Does your business blog?

Have you been thinking it might be time to consider a blog, but aren’t sure (a) you can pull it off and (b) it will provide value?

Keep reading. This article will help you (or someone you know) understand the value of a business blog.

Is Google the Only Reason to Blog?

I have a question for you, and it’s a serious one: If you never garnered another single visitor to your company blog through search engine optimization (SEO), would you still have one?

For many, especially execs who don’t necessarily “get it” when it comes to content marketing, the answer would be, “No way!”

But for those persons and companies that have watched the magic of blogging and its effect beyond SEO, the answer would be a resounding, “Of course!”

That’s what this article is all about. There’s much more to having a company blog than just getting more visitors to your website because Google decided to send them there.

In fact, here are 5 other powerful reasons why you should be blogging, and I look forward to hearing what you would add in the comments section at the end.

#1: The Power of Team

Ever heard of HubSpot? The Boston-based company and all-in-one social media platform for small- and medium-sized businesses is one of the fastest-growing in the world, and considering Google just invested $32 million in the company, they seem to be on solid ground.

Although there are many reasons HubSpot is rocketing up the charts of the business world, one of the core components to their success model is the “team” feel of the company. Ranked two straight years as the #1 Best Place to Work by the Boston Business Journal, HubSpot allows EVERY single person in the company to produce content for the company blog. With over 300 employees, you can see why it’s nothing for them to post 3-5 articles on most days.

By allowing all employees to create content, companies like HubSpot have a constant flow of new names and ideas on their blog.

When it comes down to it, we, as humans, like to be part of a movement. We want to be part of a team. When all hands are on deck and each person is contributing to building the company’s content base, magic and momentum can truly happen, and all benefit together.

And keep in mind, this principle isn’t just for large companies. Whether you’re an army of 1, 5 or 500, working as a team to produce content can have a powerful effect on any company or organization.

#2: Blogging Sharpens Your Sword

Before I started teaching people about business and marketing, I was (and still partially am) a “pool guy.” That’s right, I own a company that builds in-ground swimming pools throughout Virginia and Maryland. Over the last 10 years I’ve had over 1000 in-home sales appointments.

Sales professionals constantly answer the same questions again and again. By writing out these answers, their ability to communicate with prospects and clients goes up exponentially.

Three years ago, when I embraced the power of content and started our company blog, I noticed many benefits. One of which was the fact that my sales presentations became much, much better. How so?

By creating 2 to 3 articles a week for my blog:

• I was forced to stay up to date with every new technology in the industry.
• I became much better at explaining things in a way the consumer could clearly understand. (In other words, I learned how to become a better teacher.)
• I found that I seemed to have an answer for every question a customer could throw at me.

Simply put, writing a blog post is like practicing for a game. The more one practices, the better their skills, timing and overall play—which ultimately leads to more victories, or in this case, sales.

#3: You Become the Trust Agent

When it comes to blogging, the process of making sales is not nearly as complicated as we sometimes make it. Look at it this way:

Do you remember your kindergarten teacher? (Yes, I know that was a long time ago, but try.)

How did he or she make you feel? Did you trust him/her?

Although there are many reasons why most of us love our earliest teachers, the biggest reason we respect and appreciate them so much is because they took the time to patiently teach us things in a way we could actually understand.

That’s right; they weren’t there to impress anyone, as their only goal was helping us understand.

When a company’s blog takes on this “kindergarten content” approach, they do everything in their power to answer consumer questions by seeing the world from the consumer’s point of view, not their own.

Once this occurs, walls of doubt are torn down and the trust level between the customer and the company immediately starts to go up.

Genuinely helpful articles, like this one above, will generate huge amounts of trust from consumers wanting to spend their money wisely.

And as I mentioned above, this trust will lead to more phone calls to your office, more forms filled out on your web page and eventually many more sales.

#4: Content is the Great Qualifier

Has your company ever gotten a lead that wasn’t exactly qualified or ready for your product/service? Chances are, if you’ve been in business for longer than a day, this has happened many, many times.

And when it comes to sales, the more time a sales department spends with unqualified leads, the less time they spend with qualified ones, which is obviously a very bad thing.

There are generally two types of consumers:

• Price Shoppers: someone only focused on lowest price to make their buying decision
• Value Shoppers: someone looking for a combination of product quality, customer service and reasonable pricing to make their buying decision

Ask any sales and marketing department which client they’d rather have and they’ll tell you “value.”

I mention this because with the advancement of the Internet, companies can now track behaviors of their leads when it comes to the content customers are viewing on their website.

For example, here are two leads my company has gotten in the last week. Which appears more prepared for a sales appointment?

Someone who has read 55 pages of your website.

Someone who has read 3 pages of your website.

100 out of 100 will say the first one, as that particular person has shown not only are they a serious shopper, but they’re also very, very informed as to the company’s teachings and product doctrine. (BTW, if you’re not blogging, there’s a good chance your company website doesn’t even have 55 pages, so let’s get busy!)

Remember, the more pages a visitor reads on your website, the closer they are to making a buying decision with your company, so integrate your blog’s content into every aspect of your sales approach.

Also, if you’re not currently using a technology that allows you to track lead analytics, I’d strongly recommend it, as it can save your company thousands and thousands in saved time alone.

#5: The Power of the Blog Comment

Does your company blog allow for comments and promote discussion? If not, you’re missing out on a golden opportunity to learn from readers and allow them to tell you exactly what they’re interested in.

Often businesses approach blogging from a very myopic and limited point of view, and simply don’t do a good job of seeing the world through the eyes of the consumer.

By promoting active discussion on your company blog and then truly listening to what is said, you will constantly get questions from individuals wanting to find out more, much of which can then be turned into another blog post.

As you might imagine, this cycle of “teach then listen” can become an ever-flowing content factory for any company that takes the time to do this the right way.

Also, the comment section of a blog is your great opportunity to build a community of passionate individuals who appreciate your company’s brand and mission, thereby becoming your greatest advocates, on- and offline.

Comments + Conversation = Passionate Community

Now It’s Your Turn

I’ve shown you 5 reasons (beyond SEO) why your company should have a blog. But I’ve also intentionally left out many others because I’d love to hear your thoughts on the matter as well.

What do you think? Have you seen these 5 benefits within your company? Which one has made the most impact? Also, what would you add to the list?

Jump in, everyone! I love nothing more than discussing the power of great content, so please leave your thoughts and questions in the comments box below.

Here are 5 tips to position your blog to attract corporate buyers.

The $315 million–dollar acquisition of Huffington Post by AOL definitely raised some eyebrows as bloggers started to realize that they’re holding “real” assets that can attract top-dollar investments.

But for many, it may seem like selling your blog isn’t even a remote possibility. Perhaps you’re still trying to figure out how to make it attractive for readers.

As you consider what’s next for your blog, start thinking like an entrepreneur and recognize that your blog has the potential to earn income like any other business.

Here are tips to take your blog to the next level, while making it more attractive for corporate buyers.

#1: Develop the right “mix”

In business it’s all about finding the “right stuff” to get the job done. Companies don’t buy blogs because they don’t have enough money to develop their own, they do it because the blog has already done a lot of the legwork of attracting the right audience, developing the right content or building a content distribution model that would take the company too much time to achieve on their own.

Think about the type of companies that would be interested in your readers. What type of content strategies could you develop to better serve your audience? How can you extend the reach of your content? How can you build your email list? How can you get your content to rank better in search engines?

With the acquisition, AOL is buying into the new publishing model that the Huffington Post represents.

#2: Establish trust with your readers

As a blogger, your voice is what establishes trust and resonates with readers even after corporate acquisition. This trust is a valuable resource for the corporate buyer and is something many times they do not want to lose after the acquisition.

Ultimately, if you have successfully established trust, you will be more likely to continue to play an active role in the blog even after the acquisition.

What does that mean? It means you could get a paycheck when they acquire you and then an ongoing salary for continuing to be actively engaged. That’s a win-win!

An example of what can happen when a blogger had developed trust with his readers and then left can be found with the departure of Michael Arrington from Tech Crunch. Arrington’s departure was bittersweet for AOL and his readers, which required AOL to quickly reestablish trust with the audience they paid a lot of money to acquire.

Poynter reported, “Readers come to TechCrunch for the latest information, but what makes a blog stand out is the trust in the people running the site, the editorial voice, and a site’s adherence to its own standards. That same trust wouldn’t automatically transfer to AOL’s appointed editor in this era of blended norms.”

Make sure that every step of the way you are establishing a genuine relationship with your readers. Figure out what they need from you and do your best to deliver it. When a corporate buyer comes along, make sure you protect your readers and your integrity to the best of your ability.

