Are my regular readers know we sincerely want to make sure every commentator has their say while keeping spam to a manageable level. Since we disabled Akismet in this blog, comment spam primarily from bots has increased to 600+ on some days.

We are testing alternative ways to keep the spam out while making sure our readers comments are all getting through. We need your feedback on whether the SI Captcha Anti-spam plugin currently installed in this blog is reducing comments or preventing real commentators from commenting.

It only takes a minute to check one box to complete our poll so we will know how you feel and can share this input with other bloggers.

Please leave a comment first to make sure you can still comment here.

If you have any additional feedback comment in this post or use the contact information to let us know. We DO want to hear from you.

This is a guest post by Kristi Hines, social media and blogging enthusiast, on the benefits of business blogging, best practices when starting out a business blog, and ways to find topic ideas for your industry with some examples.

When I first began blogging almost ten years ago, blogs were used almost soley for personal diaries and online journals meant to be shared with only friends and family, or kept private. Within the first two years, however, blogging as a source of income started to rear its head with affiliate programs being pitched to the most known personal blogs. Fast foward to today, and blogs are not only used for individual gain but also for businesses.

Benefits of Blogging for Business

Business and corporate blogs can be valuable assets to a company’s website. They can help a business:

• Build their brand identity and positively manage their online reputation by putting positive content linked to their name out on the web.
• Help them go beyond simply offering products or services to gaining credibility by becoming experts in their industry.
• Allow them to build a stronger relationship and community with their customers, potential clients, and even others in their industry through blog comments and social sharing of new information.
• Give their site fresh new content, inviting visitors and search engines to return to their site again and again, boosting overall traffic.
• Get them ranked for long tail keyword search terms and phrases.

These are the main benefits of business blogging. Now, let’s look at how to make a business blog successful.

Questions to Ask When Getting Started

Probably the most important benefit is, if a business blog is done right, blog posts can lead to conversions and sales. What are the main things to keep in mind when starting or maintaining a business blog?

Who is Your Audience?

B2B businesses will want to write posts targeted towards businesses who are in need of their products and services, whereas B2C businesses will want to write posts geared toward their targeted customer demographic.

When corporate bloggers are coming up with post ideas, it is essential to put themselves in their targeted reader’s shoes and ask themselves:

• What would I want to learn about this business and industry?
• What hook would make me want to subscribe?
• What topic would make me want to comment?
• What kind of post wold make me want to inquire about products or services from this company?

Asking yourself these questions will help you determine just the kind of writing that you need to do to get a good response from your future blog community.

What Do My Competitors Do?

Business bloggers should do a bit of homework to see which of their competitors also have a corporate blog, and look at how well it goes over with their audience.

• Do they get a lot of comments?
• Do the posts do well in search?
• Do the posts get a lot of social shares? A quick way to check is by installing the Topsy bookmarklet or Delicious Bookmark history bookmarklet (all the way at the bottom of the page) to your browser and seeing how many tweets and bookmarks the posts’ acquire.
• What elements of the posts and blog do I like? What elements do I dislike?

This kind of “competitor research” will help you more easily determine what results you want to get from your blog as well as what will help you get your results.

Blogging Best Practices

Whether you are blogging for personal or business purposes, there are some basic best blogging practices that you should always keep in mind.

• Make each post easy to share and more socialble by using social sharing buttons and comment plugins to encourage more interaction.
• Write like you are talking to your audience – business blogging should be professional, but is also less formal than press releases and article marketing.
• Don’t think of your blog (or social networking) as just an advertising platform. Blog readers like information, how-to’s, and, once you have built their trust, occasional recommedations. If they feel like they’re being pushed to buy something in every post, they will likely not come around again.
• Link out to other sites that are informational as well. Remember your goal is to create a valuable resources for your readers. Seeing you share quality information will make them trust you even more.

Business Blog Topics

Probably one of the biggest hold-ups in a business creating a blog is what to write about, especially if the business is in a very tight niche.

