Blog To Great Feed

GREAT BY CHOICE, How Your Company and Blog Can Thrive

2011-10-10T14:18:59-04:00

Ten years after the worldwide bestseller "Good to Great, " author Jim Collins returns with another groundbreaking work, GREAT BY CHOICE. And this time he asks: why do some companies thrive in uncertainty, even chaos, and others do not?

His new work is based on nine years of research, buttressed by rigorous analysis and infused with engaging stories, Collins and his colleague Morten Hansen enumerate the principles for building a truly great enterprise in unpredictable, tumultuous and fast-moving times. This book is classic Collins: contrarian, data-driven and uplifting.

Read it ASAP !

The Blog is Dead, Long Live the Blog

2011-02-24T18:21:07-05:00

Another post on the continuing saga on the "death of the blog" from Media Post. This one looks at the full implication of recent research-

It looks, thankfully, that reports that the blog is dead are greatly exaggerated.

You probably saw the headlines over the last few days that blogging has declined, a phenomenon attributed to the fact that blogging is not as popular an activity as it once was, especially among young people, those aged 12 to 17. The research that led to some of the premature obituaries comes from the estimable Pew Internet and American Life Project; the research also pointed out that, others of us, like those positively elderly who are 34 and up, are actually becoming more likely to blog. Among 34- to 45-year-olds, the report said blogging is up, on a per person basis, by 6%; among those 46 to 55 it increased by 5% , and among 65- to 73-year-olds, it increased by 2%.

Those stats seem to speak more to the continued power of blogging than the reverse. The main thrust of the "blogging is dead" research...

Continue @ MediaPost.com

Why Use Internal Site Search on Your Blog?

2011-02-20T14:56:00-05:00

One of the best blog tips we've heard recently is about the importance of offering an internal site search function on your blog or site. It's a great suggestion, because if visitors can't quickly find the information they're looking for on your site, they'll just click away and visit someone else's blog or site that will give them what they need. Especially true as studies have shown that bloggers only have 10 seconds (or less) to engage visitors on your site, or the visitor will move on!

Studies have also shown that internal site search helps increase conversions since your visitors that can quickly find the information they're looking for will hang around longer on your blog. And the longer your visitors / readers stay, the greater your chances are to convert them to regular readers and customers (if you sell).

Installing an internal search, and your site's analytics will show that your readers that use your site's search function will convert at an increased rate than those who don't use it.

To find out how, do a search for "internal site search." You'll find several option, free and paid. One of the easiest is Google Custom Search . And, it's free.

Business of Blogging; Tips from Five Top Bloggers

2011-02-19T17:26:41-05:00

Nowadays, with so many folks experienced at blogging and social media, and everyone with any opinion having a blog, you may wonder if there's still room for your blog. Since there's a big difference between folks periodically posting on a blog and those who have the "blog passion" and have made it their full time job, it's good to hear from some of the successful bloggers out there.

Recently, BusinessNewsDaily talked to five successful bloggers to find out how they began, the work behind their posts, and for some advice you can use on what it really takes to transform a part time blog into a full time professional operation.

Included in the discussion are a wide range of popular blogs, including; Boing Boing (a quirky directory of wonderful things), Extraordinary Mommy (a wonderful blog for busy moms) and one of the best personal finance blogs, Wise Bread.

Blogger's Dilemna - Is Working from Home for Everyone ?

2010-12-28T17:39:49-05:00

BLOG TIPS - As a blogger, you know that working from home has several advantages for you and your working efforts; freedom, no boss or supervisor, more time available, a flexible work schedule, no limits on income, etc, to list a few. But, with those positives come challenges that not everyone can conquer in the world of blogging. And, you may have unrealistic hopes for working from home. Your readers become your boss/es, you may have less time until you have a staff, among other surprises. A great post at Ad Marketing Pro focuses on some of the more notable challenges that you will need to face at some point when you decide to focus on blogging full time and work from your home.

Isolation- Do you live alone? If so, you will face isolation. You won't have the colleagues and co-workers to share ideas, consult with, or ask advice. You'll still need that type of input, so you'll have to get it. Don't become a loner, you need to re-charge and get strength from people you can relate to, or for the social aspects of networking.

