All Entries in the "Blog Hosting" Category
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.
Should You Host Your Company Blog On Blogspot?
I am still amazed to see businesses setting up their company blog on Blogspot. I would not use a free host of any kind (Blogspot, WordPress.com, Typepad, etc.) for my business blog. The reasons are numerous
- If you don’t own the domain name then you are at someone else’s mercy
- The costs for setting up a blog are too minimal
- You can have a well optimized business blog on your own domain name for less than the cost of a single sale in most industries
- WordPress standalone software is free and easy to use
- Having your own domain name is beneficial for a number of reasons, one of which is its resell value
- Control, control, control
- Owning your own domain name looks more professional
- You can design your own company blog with unlimited possibilities
- WordPress plugins allow you to expand your marketing options with a standalone blog
These are just a few of the reasons why you want to own your own domain name and put your company blog on that domain. Blogspot may be good for a personal blog, but I would not use it for a business blog.
Learn more about blog hosting here.
4 Ways To Make Money Online Without A Website
Did you know you can make money online without a website? Yes, without a blog too. And I can teach you how. Tune in today to BlogTalkRadio when Chris McElroy interviews Allen Taylor on 4 ways to make money online without a website. The show airs at 3 p.m. today.
While you don’t need to own a website or blog to do make money these four different ways, you can still use blogging to promote all four. You’ll have to use a free blog host like Blogger.com, which I usually don’t recommend. But you can do it.
Even without a blog, though, you can make money in these four ways that I’ll talk about today at 3 p.m. No website necessary. No blog necessary. Just use what you have right now and you can make money on the Internet. You don’t even need a computer. You can go to the local library and use free public computers to make money online. I’ll show you how today at 3 p.m. on BlogTalkRadio. Click the link below for the address, and if you can’t make it today at 3 p.m., listen to the archive.
Use A Blog To Market Your Business
Some of this advice is pedestrian and I’ll tell you which ideas presented are just that. But it is the same advice that we’ve been giving our customers for years.
How a Blog Can Be Used For Internet Marketing
Did you know that blogging can actually increase your sales? It’s true! Blogging is an effective internet marketing technique than can increase interest in your business and bring in more sales because it helps to broaden your audience with very little effort.
Creating a blog either on another page of your website or using one of the free blog hosts like WordPress or Blogger allows you to speak more casually about topics related to your business. A blog is a more personal medium in which you can write, post pictures or videos of things that would be of interest or amusement to your potential customers. By including regular links to your site and products as well as a few posts specifically about your business, you are able to peak people’s curiosity and interest and give them easy access to your business.
This is the pedestrian part. You really want your own domain name. You don’t want a blog on a free host. There are several reasons why.
First, if you own the property then you control the property. No one can kick you off.
Secondly, you can have more influence on the neighborhood. The free blog hosts have a bad reputation for attracting spammers. By hosting your blog on the same servers as these spammers, you will get a similar reputation. Online, you are who you run with. But if you host your blog on a server where you know there are no spammers then you’ll get much better search engine results.
I’d never tell anyone to host their blog on a free host. A domain name only costs $10 per year. If you can’t afford that then you shouldn’t have a blog.
Examples of interesting things that you can blog about in order to utilize your blog as an internet marketing tool include: funny news about your industry, your products, reviews of sites that are related to your business (not your competitors!), news about new products to look out for, etc.
You can take the opportunity to post pictures of your products or upload personal videos about your company. Remember that your posts should be light, easy to read and informative, and again; sprinkled with links to your main website so that you are making the most of this easy internet marketing technique.
We use these strategies all the time for our clients and they work. Use your blog as a marketing tool and you’ll quite surprised by the results.
While blogging may be quite easy, far less technical and require less work than some other internet marketing techniques, you need to remember that it is still work. As with any other venture you embark on; the more effort you put in and the more time you invest; the bigger the pay off. Updating regularly and keeping your blog as fresh and interesting as possible is a must if you want to succeed. Also, make sure to use all of the same keywords for SEO purposes that you do with your website to help you as well.
If you are serious about making money online, I suggest you to check out The Golden Thread by Michael Cheney at http://www.thegoldenthreadreviews.com/
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Fransesco_Ronnie
Blogging is a powerful way to market your business online. Every time you post a blog post you add new content to your website and build new links. Both of these provide SEO benefits and you’ll be inviting the search engines back to your website to crawl it every time you post a new blog post.
For more information on how you can get a company blog, visit Blog Content Provider.