#3: Determine where your blog fits into the competitive landscape

What’s your blog’s competitive advantage? What do your competitors do really well?

Companies will look at your blog and compare it to your competitors to determine which has the best chance to reach their audience, so it is important that you survey the landscape and work on building a differentiator that will help you stand out.

To illustrate, we’ll look at a few blogs from the personal finance industry. WiseBread provides a wide variety of content focused on frugal living. Likely, the site is focused on providing a superior distribution channel for content and driving organic rankings.

WiseBread provides a variety of perspectives with multiple authors.

Man vs. Debt provides tips and personal finance education through compelling and authentic personal stories of getting out of debt and being financially aware. The author’s tips hold a lot of credibility with readers because he has been there.

Man vs. Debt brings the power of a personal story to personal finance.

Budgets are Sexy provides readers with personal finance tips with flair. The blogger is known to rock a Mohawk and talk about finance with a friendly, down-to-earth tone that makes it all seem much simpler.

The blog Budgets are Sexy brings a rocker's edge to personal finance.

With just these few examples, you can see there’s a wide variety of blogs that are operating in industry verticals, and each has unique, but attractive, qualities to a corporate buyer.

As a blogger, think about what makes your blog unique, how you would describe your relationship with your readers and how your differentiator can be leveraged by a corporate buyer. Ultimately, it’s important that your blog fills a need. It should fill a need for the buyer and for the reader.

#4: Test the revenue waters

A corporate buyer wants your blog for a reason. And ultimately, it’s to help generate revenue for the company.

There are two primary ways of generating revenue from a blog: selling advertising space or leads to third-party advertisers or advertising the buyer’s products/services. A great way to better position your blog for sale is to be able to show a consistent revenue stream from advertising.

Start testing different types of advertising mechanisms on your site to see what will work to convert readers into buyers. If you don’t have third-party advertisers knocking down your door, start by advertising products that you have developed for sale. If you don’t sell “products,” look at developing an information product like an e-book or training course.

Man Vs. Debt offers a series of e-books for $47 and an online training course called "You Vs. Debt."

#5: Be prepared to let go

Don’t kid yourself and think that you’ll sell your blog to the highest bidder and continue running your blog like you always have. It’s common for bloggers to maintain a strong management presence in the content on their blog after a corporate acquisition, but that doesn’t mean that it comes easily.

Heather Starr Fiedler, the former owner of Pittsburgh Mom, which was purchased by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, said, “the hardest thing for me has been trying to maintain ownership of the voice of the site, but recognizing that I don’t own it anymore when I’m asked to take a different direction or add a feature to the site. It’s about forming a good partnership with the people you work for.

Heather Starr Fiedler blogs about her sometimes serious, sometimes profound and often humorous thoughts on life.

“I’ve had a ‘few different bosses’ and each has had a different philosophy of what the site should be, so I’ve had to be flexible, but also stand up for what I built the site for. Ultimately, it’s your name on the blog and you have to be comfortable with what’s there.”

Heather has worked with her management team to create revenue streams through sponsorships that are organic and natural for her readers. She says, “the big challenge is trying to do it respectfully… that is the big debate. So far we haven’t had any negative feedback from the audience so I think we’ve achieved that.”

Whether you started blogging because you loved it or started with a payoff in mind, there could be an opportunity to reap the rewards of your hard work. There are two sides of this fence: those who feel that bloggers are “selling out” and those who respect and understand the economics of the decision. Whichever side you are on, it’s hard to ignore the potential.

Even Perez Hilton, who recently offered his blog for sale on Howard Stern, stated that he would sell for $50 to $100 million depending on whether the deal included a TV project.

For the right deal, entertainment blogs can be sold.

Whether you ultimately decide to entertain offers on your blog or not, these tips will help you strengthen your following and establish your brand.

The best way to position your blog for sale is to build a rock-solid following. To help you get there, check out 17 Ways to Grow Your Blog From Top Bloggers and Michael Stelzner Explains How He Built Social Media Examiner to Be a Top Blog.

Did you sell your blog? Are you a company that has acquired a blog? If so, what tips would you offer readers? Leave your questions and comments in the box below.

But the owners balked at giving away free food, which they estimated would cost them several thousand dollars. Yet they had spent $5,000 on a magazine ad!

“How many customers did it bring in?” Stratten asked. “We don’t know,” they replied.

Does this sound familiar? Stratten calls this the “push and pray” marketing strategy. You push your ad out to thousands and even millions of people, and pray that some respond.

“The food cost and my fee would have been less than the amount they paid for that ad,” Stratten writes in his book, UnMarketing: Stop Marketing. Start Engaging. And in just two days, the restaurant owners potentially would have created 150 satisfied customers to spread the word about their restaurant.

But the owners just didn’t get it. They refused to implement the strategy, and eventually they went out of business.

Stratten believes business is about creating and managing relationships with current and potential customers. Find people who are already talking about you, engage them and give them something of value. He calls this marketing strategy “pull and stay.” Pull potential customers to your business by engaging them, trade something they value for their name and contact information and stay in touch with them.

“If you believe business is built on relationships,” Stratten writes, “make building them your business. UnMarketing is all about engagement at every point of contact with your market.”

Use Social Media to Enter the Conversation

Stratten believes social media is the best way to find and engage potential customers. “If I told you that I had a room full of current potential customers all talking about your products and your competitors, would you not show up?”

If you’ve read our articles, you already know how to do this. Download TweetDeck and set one of the columns to monitor tweets containing keywords related to your business or your company name. When you see such a tweet, respond. Try to provide value in every tweet.

A self-described Twitter fanatic, Stratten decided in March 2009 to ask his 16,000 Twitter followers to help him raise money for a charity that focuses on child hunger. Together they raised $12,000 in just 5.5 hours.

Facebook and LinkedIn are permission-based, but there’s no barrier to communicating with anyone on Twitter. So he recommends starting on Twitter and using Facebook and LinkedIn to “go to the next level.”

He even uses Twitter to find out more about local businesspeople before he goes to a networking event.

This book essentially contains 55 ideas for “unmarketing” your business. Each chapter is one idea. And they’re in no particular order. So you can read the chapters in whatever order you want.

Here are some of the things you’ll learn:

• Trade shows – “pull and stay” works extremely well.
• Tele-seminars and tele-summits – how to do them right.
• Social media – the pros and cons of Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
• Websites – they shouldn’t just be an online brochure.
• Content is king – how to create and deliver valuable content.
• Viral marketing – Stratten made many mistakes and you can learn from them!

In fact, “IMHO,” the chapter on viral marketing (at 26 pages, the longest chapter in the book), is the best part of the book. Stratten is humble enough to describe in detail all the mistakes he made. Essentially, he wasn’t ready when views of his video took off and people started subscribing to his newsletter.

That’s why he says, “Not being prepared for success in viral marketing is worse than never having success at all.” Because, “once it goes, it goes” and there’s no stopping it.

Stratten also writes about companies that really care about their customers, like:

• Zappos, which once let a customer return nine pairs of unused shoes even though the return period had long since expired
• FreshBooks, which once sent a couple of boxes of Triscuits to a current customer in Fiji
• McDonald’s, whose coffee lured Stratten away from Tim Horton’s coffee after 20 years of patronage
• Lush, a soap store whose saleswoman treated Stratten so well that he bought $65 worth of soap

Customers Are Not an Interruption

If you’re in retail sales, are your salespeople that enthusiastic about your products? Instead of thinking of customers as an interruption, think of them as “a word-of-mouth machine that can spread the word, good or bad,” Stratten writes. “Do anything to show that you are interested in my potential business with you rather than treating me as an interruption to your busy day.”

Do you spend most of your time trying to get new customers? Do you treat new customers better than regular customers? If you know that it takes five to ten times the amount of effort to get a new customer as it does to keep an existing one, why would you do this?

Creating current satisfied customers is your highest priority. And why would you risk losing a current customer? It just doesn’t make sense.

Stratten uses coffee as an example. After drinking Tim Horton’s coffee for 20 years, he switched to McDonald’s coffee. They had solved some problems that Tim Horton was ignoring. Dissatisfied customers won’t necessarily complain, they’ll just go somewhere else.

Stratten also recommends surveying your current customers periodically. If you’re thinking of offering a new product or service, consider creating what he calls a “Stop Start Continue” campaign. Send all current customers an email with a link to an online survey. Let them answer anonymously. Ask your customers:

• What should we stop doing?
• What should we start doing?
• What should we continue doing to meet or exceed your expectations?

Most people would be thrilled to know that a company cares so much about them, it values their advice. Another benefit of doing a customer survey: “Every point of contact is an opportunity to engage with your market,” writes Stratten.

Social Media Examiner gives this book 4 stars.

