Category Archives: blogging for business

Blogsite Designs That Go Way Beyond Ordinary

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Posted by admin on September 30, 2009 – 6:00 am
Filed under attract clients, blogging for business, professional web design

Celebrated for her creative, one-of-a-kind designs, Hannah Craner, graphic and print collateral designer and owner of Sherbet Blossom Designs, has positioned herself as a blogsite designer and custom-designed print collateral guru. In this exclusive interview, Hannah shares with Sūmèr her design expertise and her inspirations:

blog-photo-hana-21

Sūmèr: What is your design background?

I graduated with a BS in social marketing and took some computer / design classes in school, but most of my design experience came after I graduated. My husband started a nonprofit organization that sends doctors and dentists to third-world countries. Since we were a true nonprofit organization with little money to spare, my husband asked me to design a logo and website. I had a graphic design friend who mentored me through the process and helped me gain the passion I have now. I soon began doing websites and wedding invitations for a wide clientele and landed a job as a graphic designer for a magazine publishing company. I have been designing my magazine for almost four years now and absolutely love print work.

Sūmèr: Why blogs? How did you get into blog design?

Print work is actually my passion, but blog designing fell into my lap. I began Sherbet Blossom Designs two years ago and immediately had people asking me who designed my site. When they found out I designed my own blog, they asked if I could do theirs. After more than fifteen people asked me to design their blogs, I decided I should make a business of it. My greatest passion is still print work, but I do love blog design as well.

blog-photo-hana-31 Sūmèr: How do your blogsites differ from traditional websites?

Each of my blogs is custom designed. I design to the client’s taste and work with my client to create a site that is uniquely his or her own.

Sūmèr: What do you love most about what you do? Why?

I love to see the design in my head become a reality on screen and even more in print. To hold something in my hand that I created is a thrill. I love that I am constantly looking for beauty and shape in everything around me. Everything is inspiration.

blog-photo-hana

Sūmèr: What is your source of inspiration?

Inspiration comes from everywhere. Shapes, signs, magazines, fabric, antique books—I have a hard time looking at anything without analyzing the design. I keep a sketchbook and camera with me to draw or take pictures whenever I get an idea.

Sūmèr: You have quite an extensive portfolio. How long have you been designing blogs / banners / websites / print collateral?

I have been designing blogs for about two years, but 80% of my designs have been done in the past ten to twelve months. It seems the more I do, the busier I become.

blog-hana-logo

Sūmèr: What does the future hold for Sherbet Blossom Designs?

I plan on selling premade blog designs at bargain prices and also revamping the print work section of my site to focus more on invitations, ads, and packaging. I am very excited about the changes coming in the next three to four months.

To view Sherbet Blossom Design’s exceptional portfolio, visit http://www.sherbetblossomdesigns.com/.

Blogging for Business vs. Blogging for Personal Business

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Posted by admin on September 16, 2009 – 7:37 am
Filed under blogging for business, online marketing

After the Deadline

Is the purpose of your blog more to share informal personal experiences and thoughts, or is its purpose to act as a marketing platform that reflects your brand personality. The answer is crucial to the writing style of the blog.

Nothing is worse than a business blog riddled with spelling errors. Although we’re human and all make miniscule spelling blunders from time to time, a business blog looks very unprofessional when it constantly has spelling errors.

Our advice is to not only re-read your blog once or twice before you post it, but also use a spell-check device such as Automattic’s (that’s not a spelling error mind you) recently launched Wordpress software called After the Deadline. This effective software allows you to check the spelling and grammar of your blog before it goes live.

After the Deadline comes with Wordpress.com blogs, but for Wordpress.org users, you’ll need to download this amazing plug-in. If you constantly find yourself skipping over spelling and grammatical errors, it might behoove you to take advantage of this plug-in today.

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How To Write The Perfect Blog Post

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Posted by admin on September 8, 2009 – 6:54 am
Filed under blogging for business, grow your business, increase site traffic, online marketing

Are you often at a loss on what to blog about? If so, you’re not alone.

Doug Power FightOne way to remedy this is to pick a topic and write about it in list form. How To’s, Top 10, Best of, Common Mistakes, Do’s, and Don’ts. Once you have your list made, include real-world examples that tell the rest of the story.

For example, if your blog is about travel, you could write a post about “The World’s Top 10 Most Bizarre Places to Stay While on Vacation.” Briefly discuss each of the 10 accommodations and locations in two to three sentences, and post a picture or video of the hotel, lodge, or camp below each description. Voilá—you have a topic.

A perfect example of a blogger who took advantage of writing a “Top 5” list is Doug Stewart, blogger for Power To Fight the Big Boys. Doug’s post, titled “5 Ways to Promote your Small Business Online Today. I dare you to . . .,” provides readers with real-world examples of how specific companies used effective marketing tools to promote their businesses.

