Question About Blogging

[Snippa]

Do you have a company blog? If so, do you use it primarily to provide information, promote your company, etc.? Or do you use it as a money-maker? Looking to see how others are using their blogs, or if they even use one at all. :)

[Andy Walpole]

In web design I found it an important tool for communication amongst my peer group and from them comes the important backlinks.

I wouldn't recommend starting a company blog though unless you are planning to spent a lot of time on it over a long-term period. There are just soooooo many of them that you have to write quality posts over a number of years to get noticed.

[shpangle]

I have had a Blog since November 09. I post once a week to it and it acts as a diary/information source. I have already found that I am getting lots of traffic from it and in fact this week made my first order as a direct result of a blog entry I made.

If you haven't started blogging, do it...it takes little effort, is free and you will get some return from it.

Mick

[Michelle Carvill]

Hi there
I have been blogging for about 18 months now - possibly a bit longer. How time flies. I use the blog to share my marketing news, views, ideas and expertise. It's definitely note a money making blog - I don't carry advertising. There is a facility for users to subscribe to my blog - and that grows weekly. I post and I tweet my posts and share them on other forums etc - and I get picked up all over the place (I put a google alert on my name and so I can watch what's happening to my blog posts). It's wonderful to receive thanks from people - and great comments - and I'm sure they drive traffic to our sites - so that all helps. Now that search and social media platforms are converging - then a blog is an important centrepiece for SEO - not just about keyword stuffing, but also relevance and influence are measured by Google - so regularly posting unique, relevant, targeted content - is only going to add traction to your site. I used to have my blog sitting on its own url - but just a couple of months ago I switched it to sitting alongside our main site - so the url is now http://www.carvillcreative.co.uk/blog - as this has more SEO value. I also run a design blog from our http://www.logotastic.co.uk/blog where we post all our latest logo designs together with an overview of the brief and also our customer feedback and testimonials. Enabling us to keep that site refreshed with relevant content too. In my view - if you have a website - you should have a blog. It takes time and attention - but it will pay off in a number of ways in the end.
Get blogging - I recommend www.wordpress.com. I even set up a mini website for my husband via wordpress - check out http://www.ecogardenfurniture.co.uk (http://ecogardenfurniture.co.uk) - very flexible - I am certainly not a web designer - so it just goes to show that you can use wordpress as a starter site - and it's all free! Happy blogging. See my blog post I wrote last year about Blog Writing - and getting started (http://www.carvillcreative.co.uk/blog/20-tips-for-successful-blog-writing-from-a-relatively-new-blogger/) - may be useful. Best wishes Michelle

[Snippa]

Thank you all for your comments and input! I agree that it has to be done right - as done ANY business tactic you try. Glad to see it's working for you!

so the url is now http://www.carvillcreative.co.uk/blog - as this has more SEO value.

Michelle, this was something new to me... Why does that make a difference? Just because of the proximity to your URL? Or something else. Interesting...

[Snippa]

Have to add, Michelle... great blog! Your personality shines through, and I think that's a big aspect of a good blog, don't you? :)

[That Guy]

I have a blog but its more as a hobby than anything. I have a few adsense ads on there but thats it.

Here it is: Technology and Computing News (http://www.chrislowthian.co.uk)

[Michelle Carvill]

Have to add, Michelle... great blog! Your personality shines through, and I think that's a big aspect of a good blog, don't you? :)

Thanks Snippa - there's loads of stuff on there about blogging, social media, marketing, twitter, strategy & planning, usability, getting the most out of your website - mixing up inbound and traditional outbound marketing, so it's pretty varied. Watch out for my next post 'Banks be nimble, banks be quick' - just finishing it up so should be out there soon...

Re why I moved from www.carvillonmarketing.com to www.carvillcreative.co.uk/blog - Carvill creative.co.uk is our business website - and so all traffic was taken to carvillonmarketing - and whilst there was a link from COM to carvillcreative, it's wasn't deemed as direct traffic (which apparently is a better thing, so those who I trust have more SEO insight tell me). And of course, an obvious element given the convergence of search recently is the keyword element. If you want a specific, I'll ask my SEO gal for a more 'geeky' explanation.
Best wishes
Michelle

[irishguru]

No business website should be without a blog.

[J-Wholesale]

Our blog is used to update customers about the business, stock, etc. We used to write industry specific articles, and it did bring in customers, but it just wasn't a cost-effective way of generating new business. So we reverted to using the blog as a Latest News type avenue.

Blogging well takes time, and a lot of effort. It's easy to write 'something'; not so easy to write good, informative articles that people want to read.

[shpangle]

I think that if you think positively and blog positively then positive things will come your way. The most important thing is to enjoy blogging and not to blog just for the sake of doing it.

I also find blogging extremely therapeutic as well as a free way of making sales and connections. In my case it's like writing my own personal diary and then sharing it with the world.

For example, last week I made a blog post and mentioned 'pressed flowers' (probably a few too many times :D). Within a couple of days my blog was being followed by an award winning pressed flower artist and founding member of the World Wide Pressed Flower Guild!

Another story I heard recently was about a lady who prior to starting her own business (about a year ago), blogged about doing her house up. Anyway, to this date she is still receiving about 6 hits a day from people looking for sinks! (which has nothing to do with her business).

Mick

[SwanOfficeSupplies]

We use our blog to promote all the special offers, freebies etc that are currently running.

When we started the blog we weren't sure what to do with it so we did what everybody else did and just waffle on about all sorts of rubbish.

Now we just try to get a few new posts up each day and at least our customers can quickly search to see if there is a special offer on a shredder for example. Plus it helps Google index those products we are promoting.

Whatever you do, you've got to have a reason for going back and updating it frequently!

cheers
Russ

Cheap Office Supplies (http://www.swanofficesupplies.com) | The Office Supplies Blog (http://www.theofficesuppliesblog.co.uk) | Office Supplies Vouchers (http://www.officesuppliesvouchers.co.uk)

[Write My Site]

We've just started managing a blog for a leading e-retailer of women's fashion. We spent a long time with them putting together a brief for the blog's content. Here is what they're using the blog for:

- To promote specific products (e.g. sale items)
- To inform consumers about latest styles and trends in fashion
- To engage and interact with their customer base
- To cross-promote their Facebook fan page
- To announce company news
- To run competitions

Last but not least ... to optimise their site for a range of keywords.

The potential benefits of having a blog bolted onto your website are substantial, but you need to be clear WHY you're blogging and WHO you're blogging for. The client I've used as an example in this email actually allows their customers to contribute their own articles to the blog, such is their focus on customer engagement.

[bookluver321]

a facebook group is a good way to post information. You just need to invite people to join and then they constantly get updates via email or by physically going to the site.