We have written so much about the new way of marketing, and now we’d like to hear from you! Have you implemented any of these ideas? Are they working? Please add your comments below.

So instead of playing by the old rules, he made new rules. He started blogging and he created profiles on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube.

He also hired the co-founder of Facebook, Chris Hughes, to be his Internet strategist. And he won the Democratic presidential nomination even though he spent a lot less money than his opponent.

At the time of the election, Obama had five million fans on Facebook—over four million more than Clinton. On MySpace, the numbers were approximately 800,000 and 200,000, respectively. On Twitter, he had over 100,000 followers and his opponent had about 5,000.

And he did all of that by following the principles of inbound marketing.

If you still market your business the old-fashioned way, you’re using outbound marketing techniques. Outbound marketing is throwing your message into the public arena and hoping the “right people” see it. Inbound marketing is creating a message that only the right people would be interested in, and then helping them stumble upon it.

If you have trouble seeing the difference, consider this:

Outbound marketing—You spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to advertise the 2012 Lexus LFA during the Super Bowl. Only a tiny fraction of that audience would qualify financially.

Inbound marketing—You help people who have the income and the desire for the 2012 Lexus LFA to find your website, your blog and your YouTube channel.

Consumers Revolt Against In-Your-Face Marketing

I think I’m not the only one who’s fed up with traditional marketing techniques.

Many people have turned their collective backs on traditional advertising and ask their friends and family members for advice instead. They know any ad they see is just a sales pitch. And they probably don’t need whatever is being advertised.

But when they do need a product or service, they know their friends and families can give them unbiased testimonials about the products and services they like. And tapping into those conversations is one of the new rules of marketing.

So if spam-blockers, TiVo and mute buttons have convinced you to reconsider expensive outbound marketing techniques, have I got a book for you! It’s Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media, and Blogs by Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah.

Getting found doesn’t mean spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to create a prime-time commercial that most viewers will mute. Or putting an online banner ad for an arthritis drug in front of a 21-year-old woman.

Getting found means writing extensively about your solution to someone else’s problem. And then helping people with that problem find your online documents. “In order to move from outbound to inbound marketing,” write Halligan and Shah, “you need to stop interrupting people in your target market and ‘get found’ by them instead.”

So these two MIT MBA grads wrote a brief manual to teach you the fundamentals of inbound marketing. “We have seen inbound marketing work first hand for hundreds of companies in a myriad of different industries. We’re confident it will work for you if you persevere and continually learn.”

Market the Way People Search for Information

“To be successful and grow your business and revenues, you must match the way you market your products with the way your prospects learn about and shop for your products,” write Halligan and Shah. “The era of interruption-based marketing is coming to an end because people have become much more efficient at blocking out these traditional methods of marketing and have become equally as efficient at finding trusted information online.”

Yes, you may have to forget everything you know about marketing. But Halligan and Shah will take you by the hand and teach you a brand-new set of marketing techniques. Their book has a companion website that includes the following resources:

• A forum where you can ask and answer questions about inbound marketing
• A directory of marketing service firms that can help you implement inbound marketing
• A collection of marketing news to keep you current
• A database of inbound marketing jobs for job-hunters and employers

Many of you may already know how to optimize your website, use an RSS reader and set up a YouTube channel. This book will teach you all of that and much more. You’ll also learn how to:

• Hire employees who understand inbound marketing principles
• Hire service providers using inbound marketing principles
• Use bivariate and multivariate testing to see which landing page draws more leads
• Grade leads so you spend more time on the ones who will become customers
• Create a lead-nurturing program so you don’t lose promising leads
• Analyze your competition using inbound marketing principles

If this sounds like a lot of work, it is! Did you think inbound marketing would be easy? Did you think all you had to do was set up a Google Alert to monitor mentions of your company name?

This book contains many tips for startups too. If you’re starting a business, you have one major advantage over established businesses when it comes to inbound marketing—you won’t have to “unlearn” anything!

“You no longer need to spend tons of money interrupting your potential customers. Instead you need to create remarkable content, optimize that content, publish the content, market the content, and measure what is working and what is not working,” write Halligan and Shah. “A savvy inbound marketer is half traditional marketer and half content creation factory.”

In fact, you can think of inbound marketing as the “Five C’s”: you’re Converting Creativity, Content, and Conversation into valuable Customers.

If you’re still clinging to traditional outbound marketing techniques, consider this final quote from Halligan and Shah: “On average, inbound marketing leads are 61 percent less expensive than outbound marketing leads.”

I thought that might get your attention.

So take a tip from Barack Obama. Pick up a copy of Inbound Marketing, cut your marketing bill in half and start a conversation with your customers. They’re waiting to hear from you.

Social Media Examiner gives this book a 4-star rating.

This article showcases 10 top blogs in multiple markets. Follow their lead to take your blog from good to great. And if you don’t have a business blog yet, now’s the perfect time to get in the game!

Each of these successful blog examples has incorporated unique features that have attracted thousands of readers. The great news is that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel—just model the best. Take a look at these thriving blogs and apply the same success strategies to your own blog.

#1: Sweet Leaf Tea

Sweet Leaf Tea is a blog site that sells specialty teas. They’ve figured out a way to humanize their blog while staying true to their brand. Sweet Leaf Tea uses their blog design to bring a less formal, more human touch to their brand.

Notice in the image below the casual fonts, the old-world feeling of their images and the informal language they use to spotlight the features on the site. It’s more “people-speak” than “marketing-speak” and this strategy instantly draws in their target audience.

Sweet Leaf Tea also showcases their employees in a very friendly, casual way. They show photos of their teammates (they call them “Tea Mates”) and give us a behind-the-scenes glimpse of their fun work environment by posting the Tea Mates’ nicknames and interests.

Tip: Consider allowing your employees to be the face of your brand. Highlighting your team is a great way to bring your readers behind the scenes and let them see the team camaraderie. This kind of transparency builds trust with your readers. Also, your team can help you keep things informal, fun and relatable. It’s important to be professional, but remember your readers are human and everyone enjoys a little fun too.

#2: Stonyfield Farm

Stonyfield Farms specializes in organic dairy products. Their branding is geared toward family, farming and living an organic lifestyle.

Stonyfield does a great job of staying true to their brand by creating a targeted theme within their blog. As you can see from the image below, they use a barnyard as their home page backdrop, and include pictures of healthy families and articles about healthy living. All of these components reinforce their theme of family and healthy living. Plus, notice how they say “Let’s Be Friends,” a much friendlier, warmer way to encourage people to connect with you on your social sites.

They also use video in a very genuine, behind-the-scenes kind of way. Just like their blog’s theme of family and farming, their videos are not professionally done, but with real people living the lifestyle they personify. Many of their videos come from the farm of an organic dairy farmer in Vermont, who supplies milk for their products. You can’t get much more behind-the-scenes than that!

Staying true to your theme, as Stonyfield has done with their videos, allows your audience to know, like and trust you. This is key to building a solid blogging foundation.

Another thing they do very well is their use of soft sales messages contextualized in value-added content. For example, they may write an article about the importance of eating organic fruit, but weave in the idea of mixing Stonyfield yogurt in with your fruit for an extra dose of nutrients. There’s nothing wrong with promoting your products on your blog; just remember that the most successful blogs place added value before selling.

The Stonyfield Farm blog is a great example of a big brand using their blog to build community and educate their readers about their market.

Tip: Try to weave in a theme throughout your blog. To help with this, consider inviting outsiders to contribute to your blog. Another great tip is to go deeper by allowing your audience to see what’s behind the curtain. Behind-the-scenes stories and footage invite the reader in even more and will help you create content that stays true to your theme.

#3: Pioneer Woman

Pioneer Woman is an excellent example of a successful lifestyle blog. The blog’s creator, Ree Drummond, has used her blog as a platform for a variety of projects, including promoting her cookbook and showcasing her photography. Her “secret sauce” lies in her ability to connect personally with her readers while creating a welcoming, friendly and warm experience one blog post at a time.

One great example of Ree’s welcoming persona is her simple bio on the home page. And take a look at her social sites. They’re easy to see and are also uniquely designed to match her site. This is smart branding at its best!

Another way Ree is consistent with her branding is in her blog’s header. She changes it depending on the season and time of year. Because so much of country life is about holiday and seasons, this small touch is directly aligned with the overall vision of the blog. Also notice her brilliant use of photography. Photos on a blog are essential when you want to create a feeling or experience for your readers.

In addition, her blog layout is easy to navigate, which is extremely important considering the short attention span of most readers today. Ree has added icons that allow you to view her blog in multiple ways, including multiple blog thumbnails to a page or just a few at a time. You get to decide. These small touches are just some of the reasons her readers continually return for more.

