Business Blogs: How to Build A Better Blog

The Blog Squad Makes the Lists: Most Influential Women and Coolest Social Media Marketers, too!

2008-10-13T14:40:11-07:00

Congratulations are in order... we're on two lists of coolest and most influential social media marketers, plus we've been nominated for Best Blog about Blogging by The Bloggers Choice Awards.

Excuse me, while I reach over my shoulder and pat our Blog Squad back...and I'm throwin' in a little fist pump there too. Whoo-hah! Always nice to be recognized for our online efforts especially coming from two extraordinary professionals who are pretty top-notch themselves, Lorrie Morgan Ferrero and Ron Hudson.

First, Lorrie posted over on her Red Hot Blog her list Lo’s TOP 50 COOLEST Marketers, where we were on a list of 8 others in the category of Social Networking, in good company.
1. Nancy Marmolejo
2. Mari Smith
3. Sandy Grason
4. Patsi Krakoff and Denise Wakeman

Then Ron Hudson wrote some very nice things for his post about 50 of the Most Powerful and Influential Women in Social Media:

In every industry there are a few people who are inarguably outstanding at what they do. In addition to that, they are typically charismatic, energetic, and creative. In an effort to find some of these people I asked my twitter friends to nominate people who they thought were some of the most powerful and influential women in Social Media.

Ms. Denise finds herself solidly nominated at number 18 by Twitter fans:

18. Denise Wakeman | www.buildabetterblog.com
Rank 219,482 | Linking in 322

Ron Hudson used Alexa ranking to validate and put nominees in order on the list.

Finally, be sure to click on the badge in the upper left corner of this blog to vote for our BuildaBetterBlog.com at Blogger's Choice for Best Blog about Blogging... Your vote will be appreciated and I'll buy you a cup of coffee someday soon, I promise.

5 Blaring Mistakes NOT to Make on Your Business Blogs

2008-10-13T08:43:10-07:00

The Blog Squad is steaming mad. Folks, I hate to be negative, but when I see such blaring mistakes on blogs, I hear fingernails scraping on a blackboard. In the words of Charlie Brown, ARGHHHHHH!

Puhleeeze, do not do these things to your blog. There otta be a Board where I can report Cruelty to Readers.

I'm not going to embarrass you by naming names. You know who you are. Let's just review these mistakes and correct them before I get nasty though ...you've been warned.

Here's the latest fad in business blogging no-no's:

Poorly named blog that doesn't adequately describe what it's about
No authors name viewable right off the bat so readers know who's talking to them
Poorly written About page, which doesn't explain why the author has expertise or why we should believe anything they say...or care
Author or company-centric content, all about their products and services, nothing about readers or clients' needs or wants
No way to subscribe to get email updates (on second thought, maybe this is a good thing...)

Actually, The Blog Squad would never tell you, for example, your blog stinks. Instead, we'll give you help and even tell you how to fix things. Blogs are so easy to fix anyway.

So here's the flip side of this post...

5 Really Neat Things to Do on Your Business Blog:

Name your blog so it makes sense to readers, so they can recognize what it's about and what they'll be learning
Put your name up in the banner, in the tag line right after the title, and identify your expertise
Tell your real story on your About page, in the 1st person, and be as authentic and profound as you can be; connect with readers on an emotional level, by telling why you're so passionate about this
Be sure to have a conversation with readers, include them in your thoughts, and ask them questions; encourage them to participate and comment
Be sure to remind readers occasionally they can subscribe to get email updates and point out your subscription form in the upper corners of your blog

That's it. Simple, isn't it? I see many of you are already doing this, and this is a very good thing.

(Otherwise, on my next swoop through the Blogosphere, I may have to come down and pay you a visit...)

If you want some thorough help for your blog, there are several kind and nice ways to get it:

We can do a video blog critique.
Or we also have a 30 day blog makeover coaching program .

Let us know how we can serve you.

Ghost Town Movie Highlignts Theme of New Blog: Nobody's Dead

2008-10-08T13:00:00-07:00

Ricky Gervais is a very funny guy, even when he plays a crabby dentist who hates people. I loved this movie: Ghost Town. It's a comedy about "seeing dead people," and it brings together an odd mixture of thoughts about people, death, forgiveness, and love.

