All Entries in the "Blog Ghostwriting" Category

Should You Start A Business Blog?

Blogging seems to be the buzzword of the decade. Everyone seems to want to get in on the action. Presumably, business owners who are just showing up at the blog party are doing so because they’ve heard somewhere that blogging is a great way to market their business. Well, it is, but only if you do it the right way.

There are many things to think about when starting a new business blog. It’s not all cupcakes and roses. You have to consider how often you’ll blog, whether you’ll do the actual writing yourself or hire someone to do it for you, and what you’ll write about on your blog. Too many new business bloggers start out writing then find out they have nothing to write about. Either they’re not focused or they haven’t thought through completely what they want their blog to be about.

At Blog Content Provider, we take a multi-strategic approach to blogging. First, there’s SEO. Why blog if you aren’t going to target your blog posts to search engines? You want your blog posts to rank for specific keywords related to your business so that you attract the type of readers you want. But focus entirely on SEO and you’re likely to write boring content that no one wants to read.

If you focus your blog posts on a conversational style of writing instead of “marketingese” then you’ll make people feel more comfortable about reading your blog. They want to see a real person, not some stuff shirt talking down at them. It’s a different kind of marketing than what most people are used to.

Thirdly, social media has become a strategy of its own. You’ll have to decide to what extent you want your blog to be socially motivated.

When it comes to blog marketing, think it through before you do it and when you decide that it’s time to start your company blog, learn the right way to do it before you jump in and ruin your marketing plan before you implement it.

Blog Marketing As Time Management

Why aren’t you blogging this way?

How to Market Your Blog Without Spending Too Much Time

By: Gen Wright

Most bloggers make the mistake of spending too much time promoting their blogs and not spending enough time creating valuable content for their readers. If you’re going to get a million visitors, you have to ask yourself what do you have to give in return. Otherwise, the traffic is just going to keep going downhill. That’s why many bloggers have to keep spending time promoting their blogs. It’s a no win situation. Visitors come to their blogs, find blog entries with little value, and never return again. So now the blogger has to work harder to promote the blog, not realizing that they’re not giving their visitors what they want.

To avoid this mistake, the key is to market your blog in a smart manner, leaving you more time to write high quality entries in your blog. There are many ways to acquire traffic for your blog without you having to spend too much worrying about traffic. Here are the most effective methods that successful bloggers have employed.

Method 1: Search engine traffic. We’re talking about the major search engines such as Google, Yahoo and MSN. If your blog ranks well in these search engines, you’ll get repeat traffic again and again from the keyword searches. That frees you up from having to worry about getting a constant stream of traffic. It’s completely on autopilot, and frees up a lot of your time. But how do you get your blog to rank well in the search engines? More on this later.

Method 2: Blog search engines. These are search engines created specifically for blogs. They usually list content based on the most recent, and allow visitors to vote for their favorite content. Blog entries with the most votes usually earn a home page ranking, which gets them even more traffic. Set up your blog to ping the blog search engines. Again, this is an automatic process and does not require your intervention once you set it up.

Method 3: Article marketing. This is, by far, the most neglected method among bloggers but it’s also one of the most effective ways to get loads of back links. Once your back links are out there in the article directories, they’ll get you traffic over and over again. A submission is a one time effort but you get traffic month after month. But there’s an additional side benefit that makes article marketing so popular.

Blogs with the most back links are rated highly by the major search engines. If you have enough back links from authority sites linking back to your blog, your blog will rank well naturally in the search engines. No matter what your blog title is, it’ll come up in the search results. So that’s killing two birds with one stone. Keep up your article marketing activities, and you’ll get traffic from your article back links and the search engines. This makes article marketing an absolute must for bloggers, because if you do not implement this simple technique, other bloggers will, and their blogs will rank better than you in the search engines.

It’s like doing exercise. You spend a little time on exercise to get more time. So the next time you come across an article marketing service, don’t ignore it. Embrace it, and catapult yourself to blogging success.

Article Source: http://www.articlecontentprovider.com/articlesubmit

Darren Chow is a full time web developer. His latest project is a Blog Search Engine where bloggers can promote their own blogs or track other people’s blog. He also offers Article Distribution Services at affordable rates.

Blog marketing doesn’t really take a lot of time. In most cases, if you create consistent blog entries every day over the course of several months you will begin to appear in the search engines for key search phrases related to your niche. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do any marketing outside of the search engines. You can submit your blog to blog directories and do article marketing. But you can also submit your blog posts to social bookmarking websites. But don’t spend so much time marketing your blog that you don’t have time to write it.

