Business Blogging - How to Build A Better Blog

4 Keys to Internet Marketing Success

This morning Denise and I are presenting information to a group of business women, only it's not just about business blogging. The Blog Squad is talking about 4 key pieces to the Internet marketing mix: blogging, branding, content and social networking.

This seems to be a trend when we're asked to present to groups. Blogs aren't so much a new fad anymore, and over half of the people we talk to already have a blog for their online marketing. But what people want to know now is how to make it work together for attracting prospects and converting to clients. There's more to it than setting up a blog and posting your latest thoughts...

Here's what we say:

Your blog is the foundation for your social networking. It's where you:

1. Establish and build your brand
2. Create valuable content for readers
3. Communicate your core message
4. Educate and engage prospects on a deep level
5. Enable readers to interact with you, create relationships and build trust

Then, you use social media (video, audio) and social networking to further attract clients and get your message heard. When you feed your blog posts into your Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter accounts, you can very quickly expand your reach. It draws people back to your blog or website.

Blog Content Ideas: What's the best source?

Where's the first place you should look when it comes to deciding what to write on your business blog? Some say other blogs, Google alerts, or just what's most on your mind.

Not so, says Yvonne DiVita, of Lipsticking blog, a successful blog about marketing to women online. Denise and I had the pleasure of interviewing Yvonne last week. We asked her what she gets right about blog content, and here's what she says:

"...what I get right when it comes to writing quality posts is following the guidelines of my readers. My readers leave comments, but even more often, they email me. And so I just look at that and say, 'What do they really want? What do the readers look for when they come to Lip Sticking?'"

Business Blogging Is Like Dating

There was an interesting blog post last week that got me thinking about writing effective blog content that works to get clients. This was written by Chris Garrett of ChrisG.com, an expert on business blogging, and it's called Using Flagship Content to Make Sales.

Chris talks about what he calls Flagship Content, which is often used as a digital download or lead generator, or it also can be a significant blog post that by virtue of its quality content attracts readers to  your site.

He lists 5 functions of flagship content:

1. Attraction -  If people talk about your content then it will draw new visitors to your door.

2. Education - In your niche are there subjects where people get confused?  Demonstrate your expertise, and  prove you are the person to come to.

3. Trust - What do you get when you combine third-party endorsements with great educational content?  The answer, of course, is a good foundation for trust.

4. Decision - Is your approach an alternative to another method? Do you differentiate yourself from competitors?  Write your content well, and you can help the reader make a decision in your favor.

5. Action - Finally, you give the reader tools so they can take action, at the very least ways in  which they can get in touch with you.

Tweet Responses: Feed your blog posts into Twitter

Twittering Tweets! Another reason to use Twitter: when your blog posts are automatically fed into Twitter, you get your message out faster than Tweety Bird can say "Puddy Tat!"

Yesterday I posted about blog commenting etiquette at 6 a.m. and by 8 we had 5 comments. Now we're no Darren Rowse over at Problogger, or Brian Clark at Copyblogger, so that's a good response here on this little blog, and fast!

We set up our blog posts to feed automatically into Twitter and suggest you do too. We use TwitterFeed and Denise wrote about it here.

What was it Elmer Fudd used to say? Sufferin' Succotash! That's a great reason to use Twitter!