BusinessBlogAngel

BusinessBlogAngel says Hello S.Africa, Mexico, Paraguay, Brazil & China!

I just spotted some new green spots on my Feedjit Live Traffic Map in areas where I've been wishing there were green spots, so I clicked through and guess what? BusinessBlogAngel just had its first visitors from South Africa, Mexico, Brazil, Paraguay and China! Yay!

Welcome! Bienvenidos! Bem-Vindo! Huan Ying!
Thanks for dropping by. You've made me very happy. :o)

BLIP.fm blog badge - take it, it's yours...

If you follow me on Twitter, you may have seen I've been getting into BLIP.fm which is what I'd describe as a social music network - tho' the official strapline is 'Global Music Radar'. Anyway... 2 words of advice for you - GET IN! 

It's absolutely brilliant fun and adds a whole new dimension to social networking.  If I said BLIP.fm is 'Twitter for music', I'd be selling it short - not that it isn't 'Twitter for Music'... cos it is... in as much as you can send short messages with each blip and reblip etc and you can connect it to Twitter so your blipped track shows up as a short hyperlink in Twitter, but there's the added dimension of props which are a great idea. Go look at BLIP.fm

So as with all these networks, you need to let people know you're in there. BLIP offers a natty little blip player widgety thing. It's lovely - except 'tho it says it will shrink to fit the width of the column you stick it in - it doesn't - at least not on my blog. My columns are 200px wide, and once you take the spacing into account I've got just 170px to play with. I figure this is a common width setting (its standard for 99% of my clients) and so there must be plenty of others wanting a lovely looking BLIP.fm badge too. So... in the absence of any alternative I could find, I made one!

That's it up there ^... nothing too fancy... but pretty enough to catch your readers' eyes I hope. Just so you know; I've not asked BLIP for permission or anything, tho I will drop them a 'courtesy email' in a sec to let them know, and I can't see why they'd object, so if you like it - please do help yourself.

And then come give me Props or Favourite me on BLIP.fm or if you hate my taste in music - as if :) - then just follow me on Twitter instead.  

See you in BLIP.fm for a big ol' nostalgia trip later...

Drop-down Archive Menu - how to put one on your Typepad blog

Oh to be able to peek inside someone else's Typepad account and see all their lovely code!  Yeah - I know - that sounds indecently nerdy doesn't it? But I'm sure you've been there - or somewhere close at least.

You know how it goes... you visit a blog, you see something on it that you fancy having on yours, but you're darned if you know how they did it or where they got it from.

Well, d'you remember that drop-down Archive menu I mentioned?  Turns out that there's quite a few of you wanting to know how I did it.

So here's the bad news... I can't actually remember how I created it.

And here's the good news... that matters not one jot!

Because as long as I can see the code and show you what you need to change to make it work for you, then its JOB DONE. So let's get crackin'...

(This post contains a lot of images - click once on any of them to open up an enlarged view in a new window.)

10 ways that MyBlogLog can help you blog

I’m a big fan of MyBlogLog.  Now that I’ve got my identity crisis sorted out (and can happily flit backwards and forwards between my Confident Writing self and the Blog Angel Team Joanna) I’m re-remembering all the things that I like about it – and all the different ways that we can use it to help us blog.

As preparation for this week’s post I started jotting down a list of the things that MyBlogLog has helped me to do – and some of the ways that other I’ve seen other people use it.   

I’ve come up with ten so far – but I’m sure there are more…

Are you watching your widgets? Blogging lessons from Blogrush

"The fastest and easiest way to instantly drive a flood of targeted visitors to your blog... absolutely free". That was the promise from Blogrush when they launched their new service a month ago and a lot of bloggers beat an early path to their door - partly I guess because of the hype that's created when the pro bloggers talk about what's new, and partly because Blogrush works on a pyramid system.  (The more people you refer the more credits you build up - so the earlier you signed up the better it was going to be for you.)

I have to confess I wasn't one of those quick-off-the-mark people.  So when Claire asked me to do an early post on Blogrush I felt more than a little unsure of my ground.  1. I'm not using the service 2. It's still 'in beta' and the jury still seems to be out on how it's working 3. I'm not qualified to offer an expert opinion on its strengths (or otherwise) in driving a flood of targeted visitors to your blog.

So I shifted my focus to what I do know about Blogrush, what I've learned from the opposite end of the lens: the perspective of a blog reader.  How this widget looks, how it feels, and what it says to me about you - and your brand.

PopShops.com - New Typepad Affiliate Widget

Gosh - I'm always doing this... starting a post and forgetting about it.  Wrote this a couple of weeks ago!

Came across a new Typepad Widget today. PopShops.com is described as an Affiliate Shop Builder. Here's the blurb on this affiliate program 'aggregator' from Typepad's Widget Gallery,

"Imagine being able to add virtually any product to your TypePad blog in seconds. Now imagine that you get to keep 100% of the commissions you earn. PopShops.com is the only service that lets you search, mix, and match from over 14,000,000 affiliate products from networks like CJ, LinkShare and ShareASale all in one place. Pick products relevant to your readers, customize, then pop them in with a single click."

I've yet to sign up and have a play, so I can't really share any meaningful opinion yet, but it certainly sounds interesting and, apparently, it's so easy that even a 3 year old can set up a shop...

PS. I still haven't signed up... if you have (or do), please come back here and let us know what you think of it by commenting on this post. Thank you! :o)   

Snap Preview widget - what do YOU think?

I've been meaning to ask you about this for a while now... a few weeks back, I installed the Snap preview widget. Thats the thing that pops up the little preview pane of where you will end up if you click on a link on my site. I saw it over on Marion Ryan's blog and thought I'd try it out (she appears to have ditched it now). Apparently, people are more inclined to click through a link if they know where they are headed. Personally, it's beginning to bug me a bit and I can't recognise any real benefits, but what do you think?

Now be honest with me here - because it's your opinion that counts. Is it helpful or annoying or are you indifferent towards it? Click on the 'comments' link below to leave yours and let me know. Thank you.

Say What? - Audio Comments on Your Blog

There's lots of talk in the blogosphere at the moment about 'bling for your blog'. Added to your blog, these little 'widgets' enhance it in some way.  It might be about building a network or community, or encouraging conversation or it could be about engaging people. In a minute, I'm going to tell you about one that does all three, but first let me tell you why you need to know about this.

As you may know, my background is in corporate marketing - specifically 'experiential' marketing and 'brand experience'.  Now, I don't know the stats off the top of my head, but when selling a product or service - particularly a new one, the clincher is to get that product into consumers' hands, homes and/or lifestyles. That's why brands are so keen to 'engage' their potential customers. If I get your attention but don't engage with you - I'm just making you aware that I exist. If I get your attention and we engage - then we are building a relationship with each other and there is more chance that a sale will follow. That's also why I had food company clients spending between 350k and 3.5m UKP per annum on cooking and tasting demos and free samples outside supermarkets!

So how does this relate to business blogging?

Well, this is a major part of the 'blog marketing' story. It's not all about traffic and Google results, you know. As I said, it's about brand experience, engagement, trust and rapport.