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What Demographic is Your Website Attracting?

Doug Williams @ 5:30 am

This blog entry was posted on November 5, 2010.

Does your website attract the right visitor demographic? Understanding your targeted audience that is most likely to purchase what you offer is very important. Just because visitors are coming to your site does not mean they are qualified prospects.

You use various tools to measure who is coming to your site. You can even predict who you will attract based on the keywords you are targeting.I will use this blog as an example of what you can learn using these tools.

Google Analytics: Here I can learn a little about where my visitors are coming from. 87% of my visitors are new vs. returning. 62% come from Google organic searches, 15% directly enter the URL (bookmarks?) and 6% are referrals from Google.com. 47% come from the US, 10% from the UK and 8% come from India. 3.5% of the people read my blog from a mobile device with the iPhone being the dominant device being used.

Alexa.com: Here I can profile my audience. My blog is most read by 35-44 age group. Women make up a slightly greater percentage than men. They generally have some college education and will tend to read the blog from work rather than home.

I would be interested in what other tools my readers use in analyzing a website… Please leave comments.

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Filed under: Blog Marketing



Why Blogging is the Ultimate Business Marketing Tool

Doug Williams @ 4:39 am

This blog entry was posted on September 16, 2010.

Blogs are a powerful way for businesses to reach and interact with potential customers. Blog marketing is an educational based marketing where you share your opinions, your expertise and your advice. Blogs are not about selling; they are for branding and interacting. Blogs work best when they are added to your website.

The job of your blog is to attract readers. In addition, blogs are a natural link magnet that attracts inbound links if you write interesting, original and engaging posts. Bloggers will then carry these conversations back to their own blogs and of course they will reference your blog posting with a back link.

Blogs are active while websites are passive. Blogs broadcast their content out to the web via RSS every time there is something new. Websites, on the other hand, wait to be discovered by search engine spiders. It’s like the difference between fishing and hunting. You can sit and wait for fish, or you can actively hunt and pursue.

Businesses that blog get more website traffic, more inbound links to their website and have more indexed pages on their website. This is according to a Hubspot study. All these are powerful indicators of a successful business website.

Blog marketing gives businesses other tangible results. Blogs build your brand awareness and build you as an authority in your market. Blogs build rapport with your audience and build a relationship of trust. This makes you the natural person they seek for help.

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Filed under: Blog Marketing



Use Blogging to Improve Your Website Rankings

Doug Williams @ 2:20 am

This blog entry was posted on September 4, 2010.

How can adding a blog to your site improve your entire website’s search engine rankings? Blogging is a great way to attract links and targeted traffic on a website. It does this in four ways.

  1. A blog regularly adds fresh keyword rich content to your website. Each blog posting adds another page to your website. Larger websites generally do better with the search engines.
  2. Linking to specific relevant pages in your main site using keywords as anchor text will help the rankings of those pages.
  3. Blogs written with interesting original insights and opinions attract links from other blogs which build up the link popularity of the entire website.
  4. On new blog postings are broadcast via RSS automatically so new visitors will begin arriving within minutes of a new posting.

Plan: What purpose do you have for your blogging? If you want good results, your blog should reflect your goals. Start by creating a one page plan that includes your audience, topic and keywords you want to focus on. Use your plan to keep your writing focused.

Trust: People trust the content on blogs that come from individuals more than stories from mainstream news or from large corporations. Many people will search and read the content from a number of blogs and then draw their own conclusion. Blogs allow small businesses to voice their message online.

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Filed under: Blog Marketing



How Does Blog Marketing Work?

Doug Williams @ 4:14 am

This blog entry was posted on July 20, 2010.

Marketing is about creating visibility of your product to the right people at the right time. Blog marketing does this using blogging as your medium. Blogs are a powerful way for businesses to reach and interact with potential customers.

Businesses have adopted blogs to build up their brand and attract new customers. Blog marketing is focused and has a purpose. Your blogging journey begins by choosing a topic that your targeted audience will want to read and that you will enjoy writing about. A blog allows you to converse with your target audience.

Blog marketing is an educational based marketing where you share your opinions, your expertise and your advice. Blogs are not about selling; they are for branding and interacting. Blogs work best when they are added to your website.

The job of your blog is to attract readers. In addition, blogs are a natural link magnet that attracts inbound links if you write interesting, original and engaging posts. Bloggers will then carry these conversations back to their own blogs and of course they will reference your blog posting with a backlink.

Adding “linkable” content to your site is the natural link building method. These backlinks help not only your blog, but also your website if your blog is part of your website.

Blogs are active while websites are passive. Blogs broadcast their content out to the web via RSS every time there is something new. Websites, on the other hand, wait to be discovered by search engine spiders. It’s like the difference between fishing and hunting. You can sit and wait for fish, or you can actively hunt and pursue.

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Filed under: Blog Marketing



Blog Writing: 10 Amazingly Easy to Follow Tips

Doug Williams @ 5:02 am

This blog entry was posted on July 4, 2010.