Tip: Be aware of your brand when you’re designing your blog. Consider using photographs and brand-specific design elements to draw in your readers. By increasing your blog aesthetics, you can easily create a more personable and relatable experience for your readers.

#4: Citrix

Citrix’s unique blogging strategy is all about adding value. Their blog, Work Shifting, is a work/lifestyle blog that focuses on the issues people in business experience when on the move. What’s interesting is that you have to really look hard to know which company is behind the blog because Citrix downplays their involvement. Instead, they’ve put their audience’s needs first and have created a space that resonates with their audience’s needs and interests.

In addition, to set their blog apart from the rest, they use distinct visual branding with their logo and images. Plus, their visual branding is memorable—another surefire sign of a successful blog. In addition to their branding, notice below how the content and topics are all about the target audience’s needs. This is key when creating a blog that’s bigger than your own brand.

They also use a broad range of contributors—people who do not actually work for Citrix. This is a smart strategy to diversify the content of your blog and attract new readers via those who already follow your contributors.

Tip: Focus on adding value to a market that’s bigger than your brand. You can do this by collaborating with contributors who are experts in your market and who will resonate with your ideal audience. Offer as much free value as possible and keep your sales messages as low-key as possible to keep the focus on the content. This strategy will build trust with your target audience and keep your readers coming back for more.

#5: Danny Brown

Danny Brown’s blog is a terrific case study for consultants or anyone with a personal brand. This site positions Brown as an expert in his field and showcases his expertise, knowledge and services.

A brilliant feature on this blog is the way Danny presents his consulting services without being too pushy or arrogant. It’s all about the language he uses. Instead of saying “Hire Me” on his site, he instead uses the phrase “Work with Me.” It’s a subtle shift in language, but conjures up an entirely different experience.

In the image above, you’ll also see that Danny uses the cliffhanger concept by posting a snippet of a blog post and then adding a “read more” button to get the reader to dive deeper into his blog site. This is a powerful way to get people’s attention and entice them to stay a little longer and explore your site. Also, this concept helps you save space on your home site by just giving a teaser of your article content.

One of my favorite features on his blog is the share sidebar next to his blog posts. The WordPress plugin is called Digg Digg and the sidebar floats on the screen. When a reader scrolls down the page, the sidebar follows them. This is a smart way to make it as easy as possible for people to share your content.

Tip: Make content sharing on your site as easy as possible for your readers. If they have to look around for the share features, they’ll likely skip sharing altogether. Consider using the Digg Digg plugin to make this possible on your site.

#6: Ecoki

Ecoki is a blog site that offers a wide range of articles, tips and ideas on everything related to living a green lifestyle.

The beauty of this blog is the clean, grid-based template. This style makes it easy to read and showcases the various topics. In addition, they make it simple to navigate the site by adding easily visible headers, such as featured article, latest news, popular items and resources. Sometimes just calling out the specific areas on your site is all you need to do to get people more engaged with your content.

In addition, Ecoki has two types of navigation bars. The top navigation bar calls out the main topics they cover, including food, technology and design, and the navigation directly under it showcases their media delivery, including articles, video and info on contributors. These two different navigation bars give more power to the readers by allowing them to choose how they want to consume the content.

Tip: If the content for your blog site includes multiple topics, consider the grid layout design. It’s easy to follow and allows you to showcase multiple areas in a simple format. Also, one smart strategy is to add in photos to break up the text in your grid layout and make the site more inviting and less static.

#7: Nuts About Southwest

Southwest Airline’s blog, Nuts About Southwest, is one of the most popular airline blogs around today. Their secret to success is they understand their loyal flyers’ needs and interests and capitalize on that throughout their blog. The blog is designed to build a relationship between the brand and their consumers.

One thing to remember is that blogs are so much more than just text. What Southwest does best is mix up their media. They use written articles, videos, photos, polls and surveys to capture the interest of their many readers. They often lead with images to draw in the reader, a great strategy for any business blog.

In addition, Nuts About Southwest has added a feature where returning readers can create an account to customize their profile and engage with other Southwest readers. Since frequent flyers are often loyal fans, they’re likely to exchange travel stories and experiences with other readers. Southwest created a way to make this easy for their readers.

Tip: Special features on your blog are a great strategy, especially if you have loyal fans who will likely return to your blog on a regular basis. (After all, this is the goal for most blogs, right?) Treat your returning readers as VIPs by creating features and content that facilitate engagement with you and other readers.

#8: Disney Parks

Disney Parks is a site designed to encourage more visitors to Disney’s parks. They do a fantastic job of making their site memorable and useful.

One great feature is the way they showcase their blog authors. Next to each post is a photo of the author. This allows their content to be a bit more friendly and transparent.

Also, Disney is a world-renowned company and they’re known for their professional branding and impeccable productions. To be consistent with the branding and to meet the expectations of their audience, this blog site posts professional videos, photos and content. Unlike the Stonyfield Farms blog mentioned earlier, Disney Parks does not have that casual, homegrown feeling to it. Instead it’s polished and professional to match their branding.

This blog site also includes a comment policy to inform their readers that comments are monitored. Because they’re appealing to families with children, Disney Parks needs to make sure parents feel safe when their children visit the site.

Tip: Keep your design simple while staying true to your audience’s expectations. If you have a polished, professional image, don’t stray too far from this on your business blog. The key here is to know your audience’s expectations and go above and beyond to deliver what they want to read, see and experience most.

#9: Procter & Gamble

Man of the House, a Procter & Gamble blog, is a great example of a blog that targets a very specific audience. The blog is designed specifically for men and covers all areas that interest men, including money, career, technology, family and fitness. Although there are many “mommy blogs” out there today, there are very few sites that focus solely on men and their interests. This site captures that niche market perfectly.

They do many things right, but one great feature is their use of photos on their home page. Each blog post includes a thumbnail photo above each post to allow their readers to browse the articles easily. This is a great way to showcase your content, especially if you’re writing on a variety of topics and want your audience to browse your archives.

Also, similar to the Citrix blog mentioned earlier, this site also does not blast advertisements and push their products. Instead, they’ve built a site with great content and engaging features and subtly weave their marketing messages into the site, but only as a secondary outcome. Adding value for their audience with tips, tricks and ideas is their number-one goal.

The key is to create a site that caters to your target audience, and once you own the platform, you’re able to subtly weave in your marketing messages to a warm audience. If you do the hard work up front and do it consistently, you’ll create a platform that practically sells your brand and products for you!

Lastly, the Man of the House blog places social media sharing buttons at the top of each post, instead of the bottom where most people are used to seeing them. Because many readers will not read the entire blog post, placing the buttons at the top encourages readers to share their content.

Tip: Think about how you can address the needs of your audience even if it has nothing to do with your products or services. The more you can make your posts interesting to your target audience, they’ll consider your site as the “go-to source” for quality info and keep coming back for more.

#10: Delicious Days

Delicious Days is a front-runner when it comes to impeccable blog design and overall layout. This site is a great example of knowing what your audience will respond to and delivering your content in a way that grabs their attention.

The use of white space and the black-and-white design makes the site easy to read and navigate. Notice how there’s not a lot of background noise and the clean, minimal look is inviting and calm.

Also, Nicky Stich and Oliver Seidel, the creators and designers of the blog, have added a feature that’s not often seen on most blogging sites. In the upper-right corner you’ll see a tab that reads, “Can I help you?” This serves as their website search tool.

In addition, the “A+” and “A-” buttons increase or decrease the font size of their blog site, again making their site even easier to navigate. These two features are great examples of taking care of your audience and addressing their needs front and center on your blog.

Also, Nicky knows what will lure her readers in, and in her case, its enticing photos. She is a master at mixing text with imagery to tell the story and evoke emotion. This is evident in the two images below.

Tip: Don’t underestimate the power of white space. It can make your blog more user-friendly and visually appealing to attract readers and keep your existing readers on your blog longer. Also, know what attracts your audience’s attention. If enticing photos will catch their attention, as with Delicious Days, use more photos! Keep it simple and give your audience what they want.

Want to Learn More About Blogging for Business?

If you’re not fully leveraging the power of blogging, don’t worry. You’re not alone. Most businesses are just now getting started with blogs.

There’s one easy way to take your blogging efforts to the next level. By attending the web’s largest online blogging conference, Blogging Success Summit 2011, you’ll become empowered to use blogs to gain more exposure, better engage customers and grow your business.

The great part is you’ll be learning from 23 blogging experts. Join Technorati’s CEO, Scott Monty, Darren Rowse, Brian Clark, Michael Stelzner and experts from McDonald’s, Cisco, Southwest Airlines, Sony and Procter & Gamble as they reveal proven blogging tactics at Blogging Success Summit 2011.

