Business Blogging - How to Build A Better Blog

Direct Marketing Techniques to Sell Your Book

Using Direct Marketing Techniques to Sell Thousands of Copies of Your Book
Wednesday, August 24, 2005, 8:30 p.m. ET
Guest Expert:  Bob Bly of bly.com

One out of three hardcover books distributed to bookstores is returned to the publisher unsold, but you can still make your book a best-seller by selling it through ads, direct mail, and the Internet. In this interview, author and direct response copywriter Bob Bly shows you marketing techniques that can boost your book sales.

Guest: Bob Bly is a freelance copywriter specializing in direct marketing and the author of more than 60 books including The Complete Idiot's Guide to Direct Marketing (Alpha Books)

Register:  www.ConversationsWithExperts.com

Conversations with Experts: How to Build Your Business On and Off-line
Hosted by Denise Wakeman and Patsi Krakoff.

Conversations with Experts is sponsored by Build a Better Blog System.

Blog Business Summit Reports

The Blog Business Summit is underway in San Francisco and naturally it's being blogged about by the bloggers.  One blog to watch for excellent coverage is Peter Levinson's Editor's Blog.  Peter edits and manages the Blog Center at AllBusiness.com.  He's reviwing and writing up the pertinent points of the sessions he's attending.  It's a good idea to check in and see what's up if you're at all interested in the current and future state of blogging in business.  There's good stuff to read to keep you ahead of the blogging pack.

Blogging Conundrum: Linking to Competitors?

I'm always telling the people that Denise and I work with that one of the key things to do with blogging is to link frequently to resources readers can use.

Which brings up the dilemma: Do you link to a resource similar to yours? What about linking to people who could be considered competitors?

My opinion is yes, link to them and show your readers what else is out there. I have a deep rooted belief that there is enough business for everybody, and your ideal clients are going to choose you over the others because you suit them better. Sure, you may loose some people. But then they weren't your ideal client anyway, were they?

Okay, so you don't want to drive people away either.

So here's where I'm going to practice what I preach. As you know, Denise and I have formed the Blog Squad. We target selected business blogs and do a month-long makeover, sort of like putting the owner through a boot camp, making demands on them to improve the design, content, and most importantly their blog's effectiveness with building traffic and converting to clients.

Our first client is being showcased over on the Painless Self Promotion blog written by Suzanne Falter-Barns.

I just found out that there is a Blog Patrol, who leaves an icon that says "Blog Patrol Blog Star." For an example, visit Jim Turner's Never Fear, Genuine is Here blog. When I saw that little icon, I had to find out who the heck was running the Bog Patrol. So I clicked over there and found this blog site. There's a Canadian Monte-like cartoon figure, with the tag line, "Ridding the Internet of Ugly Blogs one at a time..." They target blogs they find ugly and boring.

I thought this was clever, but I gotta admit, I found this blog to be ugly itself! Maybe 'ugly' is such a personal judgment issue.

I prefer to judge a blog on this criteria: Does the blog do what it sets out to do? Is it effective? Does it meet the goals of the blog owner?

There was only a small link to find out who is behind the Blog Patrol, and the other site they write is called Posted Notes, and it is written by "E.R. Posted Notes," in other words, it too is anonymous! Anonymous blogs? I don't know if I like that. I like to know who I am communicating with.

Especially if they are going around declaring a blog ugly, or boring, or a Blog Star. Just my personal opinion, however, and I could be wrong.

Furthermore, since the Blog Patrol blog is a free blog hosted by BlogSpot, there is no way to leave a trackback notification that I posted about them on this blog. Therefore, there is no way to create a dialogue or get some response from them, unless I take the time to email them. But then I'd have to find their email address, and they are anonymous! Oh well...!

Pingoat.com: New Pinging Service

I discovered a new pinging service a few days ago.  Pingoat.com pings 50 blog search engines vs. the 20 search engines Pingomatic.com pings.  Works exactly the same way.  Put in your blog URL, blog name, select all the search engines, hit the submit button and go.

