Welcome to Digital Divas TV – Episode #2 – Blogging for Small Business (recorded on 4.14.10). This week we are talking about our experiences with Blogging.
Running time: 19 minutes, 18 seconds Schmack A Doo!
A “blog” by definition is short for web log. It’s an online journal, kept up mainly by individuals where you can post photos, videos and text. Blogs also provide a great opportunity for SEO (search engine optimization) and public relations.
For Cori, who isn’t a big fan of writing, she uses her blog http://www.corichavez.com/blog mainly as a way to share information via links to filmmaking and web video information sources. Cori advises bloggers to utilize keywords and tags for search optimization and Google ranking (also other search engines like Bing and Yahoo). An avid reader, Cori recommends Google Reader to organize your favorite blogs. Cori’s top 3 blogs: Mashable, Techcrunch, and The Way We Watch
Like many of us, Julie has been meaning to set up her blog but doesn’t have one up at this time. Blogs are used as research tools for Julie and she is currently researching blog opportunities for her client, Dr. Joe Dispenza. Three of Julie’s favorite resources are Problogger, Huffington Post and Fast Company.
SuzAnn adds that blogs are a great way to grow business and gain access to PR. She is experimenting with Tumblr, a micro-blog that is in between a regular blog and Twitter. SuzAnn thinks that faster, shorter posts are the way to go. At Cori’s recommendation she has also signed up for Google Reader but she has not spent the time to read all of the posts because she is overwhelmed by too much information. SuzAnn mentions that from a marketing perspective, having a blog helps you create the perception that you are the expert in your field. SuzAnn’s top blogs: Fast Company, Mashable, Techcrunch.
Louise has the most experience blogging on the Diva panel. Originally, she created a blog as an extension to her published romantic comedy, Baking at Midnight. Louise posted once a week as Tildy Wilson on girlfriend wisdom for her local readers and for herself. Last year Louise decided to use Blogspot to test a marketing idea to see if it had relevance. Louise’s blog, MarketToMouth, now aids the promotion of her newest book about cost effective ways to shop and eat healthy. She says even having minimal knowledge about SEO, you can quickly elevate to the top of search results by the using tags and keywords . Her favorite blogs are Problogger and Editor Unleashed, by Marias Schneider. Louise recommends that bloggers should be clear on the communities that they want to participate in so there is mutual sharing.
Advice from Louise for current and future bloggers:
Find a way to differentiate from the crowd.
Consistency.
Short quality content.
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