It’s the web’s largest online blogging conference. Go here for a free sample and to learn more.

What do you think about the above business blogs? Have you tried any of these techniques with success? Let us know! Please leave your comments below.

If you heard about a marketing strategy that could substantially lower your marketing expenses and return 600% or more of your investment, would you be interested in learning more about it?

When Social Media Examiner surveyed 1,900 marketers in 2010, half said they wanted to learn more about this strategy.

Of those just starting out in social media marketing, 65% wanted to learn more about it. And 81% of all the marketers surveyed said they would definitely increase their use of this strategy.

No, it’s not Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or YouTube.

Sure, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn were among the top four social media tools among this group of marketers.

But what was first?

Blogging!

Did you know that Technorati ranked Social Media Examiner the #1 small business blog in the world just five months after it was launched? “We didn’t advertise, didn’t rely on the press and almost none of our traffic is coming from search engines,” said its founder, Mike Stelzner, in March 2010.

Blogging Isn’t Just for Moms Anymore

If you work for a large corporation, you’re probably not blogging yet, are you? Oh sure, you might have your own personal blog centered around your interests, hobbies or political views.

But I’m talking about a corporate blog. A blog sponsored, written and monitored by your company.

I’ll bet these are some of the reasons you or your company isn’t blogging:

• You don’t know what to write about
• You think your employees are too busy to blog
• You don’t want to reveal company secrets

If you’re a small business owner, did you know that nearly half of your competitors will be using a blog for marketing purposes by next year?  What’s holding you back?

Maybe you’re wondering “How can I make sure my message is noticed and not buried in all the other noise?”

Here’s How to Get Your Blog Working for Your Business

Suppose you could hire 23 of the biggest names in blogging to give you proven tips and techniques for using a corporate blog to generate leads, win customers and achieve your sales goals.

Suppose each of those experts came to your home or office and gave you 60 minutes of their time. Each one could easily charge you hundreds of dollars.

But suppose you got all of those experts for less than $300. Not $300 per expert, less than $300 for all of them.  Only $300 for 14 hours of highly implementable training.

That’s exactly what you’ll get when you sign up for the early-bird discount to attend Social Media Examiner’s Blogging Success Summit 2011. It’s an online conference scheduled throughout the month of February 2011. You won’t need airline tickets, hotel rooms, a rental car or a week of fast food.

All you need is an Internet connection and speakers.

Just look at this partial list of the 23 instructors:

• Richard Jalichandra, Technorati CEO
• Darren Rowse and Chris Garrett, authors of the best-selling book, ProBlogger: Secrets to Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income
• Debbie Weil, author of The Corporate Blogging Book
• Douglas Karr, co-author of Corporate Blogging for Dummies
• Joe Pulizzi, co-author of Get Content Get Customers
• Brian Clark, founder of Copyblogger
• Michael Stelzner, founder of Social Media Examiner
  
• Rick Calvert, co-founder and CEO of BlogWorld
• Denise Wakeman, co-founder of The Blog Squad

You’ll also hear from people in the trenches – bloggers and social media marketers from Ford, McDonald’s, Southwest Airlines, Sony, Cisco and Procter & Gamble.

Here are some of the things you’ll learn:

• The State of the Blogosphere: What Businesses Need to Know
• Transforming Your Small Business Blog Into a Lead Generation Machine
• 20 Actionable Techniques to Enhance Your Blog’s Content
• How Big Businesses Are Leveraging the Power of Blogs
• How to Improve Your Search Engine Rankings With Blogging

HubSpot found that businesses with an active blog get 55% more online traffic than those without a blog.

Which part of that statistic are you in?  What do you think your competitors are doing?

To learn more about the upcoming summit click here.

What are your blogging plans for 2011? Please leave your comments in the box below.

There are a lot of obvious elements you need to include to make a blog reader-friendly: quality, compelling content, good navigation, a contact page, an about page, focus and clarity about the subject of the blog… and there’s a lot of not-so-obvious or overlooked things that can really help make a blog stand out if they’re implemented.

While I do have my own list of do’s and don’ts included, I decided to get input from other smart, savvy bloggers. I posted a request on LinkedIn Answers and received many great do’s and don’ts. I’ve grouped the tips into five categories: Planning, Content, Design, Marketing and Engagement.

#1: Planning Your Business Blog

Do: Know your “Big Why” – Why are you in business? What is your purpose and ultimate goal for serving others? Clarity about your purpose, your goals, your ideal client and how you transform people’s lives will help guide all the content on your business blog.

Do: Know what you mean when you say successful. Are you trying to get more sales? Develop relationships? Inform current customers? Having a specific goal for your blog will shape the rest of your strategy. From Cordelia Blake

Do: Keyword research before starting a blog. First, compile a list of keywords (and, more importantly, keyword phrases) you think your business should rank for. Then, go to Google Keyword tool and type in those phrases to find out how many actual searches are done per month. You would be surprised how different Google’s list may turn out from your own. Use the list Google suggests as your starting point. From Boris Mahovac

Use the Google Keyword Tool to find keywords that have a large number of searches.

Do: Define your target audience and develop a content strategy that they will find interesting, entertaining or informative. Don’t focus too closely on product. As a Twitter friend once said, “If you make dog food, don’t talk about dog food, talk about dogs.” From Heidi Cool

Do: Give it time. It takes a while to build real relationships. From Christopher Gronlund

Don’t: Hide the author of the blog. Make sure you have a real-live person behind the blog. Add his or her photo, name and role in the company. It’s OK to outsource to get help, but for the most authentic connection, have a real employee available to guide, answer questions and provide a true look inside the organization. Even if you only have a few people in your company, this is vitally important. From Phil Gerbyshak

#2: Your Blog Content

Do: Be real.

Don’t: Be stuffy, dull and pompous or use bizspeak jargon. A blog isn’t a lecture hall or a billboard (i.e., one-way or solely self-promotional communication), but is ideally a place for people who are hungry for good information to find you and start to see you as a reliable and trustworthy resource. From Caitlin Kelly

Do: Find an optimal posting schedule that works for you. The more you post on your blog, the more traffic you’ll attract. But more than frequency, focus on posting quality content consistently and constantly.

Do: Establish an editorial calendar that helps you plan for future articles and topics. Set reasonable deadlines. If you know you can’t publish daily, don’t establish that as your goal.

Don’t: Publish junk just to keep up with your calendar. It’s better to miss a post than to post gibberish. (Heidi Cool)

Do: Keep the Four E’s in mind when writing your blog posts: Educate, Entertain, Engage and Enrich. Mix it up to ensure your message is delivered in the way that your ideal reader wants to consume it.

Do: Create Scannable Content. People have different reading patterns on the web than they do on the printed page. They tend to scan down web pages rather than read every word. So give them what they want! Break up your content with shorter paragraphs, headings and bullets. Add images. Incorporate video. From Chris Cree

Do: Create compelling, keyword-rich titles that address your audience’s needs. From Rich Brooks

Do: Use a variety of post types. Some posts can be a quick paragraph, while others are a deep dive into an important issue. Posts can be based around a video, or based around text content. If you mix things up you’ll keep the blog interesting, expand your list of post ideas and fight the tendency for blogger burnout. From Kyle Deming

Don’t: Get too self-promotional. At least 80% of your content should focus on helping your audience. (Rich Brooks)

#3: Blog Design

Do: Blog on your own domain, period. It should also be under “yourdomain.com/blog” subdirectory rather than “blog.yourdomain.com”. This lends some of the search engine goodwill earned by your blog to your root domain. From Scott Allen. (Just about everyone made this recommendation.)

Do: Customize your templates and menus to make it easy for readers to explore page articles. Make good use of categories and tags. (Heidi Cool)

Do: Give your blog readers the tools to amplify your message to their own communities. Have retweet/tweet buttons, Facebook Like button, Digg, StumbleUpon and other relevant social sharing buttons on your blog posts. This falls under marketing and engagement as well. When designing your blog, make sure you include plugins and widgets that can support spreading your content far and wide.

Don’t: Hide author, contact, and subscription information. Make sure you have pages that are easy to find in the navigation so your reader can find out more about you and your company and can contact you with questions and feedback.

Make it easy for your audience to connect with you.

Do build an opt-in mailing list and autoresponder. Don’t rely solely on an RSS feed for your readers to get your blog updates. Most people do know what an RSS feed is; they do know how to opt in to get email. I see this mistake on 90% of the blogs I review. Check out Feedblitz, Feedburner and AWeber for email delivery of your blog content.

