Posts tagged as:

bloggers

Content marketing successGetting customers to care about your business often depends upon the quality of your content. And I know of few better ways to build a committed community of customers than with a great blog. In fact, my guide on how to build your small business blog remains one of the most popular parts of this site.

But what if you want more? What if you’re ready to move past the basics? Over the coming weeks, I’m going to look at building a better blog in more detail. But to get you started, check out these 7 tips for improving your content—and improving your marketing:

  1. Leading off, HubSpot shows 11 ways to use content to build your authority online.
  2. Writing can be hard. Thankfully, ProBlogger suggests 10 David Ogilvy quotes to inspire your blogging.
  3. OpenForum has a great piece on 5 simple ways to get more traffic to your website. Spoiler alert: great content factors into heavily in the mix.
  4. Mashable offers 5 steps for creating “magnetic” content.
  5. CopyBlogger looks into the 2nd most important element in your writing.
  6. Getting people to read your content is only half the battle. Which is why I love this ProBlogger piece on what motivates readers to share.
  7. And, finally, Social Media Examiner has a terrific video that explains how to use content marketing to increase your sales.

Enjoy the list, Big Thinkers. And look forward to more in the coming days.


Are you getting enough value out of your small business website? Want to make sure your business makes the most of the local, mobile, social web? thinks helps you understand how to grow your business via the web, every day. Get more than just news. Get understanding. Add thinks to your feed reader today.

Or subscribe via email.

And while you’re at it, don’t forget to follow Tim on Twitter.

Tim Peter & Associates helps companies from startups to the Fortune 500 use the web to reach more customers, more effectively every day. Take a look and see how we can help you.

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Today’s guest post is from Carol Wilson, a writer for BusinessInsuranceQuotes.org. She contributes articles about a variety of marketing, business, stock market, small business topics and can be contacted at: wilson.carol24 @ gmail.com. As part of our continuing series on how to build your small business blog, today Carol looks at the benefits of using guest posts on your small business blog.

In today’s tech-heavy society, nearly every aspect of our lives is intimately involved with the internet. Businesses rely on the web for their mass marketing campaigns, gaining a worldwide audience, and selling or distributing their product and services. Many small and large businesses alike use blogs to create attention for their offerings and to position themselves as experts within their area. A small business blog, as with any blog, can be tricky to maintain. Gaining any amount of popularity online takes a lot of work and a considerable amount of research. Bloggers must understand who their target audience is, develop a reliable blogging schedule, craft quality content, deliver something new and interesting to their readers, and create beautiful and clear web design for their site. One essential trick to creating a successful blog is inviting quality guest posts from capable writers within your blogging genre.

Gain a Wider Exposure

One of the most basic benefits of publishing guest posts on your small business’ blog is gaining more traffic to your blog. By allowing established guest bloggers to publish on your site, you will attract members of that blogger’s regular audience to your blog. The guest blogger will promote their guest post on their usual social media outlets as well as their own blog, providing you with free and effortless promotion. Furthermore, guest posting often works both ways. If you allow a guest blogger to write a feature for your blog, you will likely be permitted or asked to write a feature for their blog. This allows you to promote your business’ blog on that blogger’s site, too. Readers of your guest posts will picture you as an expert on your area of interest and may seek further information from you about your products and services. More traffic means more customers and more customers means more profit.

Become an Authority

By featuring guest posts that are written by educated and knowledgeable individuals in your area of business, readers will see your blog as the authoritative voice on that subject. Within any industry, being seen as an authority within your area of business is a positive thing for sales. A business’ reputation plays heavily into how successful it is. By creating and publishing quality content on your business’ blog, customers and visitors will begin to trust your word on that subject. Furthermore, featuring guest bloggers on your blog will demonstrate a willingness to explore different points of view. This openness displays a forward-thinking business standpoint and is viewed positively by visitors and consumers. Use guest bloggers to build your professional repertoire and position yourself as an expert in your area.

Beef Up Your Blog

Guest posts also provide a great way to beef up your blog and mix up the content a little bit. One of the most difficult aspects of blogging in general is coming up with interesting and unique content each and every week. Guest posting gives your blog a new and exciting voice. Even the slightest change like this can revive a tired blog and engage new readers. Let your guest contributors do some of the work for you for a bit. Let others come up with unique and entertaining topics that relate to your business. If you find yourself stuck in a rut, try featuring a series of guest posts on various topics. Of course, be wary of the guest articles you do publish. Be sure to find posts that are well written and intimately related to your area of business. Featuring an interesting post by a guest blogger that is unique and well written, but completely unrelated to your blog is pointless. Find posts that are useful, informative, and interesting. Spicing things up in your blog can help bring readers back for more and will keep you inspired for your own writing.



Are you getting enough value out of your small business website? Want to make sure your business makes the most of thelocal, mobile, social web? thinks helps you understand how to grow your business via the web, every day. Get more than just news. Get understanding. Add thinks to your feed reader today.

