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Top 10 Reasons Your Business Needs A Blog

Are blogs out? Are blogs in? Do blogs really drive more traffic to your website and attract clients? Why do you need a blog when there is Twitter?

These are just a few questions my clients ask me about business blogging which is why I wanted to share with you my top 10 reasons for starting a business blog.  Hope you enjoy it and feel free to add your own reasons as well.

1) Google Says So!- I don’t know about you,  but I like to do what Google says especially when you are looking for more website visitors. “If you have a website but don't have a blog, consider creating one: A blog is a great way to connect with people who share your interests, or to publicize your site or product. Blogs are easy to create and update, and rich, useful, and original blog content will encourage readers to come back to your site.” This is quoted from Google’s website.

2) Attract the attention of the press- Journalists are looking for stories and find a lot of great story ideas on blogs. I’m a former journalist and I remember always searching out stories to put on television. If you would love free press and traffic to your website then a blog is a great tool.

3) Goes hand in hand with Twitter- If you’ve new to Twitter you can find out more information about twitter and how to use it here. But if you’re already using Twitter and don’t have a blog you’re missing out.  You can set up your blog to automatically feed to your twitter account. Your twitter friends will appreciate it because you’re sharing useful posts and information with them.

4) Learn about your prospective clients and target market- Blogs open up a dialogue and you can find out great information by comments posted on your blog. Also, you can always post surveys on your blog as well to see what your readers are interested in.

5) Own your expertise- You are the expert! Having a blog shows your prospective clients you are the expert and who doesn’t want to work or buy from an expert.

6) Feed your blog to Facebook- You can automatically hook up your facebook account to your blog. So this is another great way to get your message out about your products, services, tips, etc. But just be careful not to use your blog for only promotion. People want to read your blog because it has useful information not hear you talk about your latest product.

7) Show your personality- A blog is so personal and your personality can shine through it. People want to work with those they know, like, and trust. So add some personality to your business with a business blog.

8) Repurpose your articles- If you’re writing articles for a newsletter, your blog is a great place to repurpose these articles.

9) Post your videos- If you’re putting together videos for your business a blog is the best place to share them. Post them to your blog and then send an email out referring everyone to your blog to view your video.

10) TRAFFIC!- I saved the best for last. More website traffic which means more people looking at your products and services. Google loves blogs they said so themselves. “The post title is often used to create the unique URL for each post, and this can give search engines valuable information about the content of your page.” This is quoted from Google’s website   as well. Google is sharing a secret here write a descriptive blog post title to get more website traffic.

So what are you waiting for? Go Blogging! And if you found this top 10 list helpful and are wondering what I recommend to start a blog you can check out Best Biz Blogging.

Are You Making the Most of Twitter and Facebook?

Before I joined Facebook & Twitter I was wondering if these tools would really help my business or if they would be a time waster.  But to my surprise I've seen amazing results from using Twitter & Facebook.  Here are a few my results, because if it's working for me & my business I want to share it with you:

1) Connected with two great joint venture partners for a new project I'm working on

2) Received n invitation to a high level mastermind group

3) Added at least 50 new people to my email list thanks to a teleseminar promotion I announced through these websites

4) Received around 5 referrals just in about 2 weeks thanks to Twitter.

5) A dramatic increase in traffic to my website & exposure

After seeing these results I know you're excited to join Facebook or Twitter if you're not already a part of these groups.  But you're probably a little overwhelmed with the technology and wondering how do I make this work for my business.

This is why I wanted to share a great resource with you. 

My friend Nancy Marmolejo of Viva Visibility has just come out with a resource to help out the folks who want to be highly visible, but don't want to spend their days glued to a Blackberry.

On December 16 and 17 Nancy will unveil her newest virtual class "Quick and Easy Social Networking Tips For Entrepreneurs: A Proven 3 Part System to Boost Your Visibility, Expand Your Network AND Save You Hours of Time On Facebook and Twitter".

Like the title promises, you'll find highly effective, time saving tips laid out in a step-by-step system. Following these strategies can double your visibility and cut your time in half.

Space is limited, so do reserve your spot today. Even if you can't make the live class, you'll be able to access all of Nancy's customized video tutorials, Quick Start Guide, audios, transcripts, bonus items and more.

Learn more by clicking on this link:

http://budurl.com/Nancy

How To Use Video To Drive Powerful Traffic To Your Website

Video on the web is hot! And it's only going to get better and better. The amount of searches for video on the web is amazing. And your ideal customers are searching videos looking for solutions to their problems. You can use these videos to drive powerful traffic to your website of visitors who are looking to buy your solution and sign up for your free offer.

I know what you're thinking, video is so hard to create and I don't know what should be included my videos. And yes I'm not going to lie to you creating video does take some work, but this is one of the best ways to drive traffic to your website. Also, because it does take some work your competitors probably aren't doing it yet. So if you're looking to stand out from your competition I suggest looking at creating a video marketing campaign. The keyword is marketing it's important to think of the goal of your video and make sure you create your video in a format that will get you the marketing results you are looking for.

So what type of video is best to drive traffic to your website and how do you easily create and market this video? Below are five steps to an effective video campaign to drive more traffic to your website.

1. Create An Informative Video Your Target Market Is Searching For- A how to instructional video is the best kind of video to make when driving traffic to your website. Your target market is searching for answers to their problems and how to videos are the best ways to help them. There are several ways you can create this how to video. You can produce a video showing your computer screen and you giving a demo of something on your computer. The easiest way to create a video like this is using a computer program called Camtasia Studio. This software records your computer screen and audio to create a very professional video.

Another option is to videotape yourself or an actor either using your product or offering some instructional tips. If you don't want to learn how to create videos you can always hire a videographer in your local area to help.

2. Feature Product As Solution or Leave Video Incomplete- Remember our goal is to drive traffic to our website for more information. So your video should feature your product as the solution. Another option is to leave the video partially incomplete and then the viewer will go to your website to find out the rest of the solution. This is a big step most videos are missing. You need to think when scripting your information how are you going to drive traffic back to your website.

3. Include A Call To Action- At the end of your video include a powerful call to action. You could possibly offer a coupon code for 15% off your product. Another option is to offer a free report on the topic of the video, because if they are already interested in the topic they would probably be excited about an in-depth free report. This call to action should be a graphic at the end of your video spelling out your website address and call to action in big print.

4. Upload Your Video To A Sharing Site- First, you will want to upload your video to www.YouTube.com. This is the biggest source for traffic and should be your first stop for uploading your video. There are tons of other video sharing sites, but at the beginning you might want to just stick with YouTube. When uploading your video make sure your video title included the main keyword you would like people to find your video with. For example if you are a career coach your video's title should be something like "How to give a great job interview and land the career of your dreams".

5. Track Your Results- It's important after posting your video you are tracking your website traffic results to see what works and what doesn't work. In order to track your videos buy a specific domain name to use only in the videos. Then create an ad tracker using either the tool within your shopping cart if you're using www.jenniferscart.com or another tool called www.budurl.com. Next use this url created by the ad tracker and re-direct the domain name to this url. Then when anyone clicks on the special url they will be tracked and directed to the correct website.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR NEWLETTER OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Jennifer Haubein publishes "SiteNotes" a FREE bi-weekly ezine for small business owners who want a website that actually works. If you're ready to start making more money online, get your FREE tips now at www.BestBizWebsiteSolutions.com/newsletter.html