Blogging for Business

Marketing with Content

A blog will boost our business, the gurus say. - Does it really?- testing, testing -....

It is a great tool for information, improvement of page rank, and to get known more or less personally. Is it still? - or is this information very new, but already outdated as so many other valuable and logical theories we are presented in internet marketing?

Was blogging for business only good until last year, and is now already becoming useless due to over-use?

I hope not, because I love to blog. I started it long before I started home business - and now am neglecting my none-biz blogs terribly for the online work.

More about Blogging

History, How To, Why, ...

Links to Interesting Blogging-related Articles, Reports, etc. will be placed here.

Blogging For One - eMarketer: Blogging For One

SEPTEMBER 21, 2005

A new study finds that blogs are more likely to deal with personal matters than politics or current events, and nearly 50% of bloggers see the activity as a form of therapy.

According to an AOL survey conducted by Digital Marketing Services Inc., many bloggers write about "anything and everything." But while blogs often include comments on news topics, they are more likely to be about friends, family and other personal interests.
____________________________________

First time I tried to post this, it did not work, so I'll rewrite my commemnt it later. What does that teach me? Never ever write anything online without saving!
The Business of Blogging - as of May 2005: Another eMarketer Report, rather a review of a Report by Ezra Palmer.

" Blogs have been the focus of numerous media reports recently, but so far their economic impact is all but immeasurable?and they make many businesses nervous. While they can burnish brands, generate awareness and open doors to consumers, blogs can also bend Web traffic, upend organic search results and tarnish a company's reputation. ...

But " Generally, the use of blogs by businesses remains a fringe activity. An informal eMarketer survey finds that a of major US corporations have blogs available to the public?and even fewer produce active sites with the link and feedback features that most readers associate with true blogs. Blogging by small businesses is even less common.

Decentralized by design, blogs are unlikely to become a mainstream business communications tool without change at the root level of corporate culture.

Meanwhile, publishing companies are beginning to offer blogs along with their more traditional content, and ads are beginning to trickle through to the upstart pages."

Neila's Biz Tips

Fetching RSS feed... please stand by

By short I'm getting afraid of myself....

Update on 'the Death of Blogging'

In the past, I sometimes thought I must have been Cassandra in a former life....

Just some minutes ago I received a comment on a new Blog in a German Community. My post was:

Who Reads Blogs?

Quote my Post: When I set up my MSN (now Windows Life) Space -

In short, the comment said that and why nobody reads blogs in communities, in spite of what the awsome video I digged (feed below, Social Marketing) sais.

Aww, what is this here? - now this post always changes and won't save - ok, I continue tomorrow.

perhaps then I'll even have a second comment, which is not so terrifying as the first one I got tonight, which I wrote twice now without showing up... for the time being I try to post the original to squidoo, so I don't constantly have to change the window when I translate this tomorrow.

I have visitors, many more than I could expect by my so much too neglected blog, but the never seemed to visit my blog anways. They opened the space, added me to friends, without any message ever, not even came back or called me in the messenger ...

Here used to be this comment, and i hope my next try works. Now what does this teach us? - Never post directly, always make a draft and copy and paste, if need be 20 times, lol.

I still cannot believe that all those programs like
Space Hogs is only wishful thinkig....

And I'll keep on blogging - and learning 'white' tactics, as too many others obviously neglect.

I think, now I know enough pitfalls to be fit to teach, and perhaps I can build a strong group of bloggers who ring the fun back to possible readers....

Or is this just more wishful thinking?
Like.... this will be the next dark post here....

Web2.0 - No Community without Blog

But why so Little Communication via these Blogs?

I am in many Friendship Communities from the old times when I used to chat and in all kinds of internet marketing communities. Each one has Blogs, mostly as center of the profile page,(what I miss on Facebook,) latest blogs and posts more and more featured on the program's homepage.

Sidenote: Latest community I happily found to follow this trend was Adland Pro. And sure I had to grab and arrange my Blog - without much of a name or opening post, straight telling the community about my response to The Death of Networkmarkmeting.
(sidenote to sidenote: This would fit my footnote to the 'Death'-Post here, but the reasons are more complex and will make the urgently needed update to my not yet (or not anymore?)visible MLM Lens.)

However, here it is: Spacelady's Blog

And while I'm just checking the link - 0 comments :(
Well, I hardly had expected any from my experiences.
But must I understand why this is? (Yes, this blog is new and has not much content yet, but I have other blogs on my more popular profile sites, also on Yahoo 360°, Spaces Life, etc.)

Now I read so much about blogs being popular, about commenting and by this increasing one's own blogs popularity. - And this does not mean merely spreading one's link, as comments are mostly set to 'nofollow' for search engines.

Are blogs only a SEO Tool? Neila's Biz Tips even had some page rank (between 2 and 4, lol, but other blogs I found searching things or in headline lists, did not have any little green spot in the page rank indicator).

I always thought, a Blog was a great instrument to communicate.... Am I wrong?

My Business Blogs

so far...

Plus this here link I temporarily posted due to a little bug that doesn't allow me to quote it in english for the half done new post below - so cu tomorrow, hope I can edit then...

