I got some good feedback over the Interwebs last week for my post on How Do People Find My Blog? Turns out a lot of people had the same question.
So, I expanded the topic to include some other blogging questions I often hear, including:
How do I make my blog more search engine optimized?
How often should I blog?
How long should my posts be?
and a few more.
Whether you’ve been blogging for a while, or if you’re just getting started, you might find some helpful advice in Business Blog FAQ: Blogging Secrets Revealed! (Was the trailing exclamation point too much?)
Last week flyte launched a Web site and blog for Fambul Tok International, a face-to-face community-owned program that brings together perpetrators and victims of the violence in Sierra Leone’s eleven-year civil war.
Both the site and the blog were designed by the always talented and ever charming Braden Buehler of Narrative Design, and developed for the WordPress platform by flyte.
And won’t you take one of these babies home? I mean, I dare you to just look into those headlights and try and say no. They’ll melt your heart, no matter how cold the Maine winters get.
The other day I presented at a tourism conference on social media. By a show of hands I asked how many people were on Twitter, had Facebook fan pages, and blogged. I was surprised–and a bit disappointed–that blogging trailed Twitter and Facebook.
Not that I don’t love Twitter and Facebook, but blogging has so much more to offer your business. It offers unparalleled search engine optimization, it’s a great tool for establishing your expertise, and you have greater control over your own content, not relying on the continued popularity of a social media platform.
In my opinion, there’s no better tool in your Web marketing toolbox than a blog.
If you don’t understand why, or you want to know how to attract more readers to your blog, or you need your blog to generate more online leads, than you should check out flyte’s upcoming webinar: How to Plan, Build and Promote a Business Blog. With 60 minutes of content and 30 additional minutes of Q&A, you’ll leave the webinar with renewed blogging energy and ideas on how to make your blog work for you.
Date: Thursday, 2/11/10
Time: 1pm – 2:30 ET
Place: Your desktop
Cost: $50Now just $30! Save $20 w/discount code “baseball”
There are a limited number of seats (yes, even webinars have “seats”) so register now!
This may be a stupid question, but how do people find my blog?
–Blogging in Baileyville
Dear Blogging,
There are no stupid questions while the person asking is still in earshot.
Yours, however, is not stupid on any level. I have been asked this many times. The simplest answer is, “the same way they find your Web site: through search engines.” By creating a new blog post you are also creating a new Web page, and every Web page is an opportunity to rank for another search term at Google, Bing or Yahoo.
To take full advantage of this you should perform a keyword analysis so you know what your prospects are searching for. Once you know the phrases that are most likely to attract the right type of audience, make sure you use these phrases in your titles, tags, categories and body copy. Your post title, which becomes the page title, is half the battle of attracting your audience.
I can’t tell you what the reward is, but if you enjoy pampering yourself, and you live or vacation in southern Maine, you should really take advantage of this offer while it lasts.
MainelyMara’s brand ID was created by talented local designer Arielle Walrath, which we then integrated into a coming soon page site and a Constant Contact email marketing account.
Starting at just under $2K, our ProSites have always been a good choice for startups or companies that want to take some of their “Interweb funds” and put it towards some search engine optimization, blogging or email marketing.
Besides the great price point, all of these ProSites are built on WordPress, a simple-to-use content management system (CMS). That means you can add, edit, and delete content, pages, upload images, and embed videos to your heart’s content (or to your business’s needs.)
These sites have been built to be flexible enough to fit almost any kind of business, and you can change the navigation to fit your offerings, whether they’re services or products. They work great for non-profits, too.
But wait, there’s more!
Through the month of February (that’s 2010), we’re going to include a free blog with every ProSite. For search engine optimization, establishing your credibility, and as the hub of your social media activity, there’s no better tool than a business blog, and with the new ProSites, they’re integrated into your website. They’re the perfect compliment to an effective Web presence.
I’m getting a lot more unsubscribes lately from my email newsletter and I’m not sure why. What can I do to keep people from unsubscribing from my list?
Frustrated in Farmington
Dear Frustrated,
There are a few tried and true methods to keep people from unsubscribing from your list:
Stop publishing new email newsletters; if they don’t get them, they won’t unsubscribe.
Threaten them with bodily harm if they do.
Unfortunately, the first option won’t help you grow your business and you’ll still be paying monthly hosting fees, and the second one isn’t very cost effective given all the necessary travel.
If you are suddenly getting a spike of unsubscribes look to your behavior:
Did you stop delivering on expectations? If you promised monthly information-rich email newsletters during signup and you’re suddenly sending weekly discounts from the company store, you may get a lot of unsubscribes.
Did you recently make a major change your email newsletter? People want consistency. A change in design, layout, name, or adding lots of advertising or banners can all turn subscribers off.
Did you stop providing value? Let’s face it: none of us would be too upset if we started getting less email. Every email newsletter you send out comes with an implicit invitation to unsubscribe. Sometimes the value to provide is no longer relevant to a subscriber; if you sell kids clothing and they suddenly became an empty-nester, your email newsletter no longer holds any value. Other times you put your own interests, such as selling your Webinars or widgets, before the needs of your audience. Whatever you send out, make sure that it provides value to your audience, otherwise they’ll unsubscribe in droves.
If the number of invitations I receive every day to become a fan of yet another eatery in Des Moines, or an interactive agency in Tuscon, is any indication, companies of all sizes are realizing the benefits of a Facebook fan page.
Then how come they’re all so boring and repetitive?
Without taking some steps to customizing your Facebook presence, your fan page will look like every other page on Facebook. It’s time to stand out from the crowd and customize the look.
Using FBML (Facebook Markup Language) you can add a box (tab) to your fan page where you can render HTML or FBML to enhance, customize and brand your little area of Facebook.
You should customize your landing page with complimentary graphics that you use in other marketing material, especially your Web site, blog and email newsletter.
You can make it the landing page for non-fans in the Wall Settings section of your fan page admin under the setting “Default Landing Tab for Everyone Else.”
Special kudos to Ryan Goan, our creative director who designed our new landing page, Gloria Maher who developed it, and Chrystie Corns who inspired us to add more color to our own landing page.
This is the last week to enter for two of flyte new media’s Web marketing giveaways:
Search Engine Optimization:
Would you like your site to rank higher at the search engines? Do you wish you could attract more qualified leads to your Web site? Do you wonder why your competition beats you at Google?
Are you struggling to understand Facebook? How Twitter can help grow your business? How YouTube can attract qualified leads to your Web site? Whether a blog will increase your search engine visibility or eat up your last remaining free time?
If so, register for our Web Marketing / Social Media Consultation, with your man about town, Rich Brooks. We’ll talk about social networking sites, blogs, video and anything else you need to drive more qualified leads to your Web site and grow your business.
Both contests wrap up on Sunday, 1/31/2010, so be sure to take advantage of this offer if you’re looking to build your business in 2010.
The other day I presented at a tourism conference on social media. By a show of hands I asked how many people were on Twitter, had Facebook fan pages, and blogged. I was surprised–and a bit disappointed–that blogging trailed Twitter and Facebook. 
Dear Rich,
