An important part of email marketing is getting permission to send marketing emails to someone before you hit the send key.  That means, you need a way to get people to opt-in to receive your marketing emails.  Whether you send a newsletter or promotional offer, you still need people to opt-in before you can send information that might be deemed solicitous via email.  You also need to provide an easy way for them to opt-out of receiving emails from you later.

With that in mind, you can use your business blog as a tool to collect email addresses.  But proceed with caution!  You don’t want the process of obtaining opt-in email addresses to damage the user experience on your business blog.  Remember, successful social media marketing stems from the removal of the gateways to content sharing and conversations.  The last thing you want to do is insist that people provide their email addresses and opt into receiving email messages from you in order to view your shareworthy content.  That content should be freely accessible without barriers.

Therefore, your goal in collecting opt-in email addresses through your business blog is to make the process not seem disruptive.  Here are 5 easy ways to do it:

1. Hold a blog contest.

People love contests, and a contest offers a perfect time to request email addresses and invite people to opt into receiving your email newsletter and marketing emails.  If you use WordPress.org as your blogging application, I recommend Gravity Forms to help you create the entry form to meet your specifications.

2. Include a message at the end of your blog posts.

The message can invite people to sign up for your emails for special offers and information.  Link the message to an opt-in form page on your business blog.

3. Include an ad in your blog feed.

Many bloggers monetize their blog feeds with ads.  Why not advertise your special offer emails with a link to your opt-in form page on your business blog?

4. Include an ad and link in your business blog sidebar.

You should already have links in your business blog sidebar for visitors to subscribe to your blog or follow you on Twitter, Facebook, and so on.  Why not include an ad or link to the email opt-in form page on your business blog or create a form that’s available directly in the sidebar rather than on a separate page (just keep it short).

5. Use an email opt-in plug-in.

If you use WordPress.org, there are a number of plugins that allow you to easily add a double opt-in form to your business blog.  Check out WP-Opt-in or WP Email Capture or conduct a search in the WordPress Plugins Directory.  For example, follow the link to check out the results for a search on “email opt-in“.

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If you’ve been wondering whether or not your business should be on Twitter, then a new report from ROI Research and Performics (via eMarketer) can help you put some hard numbers to word-of-mouth marketing via Twitter.

According to the April 2010 study:

• 33% of Twitter users talk about companies or products at least once a week.
• 32% of Twitter users make recommendations about companies or products at least once a week.
• 30% of Twitter users ask for recommendations about companies or products at least once a week.

But that’s not all this study reveals.  Nearly 1 out of every 2 Twitter users recommend, talk about, or make a purchase from a company that they have connected with on Twitter.  Check out the breakdown below:

• 55% recommend the company or product
• 55% talk about the company or product
• 51% purchase the brand or company’s products
• 46% link to an ad for the company or product
• 43% attend a promotional or sponsored event by the company

It’s important to understand that Twitter isn’t for everyone, and small business owners with limited staffs and budgets need to strategically choose where they want to spend time on the social Web to best engage with their target audiences.  If you don’t like Twitter and can’t get into it, then blogging, Facebook, online video, or other content publishing or community tool might be better for you.

The point is to make sure your business is participating on the social web.  Your audience is already there, and they’re talking about products and companies (as this study supports).  Don’t miss out on the opportunity to interact with them where they’re already spending time!

A business blog can be a great core of your branded online destination strategy.  Keep an eye on Business Logs to learn more about creating branded online destinations and surrounding consumers with your brand on the social web in an upcoming post!

Do you use Twitter to engage with your target audience?  Leave a comment and share your thoughts.

Building incoming links to your business blog is one of the most important initiatives you can pursue in order to grow your blog.  Not only do incoming links add to the compounding effect of blogging, but they also help boost your search engine rankings. However, before you go out and try to get mountains of incoming links to your business blog, you need to understand the differences between link building and link baiting.

Link Baiting

Link baiting is a short term blog marketing tactic.  Link baiting refers to the process of writing blog posts for the primary purpose of attracting incoming links and boosting traffic.  Link bait posts are typically written about hot topics, they might break news, or they could be controversial.  Sometimes a link bait post might not even be directly related to the blog topic on which it is published.

