Anybody have any interesting blogs ?

[phil knight]

I'm just trying out the new blog I’ve created for my new business : Prestige Whisky - if anyone has time please feel free to check it out.

http://prestigewhisky.blogspot.com

The business launches 6th of April but I'm planning to use the blog to update people as we go - really interested in any feedback.

[buster38]

this is one from my DJ Agency website http://feeds.feedburner.com/MobileDj

[murdoch]

www.portraitxpress.wordpress.com

its titled "PETS AND ART"

[WarwickshireInvestigation]

great blogs folks!

Warwickshire Investigation Agency
PO Box 4867
Warwick
CV34 9GN
UK
T: 01789 770980
F: 0871 900 4601

Fully insured. DPA registered. members of WAPI, IPI, NARPO

[Mark Nagurski]

If we're sharing, I run two sites as blogs: reallypractical.com (http://reallypractical.com) and iddictive.com (http://iddictive.com).

Between those two and the ones I run for clients I spend almost all day everyday blogging, reading blogs or talking about blogs.

So, a few ideas:


I'm not a big fan of white text on a black background
If you want to use your blog to help bring some personality to your business, you're better off using your own name instead of 'hardworker1'
A subscribe by email option would be useful - about 40% of my subscribers use email rather than RSS to subscribe
More info about the business - beef up your profile
Give some thought to what you'll be writing about, frequency, length of post - a little planning makes keeping a blog going much easier

Going forward you might consider using a self-hosted version (Wordpress.org) on your own domain - it'll give you more control and you could easily create an entire site for your whisky from it.

It's great to see more people venturing into blogging for business - it's not easy but it can pay huge dividends.

Best of luck.

[Ashley_Price]

Of course what you put in your blog is up to you - it's your blog!

However, if at least part of it is to help promote your business then you need to think carefully about what you put in it, how it looks, etc.

To give an example, if you wanted our telephone answering service and I sent you an email with the details, how would you feel if what I had written was punctuated poorly, badly written, hard to read, etc.? Would that not reflect badly on my service?

I might say to you "But hey, you're wanting us to answer your phones, not type stuff," but it still doesn't look good.

And it's the same for your blog; if it is to promote your business you have to be sure it gives the right impression.

Look at some of my entries on my UKBF blog (http://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk/forums/blog.php?u=23443) - the reader might not agree with them, but they are all informative and they learn something, hopefully, that they didn't know before reading them.

[F1SEO]

I've got a personal blog, about beer :)

-> http://www.beerbrewer.co.uk

My bro is a Master Brewer so he created all the content and I put it up in a nice format.

It's all unique content and has some organic links from Wikipedia, which is cool.

[DavidT]

Our blogging area is starting to get a few regulars in there - Accountant & Business Blogs (http://www.accountantscircle.co.uk/NewsampBlogs/AccountantBlogs/tabid/595/Default.aspx).

David Toohey
The Accountants Circle (http://www.accountantscircle.co.uk/)
Accountancy & Bookkeeping Forums (http://www.accountantscircle.co.uk/Forums/tabid/59/Default.aspx) | Accountant & Bookkeeper Blogs (http://www.accountantscircle.co.uk/NewsampBlogs/AccountantBlogs/tabid/595/Default.aspx) | Company Formations from £21! (http://www.accountantscircle.co.uk/OurPartners/UKCompanyFormationsOnline/tabid/667/Default.aspx) | Business Start-Up Package (http://www.accountantscircle.co.uk/Membership/MembershipPackages/tabid/70/Default.aspx)

[Timmo88]

I havn't got round to setting one up yet but have just done one for a client of mine:

www.stacks.co.uk/blog
(http://www.stacks.co.uk/blog)

[PhilAtBFCA]

We have an active blog thats update daily and a newsletter subsription.

Phil

[Dawg]

I'm quite proud of my latest headline (http://dawgblog.co.uk/2009/01/22/mad-dog-bites-old-frog/).

Sad huh? :)

[PI Guy]

I really need to update it but this is The PI's Diary (http://www.salgadoinvestigations.com/blog/)

[Ashley_Price]

Actually that's an important point. If you're going to have a blog you need to keep it regularly updated. If the last entry is a year or so ago then people will wonder whether the business is still going.