Or subscribe via email.

And while you’re at it, don’t forget to follow Tim on Twitter.

Tim Peter & Associates helps companies from startups to the Fortune 500 use the web to reach more customers, more effectively every day. Take a look and see how we can help you.

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E-commerce and Online Marketing All Stars 2011Today is the MLB All-Star Game. But, I’m lucky. I have access to the greatest team of All Stars out on the web every day. Each of the folks listed below makes me better at what I do every day. I can’t imagine going a day without reading one of these blogs or going a week without reading all of them. With that, I’m thrilled to announce The 2011 Thinks E-commerce and Online Marketing All Stars:

  1. The RKGBLOG—Leading off, we’ve got George Michie and the RKG team. Their RKBLOG is thoughtful, insightful and colorful. Need proof? Check out their recent piece on attribution modeling and see if you don’t want them on your team, too.
  2. Search Engine Land—Want to know everything going on in the land of search engines? Listen to Danny Sullivan and his team. One of the first sites I read every day, Search Engine Land covers all the news you need to know about the search marketing business, along with insights to help you put that information to work. For example, their coverage of the aftermath of the Google/Twitter split not only offered headlines. It offered clarity.
  3. GetElastic—Of course, there’s more to life than just search engines. Linda Bustos (@roxyyo on Twitter) and the rest of the GetElastic blogging team look at e-commerce best practices and share what they’ve learned in a way both useful and engaging. With posts like “Is Multichannel E-commerce Dead”, GetElastic offers thought leadership and practical advice for online business.
  4. Dan Zarrella—Billing himself as “The Social Media Scientist,” Dan Zarrella separates fact from fiction about your fans, friends and followers. For instance, in “Tweet Lots of Links to Get Followers”, Dan doesn’t just offer opinion. He backs it up with data. And for walking the walk as well as talking the talk, Dan Zarrella earns the clean-up spot in the All Star lineup this year.
  5. Occam’s Razor by Avinash Kaushik—Did I just mention data? Avinash Kaushik lives, breathes and sleeps data. Some guys count sheep to fall asleep. I suspect Avinash counts them, segments them and determines the ROI of each. Offering posts both brilliant and funny like “11 Digital Marketing Crimes Against Humanity”, Avinash earned his roster spot among this group of All Stars.
  6. SEOmoz blog—Where do I begin with SEOmoz? Rand Fishkin has built an amazing organization out in Seattle to help SEO practitioners get better and to help businesses find better SEO practitioners. Whether offering innovative ideas like using Google’s new search by image for link building or original research into how tweets affect search engine rankings, SEOmoz remains one of my top destinations and a key contributor to my All Star team.
  7. Mike Moran – Biznology—How many IBM Distinguished Engineers do you know? How many Chief Strategy Officers? How many entrepreneurs? OK. How many do you know contained within one individual? That’s right. One guy: Mike Moran. Mike and Biznology’s bloggers (full disclosure: I am one of them. And am humbled by the opportunity), crank out hit after hit after hit. With folks like Mike, Frank Reed, Aaron Kim, and Chris Abraham, Biznology is practically an All Star team in its own right. And it remains one of the best marketing blogs on the Web, even after adding me.
  8. ProBlogger—Darren Rowse was one of the first bloggers I read when I started this blog some 6 years ago. And I still read him today. With great insights on creating and marketing content such as “5 Ways I’m Using LinkedIn to Drive Traffic, Build Community, Generate Sales and Build Influence”, Darren (and his dozens of guest bloggers) prove an excellent addition to the team.
  9. Duct Tape Marketing blog by John Jantsch—No E-commerce and Online Marketing All Star Team would be complete without the great John Jantsch. John’s Duct Tape Marketing (possibly my all-time favorite business name), helps businesses large and small solve all kinds of problems as quickly and inexpensively as a roll of… well, something useful, quick and inexpensive. Check out his thoughts on why everything you’ve heard about Google+ is wrong, for one example of why John will make my All Star team every season.

There you have it, Big Thinkers. Your 2011 Thinks E-commerce and Online Marketing All Star Team. Check ‘em out and see if your game doesn’t improve.



Are you getting enough value out of your small business website? Want to make sure your business makes the most of the local, mobile, social web? thinks helps you understand how to grow your business via the web, every day. Get more than just news. Get understanding. Add thinks to your feed reader today.

Or subscribe via email.

And while you’re at it, don’t forget to follow Tim on Twitter.

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Why dissing bloggers is a bad idea.

January 28, 2008 Marketing

Have you seen this New York Times article that essentially says bloggers don’t “…reach our core guest.” Of course that’s silly. First off, I’m a blogger and my wife, kids and I shop in Target all the time. The same is true for Amy at ShapingYouth.org, which I read regularly. Same with all the folks [...]

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