Web Content, Design, & Promotion

Introducing the easy way to keep your website up to date

Fresh content is the lifeblood of a successful website. New and updated content attracts new visitors to your website and provides a reason for visitors to return.

One of the easiest ways to add fresh content to your website is to add an RSS feed from your blog. Both your blog and your website benefit from this powerful, set and forget, technique, as I explain in the latest issue of my Guerrilla Marketing & Design newsletter.

Are Southwest Airline's Dings really pings?

Southwest Airlines may have taken Business Week's recent endorsement of blogs and RSS to heart, as their aggressive promotion of their new "Ding" feature shows.

Travelers can download a simple software application that will automatically receive notification of special offers for flights from their local airport(s).

Southwest's "dings" sound a lot like "pings" to me!  It will be interesting to see how much their Ding software differs from an RSS reader, as further research shall show.

Did you see what Business Week said about blogs and your marketing?

Should a blog be part of your Guerrilla Marketing arsenal?

Business Week has featured blogs on the cover of its May 2, 2005 issue.

The headline says it all: "Blogs will change your business." The article goes on to conclude: "you cannot afford to close your eyes to them because they're simply the most explosive outbreak in the information world since the Internet itself. And they're going to shake up just about every business."

The field is still open, so if you haven't investigated blogs, now is the time! The field is still enough to establish a marketing presence.

Free Roger C. Parker introductory blog resources: (download now!)
 

• 2-page Profiting from a Blog
• 4-page Marketing Information with Blogs
• 2-page Glossary of important Blog Terms
• 1 hour audio, Relationship Marketing and RSS
• 2-page Customizing Your Blog Template

Beyond e-Mail; Blogs, RSS and Subscription Website Success

As Spam filters and stuffed in-boxes take their toll, blogs continue to offer web marketers compelling benefits. Blogs and RSS feeds can often get the through when e-mail fails.

In my recent article for the Subscription Website Electronic Publishers Association, I discuss some of the compelling benefits that blogs and RSS offer membership and subscription websites.

Test Your Blog Marketing IQ

Visit www.NewEntrepreneur.com and take my free blog assessment. Find out how up to date your knowledge of blogs and RSS is.

In addition, you'll also receive a free Scorecard Analysis, a blog glossary, a Special Report entitled Marketing Information with Blogs prepared for the Newsletter on Newsletters, plus a copy of Rok Hrastnik's The Business Case for RSS Marketing, a 28-page excerpt from Mastering the Marketing and Publishing Power of RSS--one of the very best e-books of any type that I've read.

Test your Blog IQ today!

Relationship Marketing with Blogs and RSS

In a recent interview with Rok Hrastnik, author of Unleashing the Marketing and Publishing Power of RSS, I took a exceptionally twist to blogs and gave step-by-step instructions on how to turn them in to a relationship marketing vehichle without spending much. Or better yet, almost without spending anything at all.

When you listen to this free, one-hour interview, you'll find out:

• Why blogs and RSS make relationship marketing possible more than ever before, even for the smallest business?
• What is relationship marketing and what's been really holding it back for so many years?
• What are the 5 stages of relationship marketing?
• How can we apply these 5 stages to blogs? This is the first time that this strategy has been publicly revealed
• How to develop a full blog and RSS powered relationship marketing program?

After the interview, Rok stated: "Given all the exclusive and innovative content, this has to be one of the most interesting interviews I ever did."

Click here to access the interview in the format of your choice.

 

The easy way to get started in blogs

When it comes to computer books, I must admit to a certain negativism. Maybe, it's because I know too much about the field.

But, occasionally, a book comes out that truly lives up to its name. Elizabeth Castro's Publishing a Blog with Blogger is an exception to the large number dumbed down books available. Part of Peachpit Press's Visual Quick Project Guide series, Publishing a Blog with Blogger really does get you started and builds your confidence for further explorations on your own.

Within fifteen minutes of going online, after glancing through the book, I was able to view my first online post, and the groundwork she offered has served me well with Typepad.

Searching for a specific type of blog?

It was bound to happen: now there's a blog where you can search for other blogs.

Rick Bruner's Business Blog Consulting makes it easy for you to see what's already being offered in your area of expertise, so you can differentiate yourself from your competition.

Rick also invites you to submit your blog to his directory.

Business Blog Consulting is definitely a blog you'll want to subscribe to. 

When should you update?

Obviously, you should only post new content on your blog when you have something important to share with your clients and prospects.

But, on the other hand, there is nothing more disappointing than visiting a favorite blog only to find it hasn't been updated since your last visit!

One solution might be a create a two-step updating process:

1. Start by keeping a  pad with you, and jotting down ideas as you work, read, drive, or relax.
2. Then, schedule just 15 minutes, twice a week to review your notes and--if new ideas have occurred to you--post them on your blog.

If you're constantly on the lookout for new ideas, and set aside just 15 minutes to translate them into a tightly written postings on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, your blog will likely always appear different to repeat visitors and RSS subscribers.

Blogs complement, don't compete

Blogs complement, but do not compete, with e-mail and traditional web sites.

One of the best ways you can promote your blog is to send an occasional e-mail listing recent posts and their relevance to your readers. A single e-mail can promote six or seven recent posts that, otherwise, might be overlooked by your clients and prospects.

Be sure to promote your blog(s) in your e-mail signature.

And, when you add important new content to your web site, promote it with a blog post!