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Blogging to one of the hottest trends on the internet. In case you don’t know what blogging is click here for the definition from wikipedia. Writing a blog for your business is a tremendous way to build a lasting relationship with your customers and prospects. A blog lets you demonstrate your expertise in your niche in addition to letting you express your opinions about current trends in your industry. By commenting on other people’s blog you can expand your potential client base exponentially as well as driving tons of free traffic to your blog.
I’ve been teaching a lot of classes on blogging and the biggest complaint I hear is “I don’t have time to write a blog and to find other blogs to comment on” Here’s a typical conversation in one of my classes:
Ted: You should write at least 3 blog posts a week and comment on other blogs at least 3 times a week
Student: I’m already working 60 hours a week and I don’t have time to write a blog
Ted: Is your practice currently full or do you have more clients than you can handle?
Student: No
Ted: Is your business making a profit or are you just getting by?
Student: Just getting by, barely
Ted: How many hours a week do you spend marketing your business?
Student: I don’t have time to market. I’m too busy running my business.
Ted: So you’re working 60 hours a week, just getting by and you don’t have time to market. Are you working with the right clients and are your charging enough for your services?
Student: I guess not.
Ted: You need to be spending at least 10% of your time marketing your business to your ideal clients. Your ideal clients will understand your value and pay you what your worth. By working with the right clients you will be able to work with fewer clients that will pay you more so you’ll be able to work less than 40 hours a week and make a lot more money. Blogging ss a free way to market your business and reach an unlimited audience. By reading and commenting on blogs that are read by your ideal clients you can build a deep relationship with them and demonstrate your expertise. New clients will find you instead of you chasing the wrong clients. By spending as little as 4 hours a week, you can reach thousands of potential clients via the internet. As your popularity on the internet increases and more people start commenting on your blog posts, you’ll forget that you’re actually marketing your business just by interacting with others.
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A popular way to get your name out on the internet these days is to comment on other people’s blogs. The process is very simple. Find popular blogs, make compelling comments, and add a link back to your website or blog when you fill out the comment form and you’ve joined the conversation. This is a great way to generate traffic back to your website or blog by leveraging the traffic of an already successful blog.
The best approach is to follow the conversation that’s going on in the blog and add your two cents. Don’t just leave a comment like “I agree” or “Nice post Jason”. Add a different perspective, create some controversy, or add some value to the conversation. Make people notice you so they’ll want to click on your name in the comment to learn more about you. Magically they’ll visit your website or blog to see what you’re all about.
Here are 10 easy ways to find popular blogs on the internet
- Do a search on Google for your keywords plus the word “blog”. For example if you’re looking for blogs about personal development search Google for “personal development blog”
- Add the word trackback to your Google search. A trackback is a blog component that automatically “pings” another blog when a new post or comment appears on a blog. Search Google for “personal development trackback” to find high quality blogs
- Add the word “typepad” to your Google search. Search Google for “personal development typepad” to find high quality blogs based on Typepad software which is a popular blogging software.
- Add the word “wordpress” to your Google search. Search Google for “personal development typepad” to find high quality blogs based on WordPress software which is a popular blogging software.
- Set up a Watchlist in the Blogger Central section of www.technorati.com Blogger Central is a great resource in itself showing you the hottest tags and blogs containing those tags.
- Use blogsearch.google.com to find blogs in your niche. Blogsearch is a search engine just for blogs.
- Check out www.blogcatalog.com It’s a comprehensive blog directory where you can promote your blog, find niche blogs, join BlogCatalog Groups, or join in on Blog Discussions. Add the BlogCatalog widget to your blog.
- Sign up at www.mybloglog.com. Join some communities in your niche and add the MyBlogLog Widget to your blog.
- Go to www.blogger.com and watch Blogs of Note and also search for blogs in your niche
- Download a free copy of Comment Sniper at www.commentsniper.com. You can search blogs using keyword phrases and you get a comprehensive list including Page Rank and Alexa ranking.
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Blogging has been around for some time now but most people still think blogs are just personal diaries written by lonely people that ramble aimlessly. Blogs have come of age and today there are many really cool blogs that contain very useful and entertaining information. In fact, many businesses now use blogs to carry on extended conversations with their customers.
If you’re in business for yourself and you’re not blogging then you need to read this article I found in the New York Times. Read this article to see how you can make a huge impact with a very small investment of time and money. Check out the article at http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/27/business/smallbusiness/27sbiz.html
Feel free to comment on this post to let me know if you’re blogging and if it’s working for you. If you’re not blogging leave a comment and tell me why you’re not blogging.
Until next time.
Ted
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