Good Information Articles

Jumpstart Your Blog: A Business Blogging Workout Regimen

Do you know what gym regulars call the surge of people who show up in January as part of a New Year's resolution?

Tourists.

The same could be true with the influx of businesses that join the blogosphere each and every day. Some join with the best of intentions. Others start a blog because someone from marketing twisted their arm. Still others were on a drunken bender and couldn?t find a tattoo shop, so they settled for starting a blog.

The fact is that because of lack of time, commitment, or a good strategy, the majority of these blogs fail. Later, when a prospect finds these abandoned blogs--either through a forgotten link on the company's Web site or a search engine result--they?re left with a negative impression of the company.

Don't let this happen to you! A blog is a terrible thing to waste. It does take time and commitment, but with a plan in place, your blog will increase your search engine visibility, establish your credibility, and provide more online leads than you can handle.

Here's a regimented workout that will help jumpstart a new or stalled business blog and prevent you from being just another tourist in the blogosphere.

(Please consult your physician before beginning any new blogging regimen, and always remember to stretch.)

Write Three Posts a Week

Once your blog has an established readership you may be able to cut back on your frequency, but to begin you should plan on writing three times a week. Schedule recurring blocks of time in your calendar so "urgent" but less important items don't prevent.

Posts can be of varying lengths and varying styles. Numbered lists, how-to articles and commentary on your or your customers' industries are proven winners.

To ensure that people can find your posts, use keyword-rich titles that will drive traffic from the search engines. ?Some Thoughts I Shared with HR? will never outperform ?Employee Retention: 10 Ways to Keep Star Performers Happy.?

Estimated Time: 2 hours/week.

Leave Two Comments a Week

One of the most important things you can do for the success of your blog is to network with other bloggers in your niche and become part of the community. This means reading and commenting on related blogs.

The comments you leave on other blogs create links back to your own blog. Although comment links rarely carry any search engine benefit, intelligent comments will attract notice from the blog owner and his or her readers, driving qualified leads to your own blog.

Estimated Time: 1 - 2 hours/week, including reading time.

Blog Popular Search Terms

Blog search engines like Icerocket and Technorati often display the most popular current search terms. If you can work a popular topic into a new post you place your blog in front of thousands of potential new readers.

Just make sure the topic is relevant to your business; while more visitors are nice, the goal here is to get prospects reading your blog. Working an American Idol reference into your blog on global commodities trading probably won?t bring you a lot of repeat visitors.

Estimated Time: 2 minutes/post.

Make It Easy for People Subscribe & Share

I?m always perplexed when I discover a blog that doesn?t offer an RSS feed, or relegates it to some dusty corner or to the bottom of the page. One of a blog?s biggest strengths is its ability to syndicate content. People can subscribe and receive new posts whether or not they?re at your blog.

Feedburner and Feedblitz are two services you can integrate into your blog that allows visitors to subscribe via RSS feed or email.

You should also leverage the current fascination with social media by adding appropriate bookmarking tools to the bottom of each post. Giving readers the ability to add your post to Digg, Facebook, Twitter, or any other social networking site with a single click increases the chance that they?ll spread the word about your blog.

Estimated Time: Less than 1 hour of setup time when you start your blog.

In Conclusion

An abandoned blog is a black eye for any business. A regularly updated, narrowly focused blog is a powerful magnet for search engines, new business, and journalists looking to speak with an industry expert.

By dedicating the time necessary to building a strong blog, you?ll have your investment returned to you a hundred times over in search engine visibility, new prospects and lower customer acquisition costs.

Rich Brooks is president and chief blogger at flyte new media, a Web design and Internet Marketing company. Download his free article, The 11 Biggest Mistakes Small Business Bloggers Make and build a better blog today.

Other Article Sites

findabook.com  moneycd.info  a-mortgage.info   about-lemon-laws.info  aboutstudentloans.info
all-about-publishing.info  auctions-articles.info  bestcollege-university.com  bestispconnection.com
biblefolder.com  blogger-website.com  books-used.info  brokers-guide.info  buywindows.info  cable-dsl.info
career-miner.com  carpel-tunnel.info  cashinaflash.info  cashloanreviews.info  casinobell.com  chat-house.info
clearmycredit.info  collegeloantips.info  crones.info  depression-articles.info   dirnic.net  dishguides.info
divers-below.com  expodog.info   financewizz.com  fire-insurance.info  getgood.info  handleit.net   it-idea.info
health-supplies.info  hosting-right.com  insidealert.com  insurance-facts.info  jobs-employment.info
justgood.info  lookgold.net   lowcost-travel.info  money-source.info  myhostzone.info  numisblog.com
peoplesearchfinder.info  pr-articles.info  realeas.com   refinancing-guides.info  spyware-remove.info
telelot.info  the-law.info   toppaid.info  travel-deals.info  travelcorrect.com  wedding-guide-site.com
your-blog.info  your-credit.info

MORE ARTICLES:

Sales of Children's Travel Bed Soar as Summer Travel Hits
Gentle Air has seen an increase in summer travel sales due to hotels at popular summer attractions charging high prices for rollaway beds and cots.