Link Building

Link building is a long term blog marketing strategy.  Link building refers to the process of writing shareworthy content and building relationships with people both on and off your business blog in an effort to boost organic links and traffic to your blog.  Evergreen blog posts (that stand the test of time) and pillar blog posts (your very best, most informative posts) are examples of  some of the best link building content you can publish on your business blog.

So how can you marry your short term link baiting tactics with your long term link building strategy in order to develop a successful business blog?

Link baiting helps to drive new visitors to your business blog who may not have found it otherwise, particularly if you are one of the first online sources to write about breaking news.  Hopefully, some of those visitors will like the content they find on your blog and return, eventually becoming loyal readers.  The key is to keep them on your blog and coming back again and again by offering value-added link building content as well as traffic-driving link baiting content.

Therefore, writing link bait blog posts that are directly related to your business blog topic are far more likely to drive new traffic to your blog that might turn into loyal readers than irrelevant link bait blog posts are.  Furthermore, you need to add something of value to the link bait topic if you want new visitors to be motivated to read more of your content than the link bait post.

Finally, it’s important to understand that link bait posts should enhance the conversation happening on your business blog rather than detract from it.  Building a blog is like building a brand.  Consumers develop expectations for a brand over time just as readers develop expectations for a blog over time.  Don’t confuse your loyal audience by publishing link bait contests that are meaningless to them.  In other words, don’t sacrifice confusing, frustrating, or annoying your existing audience in an effort to pick up new readers through irrelevant link bait blog posts.

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No one wants to read a business blog that is outdated.  The key to your business blog’s success is keeping it fresh with interesting, useful and meaningful content.  That means not only do your business blog posts have to add value to the user experience, but they also need to be published frequently.

There is no single recipe for success when it comes to posting frequency.  Instead, the time and energy you invest in publishing new content on your blog depends on your goals for your business and your blog.  For example, if you’re 100% committed to growing your business through social media and content marketing efforts as soon as possible, then you need to publish content frequently.

Remember, posting frequency is only part of the success equation.  You have to publish interesting, shareworthy content to benefit from the GPS Effect of Blogging for Business.  If you publish content that no one cares about, then it doesn’t matter how often you publish that sub-standard content.  You’ll only be able to grow your blog’s audience to a small extent before your traffic caps out.

With those considerations in mind, following are suggestions for how often you should publish content on your business blog to ensure it stays fresh:

For Maximum Growth Potential

If your goal is maximum growth, then you should publish new, original content multiple times per day.  Tip: every blog post doesn’t have to be an evergreen pillar piece (meaning it’s an amazing piece that stands the test of time).

For Above Average Growth Potential

If your goal is above average growth, then you should publish new, original content on your business blog at least once per day.  Tip: watch your blog analytics and try to determine if posting at a specific time brings in more page views than other times.

For Average Growth Potential

If your goal for your business blog is average growth, then you should publish new, original content at least 2-3 times per week.  Tip: make sure your posts are shareworthy.  If you’re publishing content sporadically, it’s very important that every post is the best it can be.

Below Average Growth Potential

If your goal is below average growth potential (meaning you have a business blog but you are not yet focusing on it as a marketing tool), then you can publish content inconsistently and less often than 2-3 times per week.  Tip: don’t forget the compounding effect of blogging and the potential a business blog can bring to help you build your business if you focus on using it as an indirect marketing tool.

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One of the unwritten rules of the social Web is that content should not be overly self-promotional.  In fact, publishing content on the social Web that is entirely self-promotional is one of the quickest ways to ruin your blog and your online reputation.  If you want to have a chance at building a successful business blog and grow your audience in order to build your brand and business, then you need to dial back the sales pitch on the social Web.

The reason for this is simple.  No one cares about you.  Instead, they care about how you can help them or add value to their lives.  The key to social media marketing success is engagement and interaction.  No one will want to interact with you if all you ever do on the social Web (including on your business blog) is talk about yourself.

