Bring Your Business Online By Blogging!
If you are going to use a blog in your own business, you need to think seriously about the time commitment it entails. Many would-be bloggers make a start, only for their enthusiasm to fall away when the pressures of everyday life get in the way. Aside from this, it is actually quite hard to find something interesting to write about on a regular basis without simply re-hashing yesterday’s news or the views of others.
There are a number of different blogging platforms. Blogger - (www.blogger.com) is probably the easiest to get started on, while Wordpress Direct - (www.wordpressdirect.com) is most popular with business bloggers for the wide number of assorted templates at your disposal.
If you don’t have a Web Site, a Blog is easier to give your business an online presence. A Blog needs to be updated daily with content. Most Bloggers will make one to three postings a day. Yes, it is time consuming. My recommendation is to focus on the value you can genuinely add based on your experience. Write about something you know and love. Tie your blog postings, where appropriate, into your off-page article-writing strategy. This is something you can outsource,if it becomes too time consuming. If you are starting a blog from scratch, why not establish a keyword rich domain to sit along side your business site? You can always rehost it on a business site subdirectory later.
Green.Ebay.com -Your New Marketing Source
Ebay has launched a micro site for conservation-minded consumers called Green.Ebay.com. The site features millions of green products, pre-owned, vintage or refurbished. Items must be made from sustainable materials, energy efficient, and other resource saving products. The membership totals are over 100,000. Green.Ebay.com features a fresh design which is not cluttered with advertising.
Is your product considered “green”?
If your product falls in these guidelines you can list your products with green.ebay. Now this is a convenient place to market to your target audience.
- Pre-owned products: When you choose to reuse an item, you aren’t asking the planet to come up with the raw materials required to make a new one. Extending the useful life of an item is one of the most sustainable choices you can make. In most cases, the greenest product is the one that already exists.
- Check whether an item is sustainably made. Products that are made from sustainable materials - organic fibers, renewable materials like bamboo, or “up cycled” from found or salvage items - are always a great choice for the planet. Also, selecting items that support micro-entrepreneurs and help develop local communities can really make a difference. Labels like “organic”, “natural”, and “Fair Trade” are helpful here in identifying products that generate a positive impact.
- Products that save energy and other resources: Whether you’re selecting an Energy Star rated appliance or something reusable that replaces a disposable - water bottle. Resource-saving products leave a lighter footprint on the planet.
If your product is considered “green” sell it on Green.Ebay.com. Look into the EBay communities and groups. Get involved in discussions, and please don’t forget to include your website url in your name signature. You want to be able to show off your green products that are not listed. If they want to look at your other products, your website url is conveniently listed.
How to Improve Your Blog Ranking
If you already have a website up, running, and indexed and are now starting a Blog to expand your content offering to users, make sure you link your website and the Blog. Using the right anchor text on the website can help the Blog and, more important will ensure that the Blog is found by the spiders quickly. Take the time to look through your stats to figure out which web pages are most popular with your users. It’s a quick way to get users to find your newest offering and start spreading the word.
Search engines use links to identify high quality sites. the more quality links your site has the better your rankings in the search engines. Content that is unique, useful and of high quality tends to attract links from other sites that are of a similarly high quality.
Allowing the spiders to crawl your Blog and index it is great, but with Blogs, you can be more proactive. There are a number of directories and Really Simple Syndication (RSS) or feed aggregators, which accept blogs as well as feed-type submissions.
Since your blog platform will allow you to syndicate your published content (meaning it’s easily packaged for sharing with others) it’s a simple process to send your feed URL to these places for inclusion and distribution.
Each service has a slightly different sign up process, so read the terms and conditions carefully. Some require you to place a small bit of code into your Blog somewhere, and you should do this. Without this exchange, the service may not accept your feed for distribution.
Here’s a list of some of the popular places to submit your Blog or feed:
www.feedburner.com/fb/a/home
www.blogtopsites.com
www.globeofblogs.com
www.technorati.com
dir.blogflux.com
There are many, many more places to submit your blog and feed to, other than those listed here. This list should get you started.
10 Simple Steps To Blogging
The Power of Blogs - Today your business is out of date if it doesn’t offer a blog. If you’re a professional and not keeping a blog, you are missing out on huge oppurtunity. Let your target market know you, through your blog. If you’re looking to start a business online, blogs offer one of the cheapest, quickest and easiest to use methods of gaining a Web presence.