Finding Inspiration

If you have answered the above “Who is Your Audience?” questions, then you will have a general idea of what topics will interest your potential readers. Other ways to generate ideas include:

• Using Twitter and HootSuite (or other Twitter management tools) for monitoring influential twitterers in your industry and what is being discussed by the general public about it.
• Does your business have a support department or help desk? What questions are commonly asked by your clients or potential customers? These might be good topics to answer on your blog.
• Cover your views on current events and other hot topics in your industry by following major blogs on specific niches using major news networks and sites like Alltop, Technorati, or PostRank.

You might think that some subjects have been covered over and over again and can be found pretty much all over the internet, but what you want to realize is that, when someone is on your site, you want them to be able to find as much useful information possible about your industry on your site without having to go elsewhere (and possibly end up on a competitor’s blog instead).

Specific Examples

Using some of the sponsors of the recent blogging contest by Famous Bloggers (another great resource on how to blog) and The ComLuv Network (home of one of the most comment generating plugins for WordPress), we’ll look at some businesses that do not yet have blogs, and some topics they could be talking about.

Claims.com

Claims.com, the accidents at work specialists, handles personal injury, traffic accidents, and work-related injury claims. There are ton of great topic ideas I can see just from perusing a few pages into their website, including:

• Top 5 Most Common Workplace Accidents – What they are, and how much they generally cost if you are not insured.
• What is Sofa Rash? – What is it, how can it develop, and what you can do to prevent it.
• Whiplash – Where Can it Happen – Whiplash does not just happen when you are in a car wreck. Find out common ways someone can get whiplash, what the symptoms are, and what kind of treatment will be necessary to correct it.

Local Proud

Local Proud is a discount card program that helps you start your own business that will not only help vitalize the local economy, but also promotes going green. Some great blog posts for this site include:

• Why Go Local? – A look at the struggles of local businesses, and why it is more important than ever to support small businesses in your community.
• How Does Local Proud Help the Environment? – Describe how this program helps a community be more green by keeping things closer to home and not requiring printed out coupons. (Great link bait to possibly get on environmental blogs.)
• Case Studies – Go beyond a short testimonial and get a business owner to describe their experience with this kind of business, as well as how it has helped them boost local businesses and help the environment.

Online Recruiters Directory

The Online Recruiters Directory is an executive search firm that allows job seekers to connect with those seeking executive talent. This site actually has a small database of articles for jobseekers that could easily be turned into a blog for more interaction and traffic. Some other topic ideas include…

• What Do You Need to Get a 100k Job? – A look at the top earners in the most popular 100k+ careers and what they have in terms of college education, certifications, and experience.
• Top 100k Jobs for 2010 – A list of the most popular 100k jobs available this year.
• You’re Hired – Now What? – What to expect on your first days at a new job for career changers, from those who have transitioned from one field to another. (Could be a great interview series for those who successfully found a job through this service.)

ANS Gear

ANS Gear carries a huge line of paintball guns & gear at discounted prices. Coming from the perspective of someone who has never been involved in paintball, but has heard some very interesting stories, a few topics that would get me interested include:

• Paintball 101 – What essential equipment do you need to get started.
• Best Places to Compete – What are the top rated places to play in major metropolitan areas.
• Top 5 Common Paintball Injuries – What they are, how to avoid them (ie. protective gear), and if avoidance isn’t possible, how to treat them.

Now Relevant

NowRelevant.com is the best new search engine, an alternative to the major search engines for finding relevant niche information. Some interesting things to know about this search engine would be:

• What Makes Now Relevant Different? – Expand upon the information in the about us page and show some examples of search results for Now Relevant compared to the other major engines.
• PPC 101 – How does it work, and why advertisers should choose Now Relevant’s pay per click program over Adwords or others.
• Comprehensive Guide to Using Now Relevant – Cover everything from advanced search operators to where Now Relevant pulls its information from (blogs, social networks, etc.).

Your Thoughts on Business Blogging

Do you have a favorite business blog that others should follow the example of? What are your likes and dislikes about corporate blogs? If you have a business and have a blog, what positive results have you seen? If you are a business that doesn’t have a blog, what is stopping you?

Kristi is the author of Kikolani, a blog which provides blogging tips for successful personal and business bloggers alike, and an Internet Marketing Specialist providing link building services.