Do yourself a favor and check out Doug’s post, “5 Ways to Promote your Small Business Online Today. I dare you to...”

Open the Portal for Brand Creativity with Social Media

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Posted by admin on September 1, 2009 – 8:12 am
Filed under Business Communication, Gain Brand Loyalty, attract clients, blogging for business

You may be a brand ambassador for your company, but are your employees? If not, it’s time to live by the famous cliché: two minds are better than one.

Social media sites are the epitome of a collaborative environment since they allow you to interact with other company employees, with customers, and with perspective customers―the possibilities are endless.

In order to get the results you want from your online marketing efforts, your company team should work together to communicate with the online community, acting as respectful brand ambassadors. In addition, have friends and family participate in company discussion on social media sites, illustrating to others that you already have a loyal following.

Here’s how the process begins:

Step One: Observe how other companies are utilizing their social media sites. Does it appear that there is more than one person representing that specific brand on social media sites? If so, that company has brand ambassadors. Social media sites allow brand ambassadors to integrate themselves into the online community and build an excellent reputation and reciprocal relationships—something your business works to achieve every day.

Step Two: Don’t underestimate the power of social media sites. Since anyone can use social media sites to say anything they choose, it’s extremely important to set company guidelines for using social media sites—especially since all comments are viral. These guidelines should focus on how each comment made by brand ambassadors must work to protect the brand image. If employees do not respect you or the company they work for, your company may be vulnerable to brand bashing. Even if you’re not influencing employees to actively participate on social media sites on behalf of your company, it’s still important to make sure they are not working against your brand image on their personal accounts.

According to WebProNews, a recent study from ProofPoint found that seventeen percent of businesses reprimanded an employee for abusing social media or blogging company guidelines and nine percent terminated an employee for violating these guidelines. Following your employees on social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube can possibly prevent future negative impacts on your company’s reputation.

Remind your employees that if they are using social media sites it’s their responsibility to represent your company in a respectable light. If they don’t have anything nice to say about it, they shouldn’t say anything at all.

Step Three: Show employees how to use social media sites to effectively represent the brand. Have them discuss upcoming events and industry news, participate in discussions relevant to your business, and be present on groups and forums that are beneficial to the growth of your company. Have employees ask questions to facilitate discussion and add valuable information to conversations they participate in.

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The Baby Steps to Marketing Your Business Online

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Posted by admin on August 11, 2009 – 9:09 am
Filed under Marketing Strategy, SEO copywriter, attract clients, blogging for business, increase online sales, increase site traffic, online marketing, social networking

second sumer sg

You know you need to change the way you market your business online, but where on earth do you start? Don’t try to take on the Internet as a whole. The key is to take baby steps.

Begin by analyzing how your company is currently marketing. If you’re using print and word of mouth as your main means for marketing your company, it’s time to consider the web as a primary marketing tool. Marketing online is one of the greatest ways to attract thousands of potential customers, increase brand exposure, and interact immediately with your target market. And it can be less expensive than print.

So, where do you begin?

After reviewing your company budget, you may find you’re not ready to give your website a complete facelift just yet. If so, Sūmèr’s Life after Launch services are the perfect fit for you. Life after Launch is primarily for those looking to increase online exposure, ramp up online marketing campaigns, and boost brand presence on the web—without spending a ton of money.

Whether you’re using Life after Launch services for blog marketing, social media networking, or social media marketing, you’ll see immediate results thanks to excellent online analytic tools and Sūmèr’s highly experienced online marketing gurus. These analytic tools show you direct results from our online marketing efforts, allowing you to track your progress. Also, you can track the percentage of increased website visitors and determine the exact websites visitors come from.

For example, if you use Life after Launch services to ramp up your exposure on Facebook, you can see how many people visit your business website from inbound links on Facebook. We make this possible through our analytic tools and provide you with a comprehensive breakdown of important analytics.

Once your social media marketing efforts rise, you can use Life after Launch services to maintain your accounts and keep a steady flow of visitors coming to your website from social media sites.

What’s the next step after implementing Life after Launch services?

After increasing your website traffic dramatically with Sūmèr’s Life after Launch services, consider hiring a professional web copywriter to rewrite and optimize your web copy for search engine purposes. The right web content writer can write result-driven and optimized web copy that speaks clearly and effectively to your target market, while projecting an accurate brand image and company message.

Remember, you don’t have to spend a ton of money to get amazing marketing results on the web. Begin with social media marketing and work your way up to having your web copy rewritten and optimized. A steady increase in online marketing efforts over the course of several months will have amazing results and sky-rocket your sales and company exposure online.

Are You Going About Social Media The Wrong Way?

