Business Blogging - How to Build A Better Blog

TypePad Bloggers: Liking your blog on Facebook

Starting tomorrow, you will be able to install Facebook's new "Like" button, and connect your blog to Facebook's Open Graph**. This will give your readers the ability to share their love for your blog with friends on Facebook.

via everything.typepad.com  <= click to get the full story

Don't let this opportunity go by to connect your blog to Facebook. This could significantly increase your visibility and drive more traffic back to your blog.

Social Media Marketing Industry Report - Blog Use Increasing

The 2010 Social Media Marketing Industry Report was released yesterday and it's 33 pages of detailed and valuable information for anyone using the Web for their business. Authored by Michale Stelzner and commissioned by Social Media Examiner, the report reveals many insights about who, what, why and how marketers are using social media.

Nearly 1900 people provided valuable insight you won’t find elsewhere. In this free (no opt-in required) report you’ll discover:

    * The top 10 social media questions marketers want answered
    * How much time marketers invest with social media activities
    * The top benefits of social media and how time invested impacts results
    * The most used social media tools
    * Marketers future social media plans
    * And much more!

I was happy to note that blogs are still considered an important marketing tool (not that I EVER doubted it!) and are among the top four social media tools marketers use, with Twitter and Facebook neck and neck at number one.

Are you backing up your blog and other social sites? Here's how...

Please scroll to end of the post for updated information about backing up your content.

How would you feel and what would you do if you lost all your blog posts? Of if all the content you posted on Facebook disappeared because your account was hacked?

I know this seems obvious, but I frequently encounter people who are not backing up their content and databases on a regular basis.

First, make sure you're computer files are being backed up regularly. When I switched to Carbonite Online Backup a couple of years ago, I stopped thinking about it. Backup of my computer files is ongoing, whenever a new file is saved to my hard drive. For 60 bucks a year, it's worth it for peace of mind alone.

TypePad for Dummies - Interview and Q&A with Authors

What's your burning question about blogging?

It's my pleasure to introduce you to Shannon Lowe and Melanie Nelson, the authors of the just-published TypePad for Dummies [affiliate link]. What better way to learn about why and how this book came about than to have a blog-based interview on a TypePad blog!

On April 7, 2010, you are welcome to post your blogging and TypePad questions for Shannon and Melanie. You can ask any questions, their expertise is not limited to the TypePad platform. Be sure to read the entire interview...there's a gift for you at the end of the post! And don't forget...post your blogging questions in the comments section below.

Without further ado, here's my interview...

1. What inspired you to write TypePad for Dummies and what is the primary take-away you want readers to get?

When Wiley approached us to write the book, we were excited because, although TypePad has an extensive help section (called the Knowledge Base), we knew there was an opportunity to give readers a little something extra, like advice on blog etiquette, using Google Analytics, and basic mistakes to avoid as a new blogger. TypePad is an excellent platform for bloggers who want to have more control over their blog than Blogger allows, but not quite the responsibility of a WordPress.org blog. TypePad allows you to customize your blog without doing any actual coding yourself (though that's an option too).

2. The book is really a very detailed tutorial. How long did it take you and what were the challenges you faced while writing the book?

We were really lucky to be working together. Melanie's a technical writer and thinks in bulleted lists so the instructions were second nature to her. Shannon's gift is to soften Melanie's terse instructions and make them interesting and fun to read. We started writing the book in July and everything went to print in December, then hit bookstores in February.

Writing the book was challenging at times, as all worthwhile projects are. The biggest challenge we faced was that TypePad was literally changing the software as we were documenting it. There were several times we had to re-write whole chapters to correspond with the new features. Of course, it was worth it because this was the first significant upgrade to the TypePad software.