Business Blogging - How to Build A Better Blog: 33 posts from June 2005

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33 posts from June 2005

Conversation with Terri Levine, Master Coach

During this week's Conversation with Experts, Terri Levine gave a passionate interview about the profession of Life Coaching. She covered the 5 reasons why life coaching is a great business to get into and the 6 deadly mistakes people in the industry are making and how you can avoid them.

Conversations with Experts is hosted by Denise Wakeman and Patsi Krakoff and sponsored by the Build a Better Blog System.

UPDATE:

Due to rising costs to record, edit and stream the audio from the calls, we are no longer giving free access to the audio. We invite you to join our NEW Conversations Club and get access to the audio on our private blog. The membership fee is $9.95 per month for access to 4-5 interviews each month plus access to all previous Conversations.

You are also welcome to purchase individual audio programs for $4.95.

Join the Converations Club here

As always, attending the LIVE Conversations is free and we remind you the live call will be your only
opportunity to hear the Experts unless you purchase access to the Conversations Club.

Thursday, June 30, 2005 in Conversations with Experts TeleSeries | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

RSS Auto Publishing

I'm about to embark on an experiment in RSS autoresponder publishing. I just purchased RSS Autopublisher which is an online application that enables Internet marketers to create and publish RSS feeds and use them as you would an email autoresponder. I like my software applications to be as easy as possible to learn and use since I'm an active experimentor and tend not to read user manuals. I want to see if I can start delivering mini-courses and newsletter content via RSS and avoid the email spam filters that are plaguing legitimate marketers. This program comes highly recommended by the King of RSS himself, Rok Hrastnik, so I'm going to give it a try. I'll keep you posted on how it goes.

-Denise

Thursday, June 30, 2005 in Internet Marketing Strategies, RSS | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Relationship Marketing at Its Finest

Wayne Hulbert writes a good post about how blogs build relationships and friends.

When you start a blog, you should consider relationship building as one of your goals. When defining that relationship, it's important to consider more possibilities than simply adding more customers and clients. They are only one aspect of the blogging process.

When you think of blogging as relationship building, think beyond the marketing aspect. Look to the human side of blogging and you will be very richly rewarded indeed.

Which leads me to ask, how are you connecting with your blog readers? What are some of the ways you encourage readers to comment? What has been your most interesting or unusual connection that has come about as a result of blogging?

Share, dear readers, share. Love to hear your stories. I know that my own web traffic and book sales, and even my unrelated newsletter services have exploded since I've started blogging. But beyond the business aspect, I've met business associates and come to respect and get to know them through the social power of blogs.

And you?

Wednesday, June 29, 2005 in Driving Traffic to your Blog | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Links for all Things RSS

Last week in our Conversations with Experts, we spoke with Rok Hrastnik, author of "Unleash the Marketing and Publishing Power of RSS." Due to a technical failure we were unable to post the audio from the call. However, Rok has been kind enough to send us a list of the links he referred to in his Conversation.

1. RSS aggregators

a] Web-based
http://my.yahoo.com
www.pluck.com
www.newsgator.com
www.bloglines.com

b] Desktop
www.awasu.com
www.bradsoft.com/feeddemon/
www.customreader.com

c] Integrated
www.newsgator.com
www.pluck.com

2. Special RSS services
www.craigslist.org
www.PubSub.com
www.rssAuction.com
www.rssjobs.com
www.rssCalendar.com

3. RSS publishing solutions
http://www.movabletype.com
http://www.feedforall.com
http://www.usablelabs.com/productFeedSpring.html
http://www.myrsscreator.com
http://www.nooked.com
http://www.press-feed.com
http://www.market-soft.com/bypass/
RSSAutopublisher.com/

4. RSS Autodiscovery
Just include the following piece of HTML code in the <head> section of your webpages and you’ll be all set:
<link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="ENTER_RSS_URL">

5. RSS promotion
http://www.masternewmedia.org/rss/top55/ (RSS search engine & directory list)
www.Pingomatic.com (pinging service)
www.del.icio.us (social content sharing)

6. RSS e-book

Monday, June 27, 2005 in RSS | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Meet Terri Levine of ComprehensiveCoachingU.com

Coaching for An EXTRAordinary Life: "Is this your time to earn an extra $100,000 (or more) by adding life coaching to what you do?"

Wednesday, June 29, 2005, 8:30 p.m. ET - FREE
Guest Expert: Terri Levine of ComprehensiveCoachingU.com, featured in the Build a Better Blog System

Whether you are thinking of adding a coaching service to your existing business or you decide to become a professional coach working part-time with full time pay, find out why now is the best time in history to get started.

Terri will show you how you can get started from scratch, with no experience or clients, in the “best home-based business to start” as rated by Entrepreneur Magazine and start earning the equivalent salary of doctors and lawyers - without the hefty university bill! You can even start generating a substantial monthly income within the next 30 days – without quitting your current job.

Do you want to know how YOU can make even more money faster with less stress, working only the hours and days you choose?

