content helps too! It’s just hard to believe, how can these little things called Links can make all the difference in your SEO efforts. Ask the folks at the best People Search site, they just found out how fast their rankings went up due to their link campaigns. Sorry Intelius, you just got passed by the best and the oldest People Search site:-). I am an indian American, but my buddy Dan at People Finders and I love ethical business people more than we love a particular heritage or not. Links folks, Links, they make the most effort in your rankings, but don’t forget content, hello don’t we talk about content on this blogging platform? Aren’t we giving away blogging templates, and helping you write content that gets indexed by Google? Yes, but the article below highlights Zappos, and how they are utilizing keyword density to the max. Wow, great article by the folks at Ecommerce blogs, way to go, great example of Keyword Density. And for very very competitive keywords, keyword density just might be the edge you need for top SEO rankings.

Zappos Secret SEO Sauce For Branded Pages - Get Elastic Ecommerce Blog

I had a comment on one of my blogs about content on the site, not just Link juice, so it was timely that the above SEO article on Zappos Secret sauce, it’s keyword density. My friends at People Search talked about duplicate content, site structures, URL history, and other important SEO factors. But, when they started to rank real high for the keywords People Search, with many links to those same keywords, they were quite amazed. You see it’s all about the High Page Rank sites linking to your keywords, with the exact anchor text you need, such as in this case it had to be “People Search”. The other thing about links is that they have to come from high PR sites to make a big difference, other wise, they are just not as valuable, and if they come from content sites such as Blogs, the better.

Their are bad link sources for Google and SEO on Google. They are usually considered Black hat SEO tricks to fool the search engines. Some examples are hidden text links, most people are surprised that this is still being done, and my guess is yes. Other examples are non-contextual links, just gibberish from bots linking to a site, with automated tools. The other no no of today is, two way link exchanges. What was a fine practice of yesterday is not liked by Google. Go figure, they make the rules, we humble SEO Services providers just have to follow them. Till the new rules come out, we will keep on a better way to find links for our friends at the best People Search site at peoplefinders.com. Go Zapppos Go!

SEO: Metrics That Matter

My techie brother in law just emailed this to me the other day, I had actually emailed Stephen the author of the blog the same day.  Stephen runs a very successful SEO services firm back in Madison Wisconsin.  I along with thousands of ex-cheddar heads are out every fall supporting the Green Bay Packers every year in Seattle.  I loved to visit Madison, my uncle still lives there, and I went to school in Eau Claire.

The terms and Metrics mentioned in the above article are interesting, but not a comprehensive list, I will work on what I see as a full comprehensive list soon, but I have too many things on our SEO Services and the Blogcast your brand book to deal with at the moment:-).  It is a good article and must read for people looking for metrics for their SEO efforts.

What goes on in a Finale? A celebration of completion, a summary, and what now brow cow? This is it my friend, so here it is, a summary of SEO for bloggers from our previous blogging coach:

June 27th, 2007 at 10:29 pm by Bc in SEO for Bloggers

Blogging is uniquely suited for search engine optimization, because the search engines definitely favor websites that have lots of relevant, easily updated content. However, there are ways you can maximize your blog’s promotional abilities - SEO techniques you can use to “blogcast your brand”.

Here’s a rundown of my SEO for Bloggers series:

Part 1: Getting Started with SEO. Start here to learn exactly what SEO is and the basics of how to use it to promote your message, including choosing your keywords properly. If you only read one of these posts, read this one (but you really should bookmark them all!).

Part 2: Link Building and Link Popularity. This post covers a key component of any blogger’s SEO strategy: getting tons of incoming links. Search engines love websites that lots of people are linking too - after all, popular blogs are popular for a reason, and that reason is simple: people like ‘em.

Part 3: Link Baiting for Fun and Profit. Link baiting is the art of getting other bloggers and webmasters to link to your site by creating interesting posts that benefit your readers in some way, shape, or form. After all, people link to content they find compelling.

