Ten Tips to Help You Blog Your Way to Small Business Success

Ten Tips to Help You Blog Your Way to Small Business Success

Tip One: Define your goals
Whether you are a plumber, bike retailer, or cafe owner start by assessing your business goals and how you would like your blog to help you achieve them - e.g. Do you want customers to find you? Do you want to be on the front page of Google? Are you all about selling more services and product?

Tip Two: Research keywords
Before you begin blogging have a look at some of the keyword tools like the one found on SEO Book and determine what your potential customers and clients are actually searching for. If your business is active in a mostly local market, or generally for clients in a small town, then include the town’s name in your research. The information gathered from running a couple of keyword searches is extremely valuable when it comes to writing posts that are targeted and meant to highlight specific information.


Tip Three: Use free tools
I think many small business folk are turned off by blogging and social media because they are under the illusion that marketing online costs a tremendous amount of money. My chosen platform for my business website and blogging is WordPress, which, I am sure most of you know, is free to use and has some amazing free themes. (Note: If you want to spend a couple of dollars you can get Thesis theme.)

Tip Four: Educate the consumer
When starting a blog that revolves around your small business the general tendency is to want to publish a bunch of SPAM posts that extol your virtues. While it is okay to do this once and a while, I have found that educating the consumer works tremendously well and is highly effective. Also, please remember that there is a big difference between using your business blog to tell your story (How you came to own the business, defining your passion, etc.) and just telling people to buy your product or service because you are the best.

Tip Five: Allow 3 to 6 months for return on investment (ROI)
There are a few schools of thought when it comes to measuring ROI for business blogs. We all, myself included, are searching for that magic bullet that is going to draw in more customers. However, from my own experience and in discussion with other business owners who blog, three to six months seems to allow enough time to put up an adequate amount of posts (even if you only publish once a week) and to also obtain a quantifiable and measurable amount of customer data.

Tip Six: Research the competition
Small business owners sometimes feel funny inquiring about what their competition is up to. Keep in mind, this is business, I highly recommend having a search around the web to discern what your competitors are up to. In most cases I think you will be pleasantly surprised to find out that they do not have a strong web presence. And if they do, you will now know that you need to step your game up a bit more.

Tip Seven: Keep it simple
Business blog posts do not have to be extravagant Pulitzer Prize worthy affairs. If you should find yourself stuck for topics, or are facing blogger’s block, have a look at this post I recently did, 31 Blog Post Ideas For Small Businesses.

Tip Eight: Forums are your friend
One of the most common complaints I hear from business bloggers who are getting started is ‘Nobody is coming to my site.’ Is that so? I don’t care if you trade in rare eighteenth century chess pieces or high-end designer shoes; chances are a niche forum exists for your specific business. Do a simple Google search to find out where your customers are hanging out online and make a visit to those sites. Promoting your small business within a forum works best when you approach it in the same manner as step four. You need to educate the consumer and gain member trust before you can start endorsing yourself (otherwise you will be seen as a troll).

Tip Nine: Be consistent
Quite possibly the most important piece of advice for any small business blogger - You NEED to be consistent in your efforts.

Tip Ten: Once you are blogging regularly branch out into other social media
Starting a comprehensive social media and marketing plan can really help to give a traffic boost to your business blog. Social media does not have to be intimidating and you can easily start by uploading a few well tagged and described photos to FLICKR and then possibly move on to YouTube, FaceBook, and Twitter.
If you are a business owner who is struggling in this economy, or if you know of someone who is hesitant to embrace the power of blogging for business promotion, here are a few of additional resources that might help.

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Advice: Upgrade custom domain via Blogger and Google Apps

Advice: Upgrade custom domain via Blogger and Google Apps

I have done two conversions of my blogs to custom domain. The first one, Blogger Book went well with no hitch. The second one, this blog which is now www.bloggertipsandtricks.com met a hitch. The domain was purchased and registered direct via Blogger Settings > Publishing cum Google Apps. This time, the blog was in transition for 3 days. On the third day, there was a big problem. Neither blogger-tricks.blogspot.com nor www.bloggertipsandtricks was accessible. I quickly changed back from custom domain back to blogspot.


