Business Blogging - How to Build A Better Blog

Twitter Writing Contest Results Announced

As you most likely know, Twitter is a micro-blogging site. You post "tweets" of 140 characters or less to the people who follow you.

Brian Clark of Copyblogger had a brilliant idea. He ran a contest challenging people to write a short story on Twitter -- that means the story had to be conveyed in 140 characters, exactly.

Brian got nearly 400 entries and has announced the winners.

Another fellow, Daniel Smith, compiled all the entries into a slide show, an arduous task but a great service for those of us who want to read all the entries.

I confess I did not enter the contest, but The Blog Squad did provide a prize (our Better Business Blogging ebook which will be released soon) to the second place winner:

Second Place:

Tony was a snitch, so I wasn’t surprised when his torso turned up in the river. What did surprise me, though, was where they found his head.

Anthony Juliano

If you're not using Twitter yet, take a look and get started. Think of the possibilities.  You could serialize your book one sentence at a time! Or share your poetry...how else could an author use Twitter?

Follow me on Twitter. I don't write stories or poetry, but you may get a valuable tip or tidbit and it's a great way to bypass email and connect.

BusinessWeek Article Explains Social Networking Success

Denise was right. When we argued over the importance of Facebook and other social media networking sites like Twitter awhile back, I poo-pooed them as fads and a waste of time. I admit being completely out to lunch on this, and since have mended my ways.

This is the new wave, and still a fad, but that's because some very important people in a wide variety of fields are always the first adopters. If you want easy access to trend setters, you've got to be on Facebook and Twitter. And there are others for sure.

As proof, read these excerpts from this weeks BusinessWeek magazine called Beyond Blogs: What Business Needs to Know.

Better Blog Writing: 4 'Good' Ways to Improve

'Good' blog writing is of course subjective: what pleases one reader may be ho-hum to another. When you're using your blog for business, however, each post is a marketing moment.  What is 'good' marketing is less subjective because it will show up in results!

Are you reviewing your posts for how good they serve to showcase your talents and services? Maybe You definitely should!

Denise and I write specifically about how to improve your blog writing over on WritingontheWeb.com, and these last two weeks featured some important posts about Better Business Blog Writing. Here are 4 recent posts you should read about putting personality into your posts and using them for marketing your business:

1. Better Business Blog Writing Class: Lessons for readers from your story
2. Putting the YOU in Business Blogging: 5 tips for getting personal
3. Morning Writing Ritual: Using Your Right Brain
4. 5 Keys to Crafting a Really Good 'About' Page

Business Week Updates a 3 Year Old Story

Three years ago, Business Week published a story about blogs.

"...you cannot afford to close your eyes to them [blogs], because they're simply the most explosive outbreak in the information world since the Internet itself.  And they're going to shake up just about every business - including yours...Given the changes barreling down upon us, blogs are not a business elective.  They're a prerequisite.

-- Business Week Magazine, May 2, 2005

According to business week that cover story, Blogs Will Change Your Business, archived on the Web received hundreds of thousands of page views and still comes up #1 on Google search results for "blogs business."

This week's cover story updates that important story: Beyond Blogs - What Business Needs to Know. I haven't had a chance to pick up the magazine, but I did read the online version.  The focus has changed a bit and shows the evolution and importance of social media like Facebook, Twitter, Digg, Del.icio.us, all of which did not exist in 2005.

Social networks like Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn are what's happening now, though we still contend that your business blog provides the foundation for your content creation.  The networks can drive people with whom you've established relationships, back to your blog, giving them a more indepth experience of you, your business, your expertise and how you can serve them.

Want to know more about business blogging? We've just released a free report called Better Business Blogging: 4 New Concepts for Getting Spectacular Results. Download the report here.

Where do you think business blogging is headed?  Do you participate in social networks?  How do you integrate your blog with your networks?

We want to know!

Better Business Blogging: Free Report

Today marks the release of a special report on what works and what doesn't for building and growing a business through blogging.

The report is called Better Business Blogging and it reveals four new concepts for getting results, called the CODA system.

An effective business blog has balance in these four areas: Content, Outreach, Design, and Action. You can't get spectacular results unless you pay attention to all four elements.

In this video, Patsi shares how The Blog Squad came about which eventually lead the creation of this report.