Here's a blog about dead people worth investigating: Nobody's Dead is the blog of intuitive counselor Suzy Morgan of San Diego. Denise and I had the pleasure of setting up Suzy's blog and getting her launched in the Blogosphere.

Suzy saw Ghost Town recently at says this: "We all need to be reminded of now and then that:

• What goes around, comes around.

• How you treat others is how they treat you

• Love is the answer to everything.

"And from my viewpoint as a Medium, it's love that you're left with. It's love that can change anything, even the dead. "

Be sure to read Suzy's story at the top of the blog about how and why she got involved with angels and channeling people. Regardless of your beliefs about this topic, everyone has to deal with the deaths of loved ones, and many report unusual experiences at the time.

Suzy says, "My intention for this blog is to share with you what I have channeled with the "dead". Hopefully it will inspire others to share their personal experiences as well."

She invites you to subscribe to her blog Nobody's Dead, and share your stories in the comments section.

Blog Content: Where do you find it?

2008-10-07T09:00:26-07:00

During our recent contest asking "what's your biggest blogging challenge?" several people mentioned their challenge with finding enough content to write about. This seems to be a bigger challenge with new bloggers who may not have developed "blog antennae" yet. Here's one comment we got from Joanne Hunold of Overwhelming Success for Solopreneurs:

Coming up with timely, relevant (to my target market) and informative posts on a consistent basis. I have a new blog that needs content, and until I am more established, do not want to use guest posts. So my biggest challenge now is to create many posts in a short period of time; and I am finding I don't have a lot of ideas for post topics.

Honing your blog antennae requires a little time. First, set up Google alerts with keywords on your topic/niche. You'll probably get tons of ideas from that alone.

Second, read other blogs in your niche. What are your colleagues writing about? How can you spin the content into your own viewpoint. Do a search on Technorati.com or Six Apart's new Blogs.com.

Finally, use your email as a source. As a professional or business person, no doubt you get a lot of email from clients and customers. Write Q&A posts (as long as you don't reveal client details). It's a good bet that if one person has a question, there are others who want to know the same thing.

Here are a couple of previous blog posts that may help as well:
Blog Content Ideas: What's the best source?
Writing Blog Content
Google Trends Can Help You Find Blog Content

Wordle: What do you write about?

2008-10-03T09:20:02-07:00

When I saw a wordle on Writing on the Web, I just had to do one for this blog too. It's actually a good test to see if the writing on your blog is really focused on the stated topic of your blog. Wordle creates a "word cloud" of the most commonly used words on your blog. This tool functions like TweetStats, which gives you a "cloud" of the most words you tweet about.

Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes.

Here's the Wordle for Build a Better Blog:
Good to see "business" and "blog" are prominent! What are your blog's prominent words? Do they match the intended focus of your blog?

Internet Usage: The Affluent Spend the Most Time Online

2008-10-03T06:46:37-07:00

Affluent people hang out on the Internet more often and for longer, according to research by Ipsos Mendelsohn and reported by eMarketer.com.

There's a strong link between income and Web time.

Among US affluent heads of household surveyed, those with annual household incomes of $250,000 and over spend the most time online, according to a study conducted from March through July 2008.

The researcher found that the average number of hours logged weekly increased with income, and that users in the top income tier spent nearly 6 more hours online per week than those whose incomes ranged from $100,000 to $150,000.

What does this mean to bloggers? If you're using your blog for business, your target audience has money. When's the last time you asked them to buy something?

Not sure how to do this? Remember, your first job is to educate, entertain and engage readers. Create relationships with your readers. Then make it possible for them to get something from you, either for free, or for a small fee.

Pave the way first. Be sure to read our posts about calls to action in blogging:

5 Call to Action Tips for Business Bloggers: how to get blog readers to become clients
7 Super Triggers to Get Readers into Action

Blogging Challenge Contest: Getting Readers to Comment

2008-10-01T16:42:17-07:00

This past week we ran a contest on The Blog Squad Fan Page on Facebook. We asked: What's Your Biggest Blogging Challenge?

30% of the respondents cited in one way or another that getting readers to comment was their biggest challenge.

And that's exactly what our winning blogger wrote as well.