This post supports the some of the sponsors of the Famous Bloggers and ComLuv blogging contest. Please visit Kristi’s entry for powerful tips on how to promote your articles for more traffic, link value, and earnings.

Here is what really works: building relationships with your potential readers and customers through email marketing and Social Media. The better you do both the more successful you will be.

The fast path to learning how is to attend this Social Email Marketing Event. The event is being held in San Francisco, California on September 17, 2010. Read the full details on the official Social Media and Integrated Email Marketing site.

Save 10% when registering by using this discount code: iem7

If you are interested in promoting this event, contact me for your unique discount code to receive 10% commission based on registers using your code.

Attendees: support your favorite Social Media bloggers by using their code.

This is a guest post about one of the sponsors of the FamousBloggers CommentLuv $3550 CASH PRIZES Blogging Contest by Donna Fontenot (aka DazzlinDonna) who says about herself, “I’m a near-dinosaur in the SEO world, but I don’t really consider myself an SEO. I’m an online entrepreneur, affiliate marketer, and ebusiness coach among other things. Mainly, I’m a geek making a living online.”.

If you’ve ever wanted to dip your toes into selling retail products but you weren’t sure if you should risk buying huge amounts of inventory, you may want to start with a company that allows you to buy in whatever quantities you choose. One such wholesaler is Olympiceyewear, which sells wholesale designer sunglasses and sports goggles by the dozen. Sunglasses are great products to sell because they are items that everyone needs, and they also come built in with a “cool factor”. Everyone knows that the right shades immediately embodies the wearer with a touch of “cool”.

Olympiceyewear has over 1000 attractive styles to choose from, and everything you see on their site is in stock, available for order and prompt delivery. To ensure that you get exactly what you want, you can choose from:

• Assorted Dozen (1 model of sunglasses in assorted colors)
• Single Color Dozen (1 model of sunglasses in single color)
• Assorted Models Dozen (assorted models of sunglasses in assorted colors)< ?li>

As a customer, you can use the images of the sunglasses you sell, and Olympiceyewear will replace the Olympic Eyewear water mark with your company logo or name. This gives you the ability to hide the source of your distributor from competitor’s eyes, and gives your business extra credibility.

Suggested retail price of the sunglasses you’ll sell is $10-$15 each, and at that price you should be able to do well, especially if you set up in a location with high foot traffic. Many of the styles I looked at were priced at wholesale for less than $20 per DOZEN, and of course, the more you buy, the bigger discount you receive. That ends up coming out to a pretty decent profit margin.

Two of the questions I would usually ask are actually answered on their FAQ.

Are your sunglasses legal to sell? Can they cause vision problems?

All sunglasses offered by this web site are absolutely legal to sell and to own. They do not violate any copyrights or registered trademarks. Moreover, we guarantee our sunglasses to be certified and to comply with or exceed USA and European Standards for Eyewear.

• CE passed
• ISO9001 passed
• EN1863:1997 passed

Complies with US and European UV400 Lens Standard

Sunglasses at Olympiceyewear are of the same high level of UV protection as the sunglasses sold by expensive designer boutiques for $200-$400.

If you’ve been thinking of selling your own products, but were afraid to jump in too deep, this could be a good way to start while you acquire the knowledge and experience to swim in the deep end of the retail sales business pool.

Now that you’ve got the itch for selling sunglasses, why not scratch the itch to make a comment on my contest post, 5 Steps To Impressing A Longtime Jaded Blogger With Your Comments or tweet a link to it. We’ll all be glad you did.

This is a guest post about one of the sponsors of the FamousBloggers CommentLuv $3550 CASH PRIZES Blogging Contest by Donna Fontenot (aka DazzlinDonna) who says about herself, “I’m a near-dinosaur in the SEO world, but I don’t really consider myself an SEO. I’m an online entrepreneur, affiliate marketer, and ebusiness coach among other things. Mainly, I’m a geek making a living online.”.

Raise your hand if you know someone who is considering supplementing their income by making money online – or someone who is ready to ditch the cubicle completely by becoming an Internet entrepreneur. These days, very few people wouldn’t raise their hands. Starting an online business is both exciting and scary, so help your friend start right by showing her that you believe she’s got the right stuff to make it big.