Think of it this way — if you were at a party talking to another person and that person spent the entire time talking about himself, it’s unlikely you’d want to continue talking to him.  In fact, you’d probably want to escape and stay away from that person for the rest of the night and in the future.  You don’t want the online audience to feel that way about you!  Therefore, your business blog content should be primarily non-promotional.

Don’t worry.  You can still publish promotional content if that content is truly useful and interesting to your audience, but don’t go overboard.  You need to provide substance first and promotion second (a distant second).  The power of social media marketing (including business blogging) comes from the customer relationships that develop from it.  It’s an incredibly effective form of indirect marketing that should be a vital component of any business’ long-term marketing strategy.

So then what’s a business owner to do?

I recommend that businesses spend 80% of their time on the social Web engaging in non-promotional conversations and publishing and 20% or less of their time on self-promotional activities.  Additionally, try to ensure that 80% of the content and conversations that are published on your business blog are not self-promotional.  The 20% (or less) of self-promotional content on your business blog, however, should still add value to the user experience on your blog.  Simply regurgitating press releases or marketing brochures doesn’t add value.  Take the time to make sure all self-promotional messages are actually useful to your audience.  Don’t let that day arrive!

Remember the story of the boy who cried wolf?  He continually called for help to be saved from peril simply to get attention until no one bothered responding to him anymore.  Eventually, he truly did need help and everyone assumed he was just “crying wolf” again.  They ignored him again to his detriment.  That story also applies to business blogging and social media marketing.  If you garner a reputation for only publishing self-promotional content, people will start to expect only that kind of content from you.  If that content doesn’t add value to their lives, they’ll start to ignore you.  The day will come when you really do have something valuable to say or share, but no one will pay attention because they only expect self-promotion from you.

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Business blogs are amazing indirect marketing tools, but they also provide a medium for businesses to communicate specific marketing messages and generate both leads and sales.  While it’s absolutely true that your business blog content should not be overly self-promotional, it is acceptable to publish some self-promotional content in an effort to boost leads and sales as long as that self-promotional content adds value to the user experience on your business blog.

Following are five easy ways to get sales from a business blog without annoying your audience:

1. Offer exclusive discounts, coupons and sales.

Reward the people who visit your blog and spend time reading and sharing your content by offering them exclusive discounts, coupons and sales.  You can do this either by simply publishing discounts, etc. within blog posts or by emailing them directly to visitors who sign up to receive them (be sure to include a way to opt-out of future emails).  You can also create a private page of your business blog that is password protected where special discounts, etc. are published and provide that password and access to “members only”.  Not only does this method guarantee that people will visit your blog again, but you’ll also be able to collect email addresses for future offers while adding value to the user experience on your blog all at the same time.

2. Offer exclusive tips, tutorials, and how-to guides.

It’s okay to talk about your products and services on your blog, but wouldn’t it be far more interesting and helpful for your audience if you demonstrated how to use your products (via video), offered “secret” usage tips, and explained how to properly use, care for, or trouble shoot your products?  Just saying your product is great leaves a lot to be desired, but demonstrating why it’s great and how to use it to get the best experience with it is far more interesting.  By making it clear how to use your products, people are more likely to purchase them or tell friends about them.  Be sure to include links to purchase your products (possibly with a discount for people who view or share your tutorials, etc.).

3. Offer exclusive products.

Write an ebook, hold a webinar, or offer special reports that are helpful and interesting to your target audience to add value to the time they spend on your business blog.  You can either offer products for free as an indirect marketing tool or you can offer them for a fee to generate additional income.

4. Link to your online catalog.

Anytime you talk about one of your products on your business blog, you should link to that product in your online catalog or another page where it is easy for people to make a purchase or get additional information via just one click.

5. Publish customer reviews and testimonials.

Few things are more powerful in terms of moving consumers to action than customer reviews and testimonials simply because research tells us that consumers trust other consumers more than they trust marketing messages.  With that in mind, ask your customers to offer reviews of your products or interview them to learn more about their opinions related to your products and how those products positively affect their lives.  You can even link this marketing effort to a discount initiative (give a discount on a future purchase to interview participants) or referral program.

