What is the best marketing option for the money?
- realtor
The answer to this could vary based on your industry and audience, but in general we feel that you get the most value for your marketing dollar with a blog. A blog is a website (or part of your existing website) where you regularly post new articles, images, and even videos. It can be very inexpensive to create a blog, and the software is designed so that you can make the updates yourself instead of hiring a web developer for each change.
A blog does require a commitment on your part. While you won’t be spending a lot of money to keep the blog chugging along, you need to be adding new content regularly. That could be daily, and should definitely be at least weekly.
So that’s what you need to put into a blog, but what are you going to be getting out of it?
Home base for your social media – on Facebook, Twitter, and your other social networks you can direct people to your recent blog posts
SEO - search engines will rank your site higher (resulting in more web traffic) if you are frequently posting fresh, relevant content
Position yourself as the expert - regular blog posts will teach your followers to turn to you for the latest news in your industry
Dialogue with your visitors – the commenting dynamic of blogs allow you to get valuable feedback and make connections with your visitors
Ongoing contact - regular updates to your blog keep you in front of your audience
Ease of sharing media – photos, audio files, and videos are easy to share through your blog
Not quite convinced, yet? Check out what Seth Godin and Tom Peters have to say on blogging.
If you have a blog, what are you getting out of it? Is it worth the time you’re putting in?
How do I make blogging important to sales people who can’t write and don’t care?
- sales training
It’s a common problem to have people in your organization who aren’t particularly interested in writing blog posts, even when their knowledge and role in the company makes them seem like a natural fit for blogging. I can think of two big objections that may be going through their mind:
1.) I don’t have time.
Of course this might be 100% true. It seems like most of us already have more than enough tasks to fill up our week and then some. There’s no getting around the fact that writing blog posts takes time. Here are some suggestions for dealing with this:
Allow them to write a one-time post. Instead of trying to get the CEO to commit to writing a post three times a week, just try to get a single post on some topic that’s important to him/her.
Repurpose existing content. Use something that’s already written. Maybe the introduction to the company’s printed newsletter or annual report would be a good post. How about the transcript from a speech someone in the organization gave?
Use multimedia instead of text. Although search engines really prefer the text on your site, the real people that visit your blog may love to see a video. So record a presentation that your reluctant blogger gives.
2.) I don’t write good.
This objection might also be completely justified – especially if they use good in place of well. You can offer to edit the article for them before it is published, but that may not be much comfort. You might find you’re talking to someone who is just as embarrassed to have you see their underdeveloped writing skills as they would be to have the general public see them. So what can you do?
Write the post for them. Take a conversation or email that you’ve had with this person and write it up from their perspective. Now you’ve given them the power to take a look at it and make edits/changes where necessary.
Go multimedia. The video route is also a great way of getting the wisdom of someone who isn’t a natural born wordsmith onto your blog.
Those are the first two that came to mind. Have you come across other obstacles? Are you constantly hounded by someone on your team to write a blog post? What are the roadblocks for you? Sound off in the comments.
As I type this I am getting ready to post my first blog post ever. What are some tips that you have for a new blogger? - systems consultant
There are a lot of aspects to running a good blog. Fortunately, we here at Silver Square have spent many years learning the hard lessons of blogging, and we’re happy to share our wisdom. Here are a few tips to keep in mind for the beginner.
1.) Find your voice. If you want your blog to have readers, you need to give them something to connect with. That’s your voice. Maybe you’re funny and irreverant. Maybe you go into incredible detail on your answers. Maybe all of your blog posts involve interviewing someone. There’s no single right answer. Developing your own unique identity is a key to building a successful blog, though.
2.) Post consistently. If someone comes to your blog and sees that the last update was a month ago, they’re probably never going to come back. Your existing readers will also lose interest if you go for an extended period of time without posting anything. Before you panic that you’ll never be able to take a vacation again, you can write posts today and set them to appear on the site at some future date. If you’re going to be away from your blog for a while, make sure you queue up a few posts to keep things fresh while you’re gone.
3.) Think about your audience. Remember that your blog is not a fansite for your favorite TV show. Make sure you are writing about things your readers will care about. If you want to write about what’s in the hatch on Lost, make sure you’re discussing it as a metaphor for something related to your business.
4.) Use good titles. People see the title of your post and use that to decide if they want to read the rest of what you written.
5.) Promote your blog. If you build it, they may or may not come. Make sure you are telling people about your blog. When you write a post, send a link to the people you know who might be particularly interested in that topic. Share your blog on social media sites like Twitter. When you’re writing an email about a topic that you’ve blogged on before, mention that you wrote about this and include the link.
6.) Respond to comments. Since your blog is brand new, you probably won’t need to worry about this too much yet, but don’t forget this as your blog grows. Make sure you respond to comments that people leave on your blog posts. Nothing makes a reader feel unappreciated more than not receiving any kind of acknowledgement when they take the time to leave a comment.
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