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Posted by admin on August 6, 2009 – 10:59 am
Filed under Gain Brand Loyalty, Marketing Tip, SEO copywriter, attract clients, blogging for business, increase site traffic, online marketing, social networking

 

In the above video, web public relations expert Brian Solis shares his expertise on how to effectively build relationships on social media sites. You might be surprised to find out the truth behind building solid connections . . .

Are You Using Your Blog To Its Fullest Potential?

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Posted by admin on July 23, 2009 – 6:39 am
Filed under Marketing Tip, RSS Feed, SEO copywriter, attract clients, blogging, blogging for business, increase site traffic, online marketing

Blogs are an excellent online platform to provide valuable industry news and tips to your target market, but they are also an integral part of marketing and promoting your business online. Blog posts that provide value to your readers help position you as an expert in your field and a credible source for viable information.

If you want a successful blog–one with a large readership and one that brings you customers–simply posting regularly isn’t enough. You need to market and promote your business blog. Setting aside an hour or two each week to market your blog will help increase readership, position you as an expert, and grow your client base. If you’re not using your blog properly and to its full potential, you are missing out on increasing website traffic and boosting sales.

Below are 9 steps to effectively market and promote your blog:

Step 1: Attach the RSS feed widget to your blog: RSS feed stands for Really Simple Syndication, which is a file containing a brief amount of information–a headline and synopsis–and a link to the full content on the blog. Voluntary subscribers to specific blog RSS feed will receive this information through their RSS readers. Search engines can detect if your blog is high quality based on how many people subscribe to your blog’s RSS feed. In addition, search engines can detect how many people visit your blog from their RSS readers and how many times they click through to your blog.

Step 2: Import blog posts into your social media sites: With a large concentration of companies and individuals using social media sites to communicate, it’s important to import your blog into social media sites. Nearly all social media sites allow you to import your blog into your profile, including some of the most popular social media sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Importing your blog allows your target market to post comments and share posts with friends. Whenever a comment is posted on your blog from a reader via Facebook, the comment is visible on the reader’s minifeed, which can be seen by all of the reader’s friends.

Step 3: Create a blog marketing and promotion schedule: Creating a strict marketing and promotion schedule ensures you will stay organized and current with its promotion. Each week, set aside time to comment on like-minded blogs, ask other bloggers if you can be a guest blogger, or ask others to guest blog for you, and request to be on like-minded blogrolls. Don’t forget to set aside time to track your blog posts and recycle posts into articles.

Step 4: Comment on like-minded blogs: One thing many bloggers don’t realize is the importance of commenting on other blogs. Commenting on like-minded blogs is a powerful networking tool and works to increase inbound links to your own blog. Your comments should be relevant to the blog topic, add value and your expertise to what is being said in the blog, give positive feedback, peak the interest of the author and other viewers, provide links to similar pieces you may have written about the subject, and have a link to your email and website below each comment.

Step 5: Approach popular, like-minded bloggers, and ask if you could be a guest blogger: Search engines look highly upon blogs mentioned on other blogs because it illustrates that your blog provides intellectual material that ignites curiosity and discussion in the online community. Aside from other blogs, if search engines find your blog’s URL on social media sites and social bookmarking sites, these social media sites consider this a positive indicator that your blog is high quality.

Step 6: Approach popular, like-minded bloggers, and ask if they would be a guest blogger on your blog: Requesting like-minded bloggers to be guest bloggers is the perfect way to build relationships online and increase exposure. The more people you can touch and build working relationships with, the more likely you are to successfully market and promote your blog. Having guest bloggers also shows you are interested in what others have to say and are striving to find the best possible industry information available.

Step 7: Request to be on popular, like-minded bloggers’ blogrolls: After commenting on other blogs and requesting to be a guest blogger–and vice versa–it’s time to request to be on those bloggers’ blogrolls. Since you have a basis of a relationship with most of these bloggers now, you are more likely to receive a yes to be on their blogroll. Being present on other blogrolls helps increase inbound links and drive targeted traffic to your blog and website.

Step 8: Track blog posts: Tracking the popularity of specific posts helps you see what topics are of interest to your readers. Regularly tracking your blog also helps you track key phrases people use to find your blog and the amount of click-throughs you receive.

Step 9: Recycle posts into articles: Recycling past blog posts into online articles helps to increase inbound links, position you as an expert in your field, and reach thousands of potential customers. Articles are the perfect way to recycle important and valuable information and share it with thousands of individuals who have never visited your blog before.

Getting More from the Internet: Harnessing Technology to Grow Your Business.

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Posted by admin on July 10, 2009 – 3:55 pm
Filed under Business Communication, Marketing Tip, blogging for business, marketing in bad economy, online marketing, small business marketing, video marketing

For those of you in the Charleston area, you’ll want to come to this month’s Mount Pleasant Business & Professional Association meeting. Michelle Salater is  joining Christopher Cisneros, owner of Zafari, Inc., to discuss Getting More from the Internet: Harnessing Technology to Grow Your Business.

