It amazes me that in the last 6 years, the blogosphere has really exploded. And we have been evangelists, spreading the word about this medium and using the Internet to reach new customers and bring new eyes to you and your business. And yet every week, I run into people who still don't get it. We have numerous articles on this site that explore all of the aspects and advantages of blogs, Web 2.0 and Social Media. It should be a no-brainer! If you have only a website today, that's like having a billboard out in a cornfield on a dirt road. Wouldn't you rather have your billboard on a busy freeway where thousands and thousands of people can see it??? Some people get it - some people don't. Since we have LIVED THIS since 2005, we understand it, inside and out! We have invested over 20,000 hours between us, "blogging"! I grew up living in the library! (remember those?!) But the delivery of information changed the world when Google joined the game 10 years ago with a mission to digitize the world! Do you have a question? Google it! You will find your answer in seconds! BLOG is an ugly word for many people - and it is misunderstood and underutilized! They started as boring junky journals. A place for people to vent, share their thoughts, whatever. They have now become robust online magazines! The top bloggers in the world figured out the more they post, the faster their audience grew. What is a Blog? The Lines Continue To BlurWikipedia defines blogs as: A Blog (a contraction of the term "Weblog") is a Web site, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. The Blogosphere is the collective community of all blogs. Since all blogs are on the Internet by definition, they may be seen as interconnected and socially networked. Discussions "in the Blogosphere" have been used by the media as a gauge of public opinion on various issues. But as the Blogosphere grows in size and influence, the lines between what is a blog and what is a mainstream media site become less clear. Larger blogs are taking on more characteristics of mainstream sites and mainstream sites are incorporating styles and formats from the Blogosphere. In fact, 95% of the top 100 US newspapers have reporter blogs. Blogs are the NEW websiteSo you can have an old-school website, out in the cornfield...or a new-school website on a superhighway. Or have both, and just link them together. We live in an information society! And people want their news, media, entertainment NOW - not on tonight's TV news and not in tomorrow's newspaper. Which is why the online corporate video production and marketing agencies are growing up. Ask any business - what do they want to accomplish? Reach new clients and/or potential customers! Well, guess what? A website probably won't do that. A website is simply a glorified business card or brochure online. It's a one-way "push" source of information. ALEXA a respected authority in the WEB industry, the top 100 "websites" are not websites at all. (for the most part) they are what we call WEB 2.0 sites. Interactive sites. Streaming news sites. Most of them are updated hourly, daily or weekly. And/or they allow interaction with the public. People seek current, useful information and the public can now participate in the sharing. (the #1 website in the world? GOOGLE!) Google (and most search engines) know how to separate the good from the bad. There is a lot of garbage out there. There are "spammers" who try to weasel in and "work" the system. However, 9 times out of 10, Google will deliver you the best of the best information about what you are looking for. Most people do not realize what has happened in the last few years. YELLOW PAGES are dead. They are doorstops! Google changed its search. And Blogs and "new" information have taken over. And business owners can use this to their advantage. This is the power of blogs. Providing information. Google loves freshness and they love information, that is why most websites don't get indexed well. They are not fresh. They don't provide useful information - they SELL. Also, most search robots cannot read a website fully, because of the crazy code used and complicated bells and whistles people add to the site to make it fancy, to make it "pretty". Search robots will shut down, and walk away. You have to PUSH people to websites.60-90% (usually) of all website traffic, is usually direct hits. Pushed traffic. People who already know the name of your company or have a web address. The information these websites provide usually does not attract the search robots. You can PULL people to a blog. It can attract readers organically. 60-90% (usually) of all blog traffic, usually comes inorganically. They find YOU. That's the difference. That's the beauty of blogs. It's because they are written in a simpler code, it's because Google and robots can read them faster and easier, it's because search algorithms have gotten smarter! However, you have to understand how they work, the strategy behind a good publisher's efforts, and what the search engines are looking for to win in the game of organic keyword search! And you have to provide information people are searching for. Google looks for freshness.The more you post, the more lift you get. Most websites do not update very often. Google WEB 2.0 CONSULTANTS - we're on page one, out of 8,000,000 links! Google GAY TRAVEL, we're on page one, out of 5,000,000 links! Google MINIATURE YORKIE - we're on page one, out of 1,000,000 sites! Google BUSINESS BLOGGING, we are usually on page one or two, out of 10,000,000 sites. Google SKULL ART, under images - we represent a Surface Pattern Design artist, who wanted a website - and we talked him into a blog. He is ALWAYS on page one! In the last 6 months, he has sold 8, $3000 pieces of art AND been picked up by 3 galleries, all because they found him and his "blog". - which is really just a website that he updates about every 12 weeks! Google SKULL ART, under images - we represent an artist, who wanted a website - and we talked him into a blog. He is ALWAYS on page one! In the last 6 months, he has sold 8, $3000 pieces of art AND been picked up by 3 galleries, all because they found him and his "blog". - which is really just a website that he updates about every 12 weeks! Google GAY ANAHEIM - we have an article usually on page one or two. The city of Anaheim and the Orange County Tourism board discovered we were always on page one for GAY TRAVEL. They wanted to be there too - and expose their amazing city to gay travellers. They flew us out there, and wined us and dined us, all expenses paid, to get us to cover them. Because they saw the power of our site. Last month alone, we got phone calls from MTV, LOGO TV, and press releases from 10 different companies, all asking us to help them promote something or they wanted to buy an ad on our site! They came to us. Any business-any industry-can benefit.Anyone can set up a blog! It's cheap. We can help get you there quicker, by shortening the learning curve. That's why people come to us. They don't want to spend 6 months figuring it out and make the top 10 mistakes most people make. We made mistakes. We learned from the best. We studied online marketing. We have done tests and seen the results. I consider us experts, and I can say that confidently. We have launched over 50 blogs in the last 3 years. Our own 15 personal blogs rank in the top 2% in the world! Not many people can say that. - People come to us for our expertise and knowledge. They don't want to have to recreate the wheel. Can we promise to get you on page one? NO. I don't run Google. Do we get most clients on Page one? Yes! But it does depend on their keywords. If it's a competitive world, it's going to take a strong, mature blog. We DO guarantee to get you brand new traffic. Traffic that finds you. Traffic that never knew you existed! We have a wonderful client here in Chicago who does electrolysis - permanent hair removal. She had a website and just was not happy. She heard us speak and she hired us to help her build her blog site. In 6 months - she has gotten more new clients, that have found her with the new site! And get this, she originally had about 2 dozen "keywords" that she thought people would find her by. We ran her analytics reports...over 5000 people found her using 2000 different keyword combinations! An old-school website can not deliver that. Period!
We have countless examples. IT WORKS! It may come in roundabout ways, but people will come and find you! People are still set in the old mindset though, I need a website... but guess what? blogs are websites. They are NEW WEBSITES! You just have to understand them and how they work, to maximize the information that you can share with the world!
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AboutIncrease exposure for you and your company while establishing your organization as the "experts" in your industry. Blogs and most Web 2.0 tools are the most misunderstood and under-utilized marketing resources out there. Archives
January 2021
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