What many of our customers do is hire a ghostwriter to put optimized content on their blog daily and spend their time marketing the blog – online and off line. It works. Let the experts do what they do best, you do the rest.

Why A Blog Is A Necessity For Marketing Online

Here’s a great article on why you should have a blog if you own a business and do business online.

Why Blogging is No Longer Optional If You Do Business Online

By Christine Gallagher

I know, I know. I can hear some of you groaning now! Many of you already have a blog and understand its importance in gaining visibility for your business. But I know many others are still resistant to the idea. You believe it takes too much time and effort, you don’t think you are a great writer, you don’t know how to set one up, you don’t know what to write about….I understand all of the reasons that may be holding you back.

If you already have a traditional, “brochure” style website for your business that’s great. You should keep that as a place for prospective clients and customers to visit to find out more about you and what you offer. I use my blog as my main site, meaning I don’t have a separate, static website. That’s a personal choice. Many people choose to have both, with the blog being linked to from the main site.

If you don’t currently have a blog, there are several important reasons why you should consider it:

Visibility: If you are doing even just some of your business using the web then you obviously need to have an online presence. Having a blog that you post to regularly is a wonderful way to capture and keep the attention of your prospects. When they see that you are posting consistently updated content, they are more likely to return to your site.

Search Engine Optimization: This doesn’t mean you need to study up and implement a ton of SEO techniques yourself. But blogs by their very nature are dynamic, meaning the content is updated often. In Google’s eyes, this is a very good thing-it shows that their users are getting fresh information. A blog is a great way to get your business to rank well in the search engines.

Community Building: By allowing comments on your posts you are promoting conversation and encouraging feedback. It can even help you to perform “market research” and find out what it is your target market needs from you. This feedback can also be helpful for coming up with ideas for future posts.

Positions you as the Expert: Something interesting happens once you begin posting useful content regularly and attracting subscribers. You become seen as a thought leader in your niche. This leads to more opportunities, more relationships and more business. It’s a terrific way to communicate the value of what you have to offer to prospective clients and customers.

Personality Sharing: Blogging gives you a chance to be seen as a real person and not just a business. Be willing to express opinions and let your true self shine through. This will go a long way towards humanizing you in the eyes of your readers.

In my opinion, the best thing about blogging is how simple and quick it is to publish a post at the push of a button. It’s also wonderful to be able to track exactly how many people are coming to your blog and where they are coming from. Just install Google’s free Analytics tool and you can see detailed statistics on your visitors and traffic.

Just begin and get it going. Aim to post once a week. They don’t have to be long posts and they don’t have to be earth-shatteringly brilliant. As with anything, you’ll get better at writing the more you do it. Jot down any ideas that come to you for posts as you go about your day. I keep a file of topic ideas that I think of and I find this helpful to look at if I get stuck for what to write about.

Blogging should be something you carve out time for just as you would any other marketing activity. If you really feel you would have nothing to say to people who may want to hire or buy from you, then perhaps it is just not for you. But I encourage all small business owners who are doing business online to at least give it a try. You never know, there may be people out there just waiting to hear your voice.

Christine Gallagher, MLS, MSIS, founder of CommunicateValue.com, teaches solopreneurs and small business owners how to use online marketing and social media to communicate effectively and authentically and attract more business. For FREE tips on how to build profitable relationships, leverage technology and create your own successful online business, visit http://CommunicateValue.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Christine_Gallagher

If you feel like you can’t write or you don’t have time to write your own blog then you might be a prime prospect for a ghostwriter. The fact is, however, that a blog is the best online marketing tool you can have. Bar none. I firmly believe. Even a poorly SEOd blog is better than a static website with no promotional efforts at all. But if you’re going to have a blog it’s best to learn how to write a blog post that is search engine optimized.

Blog Content Provider not only will write your blog content for you, but if you want to write your own blog content we will consult with you and teach you how to write search engine optimized blog posts.

If you are doing business online, there is no reason not to have a blog. You should write to your blog daily, but once a week is better than nothing. The important thing is to start a blog and start posting as often as you can. The longer you wait the longer you are putting off your own success. Learn more about how to get premium blog content today.

How To Ruin Good Blogging Advice

I found a great article about blogging online. I agreed with every word. Up until the last paragraph. It really was a beautiful article. Clear, sound advice. Then, the author made one huge mistake. I mean, HUGE. Here’s the article minus the mistake:

Blogging For Small Business – How to Build Your Reputation

By Barry Deen

Blogs have taken the internet by storm. More and more people are setting up blogs, and in the most part they die off within their first year, before they pick up any momentum. Most people set up blogs to build their reputation, sell products and get traffic to sell ads.