New Home Based Travel Businesses and Training Available for Retirees and Work-At-Home Parents
Affordable training is now being offered for those wishing to set up their own home based travel businesses. Program offers participants everything they need to get started quickly and affordably in this exciting market.

The Best Internet Connection For A Top Home Internet Business
When it comes to working at your home business one of the most important things you will need is internet access Having a fast and relatively error free Internet connection is imperative for a person to be successful in working at home

Internet Home Based Business : Legitimate Work at Home Jobs Opportunities and Advantages
There are many advantages involved in choosing an internet home based business as your primary or secondary source of income Use these benefits to find a legitimate work at home jobs that suits your needs and desires

Business & Family Safety and Health Rating
For good reason, practically every endeavor in life is rated. I've seen ratings on who or what's #1 in business, industry, NFL, NBA, MLB, person of the century, athlete of the century, technology, restaurants, university, neighborhoods, travel destination, best looking, best movie, best book, etc.

Families Mourning Children Travel to Nashville for July Compassionate Friends National Conference
The Compassionate Friends self-help support organization for families going through the natural grieving process following the death of a child is hosting its 31st national conference July 18-20 in Nashville, Tennessee. More than 1300 parents, siblings, and grandparents, as well as professionals who provide support, are expected to attend the conference. Highlights include well-known speakers, more than 100 workshops covering most aspects of grief following the death, a pre-conference Professional Outreach Day, and the Walk to Remember Sunday July 20 at 8 a.m. This conference is annually the largest in the United States aimed specifically for those left behind following the death of a child.

Home Internet Business Opportunities: Reinvent Your Family
Think about your daily job, daily responsibilities, time spent at meetings, driving your kids to this activity and that sporting event, meal planning and preparation, house cleaning, on and on with our grossly busy lives, and what time is left for our family? Do you really think that 9-5 JOB is the answer to all of our hopes and dreams? Do you really think it was our personal goal to spend the majority of our lives at work? When was the last time you saw your son/daughter play in that school volleyball game or run in their cross country meet? Isn?t it time to put your family first?

Work From Home - Online Resource Center for Home Based Online Jobs and Internet Based Business
Welcome to Work from Home?s ?an online guide and resource website to help you Start and grow your Home based Job and Business. Please note that we are only offering information on Work from Home Jobs and Business opportunities. We are not offering you a job or a business tie-up. Please read through the website as you will find valuable information and resources to start and grow your home based business. www.homebasedonlinejobs.com

Family Travel at its Finest - European Villa Rentals Perfect for the Whole Family
Parents can easily find family friendly villa rentals in Europe with Rentvillas.com.

Internet Based Business: How Single Parents Could Earn Extra Income For The Entire Family
Are you a single parent who has been trying to support your children on a single income? If you have been having so much trouble making both ends meet with your present income, you might want to earn some extra money by setting up an internet based business. A big family with children can be very expensive and you definitely will need to earn some extra money to keep everyone comfortable. Having some extra money could really do wonders for you and your small children so you better start exploring other means of getting extra money for your children through an internet based business.

Internet Marketing Business - Your Home Based Internet Marketing Business and the Freedom Attached with it
There are various reasons why there are many individuals who want to start their own home-based Internet marketing business. Some are saying that the amount of money that they are earning from Internet marketing is higher compared to their monthly salary from their regular work. It even comes to a point that they are earning money similar to or more than the salary of their managers and department heads! This is relatively true, since there are Internet marketers who are earning as much as a hundred thousands of dollars within a month.

Online Magazine is Home to the Best Travel Writing on the Internet
For the second year in a row, SoGoNow.com is the home to the best travel article written for the internet as judged by the North American Travel Journalist's Association.

Family Circus - Make Time For Family With An Internet Business
Sometimes, it seems like you don?t have a full 24 hours in a day. Between work, family, and sleep, there is no time for anything else. You never seem to have five minutes to relax, and on days when work requires overtime, you lose time with your family. In fact, it seems you never spend quality time with your children anymore. One way to get your life back under your control and manage time better is to start your own internet business. With an online business opportunity, you can decrease your work hours overall, as well as become more flexible and available for your family.

Low-Income Families in Portland Will Soon Have Free Broadband Internet at Home
Cricket Will Provide Free High-Speed Wireless Internet to 100 Portland Families in Pilot Program with One Economy