Entries Tagged 'blogging' ↓

Now there’s a question for you.

Undoubtedly blogging is one of the most valuable marketing tools available to today’s online marketers.

Why?

Because it gives you a platform on which to market your products and services under the radar of your reader. What that means is that you can blog about your services without overtly trying to sell them to the reader. You can write ‘How to’ articles or give out top tips.

Basically, blogging allows you to:

• raise awareness of your product/service
• build relationships of trust with your readers
• raise your profile as an expert in your particular field
• build back links to your website
• drive targeted traffic to your website

Blogging does all that?

Of course it does. Take this blog for example. If you look back through the archives you’ll find posts covering just about every aspect of copywriting and marketing you can think of (although I bet you’ll all be rushing now to tell me that I’ve missed something out). Therefore readers of my blog know what type of information they will find.

Displaying my knowledge shows that I am an expert in my field. It shows that I know what I’m talking about so when they are looking for a freelance copywriter, they know I can do what I say I can do – get them results.

When writing my posts I use anchor text, such as copywriting services, to link back to my website building good back links that Google loves.

And because my posts are all related to copywriting, the visitors I get are looking for copywriting information which means I am generating targeted traffic.

DIY vs. out sourcing

I am often asked by small businesses whether I’ll blog for them. My answer is normally no.

OK, it looks as though I’m shooting myself in the foot with that but if you think about it for a moment you’ll see my reasoning.

As I’ve already mentioned, when you blog you are building a relationship with your readers. If you are a small business (1-5 staff) your clients will probably deal with you directly. Therefore if they read your blog posts they’ll assume it is your voice they are ‘hearing’. The more they read the more they’ll think they are building a relationship with you. So what happens when they meet you? If you don’t write your own posts it will be like meeting someone else.

Apart from the odd guest blog, I write all my own posts. I enjoy engaging with my readers and when they meet me, they know it is my expertise that I have been passing on rather than someone else’s.

But if you are a large company outsourcing could be ideal for you. In this case, there isn’t necessarily a single voice that needs to be heard. You’ll have your own brand image, tone and voice so as long as they are adhered to, outsourcing is perfectly acceptable.

Of course, you may have staff members that blog for you which is great. They are at the forefront of your business and can react quickly to customer needs. The important thing to remember is that they must comply to your company’s image.

So there you have it. Blogging is a fantastic way of raising your profile, building your reputation and driving traffic to your main ‘money’ site. What’s more, it’s a relatively cheap way of marketing.

If you aren’t already blogging give it a try – you won’t get results immediately but, but stick with it and you may be surprised at what happens.

We all know blogging is good for business

Just about every business owner out there understands that blogging is good for their business. It will:

• show them as an expert in their field
• add value to their client relationships
• drive traffic to their main website
• raise their profile

As a freelance copywriter I use blogging a lot because it helps me reach out to a wider audience (especially when I couple my blogging with Twitter), I can demonstrate that I do know what I’m talking about and (more importantly) that I can write.

My whole blog is centered around eveything copywriting and marketing. This focus is essential because it’s relevant to my work and, when people subscribe to my RSS feed, they know each post I make will be of use to them – after all they subscribed because I give them copywriting and marketing tips. If I suddenly started posting stuff about recipies and knitting I would loose the relevance and a lot of subscribers.

I don’t know what to write

If I was given a pound everytime someone said that to me, I would have retired a long time ago.

All you have to do is take a look at what your business does – there’s your subject matter. Throw into the mix comments on industry news, debates about new ideas and you’ve got yourself an interesting and relevant library to write about.

Follow other blogs within your industry. What are they talking about? Expand on their ideas (but always link back to the original source of inspiration). You can even get inspiration from print media too – the opportunities are endless.

Do I have to do it myself?

My personal opinion on this is yes.

I know there are many people out there who’ll write and post blog posts for you (for a fee) but, for me, that defeats the whole object of having a blog.

Your blog should be a means of communicating your thoughts and personality to your readers. With each post you are building a relationship. Your readers are getting to know you. If you are using your blog to drive traffic to your main website, your readers are going to feel as though they know you before they do business with you.

If you’re not the one doing the writing, how can they forge a relationship with you? It’s a bit like when, back in the 1980s, Milli Vanilly was found to be a complete fraud and their Grammy was revoked after it was revealed that the lead vocals on the record were not the actual voices of Morvan and Pilatus.

Yes, blogging takes time but isn’t it worth it?

The whole stimulus for this post was actually another blog post written by Chris Brogan called Write Better Blog Posts Today. Chris talks about being focused on your end result. Why are your writing your blog? What do you want your post to achieve? If you have these ideas straight in your mind before you start, you’ll become blogging dynamite.

Copywriting is the key to a successful blog. Stale, insipid and repetitive content will kill business. Fresh, insightful, path-breaking and paradigm defining content will attract traffic to a blog like nothing else. Fortunately there are enough high quality freelance content creators whose services can be utilized.