Anyone starting a new business of any sort – on or offline – needs some business essentials. You can help show your support for your friend’s new venture by giving a gift that says “This is a gift for success!” and it can be a gift that fits right in with the essential business tools she needs. Want some examples?

Head on over to Executive Gift Shoppe to choose a stylish gift for your budding CEO such as a swanky money clip, a “green” gift like the bamboo cell phone / MP3 / PDA charging station, or a beautiful and useful padfolio that’s perfect for organizing all the new tasks she’ll be taking on.

Remember how exciting it used to be when you’d go to school on the first day of the new year? What was one of the most exciting parts of that experience? If you were like me and many others, it was the chance to buy all new accessories – pens, pencils, notebooks, etc. Business accessories are just an adult extension of that same excitement. Starting a new business is even more exciting, so give a gift that the new entrepreneur is sure to love. You’ll find something just right at Executive Gift Shoppe, I’m sure.

Speaking of gifts, you can give the gift of your thoughts at my contest entry 5 Steps To Impressing A Longtime Jaded Blogger With Your Comments. It’s free to share your knowledge gift, so please do. Everyone would love to know what you think. Or, if you’d prefer, tweet a link to my entry using the hashtag #FCBLcontest.

This is a guest post about one of the sponsors of the FamousBloggers CommentLuv $3550 CASH PRIZES Blogging Contest by Stephanie Suesan Smith. Stephanie is a Master Gardener who offers gardening advice based on years of experience and extensive course training.

Anyone seeking to make money on the internet has a love-hate relationship with Google®.  On the one hand, they provide enormous amounts of data.  They wield enormous influence, too, and can make or break a business opportunity with the flick of their algorithm.  Google® giveth and Google® taketh away.

The results obtained from Google© reflect an item’s popularity, as determined by the afore mentioned algorithm.  They do not, however, reflect the item’s contemporary relevance to you.  Some items that are very popular are old information.  These items not only waste your time, they prevent more relevant items from rising to a reasonable level in a search and being found.

Trends are also difficult to forecast since the data is heavily weighted toward long past performance.  However, there is a group of folks who are changing that.  They have built a search engine that both tracks trends and provides results to searches that are a fortnight or less in age.

NowRelevant.com bills itself as the best new search engine in a pun on the search content’s age and the pride of the developer.  Using cloud computing, The Internet Time Machine™ project charts keyword trends across the internet.  Now, lots of programs do that.  This project also charts the results of those keyword searches.

That has two benefits.  If you are researching a particular subject for a paper or project, you get results that are no more than fourteen days old.  You can specify as little as a day old, in fact.

The second benefit is for niche marketers.  If the number of keyword searches on a subject is increasing, but the number of results remains constant, you have a window of opportunity opening up.  Start plugging that opening with content that is meaningful and you have filled a niche. Niches are how you make money.

NowRelevant.com has several programs that let you sign up to advertise on the network.  They also have affiliate programs.  Finally, they are not Google®, for those of you looking for anything else.  NowRelevant even has a video on how they are different from the 800 pound gorilla of the day.

If you want to know what was popular yesterday, use Google®.  If you want to know what will be popular tomorrow, use NowRelevant.

If you enjoyed this article, or even if you didn’t, please head over to my contest entry at FamousBloggers and leave a comment or tweet about the entry with the hashtag #fbclcontest.  Thank you.

This is a guest post about one of the sponsors of the FamousBloggers CommentLuv $3550 CASH PRIZES Blogging Contest by Stephanie Suesan Smith. Stephanie is a Master Gardener who offers gardening advice based on years of experience and extensive course training.

Businesses talk about the importance of buying local. The internet and big box stores make buying globally tempting. Local Proud is a turnkey business model that teaches a business owner how to develop a local marketing co-op.

This model provides all the know-how, you provide the work. The model calls for local businesses to give a discount to consumers who display a card during check-out. The discounts are set by the merchants and can be changed at will. Merchants who do not offer discounts but want to participate can buy advertising on the back of the perks card consumers carry. Essentially, the perks card is a way to provide coupons to consumers without the hassle of printing and processing coupons.