Part 4: Building Your Cornerstone. Strong flagship posts are the pillars of blog - they are your most compelling content, they bring in the links, and they naturally have an ultra high keyword density.

Part 5: Off-Site SEO and the Social Media. This post describes how to use the social media networks and the user-driven aspects of Web 2.0 to enhance and promote your blog. There are a whole lot of amazing tools and communities out there, so use them to your advantage.

There’s one more point to remember about SEO, and that point is that the results generally don’t happen over night. Yes, content can go viral, but building a popular blog with lots of readers takes time - you have to develop your keyword-dense cornerstone content, to build link popularity and generate incoming traffic, and to make a name for yourself in your niche.

**Since we are all in the Internet marketing business, and the job of marketing is to either sell products, generate leads, and/or to promote businesses.  Next steps in the process when you have customers and clients is how do you manage them, and communicate with them on a regular basis.  Blogs are great for one to many, but what about one on one communication.   This is where CRM comes in, which stands for Customer Relationship Management:

What is CRM?

A friend of mine recently became the Director of Product marketing at a local CRM Software provider in Seattle. I had a meeting with him and his Director of Marketing on Friday, and it went well enough that I decided to write this blog on the latest CRM trends, directions, and analysis. Before, we start I want to mention that this is probably my most knowledgeable area of expertise. I invested in Clarify one of the original CRM Software companies, which got sold to Nortel back in 1999. I also have had investors and friends who co-founded large CRM software companies that went public with stock prices over $100/share. I have also wanted to start my own CRM software as a services, Internet company, and actually had someone develop the software for us, needless to say it did not work out. And, we never fully developed the business plan, though we had a great URL called RealClients.com, which I don’t even know if we still own. We have given up so many URL’s in the last year, just due to budgetary concerns. Believe me, there are still good one’s to have. So getting back to the world of CRM software and CRM with Internet and mass emailing functions is what I wanted to create.

It seems as my friends company had created probably the best system in the world. They are super well funded, and we might do some work for the, from an SEO and lead generation perspective. So I thought I would start this blog on CRM. Before we get further, I wanted to define in simple terms what is CRM? Not just the acronym definition, but what it really helps businesses accomplish, and how it’s coming down stream to contact management and email functionality. CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management, and it is the software that helps to manage interactions with customers, it came from the customer service perspective in large companies, but is now focused towards sales force automation.

Large companies needed CRM software to help them manage their contacts with existing customers and keep track of customer services issues, and client records. On the other end sales people needed account information on companies and clients. In the middle were product and inventory management systems, that really didn’t have anything to do with CRM, but if integrated with customer databases would be a great tool. Well focus that is where CRM software has come today, any information about a customer, the companies interactions with prospects and clients, even which products were shipped to them, and when. To be able to access this information from a login account on the internet from any where any computer or cell phone, that is where CRM software is going today, and is already.

So you can imagine, as technology sales executive as my first career, an SEO Consultant now days, and a marketing expert with over 16+ years of technology experience I have learned a few things about sales and marketing management. I am excited to see an amazing CRM software company in Seattle, until we sign a contract with them, I am going to keep the name elusive to you all, but i do love the company offices and people that I met there on Friday. So stay tuned for great CRM advice, Information and insights to help you make a great CRM software decision.

Before I get in to the SEO for bloggers article, which is below, I wanted to mention a few things about Business Social Networking. What’s so interesting is that i’s at the intersection of B2B and social networking. So I was doing some research on the keyword Business Social Networking, and out pops this article below from 2005.  The year of the start of Social Networking, with the screaming entrance of MySpace and Facebook making headlines, but most importantly YouTube.com. The article below talks about a site 43things.com, which I had known for a while, but had no Idea that it was heavily invested or owned by Amazon.com. Read the article if you need to but, business social networking is finally making a big leap towards businesses from the hype only social media aspect.

The Seattle Times: Business & Technology: Social networking: A link to like minds

I can’t wait to finish the series on SEO for bloggers, it’s keeping me from writing original content. So below is the article from our previous blogging coach. Yes, we are still working on our b2b and business social networking site, it’s getting closer, but running in to some design issues at the moment. The best part is that the business social networking technical features are all done, it’s just about the design at the moment enjoy the article below:

SEO for Bloggers: Off-Site SEO and the Social Media (Part 5 of 6)

June 27th, 2007 at 10:01 pm by Bc in Social Media Networks, Link Building, SEO for Bloggers, Blogging Techniques

So we’ve established the search engines love sites with tons of incoming links, and we’ve talked about a few different ways to earn them.   However, I have yet to mention a major source of traffic - the social media sites. Granted, using the social media networks as a source of links isn’t typically considered part of SEO, but they can be very useful when used properly.

How to Play the Social Media Game:

Social media can be defined as the online technologies and practices people use to share opinions, insights, experiences, and perspectives (thanks wikipedia!). Although social media is generally used as an umbrella term that encompasses everything from YouTube to Second Life, bloggers can utilize content-sharing sites like Digg, Del.icio.us, Reddit, and Stumble Upon and social networking sites such as Facebook, Myspace, and Linked In.*   Here is a  preview of our Business Social Network below:

First of all, syndicate your blog content on all the social media networks that you have profiles on, as well as any directories that index content related to your niche. You don’t have to reprint entire posts, rather, just copy the first few sentences - use it like a teaser or preview, and then be sure to link to it with “read more” or “continue”. After all, if someone is comes across your profile on any social media site, they’d probably be interested in your blog too. Be sure to get some of your keywords in the in the “teaser” part, however, so you’re playing to the search engines as well as the readers.

Second, become an active participant in social content sites like Digg, along with popular forums in your niche. You have to give some to get some, after all, and by reading and interacting on these, you’ll learn what kind of content is well received. Over all, however, it pays to be bold, to show off your passions, and to create content that has value for your users. This is where link baiting (in the altruistic “creating compelling content” sense) can really pay off.

Note: when you’re submitting posts to the social media networks, aim for “scannable” content - easily digestible article with bulleted or numbered lists, headings and subheadings, and charts and graphs. Reading on the web is not the same as reading a book - most people tend to just scan over things and pick up the main ideas.

Viral Ideas and Blogging

Viral marketing and viral content are major buzzwords these days, and for good reason. An idea, a post, a website, or an application can go viral and get thousands of links and millions of hits in a matter of hours. Of course, these can be shallow hits and non-targeted traffic, but the viral marketers do have a point - people spread ideas and share content that’s easily understandable, benefits the user in some way (even if it’s only to make them smile - look at how quickly things like lolcats get around), and neatly packaged (perhaps in the form of a concise, well-written blog post).

*This is by no means an exhaustive list, and it may take some research and trial and error to figure what communities are best suited to your purposes.

Posted by Bc in Social Media Networks, Link Building, SEO for Bloggers, Blogging Techniques

**As always, I want to be clear that we get our photos at a free stock photo place called www.Sxc.hu, these photos are allowed for free usage for blogging sites and free blogs.   We also have bought photos from their StockExpert.com their pay for photo site.  Please do support them, and know that 99% of our photos come from there, if you are wondering where to find them.  We always recommend adding photos to your blogs, we even wrote a blog about it.

Again another great SEO for bloggers resource from our previous blogging coach.  As mentioned previously, we are working on our B2b and business Social Networking site, so not a lot of original posts this week. 

SEO for Bloggers: Building Your Cornerstone (Part 4 of 6)

June 26th, 2007 at 10:35 pm by Bc in SEO for Bloggers, Blogging Techniques, Getting Started

Cornerstone Content is Essential

A good blog rests on a solid foundation of cornerstone, or flagship content. This is the content you build your blog around - it is indispensable, it is essential, it is what people absolutely must know in order to understand your brand and do business with you.  It should also be some of your most compelling content - it’s the ace up your sleeve, it’s what readers come to your blog for, and it’s your best stuff.

