Author Archive for Les
Are Blogs Still Relevant To Today’s Online Businesses?
If you listen to some people on the internet you would start to believe that blogs had gone past their ‘use by date”. I rather think they are missing the point when it comes to business blogs. Blogs in general are communication tools. They provide a pathway for businesses to communicate information to the public while providing a means with which the public can communicate with a business – in a very public way – comments are open to all to read. From an SEO perspective, blogs are still valuable tools when it comes to link building, particularly if the content is of value to someone. That last is the most important. You may not find this content valuable, but others may. Here are a couple of examples of where blog content is providing useful information to others.
Taker the The Plus Size Clothing Blog. Okay, so you are as skinny as a rake. But half of the western world’s population is said to be overweight and a great many of them require plus size clothing. A blog like this is in a position to provide information to these people whilst, hopefully, leading readers through to purchase plus size clothing. Since blogs are easier to rank in search results than, say, a sales site, it makes good business sense to create this blog. The latest post (at the time of writing) – Plus Size Style for the Apple Figure – looks at a particular body shape. Do you know about apple figures (not Apple Corp sales figures) and where to buy clothing to match? Probably not but a search may show this blog in the results – that is the aim.
Blogs go beyond sales. They are also valuable for distributing information. Are you parent considering sending your child to a private school? Are you in the New York area? The NYC Private Schools blog publishes information on private schools in the New York area. As a parent, you may find this blog a valuable resource when trying to determine which private school (if any) you want to send your child too. Their latest post – NYC Private School Focus on Beekman School - provides valuable information on the Beekman School, information parents will find useful before making any final decisions.
Is the business blog dead? No, it’s far from it. Providing good quality content over an extended period of time can help a business achieve their goals much faster than if they ignored the power of blogs. Add social marketing to the mix and you have a very powerful tool.
Need help establishing a powerful business blog? Ask a professional blog management team for more information.
Content Is Never Far Away If You Run Private Ads
Many bloggers try to make money blogging and they do this in a number of ways. If you have affiliate advertising or sell private ad space then you should never be stuck for blog content.
Affiliates are a prime example. You will only earn an income if your visitors click on the links and actually deliver the required action, normally make a purchase. As a publisher you can help to boost your own sales.
If you are a little stuck for content, write about your affiliate – sell the product. You are the sales person and unless you tell your visitors about the product, they will most likely not even register the existence of an affiliate banner – known as banner blindness.
Likewise, whilst you may not earn any commission, promoting any of the paid advertisers on your site may prove to be good PR. The advertisers of course will not mind at all. The more promotions they can get the better.
If you are comfortable with the product or service then chances are your readers will be as well. There is nothing wrong with a little promotion and over time, your sites ability to make money blogging will grow – you have added extra value to their paid ad – this adds to your reputation as a professional blogger – overtime you can increase the return from running ads.
When writing reviews or recommendations, use the nofollow in the URL’s to ensure that none of the search engines accuse you of paid links. Private ads and affiliate programs provide a ready source for content whenever you feel a little blank.
Let Your Writing Set The Tone
As writers we sometimes get caught in writing to an expected style, this can be detrimental to the current piece you are writing. Often you are better just sitting down and letting the words flow and worrying about categorizing the post once you have completed it.
Even those with a reputation for serious informative writing styles occasionally break out with a humorous streak, or vice-versa. Even professional writers understand the need to write in a natural and unforced way. The moment you start to force your writing style you can lose focus and the flow of words becomes stilted and uncomfortable for the reader to read.
Letting the words flow onto the paper is a natural way to write. You do not have to publish your post immediately. If you are not happy with the way you have written the post, save it and come back later. A re-read will often surprise you.
Writing is an art that comes naturally to almost everyone. When someone says they are not a writer and have difficulty in putting words onto paper, the reality is that they suffer from lack of self belief – if you can talk you can write. Writing blog posts is not about writing to college standards, it is about writing for the average everyday reader.
Write naturally without trying to force the words. If the words are not there just now, come back when they are. Your natural writing sets the tone – your knowledge establishes your credibility. There are many bloggers who have English as their second language and it is quite obvious at times. It doesn’t make their writing any less valuable – it does make it a little more natural.
Do You Write For Differing Reading Styles?
One of the things that makes life interesting is that every human is different. Different likes, different dislikes, different attitudes and different opinions. Believe it or not we all have different learning and different reading styles.
Over the years these reading styles have been refined to four basic ‘learning styles’ and those learning styles affect how you absorb what you read. The four styles are:
Active:
Active readers are the people most likely to comment on your post. These readers prefer to see things in context and in a discussion. You will often find active readers in forums. Write to create a discussion and you will engage these readers.
Reflective:
Reflective readers are the least likely to comment. They prefer to read and ponder your point. They will often seek out other opinions so providing links to associated content either within your blog or on other blogs will appeal to them. Reflective readers are more likely to comment on posts when they appear as a series.
Visual:
As the name suggest, visual readers like pictures, graphs and videos. They like to ‘see’ what you are trying to tell them in words. Include visually suitable content in your posts to catch their attention. If you cannot use pictures or graphs, use text enhancements like bold, color or size.
Verbal:
Verbal readers like the facts so posts that are written in list format will appeal to them. Verbal readers are also attracted to summaries. Short paragraphs that are to the point will also appeal to this type of reader.
Those are the four reading styles. The trick now is how to write in such a way that you can capture all four reading styles in the one post.
The inclusion of graphs of pictures will take care of the visual reader. Keeping your paragraphs short and concise and to the point will capture your verbal readers. Write your posts either as a series or with links to related content and you have your reflective readers covered whilst creating content that stimulates a conversation will appeal to your active readers.
Of course, what is also important is having content that is actually of value to your readers. That’s your job – find the content, write to connect with those four reading styles, and you will have a very satisfied reader base.