Although blogs have been around for a while, many small businesses are still not taking advantage of all the benefits a small business blog can provide to your bottom line.

* Creates awareness about your service / product

Many businesses have great, innovative products – especially in the technology sector. A major problem small businesses run into is getting the word out about their product on a small marketing budget. Creating a blog will create awareness about your product and ultimately drive sales.

* Builds your reputation as a subject matter expert

If you are an expert in your field, it is very beneficial to write about what you do and how you do it. The quality of your content is key. It may seem counter-intuitive to give away your “secrets” – however most people will find your articles because they are not the experts and are looking to learn.

* Strengthens your Search Engine Optimization strategy

The better quality articles you write, the more likely it is that other people will link to your articles. Link popularity is one of the most important aspects of SEO. Additionally, with correct code structure, you can create an internal cross linking strategy that will drive your PageRank higher.

This is all great advice. I don’t disagree with a single word. A blog is perhaps the most powerful marketing tool any small business owner can employ. If you can write then it’s a great free tool. If you can’t write and you need to hire a ghostwriter then it’s a low-cost tool that you can work to your advantage.

But the writer of this great article then went on to give some very poor advice. What was that? Here it is in all its pristine glory:

These are some of the benefits of blogging for small business. Setting up a blog is very cheap, often times free (www.blogspot.com or www.wordpress.com) and all you have to risk is your time.

Folks, I would not set up a business blog on a free host. You lose all control of your content that way. I have seen people set up 10 blogs at WordPress.com and lose it all overnight because one person made a spam report. It doesn’t matter if you think it’s spam. If WordPress or Blogger executives think it is spam then they can, and will, take it down. You lose it all.

Instead, spend $10 to buy a domain name that you have control over. Set up a WordPress blog on your domain name and write to it every day. That is the best SEO you will ever have and it will only cost you $10 plus the cost of hosting, which is usually no more than $60 per year.

The above article was written by:

Barry Deen is President & CEO of Web Strategy Canada and one of the top affiliate marketing specialists in Canada. For information on how to make money online, checkout http://www.makemillionsathome.ca For information on Barry Deen and his company, Web Strategy Canada, visit http://www.web-strategy.ca

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Barry_Deen

To learn more about business blogging contact a qualified blog consultant today.

AssistantForRealEstate – Real Estate Blogger Of The Month

We’d like to send out a special “Thank You” to Kandra Hamric at AssistantForRealEstate and award her with the Real Estate Blogger of the Month Award.

Kandra is giving away a free e-book for real estate professionals who have an interest in blogging. “10 Minutes To Great Real Estate Blogging” is a must-read for any real estate agent, broker, or other real estate professional considering a blog. The e-book is free to download and is a good, quick read. Kandra is a virtual assistant with years of experience in real estate and she also teaches other virtual assistants how they can be of assistance to real estate agents and professionals. Kandra is a real industry leader and we’re proud to announce her as the Real Estate Blogger of the Month.

How Real Estate Blogging Should Be Done In A Down Economy

Real estate and mortgage companies are running scared, stopping their blogs, and cutting back on expenses. I understand. Things got rough out there, didn’t it? But why are you cutting your marketing budget when this is when you should be marketing your business the heaviest?

Did you know you can cut your marketing budget and still keep blogging daily? It’s true. And all you have to do is take a few partners.

Let’s say that you’re used to paying $400 per month for blogging (if you are then you probably have the wrong blog service provider). You’d think that by cutting that $400 expense out of your budget you’ll be saving money. In actuality, it will probably cost you money. How many of your phone calls come from people who read your blog? Have you asked? Chances are, if you are getting calls from your efforts online then your blog is playing a part in that. Why stop blogging?

Instead of cutting the expense out of your budget altogether, try partnering with complimentary businesses. You use a title company, right? Don’t you have a preferred mortgage lender? How about furniture rental companies? Moving companies? Real estate attorneys?

Think about all the relationships you have with complimentary services. Ask those companies if they’d be interested in partnering with you on a blog. If you took three partners (say, a title company, a mortgage broker, and a furniture rental company) and shared the expense for your blog then you’d only be paying $100 per month for the same service.