Flagship Content and SEO

Flagship content is naturally keyword rich.  As a central component of your blog, it should focus on your main message and therefore contain tons of your keywords. When writing your cornerstone content, you should focus on creating value for your readers - after all, compiling a useful resource is one of the ways to generate incoming links. One of the things that your flagship posts should accomplish is to answer the most relevant questions that people searching for your content are asking. Ask yourself “what kind of content would ensure that my readers get the most out of my blog?”

When you place flagship content with a high keyword density in a prominent position on your blog and reference it in future posts, it helps to promote the post in search engines and makes it more liked to be linked to by others. Amazing flagship content has the potential to go viral, because a useful flagship post or series of posts gives people something to link to, recommend, and remember.

How to Create Cornerstone Content

Okay, so you know that you need to write some compelling flagship posts that benefit and hook readers.  Now what do you write about? Here’s a few ideas:

1.  A glossary of terms related to your business.  This is a especially useful if your in an industry with lots of specialized jargon that can be intimidating to outsiders (note: coming soon on Create Compelling Content: a “Blogger’s Glossary”).  It’s also beneficial in the SEO sense, because you can use tons of keywords in this post.

2.  A series of tips for newcomers to your industry or niche; for instance, “Ten Things I Wish I Knew Before I Started….”. Fill in the blank with your expertise.

3.  How-tos.  A clearly-written how-to post or series is an excellent way to provide value for your readers, and it lets you show off your chops at the same time.  Bonus points if you can make it uplifting and inspirational, i.e. “anyone can attain this goal if they put their mind to it, here’s how”.  Inspire someone and they will not only remember you, they’ll recommend you and link to your blog.

4.  A powerful vision.  Do you have a particular vision or amazing, innovative idea for your niche?  Can you write about it in an eloquent way? Go for it.

5. Organized databases of product reviews or other resources for your niche. You can even include outside links as long as they add value and support your overall brand somehow (just be sure that these outgoing links don’t directly contradict your message).

6. FAQs about your business and industry are simple but very useful, and they are very easy to create and fill with keywords.

7. All of the above - videos and podcasts of any of the previous options are another great flagship, and they allow for your readers to access your content in their preferred format (some people like to read information, others learn best by watching or listening).  Use the many different methods of web-publishing to your advantage and create a video or podcast of your cornerstone content.  This is by no means an exhaustive list, but it’s a good jumping off point.  Feel free to share your own cornerstone content in the comments!

If you read yesterdays’s SEO Tips blog, and how we came up with the concept yesterday to do a daily or regular SEO Tips, you know what we are talking about with the building your cornerstone.

We have been stuck at #13 for the keyword B2b now for about 2-3 weeks.  This is after steadily gowing down from over 100 to 91 to 51 and so on.   Every week we expect to inch closer, to be specific we have been inching closer.  What makes us stuck at #13, actually feels like an eternity, but it’s only been a few weeks.  When you are competing for major keywords such as B2b, the thing that seperates you from the top is the number of top quality links versus your competitors.

Therefore after most SEO basics such as site structure, content, and many other non-trivial things for Search Engine Optimization (SEO), what you need to rank #1 is lots of Links and LinkBuilding is the key.  Even when you have top links, some one else may have more than you, as is the case with our b2b SEO rankings.  We also found this to be the case with being stuck at #4 for the keyword Barter.  Though we have found this to be imperative, content is still key to get smart and powerful links from blogs and news sites.   B2b or Barter we expected the keyword SEO to be tougher, and we found out that it is, but we did crack #10 for it:-(.   I am only saying that SEO rankings for very competitive keywords can be very, very tough, and it changes all the time.   Here is the great article from our previous blogging coach, part 2 in our series.  

SEO For Bloggers: Link Building and Link Popularity (Part 2 of 6)

June 26th, 2007 at 12:46 am by Bc in Link Building, SEO for Bloggers, Getting Started

Search engine optimization is not all about keywords and optimized site design, although those are certainly essential. However, the number of incoming links your site has also matters. I’ve touched on the matter of incoming links before, but I didn’t mention how important they were to your blog’s rank.