More @ AdMarketingPro.com

Advertising in CAPTCHA Replacement With Type-in Ads

2010-12-24T12:09:13-05:00

Startup Solve Media has been getting good attention with a compelling idea; replace the boring, distorted sequence of letters or digits you often have to type to enter a site with an advertisement. Rather than trying to decipher and copy the string of wavy text known as a captcha, Solve's "Type-In" unit allows Web users to retype a tagline or other phrase within a display ad to gain access to a site or other content.

Since the normal text in Solve's ads are easier for people to read; but still difficult for bots to read as the company pixelates the image differently each time, the process becomes easier and users remember the brand messages better since they've typed in the info. That's what Solve is saying at least! The company's CEO and co-founder Ari Jacoby says that message recall with their Type-In ad is 12 times higher than typical banners, a rate of about 40% compared to 3%.

What do you think?

More @ MediaPost.com

What Makes A Blog Great? It's Still the Message, Not the Media

2010-11-07T18:18:34-05:00

BLOG TIPS- In this 24/7 media day and age, what makes a blog great? A great question we know, and one that everyone wants and needs answered.

Blogging usual starts off for new bloggers as an outlet to talk about what they were once passionate about. Unfortunately, over time, the passion often deminishes, or the blogger's focus goes elsewhere due to new technologies and time demands. Nowadays, many bloggers feel they have to have a blog and put the majority of their attention on more of the blog "business"; click-through-rates, ad placements, and keywords.

While these blogging functions are important to successful, and profitable blogging, when these blog tasks are the prime focus, the passion is gone and blogs lose focus, and readers. Instead, you need to continue putting blog energy into the passion of your blog. No matter if your blog's been dorment, or lost its' way, you can get back on track now!

Rest assuerd, when your blog's content is passion-driven and blog-centric, your readers, and other bloggers will notice, and spread the word. Even though social media has made content sharing easier, and while you still need to make sure that your message can be spread, it has to be a worthy message. And, we feel blogging is still one of the best ways for individuals and companies to spread the message. We just don't want you to lose sight of what your message is. Remember that social media doesn’t add anything to the message (your content), it's only a way to distribute it. Don't get caught up in the media element, it's still about the content and the focused message.

Are you still focused on the message, and the content, or on the media?

Next Steps After You Launch Your New Blog

2010-10-29T17:32:46-04:00

Even now, thousands of new blogs are started by folks and businesses daily. Yet setting up a new blog, optimizing it, and launching it are just the easier, initial steps in successful blogging. You won't have an audience, readers or a following or links to your blog unless you actively take the next step -- blog promotion & marketing. There are many of places you can promote and market your new blog-

Add a Link – If you'e starting a company blog, or if you're attaching it to another site, add a link to the blog from the main navigation on the parent website
Create a Badge – On the main website, add a badge to the homepage, or sidebar, that promotes the blog. Use images too, they're a great way to gain visitors' attention
Email – Add a link to your new blog in your email signature

Newsletter – Make a big splash, announce the blog in the company newsletter.

Network via Social Media– Announce your new blog to your Twitter followers, Facebook fans, Linkedin connections and via any other social networks you're on

Issue Press Release/s – Spread the word via press releases about your launch. Issue to promote within the blog's catagory but also to the local press

Share – Don't forget to inform your contacts of your new blog; co-workers, friends, business associates and anyone else in your network

Link to Other Appropriate Blogs – One way to get other quality bloggers to find you and your new blog is to link to theres. Summarize a great post you've read elsewhere, expand upon a good, shorter post, or add your spin on a topic that you've read about elsewhere. Then link back to the original post and give proper credit

Give Aways/Contests – For product blogs, run promotions to give away samples of your products

Guest Post – If there are other blogs in your industry, ask other bloggers in your genre if they’ll permit you to guest post on their blog. In return, you’ll get a link back to your blog from their site. Make sure to offer them the same opportunity

Most importantly for the success of your blog, stick to blog basics --- create good content, post often and share. The more content your blog contains, the more likely you'll appear in search results and to get links to and from other blogs.