There are a couple of ways a blog partnership can benefit you as a real estate agent or broker. You can establish a mortgage and real estate blog, or something similar, and divide your posts up evenly between you and your partners, but that’s only partially effective. A second way to handle the blog partnership opportunity is to ask your partners to sponsor your blog. You promise then a banner ad on your blog in a highly visible location and one post per week with in-text links to their website to help them promote their service.

By taking sponsors this way you can stay in control of your blog and help out your business partners by having them pay you for their sponsorship, which you then turn and use to pay for your ghostwriting service. But don’t cut your blog out of your real estate marketing plan completely.

Does Your Business Really Need A Blog?

Blog Content Provider has maintained for a couple of years now that businesses of shapes and sizes would benefit from having a company blog. But is it really necessary? Yes, in today’s dog-eat-dog Internet marketing culture you gain a significant edge by having a company blog.

The following article shares five ways to improve your company blog. Where necessary, we will discuss our own differences with the author, but by and large, Terry Philpott has some good suggestions here:

5 Tips to Improve Your Business Blog

By Terry Philpott

Do you have a business blog that seems to absorb all your efforts and still doesn’t perform up to your expectations? Many folks start a blog with the desire to make money online but often are guilty of misdirecting their efforts leading to frustration and a lack of success.

It is best when starting out to draw up a plan for your blog. It doesn’t have to be elaborate but you want to know where it’s headed. Do you want your blog to serve a specific niche? Should it address certain topics and stay away from others? What keywords will your blog focus on the most? It’s important to know as much about what you want your blog to do as possible so that you can measure the results and keep the blog moving in the right direction.

If this sounds like you let’s consider 5 points you may need to re-focus on to improve your results.

• Learn to give your readers with what it is they want or need. Many bloggers focus primarily making money and neglect the readers. Remember without readers THERE IS NO BLOG. Listen to their comments; in fact encourage them to leave comments. By responding and acting upon their concerns or needs you are creating an environment ‘tailor made’ for them. It was their input that guided the creation of this environment to begin with.

Don’t be afraid to take a reader poll and asking your readers what they want you to address through your blog. Getting your readers to interact with you is an important step in achieving your goals through the blog.

• If you don’t have anything to say in a post then don’t post. Feeling compelled to post every day or even multiple times daily could lessen the quality of your content. Emphasize QUALITY over QUANTITY when posting to your blog. If you post good quality content your readers will be willing to wait a day for it as oppose to reading shallow and pointless ramblings. If this occurs too often you can kiss your readers good-bye and say hello to a decrease in your blog traffic.

At Blog Content Provider, we are advocate of posting every day. The more often you post to your blog, the more likely you are to get the attention of the search engines and get more pages indexed and ranked. That translates into more traffic and readers. If you have trouble coming up with topics for your blog then you probably need to consider hiring a ghostwriter.

• Be careful to not become ‘anchored’ to your blogging duties. A blog is born out of the passion the blogger has for the blogging material itself. By investing an over abundance of time to your blog you run the risk of burning out. Push back from time to time to re-energize. Fresh, invigorating, and insightful blog posts are what the readers want and it would be difficult to deliver this if you’re overworked.

Again, a blog ghostwriter or consultant can help keep you focused and on track.

Business blogs are a fine balance between a blogger passionate about the topics they post on and a desire to make money online. It is important to remember you always need to put your reader’s FIRST. Introducing any aspect of your marketing strategy should be secondary to this.

• Conduct a blog search for sites that offer content related to yours. By visiting these sites you can pick up new ideas not only for your content but also for the blog layout itself. Also don’t be afraid to participate at these blogs by leaving a comment when appropriate. Leaving a comment that is useful, humorous, or insightful will catch the eyes of other participants. With a link back to your site in your signature file you can usually expect an increase in your blog traffic. Once again however your comments should appropriate!

We encourage bloggers to subscribe to a good number of RSS feeds from other blogs in their industry. Our ghostwriters subscribe to the influential blogs in the industries that they cover and will use trackback techniques and other blog writing tactics to draw attention to your blog. If you’re going to write your own blog then you should get familiar with these types of strategies as well.

• In addition to a blog search find forums and other online communities that contain niches within related to your blogging theme. Once again your participation and interaction at these sites can help you boost your blog traffic. This should be part of your overall marketing strategy due to the strength of networking.

Focusing on building relationships and building links is the way to keep your blog balanced between quality content and social media marketing.

Although a business blog is established for the purpose of making money online it is essential to remember the readers come first. They arrived at your site for the content not the merchandise. Your primary responsibility is to supply good quality content whether it’s informative, humorous, or insightful. Always set aside your blog marketing efforts until your readers needs have been met first.