Start Blogging Now!

Patsi and I have been invited to teach an intro blogging class for the Business Building Center.  We just found out it's open to EVERYONE so if you still haven't started your blog or you know others who are interested, you're invited to join us for an intro to business blogging.

4 Reasons to Start Blogging Now!
Brought to you by: www.BusinessBuildingCenter.com
With Patsi Krakoff and Denise Wakeman

Date: Tuesday, August 23rd - FREE
Time: 4-5pm Eastern/NY (1-2pm Pacific/CA)

Blogs are the wave of the future on the Internet. Learn how you can use a blog to build your business with very little expense. Blogs are being used in big, small and micro businesses as a dynamic vehicle for communication between business and customers to build trust, credibility and awareness.  But not every blog gets results. Join us and learn:

    * What the heck is a blog!
    * 4 reasons you should have a blog
    * Why blogs are such an effective marketing strategy
    * How to start blogging quickly
    * The 3 deadly mistakes you must avoid

To reserve your spot and receive the telephone bridge number send a blank email to: bbc2005-119451@autocontactor.com.

The Business Building Center is the most comprehensive, research-based online training and resource center for professional coaches. 
Members of www.BusinesssBuildingCenter.com enjoy 24/7 access to:

    * Comprehensive training classes that walk you the proven, step-by-step Coach & Grow R.I.C.H. Practice-building system.
    * A large resource library of downloadable forms, checklists, templates, charts, models, marketing materials, sales letters, coaching proposals and much more that you can customize and immediately start using in your practice.
    * Easily accessible, coaching specific articles and special reports on marketing, sales, branding your business, pricing strategies, cash flow control, making guarantees, case studies, and a host of other topics written by the best minds in the business.
    * The opportunity to attend live teleclasses and monthly community calls at no additional charge.
    * And much more!

Want to learn more about the Business Building Center?  Take a test drive on us!  Click here to activate a f’ree one month trial:
http://www.businessbuildingcenter.com/trial.htm

Blog Squad in the News

Very nice mention over at  a blog called Horse-Pig-Cow. In their words, the Blog Squad is "reality-TV-meets-blogosphere!"

Who names their blog Horse-Pig-Cow? A very clever Canadian who shies away from 'normal'. Read it for an interesting approach to marketing.

Blog Platforms: Which Way to Go for SEO

Clients frequently ask us whether they should have a stand-alone blog or a blog that is integrated with their exisiting website so they can get more traffic to their site.  Not being an SEO (Search Engine Optimization) expert, I posed the question to one who is,Wayne Hurlbert of Blog Business World.  Following are my questions and his answer.

Q. What are the pros and cons for having a stand alone blog on Typepad, for example vs. a blog integrated with one's website like with Word Press or Moveable Type?  Are there advantages to either?

A.  This is a question that has no hard and fast answer. Both techniques have their plusses and minusses. In many cases, it is dependent upon the individual blogger, and their goals for their blog, website, and online business.

For example, a blog hosted on the site provides additional pages of content to the site, and content that is freshly updated. That has real power in the search engines. The blog posts may be the major source of inbound link power enjoyed by the site as well. For example, many sales oriented sites are definitely not link attractors. The blog corrects that deficiency provided, of course, that the blog posts are informative and have interesting content. More pages within a site helps move a site toward the Google favoured Authority Site status, which when achieved, is a lock for page one rankings for the keyword phrase. Also, the added pages create more valuable internal links, loaded with strong link anchor text that help the receiving pages within the site.

On the other hand, a blog within a site is often lost in the shuffle, and onsite blogs are often not given their full status by the blog search sites and blog directories. The inbound link total for onsite blogs is often lower that for stand alone blogs, as the onsite blog is often merely an added sales section. That is not a weakness of the blog, but a hurdle for the blogger to overcome.

