SpunkeBusiness - Complete Online Marketing Solutions for Your Business

30 Topic Ideas for Your Business Blog

SpunkeBusiness — Sat, 26 May 2012 08:38:31 +0000

Writing a blog for your business is a powerful strategy to attract traffic online, to add value and to build trust with your target audience. If you ever experience writer’s block, using the below list of blog topic ideas should get you going! With a little bit of research online on your topic and a quick brainstorming session, you should have a short, relevant and interesting article ready to post on your business blog!

30 Topic Ideas for Your Business Blog

Write a ‘How-To’ article or step-by-step tutorial
Share your top tips for a particular situation or problem
Write about your customers needs and frustrations. Show that you understand them, and offer solutions and advice for specific problems.
Review a book, magazine article or other blog post and share your opinion
Survey your customers and report the results
Share the stories of your business start-up or business growth
Share the values, passions and purpose behind your business brand
Interview an expert in your industry and post about the interview answers and experience
Review or create a video, share it on your blog and add comments
Write about businesses or people who inspire you
Draw a parallel between your business and something else (a sport, an event, a celebrity, music, food, animal, anything!) – everyone loves a good analogy!
Blog about a particular customer experience or case-study (highlight how your business helped them and include a testimonial!)
Write about your future projects, and your vision for growth
Report on your successes and results. Share positive results when you reach milestones or when you
Blog about your sales and special offers (in moderation!)
Share the best resources you use for your business or resources you recommend for your customers.
Write about the ‘ugly truth’, report on ‘common mistakes’ or expose lies or myths about your industry. Invite your visitors on the dark side, but remember to finish on a positive note by offering advice or solutions.
Write about events or conferences you attended or organised.
Re-write or combine old posts with fresh ideas. Never let old content go to waste!
Have a rant about something. Go on let it out every now and again!
Invite a guest blogger. Easy!
Reflect on a quote, a proverb or common belief. Challenge some schools of thought and share the ways in which you feel these known principles should be used.
Blog about your products and services and how to make the most of them. But remember to keep your sales pitches to your sales pages!
Blog about your ideas for new products or services. A great idea to take the pulse of your customers and ask for their suggestions and input!
Blog about a specific question you want to ask your customers. Include a survey, and don’t forget to ask them to answer your question and leave a comment.
Share a mistake you made or something you learned the ‘hard way’, and tell how you made it right or broke through
Introduce your staff, stakeholders, sponsors, charities, or other business partners.
Express some gratitude. Write about the things you love and are thankful for about your business, your customers, your industry, or your resources. Share some love!
React to and share your opinions about popular news from your industry. Tell them what you really think!
Blog about a typical day in your life, or the life of your business. Share what happens behind the scenes!

Don’t forget to optimise your blog posts (using inbound links and relevant keywords), to post regularly, and to share your posts with your social media networks and email subscribers!

Tips For Using Video Marketing To Promote Your Small Business Online

SpunkeBusiness — Sun, 13 May 2012 00:11:00 +0000

Steve Garfield is an authority on using video in your social media campaigns (video marketing) … here are some tips and a short video by Steve. If you are set up for social media in your small business (it should form part of your internet marketing strategy), you should be integrating video marketing into your routine… it increases the effectiveness of social media marketing for small business by 70 – 80%.

Takeaways from Steve’s video and some Spunky suggestions:

The WHY:

Video marketing is more compelling than flat text
Video marketing is more personal than text
Video marketing entices interaction at a greater rate than text
Video
is quick and immediate to generate (with the right tools)

The WHAT:

Day to day goings on in your business (processes, social events etc)
Business events (parties, promotions etc)
Interview staff members
Interview people at trade shows, exhibitions

The HOW:

Use a simple device such as iphone or hand held camera
Ensure HD capability
External audio jack is available for iphone (called Irig Mic)
Look for portable device with basic editing ability and ability to upload directly to Youtube. (iphone is no.1 pic at the moment)

What next:

Upload your video to your Youtube business account

Embed in onto your blog

Put your video wherever you are wanting to build a community or a following.

Consider Google+ because not many people are using Google+ for video yet..

Want to use this article on your website or blog?

You can, as long as you include the full bio and link below:

Justine Simard and Juli Parker are the founders of SpunkeBusiness, a company dedicated to helping small business owners build an online presence. By using simple, practical and effective online strategies, SpunkeBusiness offers a streamlined and ‘no-fluff’ approach that produces results for entrepreneurs, small business and online businesses alike. For more articles and online business resources, visit www.SpunkeBusiness.com

Don’t forget to share and ‘Like’ this post, and share your thoughts and ideas by leaving us a comment!

Taking Traditional Business Online – Concerns And Solutions

SpunkeBusiness — Tue, 01 May 2012 13:07:23 +0000

We liase with small business owners every day here at ‘SpunkeBusiness’ and there are a few recurring questions we encounter…

Q “Look, I’ve been putting this Internet stuff off for a while now… I’m really not sure how it’s going to fit….”

A. “The ‘Internet stuff’ will fit around your existing business operation. Designate the time you or a staff member can allocate to the online component of your business… then establish a budget and go from there”. Your online marketing budget will determine the nature and breadth of your online campaign (social media, content marketing)… and the time you have to dedicate will determine the scope of your campaign. You may have time to dedicate to multiple online strategies (PPC, social media, SEO) or you may wish to focus only on one.