We do not focus on making money. We focus on delivering quality content that will attract readers and deliver that traffic to your website where you will close the sale. It is important to think about your blog as a marketing tool and not a sales vehicle.

T.J Philpott is an author and Internet entrepreneur based out of North Carolina. For more information on succeeding in blog marketing and to receive a free guide that demonstrates how to find both profitable markets and products visit: http://blogbrawn.com

Sales is an important part of any business, but our experience has shown that most blogs are better equipped to be marketing tools, not sales tools. That’s why we take a long-term approach to blogging and not a short-term sell it now approach.

For more information on blog ghostwriting services that deliver targeted traffic, visit Blog Content Provider today.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Terry_Philpott

Note To Real Estate Agents: President Obama Says Keep Blogging!

The president’s economic stimulus package includes a provision for home owners to get a $15,000 tax break if they purchase a house this year:

(Source) The proposal would allow a tax credit of 10 percent of the value of new or existing residences, up to a $15,000 limit. Current law provides for a $7,500 tax break but only for first-time homebuyers.

If you are a real estate agent with a blog then you should keep your blog running. In fact, if you do business in the real estate sector at all, you should be blogging. Many people will take advantage of this tax credit. If they’ve been putting off purchasing a home until the economy recovers they are more likely to purchase that home now and take advantage of the tax credit. A blog will help you find those searchers who are looking for a home this year.

You know by now that most people start their search for a new home online. If they start searching in March for a home they plan to buy this summer, who are they going to find? You or your competition? A blog will give you an edge over the competition and those real estate agents and mortgage brokers savvy enough to tough it out this year will be the big winners. Keep blogging.

Run A Business? Why Not Start A Local News Blog?

Seth Godin is a genius. He thinks like I do.

A couple of weeks ago he wrote a blog post encouraging real estate agents to start a local newspaper online. Then he went on to say that anyone in any kind of business could do it. Of course, I’ve been saying the same thing for over a year now.

Seth’s idea is a good one. It’s really a community blog. We’ve got clients that run something similar in their communities. You can too. In fact, there are several ways that you can tap into your local market to gain more influence and to attract more customers. Here are a few ideas for you to ponder:

• Live in a tourist town? Start a blog telling tourists about places they can visit in your local area. Don’t just stick to the well known places. Also share ideas about out of the way places that most people don’t know about. A good example of this is the Gettysburg Pennsylvania Blog. Make sure that your readers know that you sponsor the blog and that you provide a link back to your business site.
• Sponsor a local charity blog. Approach a charity that you support and and ask them if they have a blog. If not, offer to sponsor the blog. Dedicate someone to write the blog daily or ask if the charity has someone who can do it. Either way, you can place your business logo on the blog as the sponsor. If neither your business nor the charity have someone who can write the blog, hire a ghostwriter to write it for you. Just make sure everyone in the community knows that your business sponsors the blog.
• Support a local little league or children’s organization. This is great if you have a child that plays baseball, soccer, or is in Cub Scouts. Check to see if the team has a blog. If not, start one and blog about the games during the season. Link back to your business website as the sponsor of the blog.
• Partner with a professional association in your area. If there are several other businesses in your area that target the same, or complimentary, market, start a joint blog and make sure a link back to your website is included in the sidebar or on the About page. Of course, the other partners will get a link too, but this type of blog shows that there is good will among your peers and you could see additional traffic from it (not to mention an inbound link or two)
• Write an activity blog. Join a local social club that is centered around a certain activity (ie racquetball, chess, Friday night card games, movie watching) and write about the group’s activities. Link back to your site as the sponsor

That’s only 5 ideas. I’m sure I could think of more (and so can you). These types of blog are called indirect marketing blogs. They appeal to a certain audience that might be segmented into your overall market. You build good will with your community by sponsoring these types of blogs and that’s great for PR, plus you never know what kind of business might come your way. On some of these blogs you could even sell advertising that pays for the expense and maintenance of the blog or the ghostwriting fees.

Welcome 2009 And President Obama

This is the first blog post for 2009. We took an extended break from blogging to Blog Content Provider as we are currently undergoing some internal restructuring. This will not affect any of our current or future customers. There will be no break in service and no diminishing of benefits. In fact, we are working on some plans that will strengthen the benefits for all of our customers. In the mean time, we welcome you to 2009 and we welcome our newly inaugurated president, Barack Hussein Obama, a man with real vision. We look forward to the next four years with hope and anticipation. Keep blogging and keep it real!