The key to business blogging success and direct sales is to think out-of-the-box.  Don’t over-promote.  Instead, pick and choose to promote your best offers that consumers are most likely to find valuable, and then subtly talk about them on your blog.

How have you used your business blog to generate sales or leads?  Leave a comment and share your story!

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One of the topics I often discuss in my books, to my clients, and at speaking engagements is the value of a business blog not just as a tool to create conversations, build relationships, and develop brands, but also to increase search engine rankings and visitors to a business Web site.

Many business owners think of blogging as a chore that delivers little added-value to a company’s bottom-line, but the truth is actually exactly the opposite.  A business blog is an incredible tool for search engine optimization because of what I call the compounding effect of blogging.

First, you need to understand consumer behavior in the 21st century:

Where do you go to find information about a business, product, store, etc. when you need it? Do you check the Yellow Pages?  Nope.  The vast majority of consumers turn to Google or their favorite search engine (with Google being #1).

Here’s how the compounding effect of blogging phenomenon works:

1. You have a business Web site made up of 20 pages.  That’s 20 entry points to your business Web site for Google to find, index, and deliver in relevant keyword searches.
2. You add a business blog to your Web site, and you publish a blog post everyday for a year.  Now you have 365+20=385 entry points to your business Web site for Google to find, index, and deliver in relevant keyword searches.
3. You publish posts on your business blog and those posts offer interesting, useful, helpful or entertaining content that your audience finds value in.  In other words, those posts are shareworthy.
4. People find your blog content and realize it’s interesting and shareworthy.  They share it on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Digg, StumbleUpon, etc. with links back to your business blog.  They blog about it on their own blogs with links back to your blog.  Now, the number of entry points to your business Web site (via your blog) has increased exponentially.  Your Google search traffic increases as all of these additional incoming links to your blog and Web site boost your Google search rankings, and traffic to your site from referrers across the Web increases, too!
5. Your Web site went from a static destination with 20 standard business entry points to an interactive, engaging site with hundreds or thousands (or more) of entry points and an increase in traffic from search engines and referrers!  You can’t buy that kind of exposure!

The compounding effect of blogging really is that simple.  It’s about creating shareworthy content and entry points, and it’s a form of marketing that business owners would be crazy not to leverage!

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A business blog can be an amazing tool to both directly and indirectly market your business.  Not convinced?  Take a look at the 5 ways a blog can help your business listed below to see what you’re missing!

1. A business blog as a sales tool

While the vast majority of the content you publish on your business blog should not be self-promotional, you can use a blog to announce special sales, discount codes, coupons, events, and more.  As long as the promotions add value to users’ experiences on your blog, you can talk about them on your business blog.

2. A business blog for brand building

The social Web is a brand manager’s dream come true.  Through your business blog, you can raise awareness, recognition and recall of your brand across targeted and broad audiences — faster and wider than ever before and all for a minimal investment.

3. A business blog for customer service

A business blog gives you the opportunity to engage your customers in two-way conversations allowing you to answer questions, dispel myths, end rumors, and build relationships that lead to trust and loyalty.

4. A business blog for word-of-mouth marketing

If you publish amazing content on your business blog and actively engage with your audience, then that audience is likely to think positively about you and your business.  That means they’re likely to talk about you and your business across their social Web activities thereby promoting your company through powerful word-of-mouth marketing.  That loyal audience will also advocate your brand and defend it against negativity and falsehoods.

5. A business blog for publicity

A business blog can create positive publicity for your organization or correct a negative online buzz.  In other words, a business blog allows you to generate earned media.  If you publish amazing content then (in time) online influencers are likely to hear about you, your business, and your business blog.  Once online influencers start talking about your content and your business, your online presence can grow exponentially leading to increased business for you.

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Why does your business need a blog?  I could go on and on about why businesses can benefit from publishing a blog, but I’m going to narrow it down to the top 10 benefits listed below.

1. Direct marketing and promotion

While businesses should never use a blog solely for self-promotion, it’s not forbidden to include marketing messages now and then.  If your business is offering discounts or coupons that benefit your consumers, then there is no harm in talking about them on your business blog.  Similarly, you can talk about your products and link to your online catalog.  Just remember that at least 80% of your online content should not be self-promotional.

