Out-Smarts Internet Marketing

To save me time and effort I like to subscribe to information on the web and have it come to me so that I can read and enjoy when I have a moment. Doing so helps me avoid the frustration of sifting through the internet wilderness trying to re-find cool feeds I have enjoyed in the past. My tool of choice to do this is Google Reader.

I recently wrote a blog piece that describes how to easily set up and use this to your advantage. Read The Scoop on Google Reader for a Google Reader How To….

Did you know that the Forrester Group estimates that there will be 100 million bloggers worldwide this year and that there are a further 200 million ex bloggers who got bored and gave up the ghost? Did you also know that around 40% of people who write on-line have had their work published in other media?

Its true there is a lot of opinions out there in the blogosphere jostling for attention. Many of them are intelligently presented and many seem to be pure drivel (I guess thats purely subjective) but if you are patient and consistent in your blogging and you have something unique and interesting to say - your blog will draw attention and it will have the added benefit of keeping your customers and prospects up to date with what’s happening at your organisation.

Remember, the key is consistency - if you can’t consistently post a valuable peice (minimum 2 per week) then you may as well not to bother. If that’s a struggle for you then get creative - ask colleagues, customers and employees to write for you or simply link back to articles you’ve found on the web yourself that are relevant and appropriate and introduce them by summarising why you found them interesting.

I came upon a good article by Ryan Whelton called Selling With a Blog that discusses the benefits to corporate blogging in terms of increased sales, enhanced market exposure and improved search engine positioning. It gives examples of companies that have implemented this technology and describes the measurable benefits they have seen.

Here are some great sites that are currently using new media technologies to expand their reach:

http://www.hawaii-aloha.com - uses regular blog posts to provide useful tips and suggestions to help subsribers plan a trip to Hawaii. They also use podcast technology HawaiiVacationConnection to allow vacationers to listen to regular commentaries on hawaii vacation experiences. Its great way to add value for holiday makers and set themselves apart from the competition.

Another great example of companies using new media technologies is Honey Dew Day Spa here in Vancouver which uses the MySpace social networking platform as a forum to promote their spa services. They network and extend their reach by adding MySpace friends in the Vancouver area who meet their typical spa client demographic. That’s how they found me and next time I am thinking about pampering myself, I am going to go there and find out just how successful their MySpace strategy is whilst I am at it.

Here are some guidelines to bear in mind when you are writing your corporate blog:

1. Keep entries to one page or less - a blog entry should be short and to the point.

2. Blogs are intended as on-line logs or journals and are more informal than other marketing mediums so write accordingly.

3. Use simple terms - don’t include jargon or abbreviations unless you are sure your audience will understand otherwise it will simply put them off.

4. Don’t use your blog as a forum to attempt to promote or sell - its not appropriate.

5. It is generally accepted in the blogosphere that you can quote from another blog as long as you state your source and link back to it.

6. Remember to add value. Think about who your intended audience is and write posts that are informative - share useful links to cool sites and on-line services.

7. Emoticons may be okay for a personal blog but in a corporate one they look unprofessional. Unless your target audience is the under 20 consumer crowd then its best to avoid using emoticons at all.

8. Its good to include video clips, images and podcasts.

9. Don’t use fonts that are too large or hard to read and be sparing with capitals (no need to yell!).

10. When you include links to other web pages, always remember to check that your links work before publishing your blog article (there’s nothing worse than clicking on a link in anticipation only to find that it doesn’t link take you where its supposed to).

As you know, this blog has been online for a few weeks now and in order to promote it, I’ve been going through the process of registering my blog and URL with the search engines so that my audience can find me. Here are some tips that I have garnered from this experience that will help you when you do this.

1. When registering or submitting your details always double check the spelling, make sure your name and company details are right and that there are no typos– especially with the URL.
2. Don’t try to register with every single search engine out there. Cherry pick the most popular or the most applicable to the message you are trying to spread. Ask yourself what search engines your audience is most likely to use and focus on those.
3. Remember to let the engines know when your blog is updated. Ping regularly so that the search engine picks up any changes. Many of the engines let you set this up automatically by simply entering a couple of lines of code into your blog set up.
4. Be aware of your blog content – you will likely get a knock back if you use explicit language or images.
5. Some of the blog search engines only track established blogs so you should get a few articles under your belt prior to submitting.
6. Remember to link back to other pertinent blogs and articles and encourage comments from your audience – the more links and traffic your site has, the better its standing will be.
7. Don’t pay for inclusion – there are enough good blog search engines out there that do this for free.
8. Remember to tag your blogs – assign each a category so that interested parties can easily find your stuff.
9. Spam - if the blog engines get wind that your blog is simply spam then you may not get listed.
10. Don’t forget to register your blog with the traditional search engines too.

This list is by no means conclusive but should get you off to a good start with optimising your blog. If you have suggestions, please share them.