Hi,
You’re not the only one who’s thinking I can’t count too well. 😉
I confess…with the launch of How to Profit with Social Media – The 2010 Social Media Directory last week, I let myself get lazy with blogging. I apologise. (And I’m very motivated to get through Darren Rowse’s blogging challenge – you’ll see.)
That laziness is a big part of the title for this post. Your blog should be the centre of your social media marketing efforts.
You probably already know you can get Twitter to update to your blog. Did you know you can get other social media sites – like FriendFeed – to update your blog, too? Of course, you can also connect Facebook and LinkedIn to your blog – they offer you the code to do it.
Here’s why you want your blog to be the centre of your social media marketing efforts: You need somewhere to drive the traffic to.
Where do people go when they want to know more about you? To your website? Sure, but how good is a static website in today’s marketplace? Right, that’s why so many businesses are connecting their blog to their website.
Everyone knows a website is mostly static. But search engines like to find new content on a site. And we all know a blog is an ideal way to get fresh content onto your site.
Here’s a prediction: The next big shift among businesses is that they’ll move away from their traditional websites to using a blog.
Isn’t that just earth shattering? Doesn’t that alter your perception of the universe? Yea, me neither.
But guess what, 34% of national media advertisers say their biggest barrier to using social media is “lack of knowledge.” They just don’t know what to do to get started.
So here’s a tip for putting up a business blog:
First, go to www.wordpress.org and download the latest version of their blogging software. I’ll explain why in a second.
Second, go to www.usebluehost.com and get a hosting account. While you’re there, register a domain name for your blog. (I recommend Bluehost because it’s the same hosting service I use. Their control panel is incredibly easy to use, and their customer support is second to none.)
Third, install your wordpress blog. And, yes, I know I’m simplifying this a lot. If you want a WordPress blog installed, with plugins, so it’s ready for you to use – send me an e-mail or make a comment here. I can have it set up for you – complete with plugins – in a day.
Now for why you want to have your own blog with your own hosting account.
When you go to a site and establish a blog – wordpress.com for example – then that site owns your blog. If someone complains about you, your blog can be shut down without warning. Then it’s up to you to prove you didn’t do anything wrong.
On the other hand, when you host your own blog, the only person who can shut you down is you.
Since this is for your business, you can see why hosting your own blog is the way to go.
Even if you’re just getting started and don’t understand blogging at all, I recommend you start off right – with your own blog. I can walk anyone through posting to their blog and approving comments in an hour – max.
So when you start putting your social media marketing plan together, be sure to include your blog in the plan. If you need help, drop me a line – conrad at conradhallcopywriting dot com. I’m a fair hand at making things easy to understand.
Thanks for reading. And please do leave a comment to tell me what you think.
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