1. Slide 1 smallbiztrends.com Blogs: Today’s Marketing and Sales Tool for Business SEM Made Simple Anita Campbell – May 2007

2. Slide 2 smallbiztrends.com Hello, My name is Anita. I’m a blogger.

3. Slide 3 smallbiztrends.com Your Presenter Anita Campbell 20 years in Corporate world Blogging since 2003 Small Business Trends is flagship blog Blog started as a better way to publish newsletter articles Blogging transformed my business

4. Slide 4 smallbiztrends.com Blogs in Business We Will Cover: 1.What is a blog? 2.Why have a business blog? 3.Blogging Do’s and Don’ts 4.The power of RSS

5. Slide 5 smallbiztrends.com About Blogs (web + logs) Chronologically arranged websites Lots of content Easy to update / instant Web publishing Attract inbound links Informal two-way conversations RSS feeds = more ways to be found –develops loyal readers who subscribe –indexed in additional search engines

6. Slide 6 smallbiztrends.com Business Blog Example “Me to You”

7. Slide 7 smallbiztrends.com Business Blog Anatomy Chronological entries: most recent at top. Easy to scan.

8. Slide 8 smallbiztrends.com Blog “Conversations” Comments by readers

9. Slide 9 smallbiztrends.com More “Conversations” Conversations continued on other blogs through trackbacks

10. Slide 10 smallbiztrends.com Links for Search Engines Blogroll links to other sites

11. Slide 11 smallbiztrends.com Who’s Blogging? Mainstream – small businesses Technorati.com tracking 70+ million –One third are active 5% (over 1 million) are business blogs 55 million read blogs (Pew Internet study) “ Everybody has a blog today ” – Website Services Magazine, May 2007

12. Slide 12 smallbiztrends.com Benefits of Biz Blogs Sales and Marketing –Generate leads –Build house email list via online sign-up box –Cut through marketing-speak – communicate authentically –Develop status as an “expert” –Replace a newsletter / content does double duty Online Search –Naturally high search engine rankings –Draw traffic to your main website

13. Slide 13 smallbiztrends.com Benefits of Biz Blogs (cont’d) Public Relations –Fast / inexpensive way to publish press releases online –Back door to media interviews –Repeater effect – expands impact of other PR General –Inexpensive -- levels the playing field for small biz –Recruit employees –Network with industry professionals

14. Slide 14 smallbiztrends.com Are Blogs for Everyone? Not everyone likes to write –Possible solution: team blogs or hire writers “Blogging is a contact sport” –Interaction with visitors and other bloggers is important: are you comfortable with this? Not a substitute for a full Web strategy –Just one element of your Web marketing plan

15. Slide 15 smallbiztrends.com Biz Blog Tips: Do’s Get a professional design using your logo Integrate blog into your overall Web presence Host at your own URL Post at least once a week Write for customers – information they can use Participate in the conversation / comments Use photos (team & office) Do “day in the life” posts Use keywords customers are likely to search by

16. Slide 16 smallbiztrends.com Biz Blog Tips: Don’ts Don’t try to be Google News – add value Don’t forget the “Mom” rule Don’t stray off theme Don’t oversell Be inclusive, not exclusive – watch that lingo! Don’t be boring Don’t forget to link, link, link!

17. Slide 17 smallbiztrends.com A Word About RSS Feeds Blogs generate RSS feeds – your content is also distributed as a news feed Expands reach of your message –More search engines to be found in –Embraced by the Big 3: Google, Yahoo and Microsoft (Vista and IE 7) Develops community following – readers subscribe through “feedreaders”

18. Slide 18 smallbiztrends.com Feedreaders are convenient, letting a person read many websites from one place at one time

19. Slide 19 smallbiztrends.com …all it takes is one click to jump to see another site’s updated content

20. Slide 20 smallbiztrends.com … it’s a little like reading email – except that you are reading Web site content – and no spam!

21. Slide 21 smallbiztrends.com Look For Them… Orange chiclets Rectangular “Add” buttons

22. Slide 22 smallbiztrends.com RSS is the Future Blogs automatically generate RSS feeds of your content Another important reason to have a blog!

23. Slide 23 smallbiztrends.com Getting Started Experiment with a free, hosted blog: –Blogger - www.blogger.comwww.blogger.com But not for long – upgrade to a professionally-designed blog at your own URL for flexibility & branding: –WordPress -- www.wordpress.orgwww.wordpress.org

24. Slide 24 smallbiztrends.com Blogs in Business Thanks and Questions??? More resources: www. smallbiztrends.com/blogging www. smallbiztrends.com/blogging