Internet marketing tips, social media marketing tips and related topics

1. Choosing the Right Topic for Your Business Blog
by Gary Messinger
The importance of a business blog can’t be overlooked. It generates traffic to the main website,
builds the business owner’s credibility, and expands network of followers and potential
customers, among many others. But just any blog won’t cut it. It’s a must to create blog posts
that would capture the interest and attention of your target market, and hold it long enough to
give you a chance to turn them into customers. It should also provide help to existing customers
to ensure that you keep a loyal following base.
One way to ensure that is by choosing the right topics to write about. Here are five questions to
ask yourself whenever writing a blog post.
Factor # 1 – Is the topic you’ve chosen relevant to your business?
It doesn’t make sense to write about web design or cell phone maintenance if what you own is a
catering business. It doesn’t have to be specifically about the business itself, it can be anything
relatable to it. For example, for your catering business, you can write blog posts on party
planning. Here are some ideas:
• How to Organize a Hit Birthday Party for Your Kid
• Surprise Your Spouse with an Anniversary Get Together
• Corporate Events are Easy with these Practical Planning Techniques
See how you can connect each topic to your business while at the same time providing useful
info to your potential customers?
Factor # 2 – Would this topic help me meet my business goals?
Look at your short-term and long-term business goals. Each topic you post on your blog post
should bring you closer to these. Let’s say you own a travel souvenir shop and it’s one of your
objectives to promote sustainable tourism, then you can write about the following topics:
• Leave No Trace Behind: Eco Friendly Camping Tips
• Say No to Souvenirs Made of Exotic Animals
• Here’s How to Travel the Green Way

2. Factor # 3 – Is this topic timely?
While it’s also great to write about evergreen topics or topics that never get outdated, you should
also consider writing those that are timely. Keep yourself abreast in the latest happenings around
your industry and write about those. Don’t let your business get left behind.
Factor # 4 – Do I know anything about this topic?
One reason to put up a business blog is to establish your credibility in the industry. How can you
do that if you don’t show people that you’re an expert on the subject matter? Write about the
aspects of your business that you’re proficient in. If there’s something you want to cover that
you’re not too familiar with, be sure to do ample research, interview resource persons, or have an
expert create a blog post.
Factor # 5 – How would my customers react to this topic?
A little bit of controversy can be good for your blog, as this rouses curiosity and sparks
conversations. However, you need to be careful when treading on dangerous waters. Leave the
blog post open-ended to encourage people to discuss about the matter. And as much as possible,
don’t write about topics that are too controversial or risk eliciting adverse reactions from the
public.
These tips would certainly help you come up with blog topics for your business that would bring
you closer to your goals.

3. Turn Your Business Blog from Dull to Wow
You’ve put up a blog for your business, and so far, you’ve written a bunch of posts. It excites you
whenever one or two people pop by to see what you’re up to. But you know it’s not enough. You
know that for your blog to successfully do what it’s supposed to do—drive traffic to your main
site and generate leads for your business, you have to give it the wow factor it needs to capture
more attention.
How do you do that? Here are five tips to bring you closer to blogging success:
Let your personality shine
Read your blog posts. How do you sound? Stiff? Plain? Boring? Like a robot? For people to have
interest in your blog, it should be stamped with a great personality. Think about this: in real life,
the popular ones are those people oozing with personality. Letting your own personality shine in
your blog can make it a lot more interesting instead of bore readers to slumber land.
Be consistent
It has always been among the top blogging tips to be consistent. Don’t you just hate it when you
find something awesome to read online and you decide to follow it, then you find out there’s
nothing more to look forward to? Keeping a strict schedule is a lot of help. If you can’t afford to
write three blog posts a day, then tone it down to one or two. Better do that than suddenly
disappear.
Apart from being consistent with blog schedule, you also need to be consistent with your stand,
opinions, and ideologies. You can’t be pro environment sustainability today, and then show your
lack of care for environmental issues the next day. This is a credibility killer that you’d have to
steer clear of.
Establish credibility
Speaking of credibility, show readers that you’re good at what you do. No, erase that. Show them
that you’re the best. Always talk with certainty, confidence, and authority. Of course, in order to
do that, you need to back your claims with substantive research. Readers get more attracted to
blogs written by experts on the subject matter. Phrases like, “I’m not so sure but…” or “Maybe