[phil knight]

Really enjoyed reading everyone's feedback over the weekend and learnt a thing or two from the comments and also from looking at other peoples blogs. I've saved my favourites to google reader and would appreciate it if anyone who enjoyed mine and wants to be updated would do likewise - I've added a quick article about ice and whisky over the weekend.

Phil Knight
http:/prestigewhisky.blogspot.com

[Michelle Carvill]

Hi Phil
My blog is http://www.carvillonmarketing.com it's where I share my marketing tips, news, advice and views. You'll find lots of marketing stuff on here - a real range of material. So, here's my advice for blogging:

1) keep your posts relatively short. Having researched blogging to a great degree - then 500-800 words seems to be a good benchmark.
2) keep your posts varied. Have some posts that are very factual - drawing on information that will help the users. Make some light and humorous so that the user understands that whilst you know your stuff, you're not taking life too seriously. And they get an insight to your personality. Make some posts a little controversial or challenging the user - to stimulate conversation.
3) Always watch your spellings. Poor spelling really does hinder credibility.
4) Use images in a post to break up the text and add some relevant interest. Check out www.flickr.com or www.istockphoto.com or www.fotolia.co.uk for some cheap yet very good quality shots.
5) Create interesting headings. The piece of advice I came across advised that you should write the headline imagining that the user won't even see the article. So the headline has to grab attention and tell the story.
6) Use keywords where you can - in headers and throughout the content of the article.
7) keep it going. Stick to a tight publishing schedule. Blogging pays off over time - it's a marathon rather than a sprint and it takes time to build up relevant and optimised content. I set my schedule to publish 3 times a week.
8) Insert a call to action such as Subscribe to Blog on the site so that users can easily subscribe. I use www.feedblitz.com but there are many others www.feedburner.com is popular too.
9) Claim your blog on Technorati - Google Blogsearch and Technorati are the two main ways that people search for blogs. That way others can find your blog.
10) Promote links to your blog on your website and in email footers, businesscards and other off and online relevant marketing materials.
11) Get your blog noticed by publishing links on social media vehicles such as Twitter, Facebook, Linked In (all social spaces relevant to your industry).
12) Try and provide one piece of practical 'how to' advice in each blog post. That way the user will learn that you are always going to provide something useful.
13) Don't focus your posts around selling your products - users will switch off to this. What you should be focusing on is positioning yourself as someone, or a business, that is able to share advice, news, information which will prove useful to your readers. Remember, people aren't that interested in what you do - but more of what you can do for them!

Happy blogging...

[lulu2004]

I have to say I've been reading the links since I got on to this thread, somehow everyone elses blogs seem more interesting than mine.

I've really only started to get into it. I'm naming products that we sell and naming places near me although the Blog is not searchable yet. Do you think a more personal blog would reflect badly on business?- thats why I have not opened it to Search Engines yet. The reason I'm writing it is because I sell baby equipment but I'd like people to know that I don't just sell it- I use it and put it through its paces myself.

I want to post a link, but I cant until I write 15 posts apparently, and I obviously dont want to write 15 posts of rubbish so I may come back and post it in a few days time.

[Ashley_Price]

Michelle the one you have on here needs to have a new photo of you. I have to admit you look very sad/cross in it and it can be off-putting.

[PGWake]

Hi, my blog is linked back from my main website at http://www.pgwake.co.uk (http://www.pgwake.co.uk/) and can be found via the website link or directly at http://pgwake.tradesandcrafts.co.uk/diary/ I use mine to keep a diary of the work we are doing and other related topics, it does actually bring in new customers as well as strengthen existing one's, some have come back to us after seeing the blog and website.

[Multivariate]

I have recently started a blog dedicated to multivariate testing with resources, articles etc.This may be interesting for the readers of this forum.
It is called Global Multivariate

I have recently commented on the issues related to using Google Website Optimizer.

[Michelle Carvill]

Michelle the one you have on here needs to have a new photo of you. I have to admit you look very sad/cross in it and it can be off-putting.

Ha ha Ashley - thanks for the tip - new photo uploaded. However, I'm clearly not a 'smiler' - but hopefully don't look as 'sad/cross' in this shot! And won't put people off exploring my posts...
In fact, one of my blog tactics was to change my image each time I posted - but hey, it's a time thing!

[areyousecure?]

i have a blog (not allowed to post links yet) www dot zodiacsecurity dot co dot uk/blog . its a blog that is generally aimed at general security issues with some advice for both domestic and commercial properties and what they can do to secure their home / business.