Link Building and Link Popularity

Link Popularity is a score based on the number of incoming links pointed at your blog. Clearly, the more incoming links you have the better, but link reputation and page importance play a role as well.

You’re nobody until somebody links to you - link building is the single most important part of achieving a high ranking website in modern search algorithms. I repeat, link building is the single most important part of achieving a high ranking website in modern search algorithms.

So how do you get other bloggers and webmasters to link to your blog? First of all, create compelling content that others will be interesting in linking to - content is still king.  Secondly, participate in the blogging community. Be active in relevant discussions, leave substantive comments on other blogs, post on related forums (as always, be sure to place a link to your blog in your signature), and trade links with topical hubs and related sites.

Third, link to other blogs in your niche - you can trade links, or just reward other bloggers with links and it’s likely they’ll return the favor.  Fourth, write glowing testimonials and reviews of services and products related to your blogging topics - chances are they will link back to you when they post them on their own sites.

The Role of Keywords in Link Building

Think of each post and page on your blog as a building block - each is its own unit and has it’s own ranking potential and relevant keywords. Use some of your keywords in each post’s title (search engines index posts by title) and resist the urge to write cutesy or attention grabbing headlines that have little to do with the actual content. You may be successful at gaining some traffic, but it might not be the valuable kind that’s targeted to your blog.

Writing keyword rich titles and headings that are also crisp and concise can do wonders for your blog’s rankings.  Not only will descriptive titles let search engine readers know they’re in the right place - they’ve found what they’ve been searching for - it will also help you out when others link to your site, even if they use the whole URL to cite your blog. Basically, you want people to know what they are clicking on, so you want your keywords to be part of the links that point at your blog.

The next post in my SEO For Bloggers series will cover link baiting and how to use your content as bait to lure in the linkers and readers.

Our previous blogging coach wrote this series of articles back in June of last year.  This series may have been her best work.  It’s quite lengthy so I won’t do much of an introduction, but I am curious if any one has feedback on our new look of promoting premium blog templates and SEO tools on the front page?  Do let us know what you think of the buttons on the top bar, and or any other comments on this SEO Blog Templates sites design as a whole.  Enjoy this great series, I am going to republish the series all week, as I am spending most of my time doing design work for our B2b, Business Social Networking site.  

SEO for Bloggers: Getting Started with SEO (Part 1 of 6)

June 25th, 2007 at 07:35 pm by Bc in SEO for Bloggers, Blogging Techniques, Getting Started, Stickiness

You’ve probably heard the term search engine optimization , or SEO, being used before, but you might not have realized how simple it is to apply some of the techniques to your blog. By choosing the right platform, much of the nitty-gritty design work will be done for you, but it’s up to you, the blogger, to create quality content that uses SEO to target new readers and promote your brand.

Search Engine Optimization is the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a web site via search engines and search results. The goal is to achieve a high ranking, or to show up early (ideally in the top five) in the listings for relevant search terms, or keywords. Many SEO techniques can integrated in your blogging to ensure that your blog ranks highly in the search engine results for the keywords that are most important to you and your business.

Although SEO isn’t the only thing to consider when setting up your blog, it’s important to keep it in mind from the very beginning. First of all, you need to make a comprehensive list of all the potential search terms, or keywords that people could use when searching for your business, product, or service. Pay particular attention to synonyms, alternative phrases, and even misspellings (www.thesaurus.com is your friend here).

Next, you want to place your most important keywords in title and tagline. For instance, if you’re a real estate agent based in Chicago, use those words in your title - a possible title and tagline would be “A Chicago Real Estate Blog: From Lake shore Drive to Wicker Park”. Not only is the title the first thing your visitors notice when they come to your blog, it’s what the search engines display in their results listings. Be sure to place your text before your logo or any other images in order to maximize your site’s findability.

Once you’ve started actually blogging, be sure to use your chosen keywords liberally in your posts, categories, and tags. A high keyword density is key to search engine optimization. To continue with the Chicago real estate agent example, some obvious keywords for that blogger would be Chicago Real Estate, Chicago Condos, Wicker Park Real Estate, South Loop Condominiums, and other related terms.