  1. Focused Topic: Write your blog with a central topic. What do your readers want to know?” Choose a topic that your ideal prospect would want to read about and one you would enjoy writing.
  2. Do Not sell: The focus of the blog should be on educating, giving advice, tips, commentaries and opinions. Stay away from direct selling or self promotion.
  3. Interesting Titles: Those first few words will make the difference between your blog posting drawing in hundreds of readers and your posting being totally ignored.
  4. Easy to scan: Make it easy for your reader to scan your blog and get the gist of it. The main points should stand out in sub-headlines, lists, images, colors, italics and indented text.
  5. Short Postings: A typical blog posting should be about 250 words. The longer a post goes, the more people skim. Studies show that people will read up to 300 words. More than that and they will skim only.
  6. Keep it fresh, interesting and write original content. This is what keeps your readers coming back. Don’t be afraid to give your opinion.
  7. Write clearly: Make it easy for your readers to clearly understand you. Poor writing style and bad grammar makes your readers work too hard.
  8. Active Voice: Write concisely, plainly and openly. Write using action oriented words to get your message across as quickly as possible.
  9. Post regularly: Writing 3 blog posts per week is ideal. Even a few posts each month will hold onto subscribers. Too few of posts and your blog will become stale or “dead.”
  10. Stay positive: Opinions and commentaries are great, they are entertaining and interesting. What turns people off is negative and offensive language.

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Filed under: Blog Marketing



6 Ways Make Money from Your Blog… Starting Right Now

Doug Williams @ 5:22 am

This blog entry was posted on May 31, 2010.

Many of you will write blogs because you simply want to share their opinion on something. You can use your blog to bring in some extra cash too. For these money making strategies to work, you need to focus on generating traffic to your blog. This requires interesting and original postings.

Once you have a steady flow of visitors, you can start turning your blog into a moneymaker.

  1. Sell advertising: Placing ads on your blog like Google Adsense is an easy way to add relevant advertising to your blog. You get paid for every visitor that clicks on one of these ads. You can also sell display ads for a monthly fee. The more visitors your blog receives, the more you can charge.
  2. Referral Sales: You can get paid for connecting your visitors with other websites that sell products. You can keep a percentage of the sale for supplying the customer. Amazon.com is a popular affiliate where you can offer books and products that your readers would be interested in.
  3. Sell products: you may want to sell products with your logo or slogan. Café Press offers an affiliate program where your visitors can order all sorts of products that they will apply your branding to. You will earn a commission on everything sold.
  4. Solicit donations: If your blog has developed a following of loyal readers, then you may be able to get readers to support you through donations. Add a Paypal button and ask for donations. This is especially effective if your blog supports a popular cause.
  5. Market your services: You will get new business if you write about topics related to your business that your targeted clients are interested in. Establish yourself as the expert in your market niche and people will seek you out. I receive regular requests to help companies with their web marketing initiatives because of this blog.
  6. Build relationships: Blogging allows you to stay in touch with your current customers by educating and helping them. They will learn the full breadth of what you offer. This keeps you fresh in their minds so you will be the first one they call when they need your services.

Why not turn your writing and opinions into a revenue stream. Making money from your blog usually is not your primary motivation for blogging. Your blogging can at least bring you new business opportunities.

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Filed under: Blog Marketing



10 ways to Re-purpose Your Blog Postings

Doug Williams @ 5:16 am

This blog entry was posted on May 25, 2010.

You spend a great deal of time and effort writing great original postings. You carefully research and write new blogs and your readership continues to grow. You use blog marketing as an educational tool for your business. How can you make use of your work in other ways?

The answer is by re-purposing your content to reach your target audience in different ways. Reformatting allows you to reach new audiences and gives new life to your blog writing. Here are 10 ideas.

  1. Articles: Combine two or three related blogs into an article that you can publish on article syndication sites. Use the articles as reports and offer them to your email list.
  2. Newsletters: Publish a weekly or monthly newsletter using your blog postings. Include these along with special offers to create an interesting newsletter.
  3. Videos: Record short videos based on your blogs and include on your blog or post on YouTube. You can even create a YouTube channel. These can be you standing up in front of a camera or doing a voice over using PowerPoint slides.
  4. Webinars: Use material from your blog and create a webinar or seminar. Use PowerPoint to create slides for your presentations. These can be free webinars to attract new customers or charge for them.
  5. Twitter: Use excerpts from your blog with links back to your blog. This will help attract new readers.
  6. eBook: Combine your postings and re-write into an e-book. A 30-60 page e-book makes an excellent giveaway as you are building up your email list.
  7. Book: Become an author. Combine even more postings into a 200 page book and self publish using CreateSpace which allows your book to be sold on Amazon.com.
  8. MP3 Audio: Record audio and create down-loadable podcast files for your audience to listen to.
  9. Email Auto Responders: Create compelling educational emails for people who sign up for your email list. Following up with 8-10 emails allow you to create an e-course.
  10. Produce DVDs: Sell your material as a course on DVDs along with workbooks. All this based on the blogs you have written.

Blogs allow you to write a little at a time. You can combine and re-purpose your materials in many ways to build your reputation and reach many more people.

