Hello Everyone! My name is Shawna Mullen and I am a Business Development Manager for Compendium Blogware. I have been blogging for years....and my nose just grew 10 inches long, because that is a lie. I am new to the blogging world. Am I a little nervous? Is my brain a little confused about what in the world to write and to make it worth while? Yes and yes. I am realizing that is the beauty and secret of blogging. There is no need to be nervous or confused! What we need to do is focus on how to utilize the benefits of blogging. Use blogging to our advantage, understand the message we want to convey and make it a success!
Let me explain...
So, I came up with the title "Left Brain-Right Blogging". We all know that our left brain is the logical side and our right brain is our more creative and imaginary side. Now let's apply that to blogging. My position here at Compendium is to educate others on organizational blogging and how to utilize blogging to get ahead in search and win business. From here on out, the goal for my posts will be to help others combine their logical and creative side and apply the right blogging tools to help you and your organization excel. So, "left brain meet right brain" and let's start blogging!
Today I read an article in CNN Money which covered business blogging tips. I thought the article had several great points/ideas including: Blogs need to be frequently updated with new content, “Business blogs are a form of conversation marketing that can make a substantial contribution to your company’s bottom line if used correctly”, “writing posts that provide value to the reader is the best way to make your blog attractive to visitors”, and finally “good business blog topics”.
Now there were a few comments that I would have to argue.
1. “Keep in mind that blogging requires a substantial time commitment”. –Generating content shouldn’t be a wearisome task if you understand your industry and your business. Please refer back to my Smile! Say Blog! post. Now, if you are not utilizing an effective blogging software that is not built for organizational purposes (ex/ SEO pieces are not built in, technical experience is required, and/or no success management services), then yes, I believe it would take a substantial time commitment.
2. “Before going down this path, I would carefully look at all my current sales and marketing programs that are already effective and see if I couldn’t improve elements of those before venturing out into the blogosphere.” -Why?! Blogging for a purpose can have a vast impact on your business. Why not begin making use of all the great minds you have hired and let them start generating valuable content to begin increasing SEO rankings! In addition to the other great benefits including, thought leadership, customer acquisition, and human interaction.
My goal of today’s post is to take away some of the negative views about blogging and point out the value blogging can bring to an organization. We need to work on changing our older concept of blogging or “citizen journalism” and focus our energy on blogging for business using a professional blogging software!
As a thought leader or even a respected individual in a company, we all want a voice and an effective one at that! So, how do we communicate with style? Communication is powerful, but we want it to be powerful in a positive way whether that is in the workplace or to potential and/or current clients. I have attached a link to an article in Smart Business. This article is an interview of Chris Baggott, Compendium Blogware's Co-Founder, discussing effective communication in the world of business. http://www.sbnonline.com/National/Article/14135/0/A_sense_of_purpose.aspx?Category=182
"Words, once they are printed have a life of their own."-Carol Burnett
When you walk into a book store what books tend to attract you most? I'm guessing a majority of you would either say title or cover design?
In my opinion, title.
So, now put that in perspective of search engines. Search engines love titles. Why? There are several guidelines search engines use to find the best and most relevant content for the inquirer. One of those guidelines are page titles. The more relevant the title relates to what the searcher is looking for and of course related to your content, the better. So, when your focusing on blogs related to your organization and want to win search, make sure you name that blog exactly what the content is about. Here at Compendium, we focus on several categories we want to win…and the splendor of it all, the “compending process” within our software, makes this goal a simple and efficient process!
Blogging tip #2: Set a scheduled time for blogging! Even though we all think we are going to do our dilligence on blogging for our business because we want to see it fly to the top in Google, think again. We get busy and that's just a hard fact. If we all put in our calendars at least 2-3 days a week (recurring) to take 15-20min out of our day to write something...wow, that's a lot of great, frequent content! How many times do you hear someone say "if it isn't in my calendar it just doesn't happen". Sad, but in some ways we all have to admit, so true. I know that several individuals in my company have stressed the importance of or have already made the suggestion to....but I can't agree more that setting a specific time to blog is extremely beneficial for those contributing content. Our company executes this and although we all occasionally slip, having it in our calendars is a constant reminder to get our blogging done! Smile and make it happen!
Problem #1: How can we acquire new customers?
Brainstorm Idea: Pay people to search our URL
If only it were that easy, except it is…
Problem solved. All without paying people to search your URL.