If you’re blogging about your business, it’s fairly easy to place keywords within the content naturally, because you’d probably use the phrases while discussing those topics anyways. Aim for organic, natural usage instead of just repeating keywords for the sake of placing keywords amongst other keywords in your content (see how annoying that is to read?). You don’t want to counteract your SEO skills with unhelpful content.

Combining SEO techniques with compelling content will make your blog a powerful component of your brand. The simplest way to do this is to put yourself in your readers’ place - you want to make your blog easy to find (the SEO aspect) and beneficial for your readers (the compelling content). Quality content will also inspire other bloggers and site owners to link to you, and link building - getting others to links to your site - is absolutely vital for SEO success.

Organic keyword use in the context of interesting, informative posts is especially important in regard to link building, the next aspect of search engine optimization that I’ll be covering as part of my SEO for bloggers series, so be sure to check back soon!

Posted by Bc in SEO for Bloggers, Blogging Techniques, Getting Started, Stickiness

Is to rank in the Top 10 for their keyword in Google! Most people who have been to the top 10 in Google will tell you, that if you are an SEO of any kind, that is your goal, to be in the top 10 of your keyword search. I can’t believe we made the top list for certain keywords quickly, other keywords took us forever. But, I will tell you, it’s never easy, especially if it done ethically. The speed of high rankings you get and how fast, is all based on the competition, and a couple of other odd factors. The competition is the big factor, and it can be fierce, especially for the keywords for the business of SEO. There are a lot of unethical people and unscrupulous strategies to get top rankings, and to knock you off. But, if you have great content and legitimate links, you will always do fine.

How did we do it, and how can you do it? We did it by blogging a lot of fully contextual blogs and getting others to write about us and link to us. This has to be all done by providing value to a community at large, and certainly this can be done in any industry, and we certainly do this for our SEO and blogging industry. We wrote a lot of blogs, almost 1+ a day, even when I didn’t feel like writing. Plus we launched our Blogging platform at MyTypes.com last May. We follow all the content and value creation strategies recommended by most SEO Consultants and experts, and read the main man Matt Cutts blog of Google. He recommends offering some thing of value, especially blog templates, to get links and get others to link back to you. This is the strategy of Link Baiting, and recommended by almost everyone. I think the guys from ProBlogger.net do it too, along with thousands of designers and bloggers. No matter what your strategy, YOU HAVE TO HAVE GREAT CONTEXTUAL CONTENT AND CONTEXTUAL LINKS, and it’s a lot of hard work, and some times it’s luck and few strategic moves like sending professional, Press Releases via PR Newswire and PrWeb.com. All I can say is your SEO content and links all have to be based on ethical and smart strategies. This is the same thing you have to do achieve top rankings, create great content and get others to promote you by writing about you.

Now for a smart SEO resource for you, it’s actually a collection of a BigList, of SEO Blogs. I ended up there at TopRankBlog.com today, and we are not listed in the list, which to me is no big deal. I guess we are just too small still, and there are also a few others missing. But, regardless if you read a few of the top 50 even occasionally, your SEO knowledge will be quite adequate.  But it’s really not just about knowledge is it, it’s about knowledge in action. Back to the TopRankBlog, Their list of SEO blogs is good, though not comprehensive. If we are left out, other good blogs must be left out too, right? Regardless, their list is good, and they provide a great resource.  And, we are always looking for great resources and insights in the world of SEO, and Internet Marketing, even technology tools for business blogs and more.

To our readers, drop me a line with your favorite blogging tools, business topics, B2b Marketing sites or any smart Internet marketing related Business blogs or resources that you find interesting.  Thanks to all of your links and writing about us, and mentioning how great our blog templates, SEO tools, SEO content on business blogs and online businesses.   If it was not for the comments and emails I could not continue to possibly write as much.  Without your support we cannot do it, if you ever want a link back, just drop me a line, and/or comment on one of our business blogs.