#4: Marketing Your Blog

Do: Build time into your schedule to market your blog. You’ve got to put some effort into steering people to your blog posts so that they actually find the great content you’re creating. (Chris Cree)

Do: Automate syndication of your blog posts to your social profiles. Make sure your posts are showing up on your Facebook page, Twitter stream and LinkedIn profile, at minimum.

Do: Find the right balance of keywords. Keywords are important for improving the ranking of your blog in search engines and for increasing visibility and readership. However, more is not always better. You want your blog post to read like a conversation you’re having with a person face to face. From Emily Madsen

Do: Repurpose your blog content in multiple formats and syndicate it on other content-sharing sites. Recreate your content in audio and video formats in order to leverage your time and extend your reach on the web.

#5: Engaging Your Audience

Do: Make time to respond to all of the comments you receive. A primary purpose for business blogging is to build a strong relationship with your audience. When you reply to their comments, your readers will appreciate your personal interest and this will build credibility and trust in your expertise. From Sydni Craig-Hart

Do: Spend as much time engaging as you do creating content. Some of that can be on your own blog replying to comments, but a substantial portion of it MUST be on other blogs in your industry. Competitors are a touchy situation—you really have to take it on a case-by-case basis. But for vendors, clients, industry associations, industry thought leaders/authors/speakers, you should definitely identify all of them and be engaging on a regular basis. (Scott Allen)

Don’t: Disable or heavily censor blog comments. Commenting is one of the best ways to engage and you may get called out if you filter out all negative comments. Use negative comments as an opportunity to respond graciously. (Kyle Deming)

Do: Have a clear plan in place for handling criticism and negative comments. Take the high road and respond to these comments carefully and politely. (Heidi Cool)

Don’t: Take for granted you know what your audience needs. Survey and ask them what three things they struggle with in their business. This one exercise could have you supplied with relevant blog posts for weeks. But also, you’ll be providing great information to your readers to keep them coming back for more. From Terri Brooks

Create simple surveys with SurveyMonkey.com.

Do: Be as authentic as you possibly can. People know when they’re being fed a party line or propaganda. We know when we’re being marketed at or PRed at. Be as real as the circumstances allow. From Erica Friedman

What would you add? Do you have some business blogging do’s and don’ts that are not covered here? Leave your comments and ideas in the box below.

Sounds like something from one of Shakespeare’s plays, doesn’t it? Actually, it’s a quote from Pedro Calderon de la Barca, a 17th-century Spanish playwright.

You may wonder where I found such an obscure quote. It was a comment by someone named Vigrx on my blog post titled “Using Social Media to Market Your Business.” He or she was promoting the site vigrxdeals.org. The fact that the quote had absolutely nothing to do with social media was a sure sign that it was spam.

And someone named How to Play Guitar Chords left a comment on a post I wrote titled “Is the Traditional Publishing Industry Becoming Obsolete?” He was promoting the site instantguitarist.com.

That same post about the future of publishing also attracted the following comment: “Cats can be spayed or neutered so you never have to worry about them getting pregnant.”

And someone named Oral Piss who was promoting the site peeingmovies.net commented on that post also.

Like many of you, I started a blog to promote my business, not to talk about anyone’s personal peccadilloes. In other words, I have a business blog.

But when you’re a sole proprietor and you’re the entire business, it’s hard to find the time and the topics to blog two or three times a day, five days a week. I’m so busy using more direct ways to market my business, I just haven’t spent much time on my blog.

And when 99.9% of the comments on your corporate blog are spam, you begin to ask the following questions:

• What am I doing wrong?
• Will I ever attract my target market?
• How do I write about the same products and services three times a day, five days a week, 50 weeks a year?

Have You Given Up on Blogging?

Because I’m still struggling to use a blog to promote my own business, I was so glad the Social Media Examiner editors sent me a copy of Corporate Blogging For Dummies by Douglas Karr and Chantelle Flannery as my next book review.

When I got the book, I immediately looked up “spam” in the index. I was disappointed that it was only one page. In addition to comment moderation, Karr and Flannery recommend a spam-blocking technology such as Akismet, a challenge question or CAPTCHA form, and email verification.

So if you already use anti-spam technology on your corporate blog, that’s one page you can skip! But the rest of this 400-page book is packed with information. In easy-to-understand “Dummies” language, you’ll learn how to:

• Develop a corporate blog policy
• Choose a blog platform
• Select and manage a team of bloggers
• Find the time and the content
• Use content that drives search engine traffic
• Promote your blog
• Design calls to action and landing pages
• Measure your success

That sounds like a lot of work, doesn’t it? So you may be wondering if blogging will really help promote your business. If it’s so much work, why do so many people recommend it?

Here’s why Karr and Flannery recommend it: “According to Nielsen, folks perform over 10 billion searches on search engines each month. That’s about 33 searches per day per American! Search engines want to provide relevant content to search engine users, so they identify sites that are relevant, updated frequently, and are popular.”

So as you can imagine, search engines love blogs. And you should be thinking about using a blog to establish your online presence. This is definitely an inbound marketing strategy. When people search the Internet for a solution to their problem – as more and more people do these days – you want them to find your website.

But be forewarned! “Blogging is a marathon, not a sprint,” write Karr and Flannery. “Compared to short-term marketing strategies such as pay-per-click and e-mail marketing, blogs are slow, methodical, long-term solutions.” So you may not see results for a year or more. It takes time to establish your company as an authoritative source of business solutions on the Internet.

Corporate Blogging the Easy Way

To address the most common complaint about blogging – “What will I write about?” – can you spell the word “repurpose,” ladies and gentlemen?

That’s right! You can reuse information you already have. Such as:

• Emails to customers
• Press releases
• Speeches
• Industry news
• Customer testimonials
• PowerPoint presentations

If you work for a fairly large company that has been around for a while, you’ll find plenty of existing information you can repurpose and post on your blog.

And you don’t have to do all that work yourself! If you have more than 25 employees, you’ll probably find two or three who can write fairly well. A blog post doesn’t have to be the next great American novel. Your blog team can write one major post once a week, and one 150-word post each of the other four days.

And you won’t have to pay tens of thousands of dollars to put a one-time, 30-second commercial on TV that most viewers will mute.

You can still do that if you want. But as long as your blog team keeps writing, your blog will grow into an authoritative collection of useful information about your products and services. And it will be available to potential customers 24/7/365, when they just happen to be looking for a solution to their problem at three o’clock in the morning.

Do you really believe that person will think, “Gee, let me turn on the TV and see if they show a commercial that will help me with my problem.” I don’t think so.

And remember another major advantage of a blog over a website – you can interact with your customers. You can engage potential customers and convert them into actual customers.

So if you’re one of those companies that abandoned a corporate blog after a few months, you may want to reconsider. A blog can bring potential customers directly to you, with minimal work on your part. Let Corporate Blogging For Dummies teach you everything you need to know to attract people who are looking for your solution to their problem.

Social Media Examiner gives this book a 5-star rating.

Learn more about corporate blogging:

• 14 Attention-Grabbing Tactics for Launching a New Business Blog
• 3 Simple Ways to Repurpose Your Blog Posts for More Exposure
• How to Use Your Blog to Drive Social Sales

It occurs the first time Neo goes to see the Oracle after he was rescued from the Matrix. In the Oracle’s waiting room, he sees two girls floating blocks above their heads and a young boy bending a spoon.

Young boy: “Do not try and bend the spoon. That’s impossible. Instead … only try to realize the truth.”

Neo: “What truth?”

Young boy: “It is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself.”

So if you think you can use traditional marketing techniques on social media, you’re still trying to bend the spoon. That’s the message in The Zen of Social Media Marketing by Shama Hyder Kabani.

“Traditional marketing rules cannot be applied to social media because social media is not a marketer’s platform. It belongs to consumers,” says Kabani.

Todd Defren, principal of SHIFT Communications, is even more blunt: “You are in the findability department. The marketing department is dead.”

“Findability” means using social media to find people who are already talking about you and your company, and starting a relationship with them. Yes, I said a relationship! Because relationships are why most people use social media. And most people are more likely to buy something from someone they know than from a total stranger.

So when you use social media to find people who are already talking about their needs, and you offer to help them solve that need, you are building the foundation for a trusting relationship.

That’s very different from spending thousands of dollars and using mass media to “blast” your message at millions of total strangers who probably couldn’t care less about your product or service at that particular time.

And Kabani writes from personal experience. After getting a Master of Arts degree in Organizational Communication at the University of Texas at Austin in 2006, she started her own online marketing business in 2007. Just one year later, she was making “six figures.” And all of her clients came from her online marketing efforts, specifically social media marketing.

Now she gets speaking engagements and television interviews, and has to turn away more clients than she takes on. Wouldn’t you like to be in that position?

