Business Blogging - How to Build A Better Blog

Conversation with Mike Levin of HitTail.com

Conversations with Experts presents...

HitTail: How to Leverage The Long Tail
Wednesday, October 18, 2006, 8:30 p.m. ET (no charge, registration required)
Guest Expert: Mike Levin, HitTail.com

A handful of tech savvy businesses are beginning to look past analytics and keyword generation services and use a new tool that funnels users to their Web site without spending a dime.  HitTail.com is a new product from Connors Communications that not only analyzes the words people searched on to find your site, but also makes suggestions about future writing topics that will guarantee even more hits.  The current issue of BusinessWeek says HitTail can turn your site into a “click magnet.”  For a more detailed explanation, watch this quick video.

Along with being the leader of Connors Communications’ in-house SEO team, Mike Levin is the founder of HitTail, a free tool for taking the overwhelming Long Tail data generated by web searches and turning it to manageable information in the form of writing suggestions.  Recently, Mike spoke at MediaPost’s Search Insider Summit in Colorado on the topic.  Previous to joining Connors he worked with Prophet 21, now Activant, and Scala Multimedia.

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.

Related Post:
Long Tail Marketing

Long Tail Marketing: What Is It?

The Long Tail is a term we're hearing all over the place these days, and it's not going to go away any time soon. It is particularly important for entrepreneurs, professionals and small businesses. So here's the skinny on "The Long Tail." Of course, to really understand it, get the book by Chris Anderson, editor of Wired Magazine, or read the definition on Wikipedia.

But here's how to capture the strength of Long Tail marketing. Forget trying to score big numbers. Focus on your niche. Write articles and blog posts using all the different versions of keywords that your potential clients use in the search engines.

The Long Tail theory in effect says it is better to tailor your marketing to specific niches and audiences, rather than trying to be big and be all things to all people. There are more numbers of potential sales out there in 'the skinny long tail' of the statistics.

So how do you find out what keyword variations people use to find your products and services? Ah...that's the topic of our Conversation with Expert Mike Levin this Wednesday, October 4th, at 8:30 p.m. ET. Register over at Conversations with Experts. Mike is heading up a new company called HitTail.com...A very interesting tool for using Long Tail marketing. Be there or be square.

WordPress vs. TypePad: Michael Pollock's Perspective

Michael Pollock made a repeat appearance on Conversations with Experts in our 58th Conversation in the series. Over the last year Michael has transitioned from using TypePad blogs to WordPress. He shared with us the pros and cons of blogs hosted by a third party provider and hosting a blog on your own server as you do with WordPress.

A primary reason Michael recommends WordPress is that you can build your entire web presence, not just a blog, with WP and integrate the complete look and feel. Rather than having multiple sites to manage, it can all be done through your WordPress control panel.  There is also a huge community of WP users who can provide support and help, and who are constantly developing new features, plug-ins and templates (themes).

If you saw our poll on which blogging platform business bloggers use, you'll see that WordPress gets 47% vs. TypePad's 21%.

Sites we discussed:

Michael's WordPress driven website/blog:
http://www.solostream.com

WordPress driven site without a blog:
http://www.hfsleuth.com/

Where to find a list of plug-ins for WordPress:
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/

Tutorials on installing WordPress:
http://www.solostream.com/category/tutorials#post-621

http://www.cre8d-design.com/blog/wordpress.html

The Blog Squad's hub site created on SquareSpace (similar features as WordPress, but hosted by a third party):
http://www.blogsquad.biz

Michael had some great info to share so be sure to listen to this 57 minute program.  If you missed the program, you can get the audio for only $9.95 at Conversations with Experts.

Conversations with Experts is hosted by The Blog Squad, Denise Wakeman and Patsi Krakoff.

Wordpress 2.0: A Conversation with Michael Pollock

Conversations with Experts presents...

Wordpress 2.0: The Ultimate Small Business Publishing Platform
Wednesday, September 6, 2006, 8:30 p.m. ET (no charge, registration required)
Guest Expert: Michael Pollock, solostream webstudio

In the last few years, we've seen an explosion of what have been called "push button publishing services;" also known as blogs. Because they're so easy to use, hosted services such as Typepad, Blogger and LiveJournal have been the dominant players in this market. More recently, however, a stand-alone publishing platform named Wordpress has been steadily growing in popularity.