A stand alone blog is a proven link attractor, but might be seen as separate from the main business. Often, however, that is an advantage should the blog be more "controversial" than the site itself. Some people don't want the blog casualness as part of the site. That again is not an SEO problem but a content problem. A major value of the stand alone is the total integration into all parts of the blogging community. That adds inbound links from the blog specific sites and directories. A second SEO plus is the blog homepage power is linked directly to the site homepage (or another important page) giving it a real boost in the rankings. A powerful blog site can give a regular site a major search engine boost. Also, stand alone blogs are proven search engines powerhouses, and if the main site is sandboxed, a blog can help to overcome that problem, at least until the main site is out of the new site filter.

I have linked words or phrases that may be unfamiliar in the context of search engine optimization so you can get definitions and explanations on what Wayne is talking about. 

You can see there is not a black and white answer to the question.  As Wayne writes at the end of his email to me "As you can see, both blogs have advantages and disadvantages. I would recommend talking to the client about their goals for the blog, the site, and the online business, and use that information to reach the final decision."

Many thanks to Wayne for his speedy and detailed reply.  Wayne's excellent blog Blog Business World won the Best SEO Blog award for the 2005 Best Business Blogging Awards.

Book Design and Development: Conversation on Wednesday

Book Design and Development : The Secrets of Award-Winning Books
Wednesday, August 17, 2005, 8:30 p.m. ET
Guest Expert:  Brian Taylor of Pneuma Books

Do YOU want to publish an award-winning book? Get the secrets of successful book development and marketing from Pneuma Books CEO and Creative Director, Brian Taylor. Learn 5 ways to build a book better than your competition and the 5 biggest book design mistakes publishers make. Join us and get an inside look at book production from one of the best in the business.

Brian Taylor is the former president of the MidAtlantic Book Publishers Association and a 20-year veteran of Visual Communications with an emphasis on book publishing. Brian is a frequent speaker at writer's groups and publishing conferences. As the CEO and Creative Director for Pneuma Books (pronounced "noo-mah") his company has helped their clientele win at least 24 publishing awards in the last four years alone. The company provides publishers with branding, product development, editorial, book design & layout, and book marketing.

Register:  www.ConversationsWithExperts.com

Conversations with Experts: How to Build Your Business On and Off-line
Hosted by Denise Wakeman and Patsi Krakoff.

Conversations with Experts is sponsored by Build a Better Blog System.

Steve Rubel: Day in the Life of an A-List Blogger

Debbie Weil of BlogWrite for CEOs has written a two part article about Steve Rubel of Micro Persuasion.  Steve is one of the most influential bloggers, quoted in the Business Week article on blogs as well as in many other publications, as well as a speaker at blogging events.  First, here's what he blogs about:

"I wanted to do something different. I saw a niche that wasn't being filled  - the intersection of blogging, PR and RSS." Now he also covers "tech, search and whatever is next... like podcasting, of course."

Next, he spends roughly 4 hours per day blogging!  And, talk about readers, here's his stats:

He gets 2,500 unique visitors a day to Micropersuasion, he said. And he has an additional 3,500 RSS subscribers (computed through Feedburner.)

I recommend reading this article to get a sense of what it can take to be a major blog player.

Part I and Part 2

Source: Small Business Branding

Correction for EducatedParenting.com

One way to ensure a better blog is to check your links to make sure you spelled everything correctly and that the link is working.

Here's Patsi with mud on her face! Our friend and colleague Dr. Kerby Alvy points out that the post of July 18, 2005 about his new parenting blog cited an incorrect url for his blog...

Please visit www.EducatedParenting.com to read interesting information on parenting. Kerby came to us a few months ago with an idea to shift his career focus from his non-profit organization to a more personally branded focus. He created a new web site, branded with his own name (www.DrAlvy.com) and he wanted a blog. We helped him to name, design and learn how to use his blog. (And then, when I announced a Blog is Born... got the name wrong!)

I can see from his recent posts, he has learned well. His most recent post tells a little story, teaches a lesson learned, and then asks his reader to reflect and take some action. All good elements of an effective blog post.

You can read testimonials here.