The CODA System consists of:

1. Content: writing quality posts that educate, engage, and enrich the lives of readers
2. Outreach: building relationships with other bloggers to become part of a larger community
3. Design: the little things in a blog design that contribute towards creating trust and connection with readers
4. Action: getting readers to respond through persuasive writing, encouraging a conversation, and converting readers to loyal fans and clients

Better Business Blogging: 4 New Concepts for Getting Spectacular Results, is available for free at www.betterbizblogging.com.

Boomers to Bloggers

We don't do this too much but we agreed to offer a blogging product as a bonus for a new book that launched today and continues through Thursday.  I think it's the name of the book that grabbed us: From Boomers to Bloggers. Maybe it's because we're both boomers AND bloggers.  Maybe it's because most of our audience fits that demographic too. But the book isn't really about blogging. So, bear with us; it may still be of interest to you.

This is an important new book, out today, on how businesses can succeed, as “Bloggers” replace “Boomers” in the workforce. (Buy it today and benefit from over $1,200 in bonuses at www.InspirionInc.com.)

Here is information about the book:

Today’s businesses face two significant intergenerational problems: older workers with a lot of knowledge are retiring and companies don’t have a knowledge-transfer process in place; and the young professionals coming in have different expectations than the boomers headed out the door.

That means companies, boomers and the bloggers need to “talk” to each other to make life at work
smoother, the company remain competitive and able to attract and retain the young professionals filling slots being left by the boomers.

That means companies, boomers and the bloggers need to “talk” to each other to make life at work
smoother, the company remain competitive and able to attract and retain the young professionals filling slots being left by the boomers.

TypePad Upgrades Compose page

Just saw a new post on Everything TypePad that the compose screen is being upgraded on all TypePad blogs. But don't expect it to be live yet.  They are rolling the upgrade out over the next few weeks. For example, this blog does not have the upgrade yet.

From all accounts, you will have more control over how you compose your posts.  There will be more options for formating your text and photo alignment as well as the font.  One of the best new features will be the ability to set you links to open in a new window rather than driving your readers away from your blog. If you've been coding links manually, that's all over now. Thank goodness.

The list of new compose features is quite extensive so rather than repeating them here, check out the FAQ for the new editor. I will be quite pleased when this upgrade is activated on my account!

Business Blog Writing Class Postponed

You gotta just love technology. Patsi and I were all ready to get started with module one of our Better Business Blog Writing program today, when we discovered our low-tech telephone bridge line was out of service.  65 people could not get access to our phone line.

We use Instant Teleseminar to manage, deliver, record and broadcast classes via the web. This is the first time in over a year that we have ever had trouble with a phone line. Kept getting a recording that there lines were down in the area were were trying to connect to. UPDATE: I want to be clear that the glitch was NOT with the Instant Teleseminar system. We love IT. The problem was the actual phone line that was down.

I sprang into action quickly and set up a new phone line, but getting that information to everyone in a timely manner is not easy. I broadcast to the class list through our ecommerce system; I posted and broadcast through the private Facebook group for the class.  But not everyone has joined the Facebook group and not everyone checks their email as fanatically as I do.

I think we got through to most people, but it took almost 30 minutes. Therefore we are pushing the class back to start on Wednesday, May 23. Lucky you. If you didn't have a chance to register for today, you can still get in on the class starting on Wednesday and you haven't missed a thing!

Funny thing is that just prior to the class starting, Patsi and I had been on our video mastermind meeting using live video chat. You'd think there would be tech problems with that, not a telephone line!

Business Blogging Tip: Target 4 Learning Styles

Blog readers take in information using four different learning styles. People are imaginative, analytical, common sense or dynamic learners. To appeal to each learning style, write your business blog posts addressing different needs.

When writing a business blog, be aware that not everybody learns the same way, not everybody takes in information and processes like you do.

Try to include four kinds of questions readers might be asking. Don't leave anyone out. Ask and answer these questions in each post: why, what, how and what if.

Learn more about how you can make your blog writing more effective in order to educate, entertain and engage blog readers and potential clients. Join our Better Business Blog Writing program ... starts Monday, May 19.

Business Blogging Video Tip: How Personal Should You Be?

Blogs started as personal Web diaries but when blogging for business, you decide how much personal stuff to share. What to share and what to keep private? Remember "what's in it for readers."

Decide which of your personal information makes good fodder for blog posts, and what is off grounds: spouse, kids, pets, hobbies?

It's best to use your stories to illustrate a point. Try to include a teaching point of view. What can readers learn from your stories? You can entertain readers AND educate and engage them when you include a lesson for them.

Learn how you can boost your business blog writing with our Better Business Blog Writing Class.