Business Blogging - How to Build A Better Blog

Why Women Make Better Bloggers than Men - and what they can learn from men!

I was reading something about how to market specifically to women, how they're different from men in the ways they respond to sales copy. It triggered some questions...

What about blogging? Do you think women write their business blogs any differently than men do? And do they respond differently as readers?

I wonder. Now, I'm not what you'd call a "girly-girl." Never wore a lot of skirts and high-heels. Not even when I lived in Paris and modeled - I've always been a jeans and t-shirt sort of girl. As a business woman I don't consider myself different and certainly not "special" because of my gender.

I don't talk a lot on the phone and spend time getting my nails done or gossiping in a girl-pack. I'm not even a real big relationship person, preferring one or two friends to many.

So I'm really going out on a limb here when I say that I think women naturally make better bloggers than men. I really do think it's in their genes...

Business Blogging Video Tips Posted

New business blogging video tips are posted. Comments welcome.

Content Marketing Tip: 3 Es of Blogging
Business Blogging Tip: Target Your Content
Business Blogging Tip: Post Often
Business Blogging: 6 Reasons Why You Need a Blog

TypePad vs Wordpress vs Blogger

Nearly every week someone asks us which blogging platform they should use. As most readers of this blog know, we prefer TypePad. OK, we're biased because all our blogs are on TypePad. Well, not all. We also have our main hub site on SquareSpace and we're having a website built on the Wordpress platform so we can get more familiar with it.

As a guest blogger, I've also used Movable Type, Blogger and Wordpress.  This week we were copied on an email to Tom Antion by one of his clients who we met at Tom's recent ButtCamp in Los Angeles:

Hi Tom, I’m near the end of my trial run on TypePad.com and so far I’m more impressed with Blogger and WordPress as blog sites.

Patsi and Denise offered a lot of value on Blogs at your event in LA and I know The Blog Squad likes TypePad best, but I don’t...yet.

Can you see any reason for me to extend my subscription with TypePad? If not, I’ll let it lapse and build on my other two blogs.

Since we were cc'd, I responded:

USA Today Features Bloggers & Podcasters

Want more exposure for your blog or podcast? We always want to reach more readers who are interested in our content so we jumped on an offer from Larry Genkin, publisher of Blogger & Podcaster Magazine, to partner with him to bring a great opportunity to you.  Here's the info we sent last night to over 5,000 bloggers on our mailing list:   

          Imagine your blog or podcast being announced on the home page of USA TODAY...What if you could reach their audience of 10 million readers a day for only $5 a month?

Are you kidding? What's not to like about that?

Denise and I think you definitely should take advantage of this opportunity, especially if you have a business blog or podcast that needs more eyes and ears.

Better Business Blogging: Remember the 3 E's

Here’s an easy formula to keep in mind the next time you write on your business blog:

Remember the 3 E’s for better business blog writing:

You want to Educate, Entertain and Engage your readers

Just about everyone we work with to optimize their blog for business knows that the more you educate your readers about your products and service, the better. Not many people go online looking for "marketing hype." You must tell readers something before you can sell them anything.

The #1 reason people go online is to search for information.

People have problems and are looking for solutions. If you’re writing about how you solve problems for people just like them, readers will be interested in what you have to say. Educate your readers.

Personal Stories & Business Blogging - Compatible?

The question often comes up - "How much of my personal life should I share on my business blog?" Yesterday during our teleseminar on social networking this issue was also discussed. Is it appropriate to share about your kids - in my case, my kitties - when networking or marketing online for your business?

Certainly you want readers to know a few things about you as a real live human being. So I'm going to repeat here my 'rule of thumb' about this:

Always write with the readers' interests in mind. Tell a story that includes your family members only when there's a reason and it's teaching something valuable that will help your readers live better lives.

That said, here's my story, a tale of two kitties...

Facebook, Twitter, Social Networking: How do you keep up?

The nature of marketing on the Internet is evolving rapidly. It's all about the quality of relationships you develop with your prospects, clients and customers. A lot of communication is being done one to one.

There's a new article posted on Biz Tips Blog about social networking and why you should be using it for your business:

Next, register and attend the new teleseminar on Wednesday about how to use Web 2.0 and Social networking sites to drive more traffic to your business.

Even though it may seem like a lot to digest and keep up with, the success of your business depends on it.

You can learn from and model The Blog Squad by joining our Blog Squad Fan Club on Facebook (free):

Join The Blog Squad's Fan Club

Add Denise as your Facebook Friend

Add Patsi as your Facebook Friend

Follow Denise on Twitter

We're here to help guide you through the maze of opportunities and separate the wheat from the chaff.

Share your tips here about how you manage all your social networking activities.

Personal Branding with a Blog

We recently published an article called "Personal Branding with a Blog" in Personal Branding Magazine for May (Issue #4) in which we state:

There are essentially four problems you’ll encounter when you want to get known, get found, and get hired for your best job ever:

• Nobody knows what you do
• Nobody’s heard of you
• Nobody is moved by your message
• Nobody can find you

Blogging is good for your career. A well-executed blog sets you apart as an expert in your field. A professional business blog will get you found more easily by people looking for your expertise in a way a traditional website can’t.

We predict that all successful professionals will soon have a personally branded blog where all career experience, expertise and published works will be available as an online portfolio.

What do you think about this idea? You can read the full article here...

Blog It Not Ready for Prime Time Yet

A few days ago I wrote about a new app from TypePad that allows you to post from your Facebook account to multiple blogs and social networking sites like Twitter. But it's just not ready yet.

For the last few days I get error messages 9 times out of 10 when I try to post to my Twitter status and Facebook status at the same time. Even though my user/pass is correct. It seems to work OK when I post to one or the other, but that defeats the purpose.

I also don't like that the blog posting feature doesn't have a way to categorize your posts and there's no WYSIWYG editor. If you want to hyperlink URLs you have to know how to do it manually or edit your post after it's been sent to your blog account.  Too much work.

I have no doubt Six Apart is working on these issues. My advice...wait a bit while they get the bugs worked out. Could be a really great tool when it's seamless and takes only a couple of steps to post to all your accounts.

Follow me on Twitter.

Join The Blog Squad's Fan Club.

GuruKnowledge and Dale King Interviews The Blog Squad

One great thing about having a strong Internet presence is getting to meet creative entrepreneurs you wouldn't run into locally. Recently I read an interview on GuruKnowledge.com, a great site with a ton of resources about Internet marketing. I reached out to the owner, Dale King, who asked to interview The Blog Squad.

He asked some intriguing questions like what one piece of advice we'd give to newcomers to the Web, what books we recommend, and who were the people who had a profound influence on us. All good stuff that made us think! You can read about it here, and be sure to visit the site for articles on Internet marketing.

Here's Dale's story on how the site came about: