Blog To Great

Tips to Build Your Personal, and Blog Brand

     Blog Tips- Nowadays, to be truly successful in the blog business, and/or as an entrepreneur, you must establish your personal brand along with the brand of your blog.  In your quest to make money on-line, one of the best places to start is with Linkedin.com.  If you're not familiar with LInkedin, it's been called a  “Facebook for business grownups”.  And, while we're thrilled with Twitterand the immediacy of it's communication, with Linkedin you can contact and network with current (and new) business associates while focusing on your industry and area of expertise.  So, it's a great way to reach people that will find value in your niche blog. It’s a good networking tool when used properly, and can help you achieve the success that you're working for with your blog, and establish your credibility. Here are suggestions on how to best use Linkedin -

•    Take control of your personal brand.  Establish in advance how you want to present yourself and execute the plan.
•    Connect within your niche.  Focus on your area of expertise and the niche you blog about.
•    Add everyone you know (and don’t know).  But don't be a pest.
•    Ask compelling questions to engage conversation (and gain blog post ideas)
•    Become an expert in your field, feel free to show others what you know and how you can help them.
•    Say thank you. You linking-in to share, make contacts, so be respectful.
•    Become transparent.  Like your blog, be honest and upfront with others.
•    Make recommendations about business ideas, trends, etc
•    Add your links, share your blog's content with others.
•    Don’t be a stranger, reach out to people you know and work/ed with.
•    Use LinkedIn applications (your book lists, etc)

These brief tips will start you off well, let us know how Linkedin helps you and your blog.

NY Times to Operate Two Hyper-Local BLOGS

    Blog News - The New York Times acknowledges the power and the need for blogging with their introduction of two hyper-local blogs.  Each of the sites will be overseen by a NYT journalist, and the paper will  use free neighborhood contributors and will work with CUNY journalism students.  The two pilot sites are- one for the Fort Greene and Clinton Hill, Brooklyn are and the other for Millburn, Maplewood, and South Orange, NJ.  They'll blog about local "cultural events, bar and restaurant openings, real estate, arts, fashion, health, social concerns and anything else happens in the 'SoHo of Brooklyn."  See report at the new blogs at Brownstoner .  We know the NY Times is having severe financial problems and are looking for new ways to connect with readers and generate revenue, so local blogs for them are not a complete surprise.  But they nature of blogging leds its self to a more organic, sincere effort by a blogger to report on topics or connect with readers.  We'll watch the NY Times blog test closely to see how it impacts indie bloggers.

Your thoughts?  Would you want a national or large corporation going after your blog's niche?  Comment below....

New Ad Network Announced

    Blog Tips  - A new ad network was unveiled today by industry veteran Mark Elderkin, the founder/CEO of Gay Ad Network.  He's now launched the Lesbian Ad Network.  Already, Chemistry.com and Switzerland Tourism have signed on to the vertical online ad network's inaugural partners.  The Lesbian Ad Network will be comprised of the world's leading lesbian brands and will offer a unique platform to reach the lesbian market across branded content sites and blogs, with custom editorial sponsorships, viral widget syndication and video advertising, Elderkin said.  If your blog's readership is lesbian, and your want to monetize your blog, get your blog included by signing up today, at Lesbian Ad Network.  See report at MediaPost.com .

25 Best Blogs 2009 - Time Magazine's List

      Blog News - Once again, we present the brand new Time Magazine's list of "25 Best Blogs 2009"and, just as interesting, the Top 5 Overrated blogs.  The Top list has no surprises, we find Talking Points Memo, Huffington Post, Mashable among others. You may not be familiar with all of them, check them all out on the full list at 25 Best Blogs.  Always interesting are lists of "worst of", or in this case the "most over-rated blogs" (glad we're not on that list).  The winners (losers ?) are -

• TechCrunch
• Gawker
• Jim Cramer
• PerezHilton
• DailyKos

We're surprised at DailyKos, though we understand Time's comments that with a new administration in charge in the USA, what is Kos' purpose now??

What are your favorite, and most overrated blogs?  We'd love to know, comment below...

YAHOO ANALYTICS Scores Higher Than GOOGLE's in New Study

     Blog Tips -  A new study out this week from CMS Watch says that Yahoo may win the free web analytics battle against Google.  This despite Google's success in the small and medium sized business market, Yahoo Web Analytics surpasseed Google in several areas, and is said to be a better fit for enterprises than Google Analytics.  Quite a surprise, considering Yahoo! has been at analytics only since early 2008 when it acquired IndexTools.  The new report measured twenty web analytics platforms against twelve potential use-cases. Out of the web analytics platform, seven are Saas only: Coremetrics, Digital River’s Fireclick, Google Analytics, Intellitracker Enterprise R6, Nedstat's Sitestat, Omniture SiteCatalyst and Yahoo! Web Analytics.

“Google Analytics made a name for itself by offering a no-cost, easy-to-use service,” explained CMS Watch contributing analyst Phil Kemelor, “but it is no longer the only free analytics game in town.”

Key areas where Yahoo excels over Google according to CMS Watch Web Analytics include:

Better access control options and simpler approach to multi-site analytics

Larger default monthly page-view limits (200MM vs. 5MM - unless you have an active AdWords campaign)

Access to traffic data: Both vendors retain the right to hold and use your web analytics data for their own purposes, but only Yahoo! gives you the ability to export out your raw, unaggregated data

Longer historical availability of raw data

CMS Watch is quick to point out however, that Yahoo does has its share of drawbacks, mentioning the administrative complexity and lack of 24/7 tech support. Yahoo is reported to be considering customer support, but no change yet!  Note that Yahoo Yahoo has been rolling out the service gradually to its Small Business Customers thru 2008, with plans to expand the offering to other users in 2009.

You can buy the full CMS report at cmswatch.com/analytics.

Yahoo Wins Texas Pay-Per-Click Ad Lawsuit

     Blog Tips - A federal court in Texas recently gave Yahoo a victory in a lawsuit filed over a dispute concerning pay-per-click ads. The case, like others filed on search ad issues, was whether Yahoo should have allowed a keyword allegedly associated with one company to trigger an ad for a rival.   In this case, a Yoakum, TX based high-end meat retailer, Heartbrand Beef, said it's the only US seller of "Akaushi" beef, beef from cattle that descended from a breed originally from Kumamoto, Japan.  The TX company claimed that a competitor, Lobel's of New York, used the term "Akaushi" to trigger pay-per-click ads on Yahoo. Heartbrand argued that the use of the term "Akaushi" was in fact  misleading and was a "false designation of origin", which is prohibited by the federal Lanham Act.

Yahoo argued in the lawsuit that their allowing a term to be a trigger for a search ad was not a use in commerce, which the company said was required for a Lanham Act violation.   Federal district court judge John Rainey of the southern district of Texas agreed with Yahoo. "Heartbrand's allegation as to Yahoo is that, at the direction of other parties, Yahoo placed a link to lobels.com in response to a user searching for the term 'Akaushi.' To call this a 'statement' would stretch the meaning of that word," he ruled.

How this impacts your blog's PPC campaigns (and your blog) should prove interesting.  At the very least, this will likely open up ad opportunities for use of "terms" previously held by other firms.  PPC ads remains a great way to attractive motivated consumers that are already interested in your blog niche or product.  If you haven't yet, you should explore PPC at the popular search engines to gain more readers & customers.  Read more PPC tips.

Search Engine (SEO) Basics

     Blog Tips - Once you're signed up to a hosting service, like TypePad and your blog is up & running, you of course want as much traffic as possible.  In most cases, search engines will bring your blog to the attention of potential readers. It's important that you understand how search engines work and the way they offer info to web searchers. There are two types of search engines; one type are robots called crawlers (or spiders).

Search Engines use spiders to check websites & blogs on the web. When you submit your blog pages to a search engine thru a submission page, or by  the search engine finding your link at another site, the search engine spider then indexes your site by following the links from one page to another. A ‘spider’ is an automated program that's run by the search engine system and follows rules that the computer has been instructed for the spider.

TWITTER Resource Guide and Help

    Blog Tips- The use of Twitter as a blog tool is well known.  The micro blogging and social network service is a great way to not only promote your blog, but to also network with other bloggers and keep in touch with your readers. Just as long as you do it each time in 140 characters !  I've quickly learned that Twitter is more than just about following others.  It's more than summing up your day in 140 characters.  To the fullest, it's about conversing, sharing, learning, and reaching out to others.  It's not to replace your blog, but it's a easy way to send out updates (and reference back to your blog) and news, questions, obervations, etc. 

In short time, people will follow you. Every day I get new followers as I cover a wide variety of topics with other Twitter users.  So, get on board with Twitter, and don't worry about what you say, just be honest and like blogging, remember that it's quality NOT quantity in your posts/updates.

Follow Blog to Great on Twitter here and read this great post Traffikd.  It has a great list of Twitter resources, help, guides, tips, etc for new and experienced Twitterers !!

What Is a Blog?

     Blog Tips - I get this question often, WHAT IS A BLOG?  Even though there around approximately 100 million of them on the internet, many folks are still not sure of the details, or value and importance of a BLOG.  Chances are, since you're reading this, you're wondering what a blog is too... 

Well,  a blog is a website with articles (posts) that is usually set up in chronological order with the most recent post found at the top of the main/front page, then older entries towards the bottom or back pages.  

Blogs contain stories, news, reports, links to other sites;  anything the author/s want to publish.  It can be an on-line personal journal or a full scale enterprise run by a business for commercial purposes.  Most Blogs (short for web log) are written by one person and are updated fairly regularly (though blogs can, or often do have multiple authors). Blogs ususally cover a particular topic, or niche.  A blog can be on any subject you can imagine (or are interested in).  Every area is covered- cooking, self help, music, old cars, new cars, how to blog, fashion, etc.  The great thing about blogging is there are endless varieties and opportunites for all topics and blogs are easy to establish and maintain.  Entire blog communities have been created around many topics.  This way, bloggers can get in contact with each other to learn about the subject, share ideas, make friends and conduct business with liked minded folks from all over the world.

A blog can include advertising, or not.  Keep in mind that blogging and blogs constantly change, and this is good news for new bloggers as opportunities exist whenever there is change.  Once you've set your mind to creating a blog and you've decided on a topic you enjoy and are comfortable with, dig in and learn as much as you can.  Keep visiting BLOG TO GREAT, to learn more about blogging and ask questions. 

Btw, a good place to set up your blog is with one of the best and largest service companies,  TypePad.  

Engage Your Blog's Audience, Take a Poll

    BLOG TIPS- Your best readers like to be involved, and you'd like all of your readers to become your best readers!  One way is to take polls, and PollDaddy.com is a great place to start.  They offer free accounts where you can create polls and place them on your blog quickly and easily. Their polls are simple and flexible, allowing you to customize styles to match your social networking profile or email campaign.  What is the importance of polls?  Well, it's a great way to allow your readers to have fun and for you to learn a little more about who visits your blog.  You should also encourage your readers to submit the questions.  You may be surprised what they're interested in, and it may help direct you and your future blog posts.

I feel that the more you can engage and interact with your readers, the better.  A blog is only as good as who reads it.  That's more important than who writes it.  Always remember that...