The contest winner is Lisa Braithwaite, a public speaking coach who writes on Speak Schmeak. Congratulations! Check out Lisa's blog. She writes good stuff about how to be a better public speaker and uses story and metaphor well to illustrate her points. And please, comment on her blog!

Here's what Lisa submitted to the contest:

My biggest challenge is probably encouraging my readers to comment. I know they're out there, but only a few leave comments.

First, understand that only about 1% of blog readers will ever comment.

That being said, there are ways to encourage comments.

We addressed the interaction issue today in a teleseminar on Call to Action for the Master Business Building Club and in a blog post a few days ago.

First, you've got to ask.

You've got to ask your readers to comment, give their opinion, give you feedback, submit their ideas. Then, you have to tell them what to do: click on the comment link below to tell me your biggest blogging challenge.

Actually, before you ask, you have to write compelling content that is relevant to your readers. How do you know what's relevant?

Run a poll
Ask your readers what they want from you
Do a survey
Run a contest

Use the responses you get to create more content that your readers want.

Write your posts with your readers in mind. Remember the 4 Es (watch this video). And keep whenever possible write in a way that appeals to basic human needs:

1. The three greatest human goals: to make or save time, effort or money
2. The three greatest human desires: lust, greed or comfort
3. The three greatest human teasers: curiosity, scarcity or controversy

Finally, I encourage you to read and comment on OTHER blogs. This is what we call Outreach. Not only can it drive more traffic to your blog, but when you participate, you're modeling to others how they can participate too.

Do you have tips for getting readers to comment and engage with you? Please click the Comment link below and share your tips!

Blogging Class: Call to Action

2008-09-30T16:13:52-07:00

Our next business blogging class is on Wednesday. I created a video postcard for you...

http://tinyurl.com/blogclass

Join me and Patsi, for a free* 60-minute expert blog training session focused on how to get your blog readers to take action so you can get more clients and make more money!

The training session is on Wednesday, October 1 at 10:00 a.m. Pacific (1 p.m. ET).

Get the details on the video...

http://tinyurl.com/blogclass

*Free for members of The Master Business Building Club. You get a 30-day free trial when you join so you can attend this class + get access to all previous training programs and a whole lot more cool resources.

Andy Wibbels Shows off Blogs.com

2008-09-30T08:21:00-07:00

At BlogWorld Expo I had a chance to talk with Andy Wibbels, currently working at Six Apart. Andy told us about his latest project at Six Apart - blogs.com - a human edited "best of blogs" site. Currently they have over 1100 handpicked blogs.Check it out. And be sure to submit your blog if you think it's one of the best in your niche!

5 Call to Action Tips for Business Bloggers: how to get blog readers to become clients

2008-09-29T16:04:48-07:00

When it comes to using calls to action on your business blog, we suggest you continuously throw them out there to your readers. Here are 5 ways to include calls to action in your posts.

With business blogging, the call to action is an ongoing process and a style of blog writing. Usually copywriters use a call to action to get you to buy something. But for business blog writing, the call to action is much more subtle and complex.

It includes:

Building trust and rapport with your readers - write in a conversational tone, as if you are writing an email to your favorite client. Share a few personal things to build that connection.
Engaging your readers in conversation and interaction with you – ask readers to hit the comment link and share or answer a question.

You also do this by inviting them to think about how they would approach a problem or solution. Readers aren’t going to bother to leave comments unless you stimulate or inspire them beyond just educating them.

3. Reminding readers what business you’re in– this reassures people you know what you’re talking about.

4. Telling them how they can work with you- you are doing your readers a disservice NOT to let them know how you can help them.

5. Asking them to buy products, services or affiliate products It’s surprising how many professionals imply this instead of coming out and asking for business.

The more you can get readers to interact and take action, whether it is to vote in a poll, submit a comment, or request something from you, the more that brings them further into your world and one step closer to becoming a customer or client.

Want to learn more about effective business blogging and using a call to action? Here's our Call to Action: We hope you'll join us.

Master Business Building Club
Monthly expert blogging teleseminar with The Blog Squad™

Call to Action for Better Business Blogging
Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2008 - 7 a.m. ET, 10 am. PT

Join the MBBC Club and get a 30-day free trial, attend our monthly blogging classes plus many more programs with business development experts.