BroadVision Marketing Blog

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Are you still worried about spending too much time writing your blog and not enough time doing your work? Not to worry, there are still some more good ideas around.

Let’s take a quick look at why you need some good ideas. First, there is the fact that you want to be consistent about publishing.  Your readers will quit coming to your site if you don’t put up work in a timely fashion. Whether you write three times a week or once a month, you need to be there when they come. People get very put out when they look up information and are sent to sites that haven’t been active for years.

Topics: WordPress, Arts, blog, Marketing Plan, Facebook, Search Engine Optimization, Social Media, Marketing Principles, LinkedIn, Business Owner, Business, Blogging, Twitter

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Do you think that content is more important than the headline? Many people would agree with you or at least agree that both are of equal importance. Since this is so and this blog has explored writing good headlines, it’s time to give content attention.

Sometimes it seems like writing content is actually harder than just running your business. At least with your business you understand what your clients want because they will tell you loud and clear. In blogging you cannot even be sure that anyone is reading. In your shop you understand cash flow, both in and out. When you blog you get all sorts of analytics, except the one that tells you the number of people who came into the shop because of what you wrote.

Topics: Writing, Pet store, blog, Marketing Plan, Search Engine Optimization, Social Media, Marketing Principles, Business Owner, Business, Blogging

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Guest Blogger—Ann Mullen

Are all headline swipe files just a bunch of snake oil?

I actually found a recent blog by Yaro Starak, “How To Write Award Winning Blog Headlines” at http://www.entrepreneurs-journey.com/7668/how-to-write-award-winning-blog-headlines/print/ that is an honest introduction to writing headlines you can use as a basis for your swipe file.

Since most people don’t have the time to read the whole article and want the quick fix, I am going to ditch Yaro’s explanations and get to the meat of the matter. You are welcome to read the whole enchilada yourself if you have time. I couldn't cover it all so I stuck to the top six.

Topics: Social Media, Blogging

By Guest Blogger Ann Mullen  I still remember the first time I came upon the term swipe file. It seems like it was just yesterday. Wait, it was just yesterday.

For the sake of those of us who weren’t around the last time the term was used, which was in 2009, Wikipedia defines a swipe files as “a collection of tested and proven advertising and sales letters. Keeping a swipe file (templates) is a common practice used by advertising copywriters and creative directors as a ready reference of ideas for projects….Swipe files are a great jumping-off point for anybody who needs to come up with lots of ideas.

Swipe files are also commonly used by Internet Marketers who need to gather a lot of resources not only about products but also about marketing methods and strategies.”

A lot of times the swipe file is for various headlines.

Still confused? Here is an example of a swipe file headline: 10 Exercise Tips to Use Without Moving a Muscle. The main swipe part is the idea: (Some Number) of Tips to Do (Something). In other words it’s the old Snake Oil Routine.

Topics: marketing, Marketing and Advertising, Wikipedia, Headlines, Headline, Swipe file, Snake oil, Social Media, Business, Blogging

Does your headline grab your audience’s attention to get them to stop and read your blog? Your headline is that critical first impression that will draw people in or leave them looking elsewhere for information.

If you don’t put enough thought into your headline, you can have outstanding information; but no one is likely to read it. Stella Anokam of www.stellaanokam.com in a recent article “Why You Should Spend Time To Write Attention-Grabbing Headlines” said, “Do you know that over 50% of your traffic (and sales too) are lost due to your headline writing?”

Topics: Keywords, Headline, Search Engine Optimization, Social Media, Blogging

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At a Chamber of Commerce meeting recently someone mentioned that they were using niche blogging, but you didn’t have a chance to ask what that was. So what is niche blogging?

You already have a blog set up for your business, but what would happen if you set up blogs that could be used in your business from different angles. In other words what if you took a vertical move and created more than one blog that crossed several industries? These multiple approaches are called niche blogging and are a way to greatly expand your influence.

Topics: Chamber of Commerce, Niche blogging, Social network service, blog, website, Marketing Plan, Search Engine Optimization, Social Media, Business, Blogging

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Not everyone who reads the blogs I've been writing is an expert yet. If you are a newbie, do you know if you are writing a blog that is used for a website? What does it become then?

Mike Clough in his post of June 28, 2010 ( http://bestbizpractices.org/2010/06/28/is-your-blog-really-a-blog/) clarified the question by saying, “When a blog is used for website functions, it loses its value as a blog and in fact becomes just another website.”

Topics: Using Different Media, Small business, information, Web content, blog, website, Facebook, Search Engine Optimization, Social Media, Marketing Principles, LinkedIn, Blogging

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You have decided to add a blog as a marketing method. You’ve looked at questions that help you focus what you want to say. But throughout all the studying you have done, you are not really sure what you are using blogging to accomplish.

Many companies use social media to “connect” with their customer by talking about what their company has been doing lately, information about their products and service and awards they have received.  These companies have missed the boat.

Topics: marketing, Using Different Media, Marketing and Advertising, Customer, Company, information, Web content, blog, inbound marketing, Marketing Plan, Social Media, Marketing Principles, Business, Blogging

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Now that you have decided to write a blog for your business, you go on line and ask Google to do a general search on your product. What’s this? There are millions of blogs on the internet and it looks like millions about your product. One look at the competition and you are tempted to head for the hills.

But don’t do that. You can compete if you spend the time to create informative blog posts. This is not just a business whim, but a strategic point of your marketing campaign. If you want to be successful, you have only to take the time and effort to write content about your product. Before you start you might want to spend time answering some questions that will help you develop your strategy and actually help you write.

Topics: marketing, Using Different Media, Marketing and Advertising, Google, Google Search, Customer, readers, social media strategy, product, informative posts, brand awareness, blog, clients, Search Engine Optimization, Social Media, Marketing Principles, Business, Branding, Blogging