Recent estimates suggest there are currently more than 1 million Wordpress users across the planet. And a lot of them are small business owners just like you. During this discussion, we'll talk about some of the reasons why the Wordpress user base is growing so quickly. In particular, we'll talk about:

• Limitations and drawbacks of hosted services like Typepad and Blogger.
• What you CAN do with Wordpress that you CAN'T do with hosted services.
• 5 reasons you may want to switch to Wordpress.
• 5 reasons you may not want to switch to Wordpress.
• Questions and concerns addressed.

Michael Pollock is CEO of Solostream. He has more than a decade of small business sales, marketing and management experience in both offline and online environments. After launching his first online business in 1999, a business coaching practice, he taught himself graphic design and web development, as well as copywriting and web marketing.

In late 2004, he began to focus heavily on the topic of small business branding and launched the Small Business Branding blog. SBB grew in popularity and was later cited by Entrepreneur Magazine as one of the “cream of the crop marketing blogs.” He sold the Small Business Branding blog in late 2005 to focus on launching Solostream, a blog design and consulting practice.

Register:  www.ConversationsWithExperts.com

If you cannot attend the Conversation, you can pre-order the audio program for $4.95.  After the Conversation the price will be $9.95.  Save 50%. Use this link to pre-order now. 

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

Article Marketing Secrets Revealed by The Article Guy

Conversations with Experts presents...

How to Market Your Articles for Tons of Prospects, Publicity and Profits
Wednesday, September 6, 2006, 8:30 p.m. ET (no charge, registration required)
Guest Expert: Jeff Herring, The Article Guy

In this Conversation with a master of article marketing you will learn:

• 25 ways to market your articles
• One way to market your articles that NO ONE else teaches
• The best article directories for posting your articles
• How to get your articles massively distributed
• How marketing your articles on the internet is more powerful than having a newspaper column
• 7 secrets Jeff uses everyday on how to post your articles so you could not stop the traffic to your web sites even if you wanted to, and beat the pants off the competition
  
  And so much more!

Jeff Herring has written a syndicated relationship, parenting and stress management column for Knight-Ridder/Tribune Media Services for 12 years, consistently bringing in a stream of traffic to his web sites. When Jeff aimed his articles at the internet and article directories, the stream turned into a flood of traffic that he could not stop even if he wanted to. Through his web site, The Article Guy Jeff teaches small business owners and private practice professionals how to write and market article for a ton of prospects, publicity and profits.

Register:  www.ConversationsWithExperts.com

If you cannot attend the live event, you can pre-order the audio program and save 50% -- only $4.95.  After the event, the price will be $9.95.  Pre-order now and save.

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.

FeedBlitz Delivers...

Conversation #56 this past Wednesday, featured Phil Hollows, founder and CEO of FeedBlitz.com, the Internet's largest RSS and blog to email service.

Phil gave us a an overview of how he came to start FeedBlitz -- out for frustration with shoddy or no similar services available elsewhere. The Conversation focused primarily on the value of email marketing and how email marketing is not dead!

The cost of email is low, it's easy to use, everybody has it and it enables you to push your message out to your audience.

Only 9-12% of people online understand and use RSS feeds thereby making email delivery of blog updates essential if you don't want to miss 80-90% of your potential audience.

In our discussion, we also covered how professionals can use a blog to deliver their newsletter and the myriad ways publishers are using Feedblitz to deliver their messages around the world.

Phil's a very bright guy and has a great accent too, so don't miss this Conversation! The audio program is 52 minutes.  If you missed the Conversation, you can grab a copy of the audio for $9.95.

Conversations with Experts is hosted by The Blog Squad: Denise Wakeman and Patsi Krakoff.

Email Marketing with Blogs: Conversation with Phil Hollows

Conversations with Experts presents...

Back to the Future: Growing your audience and simplifying your email marketing with blogs
Wednesday, August 30, 2006, 8:30 p.m. ET (no charge, registration required)
Guest Expert: Phil Hollows, Feedblitz.com

Blogs are the Internet's fastest growing sector.  Coupled with a new technology called RSS, blogs can recharge and reinvigorate your email marketing and much more.  The discussion will cover topics such as how to:

• Build closer relationships with prospects and customers using blogs and email.
• More easily differentiate yourself from your competitors.
• Take the pain out of creating and managing your email marketing, newsletters and e-Zines.

Whether you have an existing in-house list or are starting out from scratch, Phil will have tips and techniques for improving your list's quality, tracking metrics and increasing its value to you - simply.

