The more you say it, the more they’ll read.

Creating A Buzz on Google Buzz

admin — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 17:48:17 +0000

Move over Facebook and Twitter, there’s a new service in town. And with the Google name attached to it, you know its going to bring on pretty stiff competition over the coming months.

Like everything with Google, Google Buzz is associated with your global Google account. If you already have a gmail account, login and you’ll have immediate access to Buzz. Simply click on the Buzz link in your navigation, and activate your Buzz account.

Buzz is a similar in concept to Twitter, though it has a platform that offers you a lot more ways to connect. Add a link, and the content is instantly pulled in for you to use. You can add your own comments, or send it out the way it feeds in. It also pulls the images from the page, allowing you to select which images to showcase in your feed.

It’s also easy to add friends. You can connect with the people you’re connected through gmail with. Or search based on your keywords. Then click the add button and you’re following them.

The feed is similar in concept to Twitter, you’ll be able to browse through the latest posts from all you’re following. But with the expanded space for words, photos and graphics, its a pleasure to read.

Will it catch Twitter soon? Only time will tell.

Content Marketing – A Basic Guide

admin — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 18:04:24 +0000

Want to move forward into the new decade with a successful plan in place? Create a content marketing plan.

Content Marketing is the process that allows a company to market their business by providing quality content to attract new customers. It’s not about selling – it’s about building the relationship. It’s not about interrupting a customer to bring you your message – it’s about letting your customer request the information that’s right for him or her and moving forward at their own pace.

If you’ve been marketing for a while, (and by awhile I mean 5 years or more) you’ve probably focused on advertising. Your goal with every form of marketing is to promote you and your products and your business. Not so with content marketing.

Content marketing is about building value and trust. It’s about having quality content available in many different formats, and letting your customers and prospects decide what’s right for them.

Start with a blog
One of the reasons blogging is taking the Internet by storm is the ability to add content whenever you choose. Start with my site TheSocialGhost. I started it with the sole premise of providing quality content on how you can utilize content to the best of your ability. My goal is to give you quality tips every week, and help you understand how important content is. Do I have services available like ghost writing? Definitely. And I promote them in subtle ways (how’s this for subtle!). But I also know only a few people that read this post will have any interest in ghost writing at all. Most are looking for ideas they can use to build on. And because I know the importance, I’m willing to share my knowledge freely to help everyone understand blogging and content marketing a little bit more.

A blog puts you in the drivers seat. A blog gives you the control to add content whenever you choose, day or night.

Build with a list
Having a blog is great, but it’s the list that really makes your business profitable. Because without a list of clients and prospects to market to, your business has little value.

So once you have your blog in place and you’ve started to add quality content, its time to build a list. In the simplest form, you can do that by promoting your RSS feed, and having people sign up to monitor your new posts. Or take it to the next level and offer a free report, whitepaper, audio or video recording, and have people sign up for it. (Have you signed up for my free audio file? It has a ton of quality content.)

This list is your golden tool for building all the business you desire from this point forward.

Add in a little social
Why is social growing in leaps and bounds? Because it allows you to freely share content in any way you choose.

Have you ever Googled yourself? What comes up? Especially if you are a small business, you need to monitor this all the time. You can control what’s coming up by feeding in content. We have huge followings on Facebook and Twitter. When we link to a post, we can drive thousands of page views with just a couple mentions on social sites.

The key is to get the following and the comments rolling on social sites that you can’t control, and lead them right back to the content you do control on your blog.

Website or Blog: Which Is Better For Your Small Business?

admin — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 23:13:53 +0000

In this video, I answer a recent clients question, “Which is better for my business, a website or a blog?” I’ll cover which is the better tool for you to have to run your small business, and where I think blogging is going in the future.

How To Use Foursquare For Business

admin — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 21:30:18 +0000

Think your behind the times if you’re not using Facebook or Twitter for your business?

Now you can add another social site to that list as well.

Foursquare is a social site that’s just celebrating its first birthday, and already has tens of thousands of users, and businesses adding their name to the lineup everyday.

Foursquare combines a friend finder and a social city guide, along with game mechanics that allow users to earn points and received special prizes along the way.

To join the Foursquare network, you start by downloading either the iPhone app or the Android app, or using a mobile website with other phones (a Blackberry app is in the works.) Don’t have a web browser? Not a problem – you can check in by sending text messages. Then when your out at a restaurant, bar, café, park – someplace you may want to connect up with friends, you simply check in via Foursquare. Every time you check in, you’ll be awarded points. There are different badges for a variety of things, such as discovering new places, and spending too much time in one location.

As a business, where do you fit in? By watching who’s visiting of course.

Foursquare offers a mayor badge to a person that has visited a location more than anyone else. When the mayor enters your business, you can offer them deals and enticements – how about a free drink or a free appetizer?

You can even combine your social campaigns. Announce on Twitter a special for the first person to become the official mayor of your restaurant.

It’s all about having fun, playing the game, and attracting a whole new crowd to your location.