Blogs Still Important, and Readership Will Increase

2010-09-23T17:36:52-04:00

Great post today at one of our favorite eNewsletters, the eMarketer.com. It acknowledeges that while social networks and microblogs have in the recent past gotten considerable attention away from blogs and blogging. Yes, for a number of net users (and consumers), with the added communication tools easily available, Facebook and Twitter have replaced blogging as their main source of web infor and communication.

Interestingly, blogs continue to be important and eMarketer estimates that in 2010 more than half of internet users will read blogs at least monthly. By 2014, readership will rise to more than 150 million Americans, or 60% of the internet population in the USA. One of the main reasons for the increase in blog readership is that blogs have become a very accepted part of the online media landscape.

Continue @ eMarketer.com

AFFILIATE PROGRAMS For Profitable Blogs

2010-09-17T11:00:00-04:00

Blog Tips- Affiliate networks are third party websites that list affiliate programs. Affiliate networks act as middleman between the affiliates and the products owners. When you sign your blog up with an affiliate program, affiliate networks handle everything between the affiliate programs and the affiliates.

Two of the most popular affiliate networks are Share A Sale and ClickBank. You can find profitable affiliate products on there websites by looking at how much activity particular product has. When you visit ClickBank, under each product name, you'll see “Grav”, with the higher the gravity, the better. And, ClickBank has a refund policy, if you're not satisfied with the product you picked, you can receive a refund. This way, you can also purchase the product to determine the quality before you recommend it to your blog's readers.

Also keep in mind the importance of quality products, as only quality products and services will be profitable to you and your blog. With all the clutter and time grabbers on the internet, your reader does want to see offers for "junk" or questionable services. Use legitimate, authorized products to keep your blog's reputation high.

Good selling !

GOOGLE Adwords Resource Center

2010-09-17T09:42:58-04:00

BLOG TIPS - Social media and best blog site design practices has helped you and your blog already, but have you taken the full advantage of web advertising for you blog / small business? On line advertising is typically the most mis-understood and under-utilized area that you should use to grow your business. Well now Google has launched an improved effort to help small business owners with paid advertising to make it more effective for you.

Recently Google announced the kick off of their AdWords Small Business Center. It's designed to be a resource and knowledge center that you can utilize to learn and understand AdWords best practices and obtain key information about what you need to know to run a successful AdWords account. The information is provided in various levels; beginner, intermediate and advanced, so that you can get the maximum benefit no matter what your experience level.

Some of the areas the Google Small Business Center covers-

Write great ads
Choose the best keywords
Adjust bids and budgets
Improve your website
Track your results

Continue reading @ SmallBizTrends.com.

Tips to Grow Into a Successful Blogger

2010-09-16T17:23:51-04:00

BLOG TIPS- No blogger in the blog-o-sphere can say he/she wasn't a n immature blogger and knew less about blogging than necessary to be successful. The current A-List bloggers also began as an immature blog-spert. No fear, because it's all part of the learning curve, the process of improving your blog. Before you can get to the mature blogger level you need to work through the early stages. You can't, nor should you try or want to pass these early steps. Since there remains much to learn for successful blogging, it's important for you, and your blog /s to grow - adapt - change as you go. As the newness wears off, you see and learn other things, parts of blogging that you didn't know existed. Even in this faster-paced social networking and Twitter universe, blogging plays an important part and has new methods and techniques for all bloggers to learn.

Just be aware of the changes and your blog growth. Acknowledge that you and your blog don't know everything and be willing to learn. In the time that I've been blogging I've moved towards that growth, open other blogs and tried new techniques. Here are a few changes noted by blogsessive that happen when you become a mature blogger.

Click here to read full post.

E Mail Blog Tips and Marketing in the Twitter, Facebook Age

2010-08-03T17:43:35-04:00

BLOG TIPS - Marketing your blog, business or business service through email is a great method to communicate with your costumers (and gain new ones). With so much effort devoted to marketing using social media like Twitter and Facebook, don't forget the proven email method! And just like any other marketing campaign, email marketing needs to be used appropriately for the maximum impact. Be ready to adjust your campaigns and review the data to make the most of your marketing effort. Email campaigns can give you many benefits to help grow your your business. How?, well...

