Tonight I am going to be talking about the benefits of blogging for your business.  Here is my handout.

1. You can update your Blog/Website yourself
2. Your blog becomes your central repository for all articles, news items, announcements and events. It’s database driven, so it’s searchable.
3. “Search-friendliness” is built into the blog.
4. Blogs are easy ways to add depth to your web site; Each blog post is indexed as a page in search engines. (just Google NJAWBO Blogging Event)
5. Your blog post title can automatically be displayed as a tweet in your Twitter account.
6. It’s easy to integrate multi-media in posts – Slideshows from Flickr; YouTube Video.
7. Your blog can be linked from your Linkedin account.
8. Drive traffic to your website/blog by including the link on a Facebook update.
9. Your blog demonstrates your expertise- good for attracting press.
10. With a blog you’ll be cool, hip, and you can now call yourself a blogger.

Resources:

• Wordpress.org   Free open source software for integrating a blog into a web site or building a standalone blog. Self hosted (company.com/company_blog); you’ll need your webmaster to accomplish this.
• Wordpress.com  Free open source hosted blogging solution not on your domain (company.wordpress.com).
• Blogger.com  Free Google hosted blogging solution not on your domain.
• Montclair Adult School; www.adultschool.org Registration begins Feb 1, 2010;  Web Marketing Strategies for Entrepreneurs & Small Business March 23, 2010;  Planning an Effective Web Presence for Entrepreneurs & Small Business; 2 sessions March 2, 2010 and March 9, 2010

Barbara Zaccone, Founder and President of NJ Web Design firm BZA LLC will be a panelist at the January 19^th NJAWBO (New Jersey Association of Woman Business Owners) Essex Chapter Meeting to be held at Wilshire Grand in West Orange, NJ.  The social networking topics that will be discussed include Facebook, Twitter, Email Marketing, Linked-In and Blogging for business. Zaccone will specifically discuss the benefits of integrating a blog into your web site. “Most companies don’t take advantage of the speed at which a Blog article can be picked up in search engines”, claims Zaccone. “Writing and posting articles to your blog not only demonstrates your expertise, but it can add keyword rich content and links to your web site”.

Zaccone to speak at NJAWBO Essex Chapter meeting

For more information about the event visit http://www.njawbo-essex.org.

Want to add news, articles, tips, and events to your web site? The most cost-effective way to accomplish this is to integrate a blog into your web site. Blogs are a fast and easy way to publish, categorize and archive information in our web site. Best of all, you can publish content to your web site without any technical expertise. How does this work?

The most popular blogging platform is WordPress. WordPress is Open Source, meaning it’s FREE. Your webmaster will need to install WordPress on the web server that houses your web hosting account and customize it so it matches the look and feel of your web site. WordPress is actually a database application, which means Individual posts can be retrieved through search, Tags, and a Category index. Additional benefits include:

• Blogs are a great way to build quality keyword driven links that point to key pages on your website. Great for SEO (Search Engine Optimization).
• Blog content is almost instantly indexed in Google.
• Blogs are a quick way to integrate multimedia into your site; add a slide show, pictures, or Video (linked from YouTube)
• Think of using a blog for your Press Room or News section of your web site. News Articles are automatically archived by date and can be easily searched.
• Position yourself as an expert. You may not have written a book but you do author a blog.

One of the easy ways to promote your blog (articles and content) is through social media. So once you post an article, you’ll need to tweet about it through your Twitter account. Make sure you include the link to the blog article. 

Your Blog can be configured in such a way that every time you add a post, your home page automatically gets updated with the latest news headlines. Don’t be afraid of the word “Blog”. Just because you have a blog doesn’t mean you have to quit your job and become a blogger. You can update your blog as often as you like. Express yourself.

I recently taught a class for start-ups and entrepreneurs on web marketing. I dedicated one slide to the topic of selecting a domain name. I was extremely surprised how this topic sparked so much discussion and interest. In light of this, I thought a blog post would help others facing that most important decision.

Many of the unemployed today are reinventing themselves and starting up businesses. One of the most important tasks a business owner must consider, second to selecting a company name, is the selection of their domain name. Brands are greatly affected by the ability of the company to obtain the matching domain name. If a company builds a brand around a name to which it does not own the domain name, it can end up directing traffic to another domain owner’s site. If it is a competitor, this surely would be problematic.

As you list your potential choices, determine how the name will be interpreted in both writing and in speech. Two or three word domains can easily be read in more than one way. A good domain name should require little or no explanation when verbalized. In other words when you tell someone your web site address and they ask, “is 2 spelled to
or two”? or “is it the number 2?”. Having to offer an explanation adds an unnecessary level of confusion and will guarantee that your domain name will be difficult to remember.

Numbers should be avoided and so should phonetic letters; i.e. “fone” for “phone”, “magik” or “Magic”. Also avoid homophones like “sweet” and “suite”. Avoid hyphens; i.e. www.my-company-store.com.

When you search domains during the purchasing process you’ll see the many extensions (.com, .biz, .info, .us) that are available. Domain registrars will always show you the “3rd rate” names like .biz, .us, .info etc. They want to increase the amount of your order by encouraging you to sign up for those names. Do resist for the mere fact that the business world thinks in .com and that’s the way it is. So stick with .com under all circumstances.

Keep your name as short as possible. Remember you domain will be reflected in your email address. If the name is longer but yet easy to remember and spell than that should be acceptable.

And once you register your domain, do put up a placeholder or a splash page until your web site is ready. The experts claim domain name longevity is a factor in search ranking. Now that is another whole topic.