How Can a Blog Help Your Business. An Interview with BlogEnergizer.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010 at 5:00AM
Photo via Flickr enriqueburgosgarcia's photostream
Today we have an interview with the Lynette Chandler, the team leader, at BlogEnergizer.com. They offered to write any blog an exclusive interview. I found good information on their site and felt they may have some valuable insights for our readers. If you find the information helpful don’t forget to vote for this interview. The person with the most votes will be recognized on their site and will win valuable blogging tips.
Question 1: What advise would you give to a small business owner that is starting to blog for the first time?
A blog can play an effective part in your marketing mix but you need to be aware as you go into this that it is not a set, forget and watch the traffic or business come in sort of thing. Blogs need updating. It doesn't have to be couple of times a day or even daily but you have to plan in into your budget and also your time. It helps if you can plan out your posts ahead and schedule them. If you have a team you could make it a joint effort and allow each team member the permission to update it to spread the work load.
Make sure you have it on your own domain. Don't blog for other people's domain, preserve your brand.
Question 2: Why is it important for an author to establish a web presence with a blog?
Because it can be a great way to get connected with your readers. You can have a real conversation and begin a relationship with them. While you are doing that, you will be amazed at the type of input they will give you. These are things that don't always come up when you ask them to submit a feedback form. These are things that are either spontaneous, or they aren't conscious is interesting/important to you when you work on your story. It can be very insightful.
Also, blogs allow you to pre-sell your upcoming work and promote current work too. I've seen authors offer chapters on their blogs either as one or two samples or as a download.
Question 3: Can you explain the importance of commenting on other blogs to improve your web presence?
The idea is, to choose blogs where your audience is likely to visit and who have a decent flow of traffic. You add a good or useful comment and you will get the opportunity to enter your website URL. It actually started off as a way to get search engines to consider that as part of the page linking back to you and hence improve your ranking but depending on how the other person's blog is set up, this may or may not be the case anymore.
Personally, when I comment, it is not for search engines. It is to interact and begin a conversation which could build into a deeper relationship later on. But to do that you also have to be regular. If you visit once or twice people won't notice you. Neither would the blogger. It's a lot like helping out or participating in forums. Log in to a forum you are part of. You know right off the bat who are the active ones, what they do and so on.
Since that could take quite a bit of time and effort, unless you can hire it out, I would pick a handful of blogs to be a regular commenter on.
Question 4: What is your favorite way to promote a blog?
Guest blogging. I'm doing it now too :). That's because it is so easy and coming up with content isn't always a challenge for me - hey we come up with so many for bloggers weekly and monthly. I also like it because it allows me to 'meet' and interact with people who are new. It is like getting invited to a group's dinner party. Fun. Coming in close to that would be accepting interviews either on a blog like what we are doing now, or a recorded or live one.
Question 5: What was the favorite contest you promoted on your blog?
That would have to be an Egg Hunt. I put a small egg graphic in a spot that was visible but not glaringly obviously on the blog. People would have to find it and post a comment to tell me where. The prize sponsors helped by notifying their list it was a nice traffic bump, helped people get acquainted and explore the blog and I had a lot of fun interacting with new people.
So what's next? If you like the interview, let us and Julia know by voting for it at http://blogenergizer.com/teip-vote/
Reader Comments (8)
I enjoyed the interview Julia and agree with the points made. It still suprises me that some small businesses are still reluctant to blog, but will set up a facebook page instead.
One of the best things about blogging for me is that I learn from those who comment as a different perspective is helpful.
I like # 3. Not for the search engines but the building relationships part. That puts integrity in the equation.
Susan
I agree, I think blogging is a great way to get noticed online and provide valuable information about your business. Since starting blogging, I dont take a company serious if they dont have a blog.
We have a facebook page too but we dont get much traffic to our site from facebook. To me going to a facebook page is like going to an open networking event and chatting with prospects. Visiting a blog is like having a face to face meeting. Both are valuable but different relationship building events.
Keyuri
I agree that commenting on blogs is more about relationship building than SEO. If fact I recently learned that commenting on blogs does not have the impact on SEO as many think. Some blogs have a no follow which limits the impact the links have to search engines. I personally like the relationships I have formed so I doubt that a no follow blog would stop me from commenting. I have no idea how you would find out who had a no follow and who didnt.
Good article that I agree with. Find it amazing that a lot of businesses haven't yet started blogging to communicate with their guests.
Recently told a large book publishing company in Denmark they should start blogging to inform their customers about new books, events and other happenings. Like the idea in your interview about an author having a blogg and giving readers a preview. Super!
Julia, Great advice on blogging from Lynette Chandler. She mentions building your brand by not blogging on other people’s domains. That is so true. I know it’s tempting to blog on blogger.com or wordpress.com but it’s such a missed opportunity for branding. I also want to voice a loud “second” to her suggestion to comment on blogs. You’ll learn so much and whenever you add value to the conversation, you’re building up your online reputation and in turn – your brand.
The big problem that I have is keeping up with my blogs! When I started I was blogging every day. Now I am lucky if I post an article once every other week.
I love guest blogging and having guest bloggers on my site. Also commenting has really helped drive traffic to my blogs.
Thanks for your article!
Laura
I am participating in the Ultimate Blog Challenge. It has been a great way to get the discipline to blog daily. They give writing prompts daily to help you think of ways to blog. For example on of the suggestions was to find a youtube video and post in on the site with a short explanation. Another was to write a post and list some of your favorite posts and why.