BusinessBlogAngel

Fortune 500 Blog Project: Introduction

Responding to a post over at Easton Ellsworth's Business Blog Wire, I now find myself part of a huge and very interesting research project hosted by Blog Business Summit.

The purpose is to examine and evaluate corporate blogs by Fortune 500 companies - how many blogs each company has, how effectively it uses its blogs and responds to other blogs etc - so over the coming weeks, (actually it may turn into months!) I'm going to be reviewing the blogging activities of a number of Fortune 500 companies.  I'm slightly daunted by the amount of work involved, but Easton promises "link love and Google juice" and that's good enough for me!  And in any case, I should make far more time for this kind of activity for my own professional knowledge and growth and I'm looking forward to connecting with business blogging colleagues all over the world.

Debbie Weil Corporate Blogging Skypecast

Have you heard of Debbie Weil? Typepad users almost certainly will have, as her  definitive guide to corporate blogging, The Corporate Blogging Book (that's the UK cover to the left) is their book of the month. I haven't finished it yet, but I'd still say it's essential reading for any CEO who is thinking about blogging and especially those who aren't!   If, like me, you thought you'd missed the scheduled Skypecast with Debbie, I have great news for you... they had tech hitches and are rescheduling as a regular podcast!

And for UK business bloggers, even better news. Debbie is organising a Blogger Meet Up for next Wednesday evening (18th Oct). I'm going along, so hope to see you there!

Business Blog Marketing Booster Part 2 - Comments and Trackbacks

This is the second 'plain-English' article of a series of 5, which share powerful tools and techniques to really boost your business blogging strategy.  You can discover more blogging tips like these on my upcoming Advanced Blogging Teleclass training series. UPDATE: Or grab the entire series in my special report 5 Power Tools To Boost Your Blog Traffic by filling out the form to the top right of the page.

Part 2 - Comments and Trackbacks

At the end of most blog posts you will see a link saying 'Comments'. Click on it and you're taken to a list of comments and/or a comment form for you to leave your own. (Further reading on exactly how to do it right here: http://claireraikes.blogs.com/bizblogangel/2007/03/commenting_on_b.html.)

When I first started blogging I was often moved to comment on other people's blogs but then suddenly overcome with shyness, feeling that my opinion was in some way 'not worthy'!  These days, I love browsing through my favourite blogs and discovering new ones and contributing by leaving helpful comments as I go. My challenge is creating the time to do so!

I have set myself the goal of commenting on at least one blog a day. Why? Because if done right, it's great for building traffic to your own blog and here's why:

What's your business blog saying?

I came across a great post today on a blog called ConverStations.  It tracks a conversation between a blog and it's owner.  The blogger in question is Mike Sansone, an independent business consultant specializing in business blogs and conversational copywriting, and I just love what he has to say.  From his 'About' page...

• I believe that at the core of ourselves, we are each still very much like the 5-year olds we once were, just wanting to be liked, have fun, and be curious.
  
  
• I believe that I've used the word "that" too much in this biography. I believe I can see you smiling as you read that. I believe if you're not smiling right now, you will be after you say this out loud: supercalifragilisticexpealidocius (good thing that's not a website).

I'm always banging on about how business blogging allows you to build relationships with your target audience, by 'giving a little bit of yourself', in a way that a formal company website just doesn't. In those 2 bullet points, and the silly (that's good silly) and oh-too-familiar Conversation (Argument) with My Blog post, I have completely warmed to this man. 

I feel empathy towards him, trust his opinion and I'm ready to listen to what he has to say.

Now wouldn't you like some of that for your business or brand? Get business blogging!

Business Blog Marketing Booster Part 1 - Feedburner

So you've listened to the blog marketing experts and understand how blogging can grow your business. Now what? Well, besides blogging at least twice a week, there are of number of other things you can be doing to further enhance your blogging for business activity.  In this series of 'plain-English' articles, I'd like to share 5 powerful tools and techniques to really boost your business blogging strategy, all of which you will master on my Advanced Blogging Telecourse.

Part 1  - Feedburner

When you create a blog, you will almost certainly have created a 'feed' which means that each time you post, subscribers to your feed will automatically receive your new content. Feedburner is a 'feed management service' and there are several reasons why you should set yourself up with one of their free accounts.

One reason is that Feedburner makes subscribing to your feed a whole lot easier -