The work part is convincing merchants that being part of this network will benefit them. You build the network. One thing you can tell them is that 70% of the money people spend locally stays locally.

The elements you get with your purchase of this turnkey system are the perks cards, a consumer website that lists all the deals, a merchant site for the merchants to change any deals when needed, signs for the businesses that honor the card, a smart phone ap for consumers who do not want to carry the card but want the benefits, and television shows and commercials. You buy the system for a low cost, then take it and run.

If you are ready to start your own discount card business, you can contact Local Proud now. They have great support and are always ready to help you. Start a business, save local merchants, build community. It doesn’t get much better than that.

Speaking of building community, please comment on my post on the quest for comments at Famous Blogger for the contest.  I would really appreciate it.

This is a guest post about one of the sponsors of the FamousBloggers CommentLuv $3550 CASH PRIZES Blogging Contest by Stephanie Suesan Smith. Stephanie is a Master Gardener who offers gardening advice based on years of experience and extensive course training.

Buying cars can be a frustrating experience, particularly if you are a woman. I drive my vehicle until the mechanic finally tells me there is nothing more he can do to keep it running, or that it will cost more to fix it than the car is worth. Then the search for another vehicle begins.

I admit that I do not know all that much about cars. My main objective is a pickup (I do live in Texas, after all) that runs and gets me where I need to go. Creature comforts like cruise control and a good radio are nice, too. Everything sold in Texas has an air conditioner because riding around in 100 degree F heat without one is dangerous.

In the past, I have had to deal with condescending sales men who though I was stupid because I was a woman. That made buying a car rather miserable. With the internet, however, I can research a car and buy it online. Or, research it and then go to the dealership armed with the knowledge I need to strike the very best bargain possible.

You can go to the website of the car manufacture if you want a list of the features available on a certain model. However, they are not exactly unbiased when it comes to telling you the features of the vehicle and any drawbacks it might have. For that you need a third party site.

Auto Monster Cars Blog gives information about different makes and models of cars and trucks. It is aimed at Canadians, but the information is helpful to everyone in North America. Once you read their reviews and pick out a car or truck, you can look at Monster Auto’s classifieds and find one at a price you can afford.  They have new and used cars.

Buying a car should not be torture. While it will probably never rank right up there on your top ten fun things to do, Auto Monster Cars Blog can give you the information to get the vehicle you need without all the hassle.

Akismet is a Black Box

Most bloggers do not realize that there is a setting in Akismet that automatically deletes comments before you ever seen them.

If you do not want Akismet to delete comments you never see, use these instructions to check your Akismet configuration:

Locate Akismet Configuration

HOW TO CONFIGURE AKISMET

1. Log into your blog
2. In the left sidebar click on the arrow to the right of Plugins
3. Click on Akismet configuration (shown in the close-up image to the right –>)
4. Look for the checkbox that says “Automatically discard spam comments on posts older than a month.”

If you have that box checked and someone who has inaccurately been flagged as a spammer by Akismet leaves a comment, their comment will be immediately deleted. Read comments from Alex from Automattic.

You will never see it and they will be taken to a blank white page. Read what Alex (from Automattic who appears to the be public spokesperson for Akismet) wrote about commentators seeing a white page after commenting.

The full screen capture below shows where the Akismet Configuration can be found in the left sidebar and where the check box is located in the main section of your blog dashboard. See the next image for a closeup of that checkbox.

How to Configure Akismet

If you do NOT want Akismet to delete comments before you see them UNCHECK THE BOX shown in the close-up below!

Close-up of where the Akismet Configuration Check Box is Located

There are similar but even less obvious settings in WordPress hosted WordPress.com blogs. To change them use this process:

1. Log into your blog
2. Find Setttings in the left sidebar column
3. Click on Discussion Settings
4. Find Comment Moderation and check the box in front of Don’t discard spam on old posts that looks like this:

How many of you would have any idea that checking that box would immediately delete valid comments you have never seen? That IS what it will do. Here is a screen capture of that page. I will get red arrows added to point to the appropriate settings when I can.