ACT Right to Get Results

“The Zen of social media marketing is about understanding the mindset of people who are using social media and then using it to your advantage,” says Kabani. And here’s a clue about that mindset: they’re not interested in buying anything! “Remember, social media is not a selling tool! It is an attracting tool!”

That’s right – Kabani recommends using social media primarily to attract people, not sell to them. Because people don’t use social media to look for something to buy. They use social media to express their unique personality and connect with friends and family.

In fact, Kabani says “attract” is the first of three steps in successful online marketing:

1. Attract: Get their attention and lure them to your main selling tool – your website.
2. Convert: Use your website to turn a stranger into a prospect or a customer.
3. Transform: Turn past and present successes into testimonials, case studies and customer success stories.

The acronym for this process – very appropriately – is ACT. And Kabani recommends you use social media for steps 1 and 3, and your website for step 2. The testimonials, case studies and customer success stories on your social media sites will attract a new set of potential customers.

Because people love to read stories – especially the stories of people who have successfully solved the same problems they have. How did they do it? If they can do it, maybe I can too!

And if your company provided the solution, they might just email you.

If you already know a lot about social media marketing, you may want to pass on this book. It only covers the basics and you may already know all of that.

But if you’re still standing on the beach wondering how to use social media marketing, let Kabani teach you how to swim in the social media ocean. If you’re not willing to spend four months learning social media “an hour a day,” you will love her book. You can read it in one day!

Here is what you will learn:

• How to use the ACT process
• The importance of a properly optimized website
• The basics of Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn
• Video podcasting from Dave Kaminski of Web Video University
• How to create a social media policy for your organization
• Using Ping.fm to boost your website’s Google ranking

The book ends with social media marketing case studies from 12 different companies and organizations. Many are using social media to successfully market their products and services. You can too!

And Kabani has created an interactive, online version of the book that will be frequently updated “to make sure you’re always on top of the latest in social media, with videos, MP3s, and more!”

So if you need a brief, basic introduction to social media marketing, you can’t do better than this book.

Social Media Examiner gives this book 5 stars.

There are 157+ articles on SocialMediaExaminer.com with the keywords “social,” “media” and “marketing” in the title. Here are just a few recent articles:

• 2010 Social Media Marketing Industry Report
• 3 New Studies Prove Social Media Marketing Growth
• How Big Brands Employ Social Media Marketing

In the age where online reality is replacing actual reality in every facet of our lives, having YOUR face behind YOUR virtual real estate is paramount for people to feel close(er) to you.

This blog post will be your comprehensive guide.

Why Video Blogging?

Video blogging helps you build connections with your viewers like no other blogging format. The close second is perhaps audio.

A case in point is Michael Stelzner. He’s the face behind your favorite business blog SocialMediaExaminer.com, and he used this method to introduce himself and his website to his audience in a very effective way. Have you introduced video content to your personal or business blog? If not, why?

The usual excuses given are “I don’t have the right equipment” or “it takes too much time” or “I’m not entirely sure how the whole process works.”

In this article, I’ll show you the minimal, yet crucial, amount of equipment you’ll need and the quick and dirty way of getting your videos out there in record time.

So let’s get started.

Shooting a Video

#1: Audio

It may seem bizarre to start an article about online video blogs by talking about audio, but “hear” me out. (Pun totally intended).

If the audio sucks, no-one will watch your video. Simple as that. End of story.

Even if video comes out totally terrible, you can still salvage your shoot by turning your video post into an audio post. So how do we make sure audio comes out OK?

Many low-end and certainly mid-level camcorders come with a MIC in port. Buy an external microphone, plug it in and beyond that, all you have to do is make sure your levels are decent and you’re all set.

If you have a camera that doesn’t have a MIC in, you can record the audio on a separate device and merge the audio with video in post-production.

Do you know why movie directors use the clapper (a.k.a. clapboard) before starting every scene?

Tip: You can easily sync audio and video in post-production by using your hands to clap a few times to denote the starting points in which audio and video should match up. The audio spikes will be visible in the editing software and can then be synchronized with the video of you clapping.

If you’re forced to use the camera’s built-in microphone, be keenly aware of the following two factors:

• Environmental—for example, a strong wind if you’re shooting outside and electromagnetic interference or air conditioner noise if shooting inside.
• Position of subjects—you’ll notice how on-cam MIC mostly picks up the person shooting the video while the subject who is few feet away (or further) is quite low during audio playback.

In other words, be prepared to do some post-production magic to get the audio properly leveled and equalized.

Alternatively, you can look for the magic spot through experimentation that will yield good-enough results with minimal post-production editing.

#2: Lighting

If you’re going to spend money, this is the area where most of your budget should go. If there’s one thing video experts agree on, it’s the paramount importance of proper lighting in shooting a video. In fact, proper lighting is more important than the type of camera you use. Why?

Most modern digital cameras (even cheapos) are quite serviceable and have good-enough resolution for YouTube.

Whenever possible, take advantage of natural light. Make sure the source of the light (usually sun, or if indoors it’s the window) is always behind the camera (or slightly to the side).

Here is some “lighting” terminology you ought to be familiar with before we list the types of lighting equipment you may consider.

Key Light: As its name implies, this is the “main” light. Usually placed to the right of the camera and about 3 feet above the subject’s eye level (thereby emulating downward casting naturally produced by the sun).

Fill Light: This lighting fixture is placed on the other side of the camera and its job is to “fill” the shadow cast produced by the key light.

Back Light: Placed behind the subject. This light is sometimes called “head and shoulders” light because that’s the part of the subject it ought to illuminate.

Light kit options abound, but do keep in mind that entry-level lights—while quite affordable—will only last for few hundred shoots at the most.

Trick: Proper lighting is as much a science as it is an art. Having proper equipment and a zeal for experimentation are paramount. Have fun with it and allow imperfections to slide.

No-one expects Hollywood-style production from your blog. In fact, polished videos reek of corporate subterfuge so much that even content-producers who CAN make a polished video choose not to. You can check out these videos on lighting, they’re free, authoritative and extremely useful.

#3: Camera

What kind of camera will you need to do online video? Well… what kind of camera do you have? I would definitely start there.

No need to run out and buy a new camera if you already have one sitting around your house or office.

I’ve started out with a $75.00 cam I purchased at Rite Aid, then moved on to a $300.00 cam with an external MIC-in, and now mostly shoot with the new Olympus. They all do a fine job. In fact, even a PC cam will do.

Real Life: Most of the videos I make for my Facebook dog-crew on how to use Twitter are done using a PC camera. Why? Because it’s quick and easy. The idea is to get your face out there so that clients and potential customers can see you, hear from you and “feel” like they know you.

Golden rule of sales: People buy from people they know and like.

What to consider when choosing a camera:

Video Format: Some manufacturers save the on-cam video in proprietary formats that require special software to be converted into standard video formats (.mov, .mp4, .avi, etc.). Look for a cam that natively records in the format understood by your video editing software.

Sound: Look for a cam that has an external MIC-in. See the Audio section in the beginning of the article.

Storage: I like cams that use SD cards for storage instead of internal HD. It’s a preference, but SD cards allow for easy transfer between cam and computer (no cable necessary) and I can carry multiple SD cards in case one fills up and I need more space on-the-fly.

Batteries: Some cams can only be charged via a USB or power cable while others allow for replacement batteries that are charged independently. Having a spare battery for extended shoots comes in handy.

Size: The best camera is the one that you’ll actually use. So a small cam (iPhone or Flip Cam) that fits in your pocket and can be used on a moment’s notice may be exactly what you need. Otherwise, be prepared to carry your equipment with you wherever you go.

Beyond these five points, just make sure you can afford the cam and look for one that can be mounted on a tripod in case you need that functionality (most bloggers will at some point).

#4: Screen Capture

Who said you even need a camera to produce your next video post?

You can use software like Camtasia (for PC) and ScreenFlow (for Mac) to capture your computer screen. Combine it with an audio track and you can create visually rich and useful instructions for your viewership.

Tip: I strongly recommend you wear a pair of headphones with a mic while recording the accompanying audio track. This will eliminate the bulk of the ambient noise.

• Learn how to use Camtasia
• Learn how to use ScreenFlow

Honorable Mention: Screenr is a Twitter-integrated free online service that allows you to create screen casts. It’s quick and dirty and exactly how I like ‘em.

Editing a Video

(don’t edit if possible)

#5: Editing on YouTube

If at all possible, for the sake of speed and simplicity, don’t edit your videos.
The next step up from there is to edit (trim) the very beginning and the very end. In fact, you can do this on YouTube.

Trick (sort of): You’ll need to have your video uploaded and sign in with your Google/YouTube credentials.