Check Our Our Free Business Masterplan to determine how the Internet might fit your business… Click Here

Q. “I have Google Places page… why do I need a website?”

A. “Simple… because a GP page is limited and if someone is searching for your type of business and you return a GP page whereas your competitor returns a website (even basic will do) that has product images, a couple of testimonials, the ability to make

a quick enquiry or even to purchase off their site, then you have just lost that simple marketing battle. Everyone in any business will need a website in the next 18 months.. it’s akin to the old yellow pages or print media campaign.. and it’s so affordable”

Check our affordable packages - Click Here

Q. “I don’t have the time..”

A. “Do you have the time to open your store in the morning and put your old ‘A-frame’ out front? Well, updating your Facebook business page or sending an email blast about your latest promotion is going to be that important soon. It takes 20 minutes and reaches thousands.. do thousands of people walk into your shop every day? No I didn’t think so!” We can automate much of the process for

you, especially regarding email marketing and social media… It’s not that difficult; it’s just a mind shift for many traditional business owners. We have been traditional business owners and understand the juggle, but in terms ofreturn on your time and dollar investment, online strategies are truly exciting”.

Q. “I had a website ‘made’ for the business, but now I don’t know what to do with it… it just sits there.”

A. [perhaps our most common feedback]… “This is common; many web design companies (not all), will build you a website and provide little or no training around how to market your website, upload new content and operate the ‘dashboard’. Without some basic marketing, your website is pretty useless really unless someone is searching on your business nam

e. You need to be found on Google page 1, particularly locally, for your niche search terms.. So either enlist a professional to create a simple online marketing strategy for you or have someone provide training so that you can do your own marketing and ’drive’ your website yourself. if you’re happy with your website, you just need to learn how to make it work for you. If you bought a cheap website, it’s highly likely that it is not going to be ‘optimised’ for search engine success and this may need tweaking also. All of this is simple so get the required help to make it happen.

Q. “We’re doing Facebook and blogging, but we aren’t getting the results we expected..”

A. “Firstly social media marketing (Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+ etc) is a longer term strategy that should be part of a broader online campaign… don’t rely on it as your sole generator of leads. In saying that, we would suggest checking your website SEO to make sure Google can find you on your business search terms. It is one thing to have a website, but another to ensure it is easily found by search engines. Ensure such things as keyword rich meta data, appropriate plugins and automation.

Secondly, how are you using Facebook? Ensure you are providing niche specific value and/or entertainment (tips, hints, social photos) not just promotional or salesy stuff all the time. Same applies to blogging. Download our Fre.e social media Spunke Guides HERE!

With your blogging, there are technical tips here such as interlinking your posts and pages using keywords as your anchor text. If this is ‘double dutch’ to you, then drop us an email and we can train you around any of this…”

Q. “It seems like there is just so much to do with this Internet stuff; it’s like running another business… it needs to be easier”

A. “How automated are your online processes? You can inexpensively outsource or automate everything from creating your blog posts and Facebook updates to disseminating your material to thousands. We have excellent packages that take care of this for clients but we can also suggest plugins and cheap third party platforms that you can configure yourself that will send your blog posts and FB updates out into the stratosphere for you with the push of one button… Just ask!

Are you using the incredible power of email marketing. You can automate a series of emails to go out to your database, send impromptu broadcasts and so much more… with a crazy $42 return on every $1 spent, email marketing must be part of your marketing strategy moving forward…”

So there are some of the common conversations we have. We will continue to share these with you and hope it assists. For answers to your questions, just drop us an email and we will happily assist without obligation.

The Future Of Marketing For Small to Medium Traditional Business

SpunkeBusiness — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 12:48:42 +0000

In case you hadn’t noticed, a marketing revolution has occurred and the landscape for small to medium enterprises (SME’s) has changed forever. SME’s now have the opportunity, if they grasp it, to compete both on a level playing field with their industry leaders and also on a global scale.

Why get online?

The Internet has made it cost effective to implement online marketing strategies that can have dramatic and long term impact. And this new landscape is not going away… it is here to stay and is thriving. Those who thought Internet marketing and social media were a ‘flash in the pan’ and that if they just ignored it, it would all go away, are clearly wrong and are jeopardising their business future.

Free Online Masterplan - Click Image

The advent of android phones and Google search has meant that the way people find information about products, services and businesses they are interested in has changed…

Search engines and social media portals such as Facebook and Google+ have recognised the opportunity and demand of local online marketing. Let’s face it, 80% of any business’ custom comes from within 8-10 kms from their store location. Other interesting facts include:

73% of all online activity is related to local content (Google)
82% of local searchers follow up with a phone call or show up on your doorstep (TMP/comScore)
66% of Americans use local search to find local businesses (comScore). Other countries are probably little different.

Developing an online marketing strategy for your traditional business and an aligned local and/or global social media strategy is one of the most important steps you can take to ‘future proof’ your business moving forward from 2012. It is imperative that you take a multi platform approach to marketing your business in 2012… do you have an online marketing strategy and a social media plan for your traditional business?

Educate yourself using our freebie resources!

Want to use this article on your website or blog?

You can, as long as you include the full bio and link below:

Don’t forget to share and ‘Like’ this post, and share your thoughts and ideas by leaving us a comment!

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