If you DO NOT want valid comments to be deleted before you see them CHECK the Don't discard spam on old posts box

While you are editing your configuration we recommend these other settings:

1. Turn on threaded comments at least three and ideally either four or five levels deep.
2. Enable Before a Comment Appears: Comment author must have a previously approved comment.
3. Do require commentators to use a name and email address.
4. Do NOT require commentators to be registered and log in - doing so greatly decreases your comments. Busy people do not have time to log into every site they visit every time.
   

Special thanks to Ron Cripps of AffiliateXFiles for adding the red arrows to the images used in this post. If you want to know the REAL truth about Affiliate Marketing read his blog. Ron is one of the three Ethical Affiliate Marketing Experts I recommend.

MORE ABOUT AKISMET on GROWMAP:

• Akismet is Deleting Comments Bloggers Never See
• Find Out if Akismet Has You Flagged as a Spammer
• Business Friendly Akismet Free DoFollow Blog List

BLOGGERS POSTING THEY’VE BEEN FLAGGED BY AKISMET:

• Blog Template Designer ~ BlogsWithWings ~ My Comments are Not Showing Up Because Akismet is Blocking Me
• DragonBlogger ~ Get Off Akismet Spam List
• Zemalf ~ How to Stop Your Blog Comments From Being Blocked by Akismet
• AndyBeard ~ Akismet False Positives and SpamKarma Configuration (Published May 31, 2007 – this problem has been around a LONG time!)

Are you a Spammer?

Before you go out visiting other blogs and commenting, it is a good idea to check to see if Akismet has you flagged as a spammer.

Copy your comment and paste it into Notepad or Tomboy Notes BEFORE YOU CLICK SUBMIT!

If your tests show that your comments are being sent directly to spam and you do not get a message that your comment is being moderated or a white page, contact the blogger using their contact form or Twitter or any other means you have and ask them to rescue your comment.

If you see a white page your comment as been deleted. You will not be able to comment in that blog until the blogger changes their Akismet configuration OR you get unflagged as a spammer. We recommend you send them a link to our post about Configuring Akismet.

Since Akismet removed the test page, we are temporarily providing test posts in two of our newer (unlaunched) blogs. Simply go to either of the Akismet Test Pages below enter your comments.

AKISMET TEST PAGES:

• Akismet Test Page using Akismet 2.2.7
• Akismet Test Page using Akismet 2.2.9
• NOTE: I am seeing references to Akismet 2.3.0 being released; however, that version is not showing as the latest version tonight on the official site. We have not seen it and do not have it installed anywhere.

If you do not immediately see your comments either the specific wording you used in your comment or your name, URL or IP address has been flagged by Akismet as spam and NONE of your comments will appear immediately in ANY WordPress blog using Akismet (which is most of them).

The option to only allow comments to be visible after one comment has been approved is NOT enabled in either of those blogs so all comments left should immediately appear unless your comment is captured by Akismet.

If your comment does not immediately appear or you ever see a blank white page or no message indicating that your comment is being moderated, contact Akismet to request you be removed as a spammer. For best results, be sure to include all of the information you use when commenting.

I also recommend you include your current IP address which you can easily get by going to What is my IP.  Many Internet Service Providers assign a different IP address each time you go online so even if they unflag the IP address you provide you may still have future problems.

If you are now or have ever been flagged as a spammer by Akismet please comment in our post Akismet Thinks We Are Spammers. Bloggers need to see that this is not an uncommon occurence and it DOES affect many of their regular readers and commentators.

MORE ABOUT AKISMET on GROWMAP:

• Akismet is Deleting Comments Bloggers Never See
• Find Out if Akismet Has You Flagged as a Spammer
• Configuring Akismet: How to Turn Off Akismet Automatic Comment Deletion
• Business Friendly Akismet Free DoFollow Blog List

BLOGGERS POSTING THEY’VE BEEN FLAGGED BY AKISMET:

• Blog Template Designer ~ BlogsWithWings ~ My Comments are Not Showing Up Because Akismet is Blocking Me
• DragonBlogger ~ Get Off Akismet Spam List
• Zemalf ~ How to Stop Your Blog Comments From Being Blocked by Akismet
• AndyBeard ~ Akismet False Positives and SpamKarma Configuration (Published May 31, 2007 – this problem has been around a LONG time!)