Confession: YouTube has had a checkered past with online editing. The feature was available a while back but it was pulled due to molasses-on-a-cold-day qualities of its “speed.”

Now that YouTube is owned by Google, the powerful infrastructure is there to support simple editing capabilities. No, this feature is not part of YouTube-proper, but it’s available under the “sandbox” area which can be accessed here.

YouTube has a really good help section that gives you the basic info you need to create effective videos, from formatting and editing to lighting and split screens. See here.

Trick: Make sure your URL is the first line in the description of the video. This will make it easy for people to locate and visit your virtual real estate. See the link here as the very first line in the description field below.

Optionally, you can embed your website’s URL in the video itself; however, you’ll need to use a locally installed video editing app to do this. See next section.

#6: Editing Using Locally Installed Apps

MovieMaker (on Windows) and iMovie (on Mac) are free and quite serviceable.

• Learn how to use MovieMaker
• Learn how to use iMovie

If you don’t mind spending a few hundred bucks, my favorite apps for editing a video locally are Camtasia (for PC) and ScreenFlow (for Mac).

Trick: Yes. The same apps that allow you to capture your screen also allow for basic (but sufficient) video editing as well.

These two apps are quick, easy and intuitive. Here are the links to those tutorials again.

• Learn how to use Camtasia
• Learn how to use ScreenFlow

More advanced solutions include Final Cut (Express and Pro versions) for Mac and Sony Vegas Studio HD for PC.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention a great (and free) online training resource for Final Cut.

Check out this course by Israel Hyman. The course consists of 16 wonderful and free video tutorials.

Larger Implications: The subtle implication of all this is that if it feels like the days of specialization are over, well… you’re right.

Specialization is a concept invented by the cogs of the industrial revolution and it’s NOT a natural state of the human psyche.

Imagine if Leonardo da Vinci specialized only in art. The world of science and architecture would have a gaping hole in it.

My point?

We all need to become jacks of all trades and masters of few. It’s not enough to be an amazing real estate agent or a photographer; you must also become an effective content producer.

Distribution Channels

#7: YouTube

YouTube is the second largest search engine. That should speak volumes in terms of the significance and importance of having a presence on YouTube. The other important factor is that YouTube is a social networking site on par with Facebook. You can make friends on YouTube (subscribe to channels) and others can make friends with you (subscribe to your channel).

YouTube allows you to tag your videos, share them easily on other sites (Twitter, Facebook, etc.), and it’s as socially integrated as a site gets. There are two very solid arguments to focus your strategic efforts ONLY on YouTube (basically ignoring other platforms like Viddler or Vimeo).

YouTube is the largest and arguably best integrated with Google and other colossal Internet hubs (in fact, YouTube IS an Internet hub of its own). If mastering multiple platforms seems like an overwhelming task, you would be well-advised to focus your blogging efforts on YouTube alone.

OK, Dino. I hear what you’re saying. But what kind of things should I put on YouTube anyways?

Well, here are some ideas.

#8: Other Distribution Options

blip.tv

blip.tv is not your average bear. The focus is on episodic content and the unique feature of blip.tv is that it can distribute your episodes to other video distribution sites (like YouTube, Vimeo, etc.).

Assuming your content qualifies, your episodes can be viewed via cable service providers (on TV) who’ve partnered with blip.tv.

Vimeo

Vimeo was established in 2004 (one year before YouTube) and it’s a solid alternative to YouTube geared toward skilled content producers. Vimeo doesn’t allow commercial, gaming or pornography videos; or anything NOT created by the user to be hosted on the site.

As per Wikipedia: As of March 2010, Vimeo has over 3 million members and an average of more than 16,000 new videos uploaded daily. Roughly 10% of uploads are in HD.

Viddler

Viddler allows you to make a comment at any point in the video. Very cool and unique feature.

Videos uploaded under the free service have advertising automatically overlaid, which is kind of lame.

The service does come with powerful paid options (detailed analytics, priority encoding, HD encoding, iTunes support, branding and control over advertising, including a revenue-sharing option).

In other words, hold off on using Viddler until you’ve established your video blog as the powerhouse it deserves to be.

Honorable mention: TubeMogul can distribute your videos far and wide (to other video distribution hubs like YouTube, Viddler, Vimeo, etc.) and provides powerful statistical analysis and even geographic tracking. Most advanced features are pay-to-play, of course.

The Secret Sauce

#9: Blog/YouTube Integration

This section is strictly for owners of self-hosted WordPress blogs. I will recommend 2+ WordPress plugins that are seldom used yet provide a powerful integration between your blog and YouTube.

Genki YouTube Comments plugin

After uploading your video to YouTube, you did remember to embed it as a blog post in your piece of web real estate, right?

If your tags are useful, your descriptions accurate and your content fascinating, you’re likely to receive comments on it. Why not “feed” those comments back to your blog using Genki?

Smart YouTube

Smart YouTube is a WordPress YouTube plugin that allows you to easily insert YouTube videos/playlists in your post, comments and in RSS feeds.

But wait…there is more…

The success of your videos will depend not only on the quality of the content. Your video blog should be easily shared and content seamlessly posted on other social hubs (like Facebook, StumbleUpon, etc.).

To that end, you may want to consider these additional useful plugins:

• 24 Impressive WordPress Plugins
• 11 Essential WordPress Plugins

#10: When You’re Ready to Go Pro

This entire post was focused on the do-it-yourself crowd. When you’re ready to go pro and enlist help from people who have the deep know-how, there are three people whose work I’m personally familiar with and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend.

Full disclosure: While I’ve worked in one capacity or another with two of these content creators, it was strictly a labor of love and no money has exchanged hands at any time.

TWTMedia

TWTMedia is Tony Brokenborough, the man and the brains behind 2wheeltips.com (Facebook-like social site for motorcycle enthusiasts with a heavy educational slant).

Here are a few challenges Tony has had to overcome that you might benefit from if you enlist his services:

Motorcycle videos present a unique challenge in terms of not only shooting but also post-production stabilization processing due to vibrations introduced by the motorcycle.

One of the major drawbacks of having your videos hosted on YouTube is that YouTube might end up playing your competitors’ ads over your video content. You have no control over this and it can prove to be a case of your content working for your competitor.

Tony has figured out how to have complete and total control over the video content to the extent where he is playing the role of YouTube-like service to websites that feature his high-end quality motorcycle videos—and Tony is the one “feeding” the ads.

TWTMedia also specializes in Facebook fan page customization, particularly in the realm of Facebook/video integration.

Graphic Planet

Graphic Planet is Kenn Bell. If you decide to visit The Dog Files (Kenn’s labor of love and an effective showcase for his skills), you’ll find TV-ready 10-minute episodes, production values of which are head-and-shoulders above your average video blog.

In addition to creating killer video content, Kenn really knows how to tap into the power of the niche. Kenn’s latest video honoring Hero Dogs of 9/11 blew up among dog people.

Over 100,000 views (in less than 2 weeks) and 4000 of his closest Facebook friends shared his video on their Facebook walls.

Kenn’s magic is that he’s able to take your modest budget for a video shoot and churn out an episode that looks like a million bucks.

Last but certainly not least is…

Dan Perez Films

Dan’s work is awesome. It’s fresh, fun and addictive. Check out the brains behind Dan Perez Films video.

It doesn’t take much to fall in love with Dan’s video creations. I guess the fact that he’s an award-winning filmmaker, video producer, father and husband to a rock star doesn’t hurt either.

All three of these gentlemen are not only amazing content creators whose medium happens to be video, but all three have a deep understanding of the social media space and can help your company develop the right strategy for online video distribution.

#11: Bonus Tip: Skype, Skype Baby

One of the most underutilized methods of creating video content is having a sit-down with an expert in your field and recording the entire conversation. However, experts are often far away and that can present a challenge. In comes Skype.

Trick: In addition to Skype, you’ll need an application that can capture streaming video/audio.

Two apps I’ve used are:

• Call Recorder for Mac
• Super Tin Tin for PC

You can schedule a Skype interview with someone on the other side of the planet and record the entire conversation. What a great way to develop content and provide a service to your viewers as well as a platform for the expert. Because the interview is recorded, you can edit audio and video in post-production, trim the fat, add an intro if necessary and fine-tune the audio levels.

Here is a Skype interview Tony and I did with motorcycle legend David Hough using Skype and Call Recorder.

Honorable mention:

wetoku allows you to record and share a conversation between two people. The drawback is that you don’t have as much editing control over the content.

What do you think? I’m sure there’s an amazing resource, application or perhaps a technique that I’ve missed. Something you’ve had experience with and found tremendously useful. Add your thoughts in the comments box below.

Image sources: Flickr, Wikimedia, Flickr