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Filed under: Blog Marketing



Your Blog May be a Ticking Time Bomb

Doug Williams @ 4:24 am

This blog entry was posted on May 3, 2010.

You have decided to launch a blog for your business and you want potential customers to read what you are saying. You want to be viewed as the expert in your market. After several months, only a few people per day come to your blog and no one leaves any comments. What could be wrong?

Here are some major reasons why blogs can fail to attract readers.

  1. Uninteresting content: According to Forrester Research, the problem is that many blogs failed to energize their intended audience and they read like “tired, warmed-over press releases.” The answer is simply to give the readers information and opinions that they want to read, written in an exciting and energetic style. Choose subjects that interest or fascinate your targeted reader.
  2. Overselling: The focus of the blog should be on presenting information, advice, tips, commentaries and opinions. Avoid direct selling and self promotion. Blogs have become the new trade publication. People will ignore advertisements, but will seek out helpful information. Use your writing to build rapport and brand yourself as the expert. “How-to” blog posts are some of the most read, linked to and bookmarked content on the web.
  3. Boring Titles: Those first few words will make the difference between your blog posting drawing in hundreds of readers and your posting being totally ignored. The first thing people see is your title. Remember that when you craft a blog title, you want to attract readers. Use this to draw them in so they will read your article. Be creative, attract attention and add “punch” to your postings. Notice the posting title I chose to attract your attention.

Learn how to blog the right way with the FREE eBook: Blog Marketing Mastery by Doug Williams. I will soon be coming out with a webinar based on the book. Sign-up to get on my mailing list to get the ebook and get notifications of upcoming webinars.

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Filed under: Blog Marketing



Use Blogging to Give Your Small Business the Edge

Doug Williams @ 5:02 am

This blog entry was posted on April 25, 2010.

Small businesses have an advantage over big businesses. They are fast, flexible and can make decisions without the bureaucracy that many big companies suffer from. It is this ability to make decisions and take action that makes blogging work so well for small business. Blogs are a powerful way for businesses to reach and interact with potential customers.

  1. Low cost: Blogs can offer a low cost way for businesses to get a web presence. According to a 2009 Ad-ology study 46% of small businesses surveyed do not have a website. Blogs allow a business to have an online web presence at a lower cost than a custom website and without the need to learn HTML.
  2. Content: The focus of a blog should be on the message, not on a flashy site design. Blogs are about reaching your target audience with a message they find interesting and useful. It could be opinions on the latest industry trends or how to advice.
  3. Fast: Blogs broadcast their message via RSS across the Internet. This is the same technology that allows news stories to be found and read within minutes of a story breaking. Normal websites wait for search engines to find and spider them while blogs broadcast their message actively.
  4. Trust: People trust the content on blogs that come from individuals more than stories from mainstream news or from large corporations. Many people will search and read the content from a number of blogs and then draw their own conclusion. Blogs allow small businesses to voice their message online.
  5. Optimization: Add a blog to your business website and this can help improve the rankings of the website. It just takes regular blog posting with keyword rich writing. Blogs are an excellent SEO tool that professional SEOs use.

Yes people do still read blogs, you are reading one right now. You just need to have something important to say. Learn more about how blogs can be used to grow any business. The eBook Mastering Blog Marketing by Doug Williams is a step by step guide on how to use blogs. The eBook is free.

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Filed under: Blog Marketing



7 Ways Business Blogs Are Better than Websites

Doug Williams @ 5:43 am

This blog entry was posted on April 11, 2010.

Blogs are today’s online magazine that more and more people are turning to for their information. Businesses have adopted blogs and are using blog marketing as a major strategy to build up their brand and attract new customers.

  1. Active: Blogs are active while websites are passive. Blogs broadcast their content out to the web via RSS every time there is something new. Websites, on the other hand, wait to be discovered by search engine spiders. It’s like the difference between fishing and hunting. You can sit and wait for fish, or you can actively hunt and pursue.
  2. Faster: Blog posting and syndication is almost instantaneous. Blogs distribute information very quickly and efficiently. Because blog feeds are similar to news feeds, information spreads in minutes instead of days or weeks. Blogs are a great place to kick-start marketing campaigns for new products and services.
  3. Loyalty: It is easy for visitors to subscribe to a blog so they can view new postings as soon as they happen. Blogs encourage repeat visits with content being delivered to your favorite reader or delivery by email. Compare this to bookmarking a website which depends on the visitor to come back.
  4. Current: By their nature, blogs have regular fresh content and they are more up to date. Blogs tend to deal with breaking events and technology insights.
  5. Interactive: Blogs invite participation and interaction. Blog conversations are encouraged providing multiple viewpoints and discussions. Comments can be made easily from each page.
  6. Personality: Blog writing is more informal and conversational. It allows the writer’s personality to make it more alive and interesting. Websites on the other hand are more formal and tend to be written in marketing speak.
  7. Easier: You don’t need to understand HTML to publish your thoughts and opinions. The content management systems on blogs allow you to type, format and add pictures as easily as you can in a word processing program.

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Filed under: Blog Marketing



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