I wonder if the reason for the problem this time was because when converting to custom domain, I completed the captcha (word verification) many times. I did not see the message "changes saved" at the top of the page because each time I completed the captcha, the box for completing the captcha appeared again and I thought I made a mistake, so completed it again.

I did not try to meddle with CNAME and ANAME. What I did was repetitively switched back and forth from custom domain to blogspot to custom domain many times. After a few days, somehow the problem solved by itself and this blog is now published to the custom domain www.bloggertipsandtricks.com

I have read many reports of blogger having problems with custom domain. So my advice to you if you want to go this route not to purchase and register your domain via any third party. Do that direct in Blogger within the blog SETTINGS > PUBLISHING. Google Apps will do everything for you. The conversion should proceed seamlessly without you having to do anything. Everything is automatic though the blog will be in transition for about 3 days.

If you meet any problem, try switching back to blogspot and then to custom domain until the problem is solved just like what happened to me on this second coversion.

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21 Ways to Write Posts that Are Guaranteed to Grow Your Blog

1. Write something useful
2. Write something unique
3. Write something newsworthy
4. Write something first
5. Write something that makes those who read it smarter
6. Write something controversial
7. Write something insightful
8. Write something that taps into a fear people have
9. Write something that helps people achieve
10. Write something that elicit a response
11. Write something that gives a sense of belonging
12. Write something passionately
13. Write something that interprets or translates news for people
14. Write something inspirational
15. Write something that tells a story
16. Write something that solves a problem
17. Write something that gets a laugh
18. Write something that saves people time or money
19. Write something opinionated
20. Write something that is a resource
21. Write something about something ‘cool‘

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10 Tips for Managing Email Effectively

10 Tips for Managing Email Effectively

Whether you are a blogger, a freelancer or a designer, you probably get overwhelmed when managing your email. This communication tool was supposed to make our lives simpler, but more often than not it does exactly the opposite.



In this post I’ll be sharing 10 tips you can use to tame your email. You’ll learn how to handle your domain email with Gmail, organize your incoming messages, process your inbox in batches, communicate quickly and manage the contacts effectively.

1. Handle your domain email with Gmail

One of the best things about owning your own domain is that you get to have an email address like me@mydomain.com. Unfortunately, most email clients that come with your hosting account look and function like they were released in 1999.

It’s actually possible to send and receive emails via your me@mydomain.com address through Gmail, and the process for doing so is quite simple.
Create a Gmail account for your site.
Head to your current client and forward all your incoming email to the Gmail account.
In your Gmail account, go to Settings –> Accounts. Under ’send mail as’, click ‘Add another email address’. Enter the details for your me@mydomain.com account.
Complete the verification process.
Make your me@mydomain.com address you default for ’send mail as’.
And you’re done.

2. Create useful labels and folders to keep you organized

Not every email is as urgent as the next, though it can be difficult to keep track of those you need to answer quickly. Develop a labeling system that helps you get things done. Tag your most important emails with ‘Reply ASAP’, or an equivalent. Less urgent tasks can be marked ‘To Do’, while the least urgent ones can be tagged with ‘Later’.

I also think it’s important to archive as many emails as you can. If you’re using Gmail, it’s not like you run the risk of running out of space, and it’s worth it in case you need to retrieve details or contact someone again in future.

To make retrieving emails easier I’d suggest removing immediate action tags like ‘To Do’ and replacing them with tags for the purposes of archiving (when you’re done with the email). If it’s correspondence with another blogger, tag it ‘Networking’ and archive it. If it’s to do with guest-posting, tag it ‘Guest-Posting’, and so on.

3. Process emails in batches

A simple way to increase your productivity is to turn off auto notifiers. It’s simply not necessary to check email constantly throughout the day, and doing so will regularly interrupt more important tasks. After receiving thousands of emails I can safely say that I’ve never received one that couldn’t wait 12 hours or so.

Process your inbox in batches. Make it once or twice a day, and try to get your inbox down to zero. This will allow you to plow through the rest of your productive tasks without constant interruption.

4. Read it, answer it

Many people have the habit of reading all the emails before actually replying to them. Sometimes they might even wait a couple of hours before getting back to these previously read emails.