Here is link to the good List of SEO Blogs from Top Rank Blog, enjoy:

http://www.toprankblog.com/search-marketing-blogs/

As most SEO consultants know that we have to SEO our clients, who are not always in B2c, but also B2b, which stands for Business to Business.  B2b Marketing professionals are constantly challenged with attracting business for their clients or business leads, and b2b marketing is a huge business.   Most often B2b marketing is based on Infomediaries, and the models of lead generation is the most prominent.  I like all the smart SEO consultants, like to use content that others have written to promote them.

Here are a couple of blog posts from our previous blogging coach, who stoped being our blogging coach back in August, she was very good, and we do mis her great writing. I have been going through her previous posts, and they are all very good. I want to provide an update with an emphasis on blogging for SEO and for our blog templates, and since there a lot of people here coming for B2b marketing. We have been promoting the connection between SEO, Google being the best B2B infomediary, not just for B2C. Here are the previous blogs:

Weekend on the Links #2

June 29th, 2007 at 03:54 pm by Bc in General, Links

Here’s some interesting weekend reading:

Webconfs.com has compiled an incredible list of SEO techniques, organized into categories and ranked with scores ranging from +3 (things you should definitely do) to -3 (things to actively avoid).

Suffering from blogger’s block? NorthxEast has a list of Twelve Ways to Turn a Boring Post into Pure Gold. First, however, they point out that in the end, it’s good content and good headlines that drive traffic.

The Copyblogger asks “Do You Make These Mistakes When You Write?” a continuation of his previous list of errors that can diminish a writer’s, or a blogger’s credibility.

If you’re a woman and a blogger, consider attending the Blogher.org Conference, but act quick, because it’s happening very soon - July 27-29 in Chicago. Attendees can register through July 20th.

Used to writing for print? Here’s a beautifully concise post from O.M. Strategy on the differences between online and offline writing.

Have an excellent weekend!

Blogging Your Business: The Two Way Street

June 29th, 2007 at 03:00 pm by Bc in PR Blogging, Blogging Techniques, Blogging Don’ts

No one really likes to be on the receiving end of the hard sell - it’s awkward and annoying for everyone involved, really. Fortunately, it is easy to avoid engaging in such off-putting activities, thanks to the many promotional tools and techniques out there on the net.

Blogging, is a particularly good way to set up a passive but constant soft sell. Now, you might be thinking: “Of course you’re going to say that! You write a blog about blogging!” Guilty as charged, but it doesn’t change the fact that blogging can indeed be a valuable marketing tool. It lets potential customers find you on their own time and get to know you and your products or services at their leisure.

See, blogging is a two way street. Instead of just broadcasting your message at a captive audience in the manner of most traditional advertising, you’re communicating with your readers instead of talking at your potential customers. The blogosphere is a community, and for your blog to be as successful as possible, you have to participate, even if you’re blogging about your business. Actually, especially if you are blogging about your business.

The key to using your blog as a marketing tool is not to think of it as such, at least in the traditional sense. Besides telling your readers about your business and products, share other details about your life and link to other blogs, articles, and websites that you like. By blogging about varied but related topics you can prevent your blog from being a one-note-wonder. After all, would you want to read a blog that only consists of tons of remarkably similar posts harping on the same product? It’s the blogging version of the smarmy, pushy salesman who gets in your face and refuses to let you leave without making a purchase - but on the web, readers can escape the hard sell with just one click.*

Think of your blog as a mini-portal to your niche. Let your readers start with your blog, check out your latest posts, and then continue on by clicking on your links (naturally, you should link to things that support your message and your brand). Remember that blogging is a dialogue, it is dynamic, and it is interactive, so update often and answer comments and questions. Also, remember that your readers are probably pretty savvy and they can tell when a blog is straight-up propaganda. The best way to draw readers to your blog is to create interesting, useful, and compelling content, and do it regularly. Of course, that is also the hardest way - but that’s what your blogging coach is here for.

*You may have already seen this, but the Cluetrain Manifesto is worth checking out - and getting on.