Phil Hollows is the Founder and Chief Executive of FeedBlitz, the Internet's largest and most successful RSS and Blog to Email service, and most recently a technical sponsor of the successful BlogHer conference. Before starting FeedBlitz, Phil was vice president of marketing for an enterprise network and security management software company.  Phil's career spans multiple (okay, two) continents and multiple  disciplines, from management consulting to software development.

Register:  www.ConversationsWithExperts.com

If you cannot attend the live event, you can pre-order the audio program and save 50%.  Order now for only $4.95.

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.

Are You Committed to Achieving Your Goals?

Conversations with Experts presents...

Are You Committed to Achieving Your Goals or Just Kinda' Interested?
Wednesday, August 16, 2006, 8:30 p.m. ET (no charge, registration required)
Guest Expert: Sylva Leduc, Leadership Coach

How often have you heard someone lament they aren't achieving the goals they set for themselves? People can have great ideas, yet lack the process, structure and commitment to achieve their goals.  So they don't stick to their plan.

Syl Leduc calls it "pin-the-tail on the donkey goal setting," an ineffective hit-or-miss approach to success.   

Is this you?  It may be that you convinced yourself you're committed to your goals when you're only kinda' interested in success. 

Okay, so is there a better way?  Absolutely!  Join us as we talk with Syl about getting the results you want, year after year.

Syl Leduc, MEd, MPEC is a Leadership Specialist and Business Coach. She's a self proclaimed "techno geek" who founded (now former president of) a software company, called Client Compass.  Syl is committed to making every year the Best Year Yet for herself and her clients. At www.DesktopGoals.com  you can attend a free online goal planning workshop (use the "secret" password). Visit her blog www.WindowSyl.com  and learn what name you should never, ever call her.

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.

Smart Partnering: Kare Anderson Shares Her Expertise

UPDATE: If you missed this Conversation, you can order the audio program for only $9.95.  The content is exceptional and highly recommended for all service professionals and small business owners.

Smart Partnering expert Kare Anderson was our featured expert on Conversations with Experts Wednesday and presented many good ideas for finding the right partnership opportunity for your business or practice.

She says to focus on your clients first. Who else serves your target audience? If your goal is to generate more visibility and value to your prospects, find out specifically who they are, where can they be found, and who else is serving them.

Mutual benefits for partnerships include fulfilling these 3 functions better:
1. Who has the content or products?
2. Who has the distribution channels, knows how to get the product to the clients
3. Who has the backend functions covered and make it possible to run the business?

Kare generously offers free copies of her ebook SmartPartnering to the first 10 people to respond on this blog about which part of the teleseries conversation was the most helpful and had the most value to you and your business. She wants feedback from our listeners so she can continually improve her presentations.

Kare emphasizes the value of knowing your audience and clients well; she says writing on a blog is one of the best ways to do this. So if you were on the call last night, and would like to share with us what you found valuable about the ideas she shared, just click the comment link below and share.

To download my notes from the class,

Download notes_kare_anderson.doc

Grow Your Business with Smart Partnerships

Conversations with Experts presents...

Profitable Partnering: How to Grow Your Business Faster With Smart Partnerships
Wednesday, August 9, 2006, 8:30 p.m. ET (no charge, registration is required)
Guest Expert: Kare Anderson, SayItBetter.com

In an over-advertised, consumer-empowered world the most efficient and satisfying way to attract and keep clients is partnering - the smart ways.  Discover exactly how to recruit the best partners and adopt the most profitable methods to generate more visibility and value. More than "solo" networking, advertising or other promotion, craft the partnerships that can make you the one-of-a-kind, top-of-mind choice for your most lucrative kind of customers. Hear real life success stories, best methods, pitfalls to avoid - and how to jumpstart a foolproof first SmartPartnership.

Emmy-winning former NBC and Wall Street Journal reporter and author of SmartPartnering, Kare Anderson has created 38 successful campaigns for soloists, small business owners and corporations, from Mike's Bikes to Splenda. Her book has sold over 60,000 copies in just 18 months. She's advocated SmartPartnering at over 200 conferences, for clients as diverse as google, Toro and Aveda.

Register:  www.ConversationsWithExperts.com

Can't make it to the live event? You can pre-order the audio program for $4.95 - a savings of 50%.  After the event the program will be $9.95.  Pre-order the audio program now.

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.