DESIGN
1. Code Access: Use a reliable platform that allows access to the code so you can place items in the order you choose. This way you can rearrange the things on your Blog pages the way that you want them.
Ex: Wordpress, Blogger
2. Keyword Research –Do your keyword research to select the best keywords to use to integrate into your blog Titles, Blog name, and Article Titles.
Ex: Wordtracker.com , Google Adword Keyword Tool
3. Clean URLs. Use clean URLS if the option is given. A clean URL hides many of the operators and coding characters. Clean URLs are easier for a search engine spider to crawl and index.
4. Blog Posting Length – When you make entries on your blog (post your written articles). Each entry or article is called a post, a posting or an article.
5. Frequency of New Blog Postings – Make frequent postings. Frequent posts will keep the spiders coming back to see what’s new. This will help to keep fresh content flowing into search engine indexes from your domain.
Posts are published in reverse chronological order on your Home Page or Blog Index Page, depending upon how you’ve configured your blog (Sticky Posts
will remain above your latest posts). This allows visitors to see your most recent content first, and dig for related posts within the archives.
Establish a Rhythm for Posting
Blog Pages - have no date or time associated with them.
Posts can also be scheduled for future publication at a specific date
Author of Posts:
6. Pictures of you - If your target market is people like you, let them see that you’re like them.
7. Make what you’re selling obvious to find and easy to buy. Whether you’re a consultant, coach, freelancer, or selling products, don’t bury that fact in your About page. This information should be front & center on your home page and on dedicated page(s).
8. Over Deliver - Go the extra mile. That’s where the real difference is made between you and your competition. When you feel like you’ve done enough, keep going. Add even more value than what is required of you. Do this consistently, and you will have a better shot at dominating your niche over time.
Pages are static web-pages within your blog for permanent content, like an About Page.
Comments – Although Pages and Posts have commenting features, it’s generally a good idea to deactivate the comments on Pages. You want your readers to comment on your latest post, not your legal disclaimer.
9. Sharing – There are hundreds of WordPress plugins that enable your readers to share content – quickly and easily. Most of these plugins give you an option to deactivate sharing on Pages, as shown below:
Moderating Your Blog:
Be alert for comment spam. Moderate all comments and delete those containing useless links, those that are off topic, any adult – related items, or anything that might offend your readers.
10. Marketing & Traffic To Your Blog
Linking to Other Blogs – Add links to other blogs. A few related blogs is more than adequate, but make sure they are useful to your readers and that those links are trustworthy.
Importance of Blog Directory Submissions – Get your blog into the top blog directories; you want the links from those directories back to your blog. This is very important because it will give your blog better visibility. People can find you more easily.
Directory Submissions. Submit to the usual directories, including Google, Yahoo, and Dmoz.org. This is especially important if your blog is also your Web site.
The biggest difference between Posts and Pages is: Posts are social media interactive, Pages aren’t, there static. Use this to your advantage!
Tips:
Be Useful - Identify a readers problem, and try to solve it.
Be Personal and Professional – give your company a face, voice and personal touch
Don’t Be afraid to Sell, but don’t be too salesy
* Make your Blog Successful. Use your Blog as a source of advertising revenue, and a way to gain some exposure.
How To Keep Track Of All Your Passwords
A number of my clients have trouble locating their passwords and login information, for the programs they use. It is very frustrating when you need your login information and you just can’t find it. Time is important, and one of the biggest time wasters, is looking around for your passwords. If you can’t find your password, you end up contacting support, and waiting for that special email that grants you access. Each one of us has devised their own password system. Between looking in your logs, or excel databases this still turns out to be very time consuming.
I thought since it is Thanksgiving, you would be thankful for this little techy tip.
Lastpass is an online password manager and form filler, that makes web browsing easier and more secure. Stop wasting time worrying about forgotten passwords and filling out forms. Last Pass does it for you. You can use strong passwords encrypted exclusively on your PC, but accessible online. Lock in to your favorite sites with just one click.
The other feature that I really like is the form filler. How many times do you go to a site, and you need to fill out so much information. I don’t know about you, but I don’t have the patience to fill out the form. Well, Lastpass has all your information stored for you, and fills out the form. The best part of this program, its FREE! Yes, there is a premium service that you can upgrade to, but the Free Version is all you need.
So Here’s the link, go give it a try. 
This little piece of simplicity will make your day!