This method is ineffective for several reasons. First of all you might forget about some emails altogether. Once they are marked as “read” on your inbox, they will get mixed with all the others that you have already replied to.

Secondly, this process will also consume more time, since you will probably need to read each email a second time before remembering what you will need to say in the reply.

What would be a better approach? Simple, whenever you read an email, answer to it right away.

5. Keep it short

This benefits you and the person on the receiving end of your email, particularly if that person is busy like you.
Cut out unnecessary words and sentences.
Address the essential: not everything warrants a response.
Use paragraphs liberally. It’s easier to read, and makes your email more approachable.

6. Keep it sweet
Greet the correspondent by name.
Use a smiley if appropriate.
Sign-off with your name. It can change the tone of your email, and only takes a second or two.

7. Re-read once

You can go back and edit typos in a blog post or article, but you only get one chance with emails. It’s important that your meaning and expression is clear, especially when making pitches or networking with other people.

Also, remember that spell checking is not enough. Typos and mistakes that form other valid words (e.g., lose and loose) will not be corrected by the spell checker. Proofreading is key.

8. Build an address-book for networking
Add other bloggers.
Add people you have worked with.
Add people who have skills you might need.
Add people you might be able to call a favor from.
Add social bookmarking friends and power-users.

9. Use bridging emails

I’d like to meet one web user who hasn’t spent time composing a thoughtful email, only to have it completely and utterly ignored. In most cases, the receiver has a good excuse, but that doesn’t change the way we feel (mainly because we never heard said excuse!).

In other cases, someone you’ve emailed might eventually get back to you, but only a few weeks after you categorized them as a snob who ignores their emails and pledged never to visit their blog again.

A quick and simply solution to ensure people never feel this way about you is to use a bridging email for queries and requests you won’t be able to answer for a while. Send them a sentence saying you’ve received and read their email, but don’t have the time to answer at the moment. If you know when you might be able to answer, provide a broad timeframe. A few days? A few weeks? A few months?

Taking a few seconds to acknowledge their email can mean the difference between leaving a positive or a negative impression, even if you never find the time to answer. Readers appreciate that you’re busy. The main thing is that they don’t feel completely ignored.

10. Create a dedicated signature

Make sure that your signature contains functional links. It might be a link to your blog, website, or online portfolio.

Blog readers are so used of having their emails ignored by busy A-list bloggers that they’ll half expect you to do the same. Proving them wrong with a polite response can leave them delighted and feeling very positive about you. Your signature should effectively capitalize on this positive feeling.

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Give Your Blog a Checkup

Give Your Blog a Checkup

When you first started your blog you probably spent a lot of time seeing how it worked and making sure that your visitors would have a positive experience. But blogs are like people, cars, and just about anything else, they need an occasional checkup. When was the last time you tested your blog to make sure it still performed as intended? Here are 8 things you can do check and improve its health.

1. Test Load Time

The load time of your pages is extremely important. If your pages do not load quickly enough, visitors will leave and go somewhere else. This is especially important if a high percentage of your visitors come from StumbleUpon or other social media sites where users have very short attention spans.

Many bloggers test page load times when they first start their blogs, but over time widgets, plugins, and other items that slow down load time may have been added. It’s a good idea to compare the load time of your blog with that of several other blogs to know where yours stands. This can easily be done with the page speed checker provided by Self SEO.

2. Check for Dead Links

If you’re like most bloggers you probably include a lot of links in your posts, both inbound and outbound. Those links may have worked at the time the post was published, but do you know if they still work? Dead links are especially common with outbound links. The blogs and websites you link to may shut down, changes their link structure, or remove a page, all of which will result in dead links.

Checking your blog for dead links is easy with a free tool like Dead-Links.com.

3. Validate HTML and CSS

In order to give your visitors the best opportunity to use your blog in multiple browsers and operating systems you should use valid HTML and CSS coding. Many validation issues will not actually cause problems for users, but valid sites have the best chance of performing well in all situations.

The W3C provides tools for validating HTML and for validating CSS.

4. Optimize Your CSS

Even valid CSS code can be a mess. You may have started with an optimized CSS file, but over time you may have added new code and stopped using some of the existing code. CSS files that are not optimized create a larger file size and possibly slower loads. Two free tools that you can use are CSS Optimiser and Clean CSS.