4. you can try…” should be avoided. Be assertive and certain with everything you talk about
—“These tips would definitely…”or “For surefire success, use….”
Show your passion
As you know, passion is contagious. People would care more about what you do when they see
that you really really really care about it. It makes them think, if this person is so passionate
about this matter, then it must be important. Also, passion instantly breathes life into a blog post,
turning even a seemingly dull topic into something worth of time and interest.
Cultivate relationships
Contrary to what some people think, a blog is not a one-way medium. Sure, you can go on and
on talking about a certain topic that people would read about. But that’s not the end of it. People
can post comments and you can interact with your readers. Take advantage of that to build
relationships and earn their trust. A blog with an interactive owner is definitely more interesting
than one with a passive owner.
Is there anything else you’d like to add? Feel free to share more ideas!

5. Social Media Sites Can Help Increase Blog Traffic
Social media sites are invaluable marketing tools that business owners can’t do without. Apart
from generating leads and attracting potential customers, these networking sites also help
increase traffic of your blog. This makes it easier for your business blog to do its task of
establishing your credibility in the industry and providing useful information to existing and
potential clients. Here are eight ways on how social media sites can help increase traffic to your
blog.
Tip # 1 – Put blog links on social media profiles
Most social media sites allow links on the profile page. Put your blog links on your profile. This
way, people can readily see where they need to go if they want to learn more about your
business.
Tip # 2 – Link blog content to social media accounts
Blog sites like WordPress lets you connect your posts to top social media sites like Facebook.
This means that whenever you make a new post in your blog, the link will automatically be
published in your Facebook timeline, and will show up on your friends’ wall feeds. It’s easy to
do this configuration in the blog or social media settings.
Tip # 3 – Include blog link in your signatures
If you’re active in online forums, it would help to put a link to your blog on your post signature.
Tip # 4 – Add social media buttons on your blog
Social media buttons can be placed on the first page of your blog, particularly on the sidebar so
people can connect with you through Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn more easily. Also, this helps
ensure that whenever you add something to your blog, your new Facebook friend, Twitter

6. follower or LinkedIn contact will be notified. You can also add share buttons at the last part of
each post to encourage readers to spread the word about it.
Tip # 5 – Use automated cross-profile publishing
There are various scheduling tools that you can use to publish links on several social media
profiles at the same time. These include HootSuite, TweetDeck, and Sprout Social. Find one that
works best for you.
Tip # 6 – Promote blog contests on social media
A blog contest is a surefire technique for generating interest of more people. Just make sure that
the prize at stake is something people would want to compete over for. Promote this blog content
on your social media sites to spread the word about it, and your blog as well.
Tip # 7 – Join social media groups and share blog content
In social media sites like Facebook and LinkedIn, you can join active groups that are relevant to
your business and blog. Join these groups and start building relationships with other members by
posting positive comments and chipping in conversations. After a while, you can share some of
your blog posts that would be helpful for them.
Tip # 8 – Be active on social media
Finally, be active on whatever social media site you’re on. Whether it’s Facebook, Twitter or any
other site, you need to find the time to interact actively with other people. This can do so much in
increasing your blog’s and business’ visibility.
This list surely provides useful insights on how social media can help in blogging success.

7. Unravel 8 Secrets to Successful Guest Blog Posting
What you post on your blog isn’t the only thing that matters nowadays. For business owners, it’s
also a must to get into guest blog posting, which provides countless of enticing benefits. In terms
of SEO, this technique is known to increase backlinks and improve search engine ranking of
your own site. It’s also a valuable marketing tool that allows you to interact not only with your
target market but also with peers and other blog owners. Here are the secrets for guest posting
success.
Secret # 1 – It’s okay to be choosy
In fact, it’s a must. Be on the lookout for the cream of the crop. Pick the top sites in your industry
or niche. Get in touch with blogs that have the most subscribers and social fans. Yes, it can be
challenging to get these sites notice you but make an effort, after all, they’re the only ones worth
writing guest blogs for.
Secret # 2 - Being organized helps
A systematic schedule is necessary especially if you intend to submit to multiple blogs at the
same time. Being organized right from the start can save you from lots of headaches. Create a list
of all the blogs that you wish to submit a post to and include other details like the blog title you
pitched, date of publication, and so on.
Secret # 3 - Regular readers have bigger chances of getting accepted
When you find the right sites, take the time to be a constant visitor at first. Post insightful
comments, share the blog’s articles to your contacts, and interact with the blog writers and other