Cost Effective- Email marketing is so much cheaper than typical mass media print advertising, and is also cost-effective due to the lower cost of acquiring new costumers / blog readers. Email also allows you to retain your existing customers while getting new ones. There is a cost to obtaining the email marketing software or an email marketing service provider if you make the decision not to manage mailings on your own yourself.

Global Reach - With email marketing you are able to send promotional messages, content, special deals to your customers and audience anywhere around the globe, certainly a big benefit compared to mass media advertising.

Fast Response- When you send out your email blast and campaign, many of the recipients will see/read your message in 24 to 48 hours and of that group many will take immediate actions if they have interest in the topic. Your promo "call to action" must be clear and simple, so that the readers know what they can expect when they click on the links: "click here to learn more", "click here to share this offer with friends", "shop know", "click to activate your account", "order this item" etc sums it up. Your call to action helps and encourages your email readers to take the step, and improves your conversion rate.

Targeted Audiences - Your email campaigns will be more effective when you target to the right prospects that are most likely to make a purchase or action decision. Gear your message to the audience and make sure you recipient list is appropriate for your offer, blog, etc.

Improve Client Relationships - When you send emails out periodically you're able to remain in contact with your blog's readers, and potential customers, by keeping your business and blog/site at the front of their minds. This way you can build a loyal customer base and improve relationships with your reader/customer.

Market Segmentation - Email marketing allows you to determine who receives You're able to ensure that your message is received by the individuals that are most likely to be interested in your offer by segmenting your email list using criteria like age, sex, region etc.

Mail Forwarding - Get new readers, and new business by encouraging your recipients to forward your emaisl to their friends, family and business associates. What a great, and easy way to increase your following / customer base / readership by getting recommendations from current business associates.

Tracking Abilities - You can keep track of who opened your email and when they did and which links they clicked on, who forwarded it to a friend thru the system tracking capabilities. Email tracking reports will help you decide if your email strategy is working appropriately and supplies you the necessary data to improve your blog / site / business.

All in all, email marketing is a cost effective business tool for any business.

Blog Posts Tags and Categories, Great SEO Help!

2010-08-02T09:10:48-04:00

BLOG TIPS - SEO for your blog is very important to make sure that your blog posts show up in Google and rank well. A simple but important blog SEO tool is to include both blog post tags and categories with each of your blog posts. Nearly all blog platforms allow you the option to add categories and tags to each of your blog posts, take advantage of this option. Simple to do? Yes! But I'm amazed at the number of blog posts I read that fail to include tags and categories, or fail to use the most effective and appropriate tags and categories.

There are several reasons why both tags and category listings are important; they help create an internal link structure to your blog, so all blog posts with the tag “Search engine optimization” are placed in one single category, and then can be seen in that category and searched by your blog readers. And, many blog platforms show top categories and tags in a number of locations other than your blog, so when you add appropriate post tags and categories on your blog posts, you may also get strong referral traffic from your blog platform and from other blogs and websites that index categories and tags of your blogging platform.

Need a domain name? Try

1 and 1.

SOCIAL NETWORKING Scams See Increase

2010-08-01T20:59:27-04:00

No such thing as a new scam, right? Scammers just keep updating age old bogus tricks and most of the scams have always involved giving money to people you don't know, nowadays online of course..

The interest and activity in social media has given us many innovations, and this includes innovation by clever scam artists and crooks. One of the most basic is burglars keeping an eye on social network users to figure out when homeowners will be away from home. Our great social networks are especially suited for con men and identity thieves, who use humanities inherent sense of trust and affection between friends to scam unsuspecting users. From a new report from the New Jersey Attorney General Paula T. Dow and the state's Acting Consumer Affairs Director Thomas R. Calcagni, who say they have seen an increase in the number of social media scams on Facebook , Twitter or other sites, often using hijacked accounts.

Continue reading @ mediapost.com