2. Establish expertise

Use your blog to establish your business as the go-to place for information related to your industry, products, and so on.  If you publish great content on your business blog, others will notice and share that content.  In time, you’ll develop a reputation as an expert in your field with reliable and authoritative information that is useful.  That’s the kind of content and expertise that people actively seek.

3. Generate publicity

Again, if your content is amazing, people will talk about it.  They’ll leave comments on your blog, share your blog posts on Facebook, Twitter, etc., and they’ll blog about your content with a link back to your own blog.  All of that conversation and linking helps to build your online brand and is a powerful form of publicity.

4. Build relationships

The most powerful part of social media marketing is the ability that social Web participation gives a business to build relationships with consumers, business partners, and so on around the world.  Relationships outlive short-term promotions and are an essential part of any long-term business strategy.

5. Seem more human and less corporate

Since blogs are typically written in conversational tones, the blogger’s personality can shine through and give a business a human side that consumers respond to positively.

6. Help people

If you offer tips, tutorials, and useful information on your business blog, people will appreciate that help and come back to your blog again and again.  Eventually, that traffic and word-of-mouth marketing related to your helpful content leads to sales.

7. Spread accurate information

There is no doubt that at some time someone is going to say something negative about your business on the social Web.  A business blog offers you a platform to publish accurate information without trying to control the online conversation.

8. Search engine optimization and search engine reputation management

A blog is an amazing tool for search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine reputation management (SERM).  The content you publish on your blog creates a myriad of entry points to your blog that search engines can find and allows you to optimize content so the best information about you ranks high in search engine results related to specific keywords.

9. Feedback, research, and questions

Use your business blog to ask consumers questions, get feedback about your products and services, and to do research about new products and offerings.  Once you build your blog audience, you’ve got an “always on” focus group.  Use it to your advantage!

10. Position your brand and business in relation to your competitors

Define your business niche, analyze what your competitors are doing online, and then use that information to position your own brand and business online.  Establish your differentiators and use your business blog as a tool to ensure consumers understand your brand promise.

Image: pshutterbug.

One of the biggest opportunities for businesses when it comes to leveraging the reach of the online conversation happening on the social Web is related to brand building.  By participating in online discussions, you can create brand awareness, recognition, recall, loyalty and advocacy that lead to an extremely powerful brand overall.

First, what is a brand?

A brand is a promise to consumers that creates customer expectations for every experience they have with that brand.  As you continually meet those customer expectations for your brand, consumers develop loyalty to it, seeking it out over other brands, and advocating it (or defending it) to other consumers.

Next, how do you build a brand?

There are three main steps to building a brand that apply regardless of the industry your business is in or the tools you use to communicate your brand messages and develop your brand image.  Those three steps are:

1. Consistency: Your brand messages must be consistent across all marketing touch points.  Inconsistency leads to consumer confusion and causes people to turn away from your brand in search of another that continually meets their expectations.
2. Persistence: Brand building takes patience.  You must continually communicate your brand messages again and again without giving up.  Brands are powerful assets, but brands are also part of a long-term marketing strategy that requires persistence.
3. Restraint: While it can be tempting to over-extend a successful brand in an effort to reach new audiences and boost your bottom-line, you must exercise restraint and choose brand extensions and other branded opportunities with caution ensuring that the opportunities you pursue consistently support your brand promise.

Finally, how can business blogging help companies build brands?

Blogging is an incredible tool to spread your branded messages, build relationships with consumers who can become your vocal brand advocates online and offline, and support a sustainable, long-term marketing strategy.  Your blogging efforts live for a long time and have the ability to spread across the Internet for years to come.  Not only do your blog posts remain accessible through your blog’s archives until you delete them, but links to them from other blogs and Web sites also stay active.

Unlike a television commercial that lives for 30-seconds and reaches the specific audience who is watching a specific television channel at a specific moment in time, business blog content lives and spreads for years to come.

From a brand building perspective, business blogs are a marketer’s dream come true!

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