8. readers. It’s more likely for the blog owner to accept blog posts from people he/she knows.
Secret # 4 – It’s a must to follow instructions
The previous tip already gives you an idea what the blog is about. That makes it easier for you to
follow the blog’s instructions for guest posting. Most blogs have this rule: submissions should
have same or similar style or tone as the other published blog articles. And since you’re already a
frequent visitor, you already know what particular tone to follow.
Secret # 5 – You need to be over-the-top useful
This is a no-brainer but still many guest posters fail at this. You need to provide extremely
helpful pieces of advice that are not commonly found elsewhere. The blog owner would of
course give priority to submissions that carry information that are not only new and relevant but
also exceptionally practical.
Secret # 6 – The title can make or break your blog post
A catchy headline doesn’t only spell the difference between an article read and an article
skipped. It also spells the difference between an approved blog post and declined submission.
Make a great first impression with your title.
Secret # 7 – There’s room for narcissism in guest posting
It’s not your blog so don’t be too self-absorbed. Always remember, it’s another person’s blog and
readers. Instead of telling blog owners how your blog post can help your business, enlighten
them on how you can help theirs. Remember, it’s not always about you.
Secret # 8 – Your work doesn’t end after your post is published
A published guest post is a reason to celebrate but it doesn’t end there. Visit the site from time to
time to check out the comments. Be sure to respond to these and generate discussion and
engagement. This will not only please the blog owner and the readers but also benefit you, the
blog writer. It’s also a must to monitor the progress of your blog and find out if it drove traffic to
your site, generated leads, and expanded your network.
Guest blog posting is a lot of work but with its numerous benefits you surely wouldn’t mind.

9. How Successful is Your SEO Campaign? Track Your Progress!
A good SEO campaign can do so much for your business. It can improve your ranking in search
engines, which drives more traffic to your site, which generates more leads, which draws in more
customers, which increases your profit. See how simple the whole thing works? In theory yes,
but in real life, it can be a little more complicated than that. One thing that you must do to ensure
the success of your SEO stratagem is to monitor how well it’s doing. Here are some practical
ways to do just that.
How many people visit your site?
Of course, the first thing to check is your website’s number of visitors. Find out too where these
people originate. If your SEO campaign is doing well, it will increase the figures on your visitor
counter. As time goes on, so would the amount of time that these people spend on your site.
Google Analytics is an excellent tool for this purpose.
How many visitors have turned into customers?
Next, determine how many visitors have eventually become actual customers. You may have
millions of website visitors, but that number wouldn’t count if not a single one availed your
product or service. You can go through this step the traditional way and inquire with each
customer you have through a survey how they’ve heard of your business. This will give you a
rough estimate as to how many customers are from your website. Compare this to the number of

10. your website visitors and this will give you an idea on the conversion rate of visitors to
customers.
How many good backlinks do you have?
An SEO campaign will be futile without backlinks to your website. Monitor what websites link
to yours and find out whether their quality is good or bad. Remember that Google penalizes
those with backlinks coming from bad websites so you have to be on the lookout for this. A good
SEO plan gives you high quality backlinks from reputable sources.
How many fans do you have in your social media sites?
SEO works hand in hand with other online tools like social media sites to help your business
gain solid footing despite the massive competition. Take a good look at your social media sites.
How many Facebook fans, LinkedIn contacts, or Twitter followers do you have? And how
engaged is your network? Did they just like your page or are they constantly interested in what
you have to offer—whether it’s a new advice, blog contest, or discount sale? Having a big
following can also reflect on your SEO campaign. It means that more and more people are able
to find your website and links because of your improved online visibility.
SEO is important to any business owner who wants to be visible online. A good reputation online
can definitely help increase number of potential customers and boost the sales.