Archive for October, 2009

Monday, October 19th, 2009  |  Author By sweably
online business marketing
Manoj Kumar asked:


When you enter into an online business, there is not doubt that you have to set aside a budget for advertising. However, not all forms of advertising are necessarily going to cost you a boat load of money just to get started. If you are seeking a new and improved method of advertising your online business, looking into effective business blogging can bring you the revenue that you would normally spend for advertising.

Statistically speaking, business blogging is the fastest growing form of online advertising, and the key is that there aren’t any catchy words to toss out, no copy and paste data entry to deal with, and no fees for competing with the pay-per-click advertisers that make thousands off of your internet marketing efforts. Effective business blogging is as simple as you want to make it and often more effective than pay-per-click experiences. There are more effective business blogging campaigns out there (80,000 blogs that show up on the internet every twenty four hours and well over 50 blog enthusiasts) which means that you have a wide audience to cast a huge and authentic net.

Effective business blogging allows you the perfect opportunity to open up a dialog with your potential clients or business associates before they invest in your word. Developing trust and authentic relationships can take a little time, but once the trust had been established your business is likely to grow faster than you ever thought possible. Effective business blogging provides a forum for all parties to provide feedback and commentary to help you develop better business skills and offer the services or enhancements that will effectively help your business take off.

Effective business blogging also helps you develop a strong community of supporters. Bloggers are loyal people who tend to run toward their favorites and away from their least favorites, a simple human element that is alive and well in the blogging community. When you treat the blogging world with respect, the bloggers in return recommend your site, product, or services to others.

Effective business blogging means dropping the advertising campaigns. Blogs are the perfect backdrop to talk to potential clients or associates without selling them on your business. Give readers something of value to hold in their brains or their hearts and you will be fully aware of just how much buying power rests in the blogging community.

By combining the power of RRS feeds, keyword phrases, and effective business blogging all on one blog site, your business is placed in the most effective position to reap the benefits and financial rewards associated with the most effective business blogging. Test your blogs in several different venues and make sure that you educate yourself on the basics of effective business blogging. Unfortunately, one poor post can have a residual effect, but one good post is also likely to have a residual effect. Learn all that you can about the rules, as well as the unwritten rules, of effective business blogging in order to play on the same field as everyone else. This simple step can save you thousands in one costly error.

When you are ready to set up your own blog, follow the basic guidelines below in order to promote your business and receive the ultimate benefits of effective business blogging.

Start with interesting topics that allow you to integrate you blog design into your company. This isn’t that hard, just a little forethought (perhaps a template) and some creative help on the side if you choose can bring your new blog into the limelight faster. Always make sure you cover your legal ramifications and post disclaimers that refute your liability for content and the opinions of others and any harm that could come of inappropriate posts. This is a simple step that all effective business blogging should have just to make sure they don’t end up with a silly little legal hang up that can drive you under.

Always set the standard by posting your own terms of use and policies. You are permitted to set up basic limitations and offer content control. You also reserve the right to remove any offensive material.

Use your business blog as a forum, and don’t work too hard on the sales end of effective business blogging. Selling to your readers is an immediate turn off, as we are all bombarded with commercialism way too fast and hard these days.

Always update your business blog on a regular basis and research your new and improved content in order to keep your business blog interesting for your audience. Avoid bland talk about products and the superiority of your business.

If you have people who work for you, encourage or even mandate that all company employees use business blogging to enhance their own sector. For large companies, this can improve business morale and function and for small companies this can effectively help the business grow. Blog the first fifteen to twenty five posts prior to sending your effective business blog out into the marketing end. This makes it look more complete and offers readers a chance to integrate their thoughts on more than just one or two posts.



Friday, October 2nd, 2009  |  Author By sweably
online business marketing
Mark Walters asked:


There are many third party products that help online business owners maximize their website’s pre-selling marketing campaign. When these are added to a website, it is important to observe a few guidelines.

First, make sure they are not designed to steal users. Each should be a support tool for the website - not their own advertising website. They should not ask users to sign up for a third-party newsletter, or register in their community.

Second, always add the HTML code so that the website opens in a new window. This is easily done. All the code you will ever need is available in easy to follow tutorials at http://www.w3schools.com/html/default.asp If you do not understand this tutorial, then there is an easy-to-follow tutorial at http://www.goldcoastwebdesigns.com/8.shtml#a

One example of a resource that might be useful is a directory. This company offers a directory hosting service http://www.adpages.com/welcome.html This would be a great third-party tool for an online business that focused on the local entertainment scene, or a regional dating site.

Another resource would be the newsletter creation tool at www.amazines.com.

Professional web hosting sites have dozens of scripts available, and are often cheaper than the local sites. For example, www.siteground.com offers professional hosting for only $70 USD a year. Your hosting service will come with Content Management System software, newsletter, mailing lists, auto transponders, web analytics software, life chat support software, shopping carts, FAQ (facts and questions), polls and surveys, mailing lists, wiki, classifieds, auction scripts, and even a template wizard for people who want a quick ‘fill in the form’ website.

Another way to add webmaster tools to your online business is through a service like http://www.webpasties.com/overview.html For a nominal fee of $8 USD a month, you can add great tools for any site that wants to have chats, workshops, or other online events.

Podcasts - Podcasts, streaming audio feed, are fast becoming one of the #1 sticky sites. Some websites use them to offer audio tutorials. Others run full time radio stations from their sites. Podcasting is not easy, and it is not for the faint of heart. But, if you have the guts to try something new, visit this site: http://www.podcastingnews.com/

Flash Animation - Have $25 and the time to learn how to make flash animation for your site? http://www.mix-fx.com/ is one of the many software packages that are easy to use.

Video Streaming - You’ve seen those videos on myspace. You can make your own web videos. OR, if you don’t have a video camera or a flash generator, you can turn a PowerPoint presentation into a very flashy web video - audio included. These can be used as presentations, introductions, tutorials, and even invitations.

Web Seminars - These are usually 1 hour chats that take place via java script chat software, much like MSN messenger. They can also take place via teleconferencing. Some free services like http://www.freeconference.com/ are great for newbies to get their feet wet and learn the basics without wasting their money.

RSS Feeds - Whether you want to add the daily blog from a famous actor, a lecture series from a Harvard professor, the blog of a famous singer - you can find it in text to add to your website, or a podcast at http://www.feedster.com/ is popular but http://www.syndic8.com/ is easier to use. Syndic8.com will also hook you up with all the main social networking directories. Just use the links in the left hand column.

This content appears on your website. Of course, the free services have a link back to their site.

If you have great content, and want to capture other website’s visitors, then burn your own blog into a feed that other websites can publish and then submit it to syndic8.com, http://www.2rss.com/, and other ‘find feed’ sites. The best, and only feed burner to consider is www.feedburner.com - it has everything you need to customize, optimize, and track the performance of your feed.

Directories - There are millions of directories on the web. Directories for niche websites, newsletters, podcasts, courses, tutorials, stores, auction sites. If you can think of it, someone has already made a directory. All online business owners should submit to the search engines, but they should also set aside a couple hours each week, or month, to submit to these directories.

Polls and Surveys - These are the most overlooked and under-rated tools on the Internet. Businesses pay marketing companies tens of thousands of dollars to run marketing surveys just to learn the same information they could find if they posted a few polls on their website