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Hello
Spring's definitely arrived here. The weather's warm, the recession is over (although 71% of small businesses aren't planning for it - more >>) and now's a great time to spring clean your online marketing plan.
The popularity of blogs continues to grow and blogs can form an important part of online marketing, as well as being
good fun. I would encourage everyone with a blog to plan blog posts carefully and schedule them regularly. A little extra time making sure your posts give the right impression can add to the credibility and professionalism of your blog - as well as improve those elusive search engine rankings.
If you don't have a blog but think you might need one, then spend some time investigating the benefits and costs before making the decision. There's a wealth of information available to help you - see the two articles on the right - or call me 01403 560123 for a chat (always happy to talk as most of you know!)
What to Blog About?It can be a challenge to blog: Faced with a blank screen or page it's easy for our minds to go blank too. Here are six ideas to help you find a topic to blog about:
- Read today's newspaper and find an article that you find interesting. Blog about the item (and link to the online version), giving your opinion as that helps make your blog personal.
- What was the last Tweet you read? (assuming you're on Twitter of course) Blog about it - what did you think? What ideas did it spark?
- What was the last book you read, or listened to? Did you like it or hate it? Add a short review to your blog.
- What was the last product you bought that you love? Pen, notebook, PC, glasses case... Why do you like it so much and how could it help your readers?
- Pick up a newspaper your blog readers are likely to read (yes you should know that!) and find an article your readers would find interesting. Blog about how your organisation, company or service can help in that area.
- Who has impressed you with their service recently? In what way? What could your readers learn from that?
Five Tips for Better Blog Posts
Once you've decided on a topic for your blog post and you've written the first draft, then you need to make the most of your work. Here are five tips to improve most blog posts:
- Keep the post focused on one topic. This probably means keeping it short too - attention span is not long when reading online (especially for visitors using mobile devices).
- Ban 'click here' and similar. Instead, state what the 'click here' will give your reader. For example: Find out about AIDA, have you noticed these Twitter benefits?
- Choose a relevant title. Make sure your blog post title is relevant to the content of the blog post - really! You want people to find it don't you?
- Include an image. Images add interest, so does audio and video - just make sure your post is interesting.
- Check the spelling. Spell check, then check spelling ... then check spelling again. What impression does it give if a blog post contains spelling mistakes and poor grammar?
Make sure you're one of the 29% of small
businesses who are planning for recovery and plan your online
marketing
campaigns as part of that too, including a spring clean of your online presence. A first step can be a Spring Clean of your blog by revisiting and improving your existing blog posts.
Happy Spring Cleaning!
Dawn
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How to Begin a Blog  Setting up a new blog is not difficult but it can be confusing at first.
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Blogging Terminology  Understanding blog terminology and software features can help
beginners start a blog with confidence.
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News and Events  29 April, Dorking
I'm speaking to Peer to Peer, the Social Enterprise network again. more >>
18 May, Mannings Heath
I have a stand at Horsham Women in Business. Come and talk to me there >>
10 June, Dorking
Tweets & Things. Masterclass in Dorking on Twitter & all things web and social media. more on the blog soon >> |
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Have Any Questions?  Hit the reply button to any of the messages you receive and ask me a question.
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Have A Topic Idea?  I'd love to hear it! Just reply any time and let me know what topics you'd like to know more about.
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