Blogs are critical tools used by websites. These can be written on a regular and consistent basis to help promote a business or a personal message. Blogging in fact is the most important SEO tool. The addition of fresh original content indicates to the search engines that a site is contemporary and evolving. Sites that lag on this front are relegated to the back of the queue.

The importance of SEO to the process of content creation is crucial, especially for new sites because this is the only way that search engines get to know about the thrust of the site till the time there are enough back-links in place. Using the services of a good copywriter is the best way to have your site filled with SEO content, that not only provides for a good search position, but also satisfiers the visitor compelling him or her to go for the product or service being promoted by the site.

The demand for copywriting is tremendous and there is not a better way than blogging to propagate one’s cause. A blog can help one showcase one’s content creation ability on a regular basis and have direct interaction with one’s clients. Typically a copywriter will write on what he or she is most conversant with. But it is good to focus on a few core areas, so that the blogging establishes the person’s credentials in those particular areas.

Blogging today is easily amongst the most powerful media today. It can reach out to one’s target audiences in ways not possible with conventional media. It can establish a blogger as an industry authority or thought leader and have traffic queuing up to the site. The most important part of a blog is how unique and original it can be. It has to be distinct and distinguishable from the others.

Moreover search engines have an affinity to blogs. This is because of the freshness and large size of the content; the fact that there are regular additions and feedback often accompanied by links to their favorite post on your blog. The advantages of hiring professional copywriters are many. One can have amazing content up on one’s site without ever having to write a word. Professional blog writers understand the world of blogs and are up to date with latest styles and trends. What they provide is complete blog management, rather than plain blog writing.

Moreover blog copywriters do thorough research on every blog post, so as to come up with content of the top drawer. There is a degree of consistency in their writing, and there is no possibility of a slip up by them, and therefore one will never have an adverse impact on one’s blog. Blog copywriters have the advantage of being able to come up with high quality writing on a range of subjects. To top it all blog copywriters have a strategy and their writing is always focused and target audience oriented.

If the intention of any business enterprise is to send targeted traffic to one’s website, so as to showcase its industry website, get the search engines interested and have excited customers queuing up for its products or services, it makes eminent sense to hire professional copywriters or content creators. Any company which is not blogging in this day and age does not belong in this day and age. Blogs are a tremendous medium for establishing one’s credentials, informing the customers about the latest product or service offerings, sharing tips, and old fashioned bonding with people to let them know what an authority one is in a particular field. All in all a win win situation for everyone concerned.

This is a guest post written by the webmaster of the freelance blog www.freelancer-online.com

Your website could be the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen, but if it isn’t getting traffic it may as well have been written in invisible code.

If your website has been written with the search engines in mind and your copy is SEO friendly you will stand a good chance of getting good organic listings. However there is another element that needs to be taken into consideration – back links.

Google loves back links; they are a way of showing your sites’ authority – the more external links that point to your site the better. A great way of producing these links is to start a blog and by using other social media tools such as Squidoo or Hub pages.

Blogging really works

This really does work as I have used this method to achieve great organic listings for my chosen keywords.

I began this blog last year for 2 reasons – to drive traffic to my website and to give away copywriting tips. It took only a matter of months before I was seeing great results and my main website began climbing the Google rankings.

I know what you’re thinking “It’s alright for you, you’re a freelance copywriter so you know how to write stuff that works – I don’t even know where to start.”

OK, yes I write for a living but that doesn’t mean you can’t achieve the same results as I have. As for not knowing what to write about, here are some tips:

• Think keywords – write a post around your main keywords. Remember to use these words as your anchor text for when linking back to your main website.

• Think products and services – if you make cards, don’t write about how to make them (you probably don’t want to give your secrets away) instead blog about the type of cards you are making. So if you are selling a range depicting poppies, blog about poppies.

• Think about venues – if you provide a service such as wedding photography, blog about some of the venues you work at.

• Think relevance – if something interesting has happened in your field recently, blog about it again linking through your keywords.

• Read around – if you follow other blogs in your industry and read something interesting, blog about that post and link back to it and to your site (again through relevant keywords).

Blog regularly

To reap the rewards of your blogging you should also blog regularly. Spread the word about what you’re doing through other applications such as Twitter or social networking sites such as BTTradespace. This will help you increase your web ‘footprint’ and generate more interest and traffic.

Once you get the ball rolling you’ll begin to see the benefits. But remember don’t just write about the same things all the time – variety keeps your writing fresh.

Blogging is still very much something you either “get” or you don’t.

For me, my blogging is all about sharing knowledge in what I do – copywriting. Most of my posts are about copywriting tips, marketing suggestions and (like this one) the usefulness of blogging. My aim has been to help my readers with the sales writing whether they run their own businesses or are starting out in the copywriting world.

You can use your blog to promote your services – but be warned insessant “plugging” will be a real turn-off. Or you can use it as a sounding board for your opinions. But whatever you use it for, be clear from the outset.

This very subject is discussed in a great blog post called The 3 Fatal Diseases That Kill Good Blogs by Nathan Hangen (published on Copyblogger). It’s well worth a read so why not grab yourself a cuppa and a take a break for a few minutes.