As always we talk about b2b marketing as technically SEO falls within that world, and our SEO blog templates site is growing.  As some of you might have seen today, we are getting ranked very high in Google for the keyword “Blog Templates“, we wanted to not just provide SEOed Wordpress Themes, we are currently working on blogger templates.  In the same vain, We signed up as a reseller account and are now selling Premium Blog templates through Template Monster.   So do check those out, and go ahead and buy some Premium Wordpress Themes from us:-).

We have used the No child left behind tag line in the past from President Bush, and turned it in to no blogger left behind.  We used it for our Community blogs, if you visit our main site.

That is what I am most excited about, the blogging community, social network. What started out as a way for us to help our clients, through  SEO, blog templates and blogging, has turned in to quite an exciting business model for us. We use the tools to develop our social networking site for blogging. And, now as we are part of the Barter Network at ITEX, we are soon building Social networks for Massage therapists, Lawyers, Dentists, Car Repair, Accountants, Vacation Rentals, and yes Restaurants. Boy that was a handful, I am not just saying this to use the keywords for SEO, I am really excited about MyTypes.com becoming a social networking platform company. Why am I excited? Not just for us, but to help online businesses, and to enable b2b eCommerce through social interactions. SEO is key component of any online marketing, and B2B promotion, as mentioned in the last blog.

I wanted to write about B2b eCommerce, but most businesses only utilize the Internet for information exchange such as website or Info-mediaries. Lead generation, which we also wrote about a few days ago, is more complex and is the main activity within b2b ecommerce. Yes you SEO wanna be marketing people, you want to get to the bottom of how to best generate leads so you can keep your jobs. We know what drives you, well most of you blog a lot, and you should to promote your business. Our message today is simple, Social networking within businesses is eCommerce as you get your suppliers, customers, vendors(employees), all interacting.

Social networking components within your blogging and web presence should drive your b2b ecommerce strategy. And, yes as always blogs and community blogs will be part of the trends are key components of social networks as is the ability to make and invite friends. Here is an article our previous blogging coach wrote, you will probably enjoy reading it. It got a lot of raving reviews the time it was posted back in July 2007, enjoy:

Don’t Blog In A Vacuum

Blogging is essentially a social, conversational medium, so it only goes to follow that you can’t successfully blog in a vacuum. You have to read and respond to other bloggers, link to outside websites, and be aware of what others in niche are talking about by participating in the popular social media networks.

Basically, you have to read at least as much as you write. First of all, reading and absorbing the work of talented writers is one of the most important things you can do when it comes to developing your own writing voice. It only goes to follow that, if you want to get the most out of your blog, you have to read other blogs as well. Besides, being aware of the current popular topics in in the blogosphere is valuable, and you’ll never know where you’ll pick up a great tip or two.

You don’t even necessarily have to read tons of blogs about blogging (although as your Blogging Coach, I would say that you should definitely keep an eye on a few meta-blogs); useful, well-written advice and positive examples can be found on blogs in any niche. It’s also important to check out blogs that discuss similar topics to yours, so you can pick up on market trends and see if anyone has written, linked to, or created anything interesting.

One of the key differences between blogging and more traditional forms of media, marketing, and public relations is that it’s a two way street. Yes, your readers can and will respond to your posts in the comments, but other bloggers can write responses on their blogs too. Reacting and sharing opinions are a key part of participating in the blogosphere, so it’s not only useful, it’s imperative that you read at least a few other blogs.

Don’t think that you have the time to read? Try subscribing to your favorites and scanning them in a reader (I personally prefer Google Reader, but there are tons of options out there), or tagging posts that intrigue you with a “toread” tag in del.icio.us and coming back them when you have time to spare.

What other blogs do you read? Do you read them for news, education, inspiration, or entertainment (or a mix of all the above?).

**Since this blog is about business and b2b, I wanted to mention some great websites. TechCrunch.com, SocialRank.com (which owns a b2b news site), Adage.com, and of course Cnet.com.