Terri Levine MCC, PCC, is CEO of ComprehensiveCoachingU.Com and The Coaching Institute, a Master Certified Coach, Public Speaker, and Bestselling Author of "Stop Managing, Start Coaching", "Work Yourself Happy", "Coaching for an Extraordinary Life", and "Create Your Ideal Body. Contact via the website http://www.terrilevine.com

Conversations with Experts is sponsored by Build a Better Blog System

Monday, June 27, 2005 in Conversations with Experts TeleSeries | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Blogging = Better Writing

Your writing skills can improve through blogging, so says Wayne Hulbert on his blog entry for Saturday June 25.

I second that idea. The more you post, the better you write. First, your blog entries are designed to be short and to the point. Secondly, blogging is a perfect forum for you to be personable and authentic.

Here's an excerpt from Wayne's blog post:

Blogging improves your writing skills.

Better writing ability, and an enhanced ability to express yourself in print, is a rarely thought about benefit of blogging.

While most people think of writers as infinitely talented, living in some rarified air denied to the rest of us, writing is a learned skill. While some people are indeed born more talented with the written word than others, most people can become better writers simply through practice.

Blogging is as good a practice field as any.

Let's put this theory to the test. Try posting regularly, every morning, for a week. Write 250-300 words about what's up for you for the day, that would be relevant to your readers. Turn your stories and thoughts into a few teaching points that have value.

Ten to twenty minutes a day, that's all you should need for your writing practice and blog posting. Try it, you might like it. Let us know by clicking on the comment link and sharing your experiences.

Happy posting!

Monday, June 27, 2005 in Creating Blog Content | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Vive Les Blogs!

Ever wonder what other countries are blogging about? It seems the French have taken to blogging more than the Germans. Read this interesting interview with Loic Le Meur by Joi Ito, over on the Naked Conversations blog.

Loic Le Meur started UBlog, a popular French blog authoring software company, which was subsequently purchased by Six Apart where Le Meur serves as EVP and GM for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He also promoted and hosted Europe's first blogging conference, Les Blogs. He estimates 60-70% of European blogs to be French. Which doesn't surprise me, given their savoir faire du langue! The French love to talk.

Be sure to read his two stories, one of a powerful French CEO who started to blog, the other about a little guy who loves t-shirts. The power of blogs shows up in these two great anecdotes.

Sunday, June 26, 2005 in Blogging Articles | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Happy Birthday, Denise!

We're not shutting down for the holiday that is Denise's birthday. Au contraire! We are celebrating by giving away 25% off on three products!

We're offering three of our best-selling products and programs on sale for 25% discount today only. And, as a special bonus, we're going to throw in access to our Conversations with Experts podcast for free -- a $49 value.

So, if you've been on the fence about whether or not to start a blog, take your ezine to the next level, or get started on that book that you've been putting off, now's the time to get the guidance you need.

Build a Better Blog System: Tips, Tricks and Techniques for Creating a Professional Business Blog - regular price $49, now $36.75

Order Here

Secrets of Successful Ezines: A Guide to Writing and Publishing an Ezine that Gets Results - regular price $87, now $65.25

Order Here

Blog to Book Project: How to Use a Blog to Create a Book in 90 Days or Less - regular tuition $299, now $224.25

Order Here

"My birthday wish for you is to save money and have lots and lots of success in your business and throughout all areas of your life!" - Denise

Have a great day!

Denise Wakeman and Patsi Krakoff

P.S. If you purchase any of the products today and take advantage of our 25% birthday discount, we'll send you access to our popular Conversations with Experts podcast. You can have these weekly interviews on how to build your business on and offline, downloaded directly to your mp3 player.

Sunday, June 26, 2005 in Announcements | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Blogging Software Reviewed

Just came across this review that looks at 5 of the major software applications for business blogs. While the review on Network Computing is not new (June 2), it is a good overview for anyone deciding which blogging service provider to use.

Most businesses will find that a hosted application, such as what we use at Typepad.com, offers good features and benefits. Read the reviews here.

We have found Typepad.com to be a reliable service provider that suits the needs of independent professionals and small businesses. We even wrote our Build a Better Blog System ebook based on Typepad blogging service. The company does not give us any affiliate or commission fees; we recommend them solely based on the quality of their services.

Saturday, June 25, 2005 in General Blog Info | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Bloggers use publishers to spread their words

If you need more convincing that using a blog can help you get your book written and published, here's an article published today about bloggers using their blogs to write books.

This article supports the program Patsi and I launched last week with the Blog to Book Project. We have 30 people in the program. It's self-paced and done all online with the exception of monthly Q&A calls. Plus we've invited several experts in the field of publishing to speak to the group. The Project is open enrollment since you work at your own pace, so come on and join us! It's an amazing group of people so far, who've chosen to go on this journey.

If you're not sure about using a blog to write your book, check out our free Blog to Book 7 Step Mini-course and get a taste of how you can make this system work.

Source: Paul Chaney

Friday, June 24, 2005 in Blogging in the News | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)