Don’t miss this exciting chance to learn about the latest in web technologies that can enhance your existing marketing efforts. You’ll learn about the importance of using website marketing techniques to drive traffic to your website:

  • Video [how it's valuable, why it makes sense]
  • Blogging
  • Social networking
  • PR [driving traffic, submitting online]

You’ll also learn about how to get your website on the first few pages of Google. Search engine optimization is a whole complex science but you can improve your website’s position by:

  • Ensuring your site is built in a way that’s friendly for the search engines
  • Making sure your content is not only meaningful and provides a strong message but is also seo-friendly

For more information or to register, please visit www.mpbpa.com/ .

Ever Dream You Could Have Your Own Talk Show?

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Posted by admin on May 15, 2009 – 4:53 am
Filed under Audio Marketing, Business Communication, RSS Feed, attract clients, blogging for business, increase site traffic, marketing trends, target market

If you’re looking to interact with prospects in a unique and effective way, BlogTalkRadio is an excellent platform to look into. Not only is it free, but it’s also a fantastic way to increase online presence, gain brand recognition and credibility, and increase inbound links. With BlogTalkRadio, internet users can listen to a variety of channels, choose the category they’re interested in, and participate in a deeper, interactive experience.

Attracting your specific target market with BlogTalkRadio is simple. Choose from a wide variety of categories that best fit the description of your blog: dream, golf, culture, comedy, film, marketing, pets, spirituality, travel, and so much more. BlogTalkRadio is an excellent tool to use if you want to weed out those who are not in your target market—only the ones who are interested will click on your category.

So, what are the features and benefits of BlogTalkRadio for listeners?

• RSS feed, iTunes, and other feed readers, allow listeners to subscribe to shows and join in weekly for the next dish of news.

• No software download is required for using BlogTalkRadio—just a feed reader.

• No money is required to subscribe or listen to talk shows—they’re free!

• Listeners with questions have the opportunity to interact with the host and better understand the talk show content.    

What are the features and benefits of BlogTalkRadio for businesses?

• BlogTalkRadio is a revolutionary, online social networking tool that enables businesses that blog the opportunity to directly connect with their target audience. All a host needs is a phone and a computer.

• BlogTalkRadio offers hosts the opportunity to create live, call-in talk shows, which anyone can listen to. Once the show goes live, it will automatically be saved and can be used as a podcast in the future.

• BlogTalkRadio allows businesses to measure how many people are listening and downloading their talk shows.

• BlogTalkRadio provides hosts the opportunity to customize their personal profile by including a blog link, a link to their website, a video, or any other widget.

• BlogTalkRadio requires no software to be downloaded. All viewers and hosts need is a computer and phone.

• BlogTalkRadio offers hosts the opportunity for hosts and listeners to interact during and after the show. Listeners’ questions can be answered, and businesses can build credibility and online exposure.

Google’s Blog Ranking Criteria Revealed: Part II . . .

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Posted by admin on May 4, 2009 – 6:37 am
Filed under Copywriting, blogging for business, increase site traffic, market in economic crisis, website copywriter

View Part I of this blog post.

If you’ve already read Google’s Blog Ranking Criteria Revealed: Part I . . . I’m sorry to say, that Google uses even more criteria to rank the quality of your blog. It’s a tough life for blogs when it comes to Google Blogsearch, but with the right attitude, effective strategies, powerful networking techniques, and stellar writing, your blog will reach celebrity status on Google Blogsearch in no time.

So, what more could Google possibly be looking for to prove your blog’s popularity?

•  The number of clicks on your blog link when it appears in search engines: If your blog link is continuously clicked on, it illustrates to Google that your blog is receiving a high concentration of readers. If your blog is clicked on more times in search engine results than other blogs, Google sees this as an excellent indicator of blog popularity.

• Inbound links on other blogrolls: The more reputable blogrolls your blog is linked to, the higher Google will rate your blog. Google takes blogrolls seriously because they contain constant outbound links to other blogs. This shows Google you probably have a high respect for and enjoy reading the blogs on your blogroll. Approach your favorite, reputable bloggers and request for them to put your blog on their blogroll. If they agree, you’ll have a strategically placed inbound link to your blog. This also expresses to Google that your blog isn’t SPAM. The more of these reputable inbound links you have, the higher Google will rank your blog.

• Appropriate tags for each blog entry: Tags are your blog’s keywords and are an extremely important factor when determining what your blog is about. Make sure your tags describe the blog post accurately. This will help viewers and Google determine what your blog post is about. Inaccurate tagging and over-tagging is frowned upon by both visitors and Google because it is a false representation of your blog content. It’s important to effectively use tags if you want to become a reputable blogger and increase targeted traffic while ranking high in Google Blogsearch.