5. Test in Multiple Browsers

After you have validated and optimized your code, it is a good idea to test your blog in multiple browsers. Use Google Analytics (or a similar program) to see which browsers your visitors are using. You should at least test in the ones that are most common. BrowserShots is a nice resource that will show you screen shots of you website or blog in a large number of browsers. With BrowserShots there’s no need to have all of the browsers installed on your computer for testing.

6. Run a Spider Simulator

It’s always good to have an idea of how search engine spiders are seeing your pages. You can do this with a spider simulator, like the one provided by Summit Media. This tool will check items that could help or harm a spider’s ability to accurately determine the contents of the page.

7. Delete Unused Files, Pages, and Images

If you’re like me you’ve probably uploaded a number of files (especially images) that you never wound up using, or that you stopped using. In most cases, leaving these files around will not cause a problem. However, it makes maintenance easier, improves organization, and decreases the overall size of your blog if you delete files that are not being used, and that you have no plans to use in the near future.

8. Clean Up Comment Spam

Most bloggers use a tool like Akismet to prevent comment spam. Unfortunately it’s not possible to stop all spam. There are most likely some comments on older posts that have slipped through the cracks. Go back through your old posts, or scan through the comments in your dashboard to check for inappropriate ones.

Wordpress users can also read the Wordpress Blog Maintenance Checklist for further Checkup steps.

By going through these steps a few times a year you can be sure that your blog is functioning optimally. Are there any other tests or checks that you perform on a periodic basis?

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27 Lessons About Blogging

27 Lessons About Blogging

John Wesley from “Pick the Brain” published an interesting article titled “27 Lessons Learned on the Way to 3000 Visits a Day and 2200 RSS Subscribers.” Basically he is sharing what he learned on the first six months of his successful blog. My favorite lesson from the article is:

If you aren’t sure a post is good, sit on it for a day. If you still aren’t convinced, delete it. A bad post is worse than no post. Bad posts make people question if your blog is worth reading. When you make a bad post (and you will) learn from it and move on. 

Below you will find a summary of all the points, the full description is on his blog:
Help people solve a problem and differentiate yourself
Be prepared to invest 2-3 years before seeing any serious returns 
Make it as easy as possible for people to subscribe to your RSS feed
Offer a full feed 
A bad post is worse than no post 
Be prepared to completely run out of ideas after the first 3-4 months 
It’s not always what you know, who you know is important too 
Write catchy headlines and list posts 
Make the opening paragraph as compelling as possible 
Courteously encourage friends, family, and casual acquaintances to vote up and link to your posts 
Don’t write every post for the social sites 
Listen carefully to every piece of feedback but don’t be a slave to it 
Experiment. Take chances. Piss a few people off 
Always look for a different angle 
Don’t participate in every meme or trade links with everyone who asks 
Write about your life in a way that’s relevant to your topic 
Make people think 
Don’t be anxious to plaster Google Ads all over the place 
Design matters 
Posting comments on other blogs is overrated 
Respond to your commenters 
Obsessively reading other blogs and checking traffic stats are not productive activities 
Once you have a bit of success don’t flaunt it 
Make use of blog carnivals 
Display your best posts on every page 
Read blogs about blogging 
Do what works for you

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Stop Checking the Statistics Daily

Stop Checking the Statistics Daily

When I started blogging I remember that I used to check the statistics daily. Sometimes even more often than daily. It was just fascinating to see the little numbers, especially when they were increasing.

The same thing happened with my second blog or when I started using Adsense, and by that time I was spending around 30 minutes everyday just looking at my various dashboards and web analytics programs. 

Guess what, these sessions accounted for almost 15 hours every month, and I sure could have used them more efficiently. If you behave similarly when it comes to checking the statistics, stop!

Sure, studying the numbers is very important, but you need to do it strategically and not obsessively. Develop a schedule with fixed days on the month where you will sit down and carry a structured analysis. Know what factors you are looking for, track the trends and draw conclusions that will be applied to your overall blogging strategy.

There is no correct frequency for checking the statistics. You can do it weekly or even monthly, just make sure that you are using the numbers rather than being used by them.

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