Thinking of Starting a Small Business Blog? Active Web Group Offers These Top Tips.
Although initiating a blog is a fairly simple process and requires very little or no expense, your company’s marketing efforts may be in vain if the following tips offered by Active Web Group are not considered.
Hauppauge, NY, April 11, 2010 --(PR.com)-- The Internet marketing professionals at Active Web Group, Long Island’s leading online marketing solutions agency, know that today’s Internet marketplace is more competitive than ever. Businesses both large and small need to explore every online marketing avenue in order to remain competitive, and a corporate website simply isn’t enough anymore – businesses are utilizing marketing methods such as SEO, PPC, Email Marketing and more. But many fail to recognize the potential benefits of starting a small business blog.
A blog can act as an extension of your website and attract new visitors and customers, and increase sales and brand recognition. But there are important factors to consider before starting a small business blog. Although initiating a blog is a fairly simple process and requires very little or no expense, your company’s marketing efforts may be in vain if the following tips offered by Active Web Group are not considered.
1. Determine your goals – What is your ultimate purpose for starting a blog? Will you be posting informative articles, marketing related content such as press releases and promotional messages, or utilizing the blog as a means to open further communication with your client base? Perhaps all of the above? How closely related will your blog be to your main corporate website?
2. Decide upon a name – The name of your blog should be short, easy to remember, and incorporate targeted keywords that will make it easily searchable by your target market.
3. Who will host the blog – There are many options available for free online blog hosting, making setup quick and painless. Wordpress, Blogger, and others allow you to easily customize templates, colors, fonts, and more, so that your blog can closely resemble the theme of your corporate website if you so desire.
You might also choose to purchase your own blog software and host the blog on your own servers. Assuming you have an employee who is well-versed in such technical skills, then these efforts might be worthwhile.
4. Design & Content – Both will affect how well-received your blog is by visitors. Typically, you’ll want the design of your blog to accurately represent your brand, image, and corporate colors. Most blog software allows you to easily cutom-design your blog. Content is a bit more tricky.
You want to provide content that offers some value to visitors of your blog. This is what will keep them coming back on a consistent basis, serving to increase brand recognition and convert clicks to sales. If you plan on posting a variety of content, it would be best to determine specific categories and integrate this into the blog design, enabling visitors to quickly navigate to the desired section. To increase the searchability of your blog (enabling search engines to find you blog in response to specific search terms), you’ll want to try to integrate SEO keywords into whatever content you post.
Regardless of whether you’re posting informative articles and industry-related news, press releases, or promotional sales and specials, SEO will go a long way towards attracting new visitors.
Lastly, be sure to update your blog on a regular basis. At least twice a week should be sufficient. A good method of ensuring this practice is to have an in-house copywriter or a freelance or online marketing agency writer deliver a steady flow of blog content so that something is always ready to be posted.
5. Promote Your Blog – Use social networking tools such as Facebook, Twitter, forums, and Linked:In to promote your blog and post links to articles and postings. Also, be sure to include links to your blog on your corporate website, as well as a reciprocal link from your blog back to the website.
As your blog grows in content and visitors, you’ll want to examine advanced marketing methods such as analytics, and methods of increased interaction with visitors.
For more information about Internet marketing solutions, please visit Active Web Group at http://www.activewebgroup.com
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A blog can act as an extension of your website and attract new visitors and customers, and increase sales and brand recognition. But there are important factors to consider before starting a small business blog. Although initiating a blog is a fairly simple process and requires very little or no expense, your company’s marketing efforts may be in vain if the following tips offered by Active Web Group are not considered.
1. Determine your goals – What is your ultimate purpose for starting a blog? Will you be posting informative articles, marketing related content such as press releases and promotional messages, or utilizing the blog as a means to open further communication with your client base? Perhaps all of the above? How closely related will your blog be to your main corporate website?
2. Decide upon a name – The name of your blog should be short, easy to remember, and incorporate targeted keywords that will make it easily searchable by your target market.
3. Who will host the blog – There are many options available for free online blog hosting, making setup quick and painless. Wordpress, Blogger, and others allow you to easily customize templates, colors, fonts, and more, so that your blog can closely resemble the theme of your corporate website if you so desire.
You might also choose to purchase your own blog software and host the blog on your own servers. Assuming you have an employee who is well-versed in such technical skills, then these efforts might be worthwhile.
4. Design & Content – Both will affect how well-received your blog is by visitors. Typically, you’ll want the design of your blog to accurately represent your brand, image, and corporate colors. Most blog software allows you to easily cutom-design your blog. Content is a bit more tricky.
You want to provide content that offers some value to visitors of your blog. This is what will keep them coming back on a consistent basis, serving to increase brand recognition and convert clicks to sales. If you plan on posting a variety of content, it would be best to determine specific categories and integrate this into the blog design, enabling visitors to quickly navigate to the desired section. To increase the searchability of your blog (enabling search engines to find you blog in response to specific search terms), you’ll want to try to integrate SEO keywords into whatever content you post.
Regardless of whether you’re posting informative articles and industry-related news, press releases, or promotional sales and specials, SEO will go a long way towards attracting new visitors.
Lastly, be sure to update your blog on a regular basis. At least twice a week should be sufficient. A good method of ensuring this practice is to have an in-house copywriter or a freelance or online marketing agency writer deliver a steady flow of blog content so that something is always ready to be posted.
5. Promote Your Blog – Use social networking tools such as Facebook, Twitter, forums, and Linked:In to promote your blog and post links to articles and postings. Also, be sure to include links to your blog on your corporate website, as well as a reciprocal link from your blog back to the website.
As your blog grows in content and visitors, you’ll want to examine advanced marketing methods such as analytics, and methods of increased interaction with visitors.
For more information about Internet marketing solutions, please visit Active Web Group at http://www.activewebgroup.com
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Contact
Active Web Group
Roland Kravats
1-800-978-3417
www.activewebgroup.com
Roland Kravats
1-800-978-3417
www.activewebgroup.com
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