Wer liest Blogs?: 22.01.08 um 23:06:00
Jetzt habe ich also einen Blog (besser gesagt noch einen) und weiß wieder mal nicht so recht, wie ich anfangen soll. Vielleicht hätte ich noch eine Beschreibung zufügen sollen - kommt später.

Eigentlich sollte man einen Plan haben, wenn man startet.... Hatte ich sonst auch eigentlich immer, aber irgendwie ging der immer wieder verloren. - Abgesehen davon, dass mir mein Projekt verlorenging.

Als ich meinen MSN Space öffnete (jetzt windows life Spaces) ~ Alternative ~ Reality ~ Blog ~ 2 ~, hatte ich eigentlich gedacht, das wäre eine tolle Möglichkeit, online Freunde zu finden und in Kontakt zu bleiben, ohne dass man ständig chatten muss.

Ich chatte zwar gern, aber doch nicht dauernd, und irgendwie ist es manchmal einfacher, eine Nachricht für alle, die es angeht zu schreiben, als direkte Erklärungen zu geben - 10 mal nacheinander, oder gar 10 mal gleichzeitig - zum Thema Chat, Messenger und Freunde später mehr.

Ok - was war das Resultat? Ja, ich habe Besucher, unglaublich viele, gemessen an meiner Aktivität (die muss ich zwar dringend ändern - aber manchmal frage ich mich, welchen Sinn dieser Space noch hat....) Seit es dort Gästebücher gibt, habe ich auch mal einen Eintrag. Aber ich glaube kaum, dass jemals einer meinen Blog gelesen hat. - Foto ansehn, ´adden´ - dann entweder versuchen zu flirten, oder gleich nie wieder melden....

Kommentare, die zeigen, jemand hat den Blog gelesen, (was ja vor den Gästebüchern der einzige Kommentarweg war) - Fehlanzeige. Der Blog als Medium für Kommunikation, Interaktiv? Hmm....

Also weiß ich immer noch nicht: liest jemand Blogs?

Falls du das tust, und nur keinen Bock hast, Kommentare zu schreiben, schreib doch einfach mal hier nur Hallo ;-)

Kommentare:
am 23.01.08 um 00:56:38:
Du hast etwas entscheidentes in deinen Aufzählungen vergessen..... Blog aufmachen....lesen, Networking... lesen, chrrrrr, chrrr, Blog zu und tschüß....
Tja, unverdorbenes Frischfleisch für Networker wird knapp.....
Außerdem, nervts ganz einfach, wie die Glitzerbildchen....
Neila's Biz Tips: How I start my Internet Home Business without spending a Cent I did not earn before, thus searching my way through the Internet Djungle without sinking into the Swamp of Scams.
Neila's Crazy Giveaways: Did You ever wonder, what a 'Splog' is - well, I fear this is one. I show you where to find all the valuable Freebies for Internet Marketers and Webmasters I am using to start my Online Homebusiness without spending money. Let me 'bribe' you into my Downlines. I'm really crazy enough to give away lots of things I could actually sell.

One Blog A Day...

If I Only Had Time...

I just found, this here was the first lense I created, I think, - way back, lol, in October 2006. And only just now I realize, that I never updated it :-(

Now I must, otherwise I cannot submit it to the 'First Lens Showcase', belonging to Bob The Teacher's new Membership Site all about 'Squidoo Secrets', Web 2.O, and the traffic and exposure gained. - Actually what I had planned this lense about.

Except - yes, time flies - The keyword 'Web 2.O' was quite unknown when I started here. (Not that I'd know what it literally means.) But now it is The big subject - networking, relationships, communities,....

And blogging is sure the basic subject of web 2.O be it a marketing- or a friendship-community the blog is in the centre of interest (well, not always... but more about this in my soon to come lens on communities, in case I can still get an url, lol, and in the empty one I secured but did not open yet.)

Somehow, here in Squidoo it is almost easier to make a new lens for a new mini-subject than to change the layout of an existing lens and move the modules around - so I must make at least two more lenses on blogging:

Biz-Blogging is not restricted to presenting content (ah yes, Articles, Reports,- each can have their own lens - and before there are 100s on the same subject)

Blogging is also about communication. Every blogger is happy to receive comments in addition to her or his blog being read - in business or private. Through a blog, the blogger can be almost visualized by the reader.

(yes yes, people like to look up the profiles also, I know, I really will build mine soon. And here it is even more important, because it is for many lenses, which are again more focused on their specific contents than the blogs with wider range of subjects, including the author are.)

But then... coming back to the title, although this here is no article (should be underlined and link to one about the differences between blogposts and articles, which I will eventually finish and publish...)

To write and blog all I want to, I would need so much more time than I have... And how should I find things to market with it, if I did all this writing...

Well, perhaps I find a solution in all the materials Bob provides on his new site...

The Death Of Blogging for Business - Is It Near?

Email Marketing was the first thing to be said dead - it is not really, because there is no alternative. But misuse and overuse have taken just too much of its efficiency.

The Death of Adsense was proclaimed lately - and yes, the big times when content alone drew money by clickthrough rates are over, no matter how many marketers are angry about this proclamation (maybe also jealous about its impact.)

And what killed it? Again misuse and overuse - (see footnotes)

Encouraged by this report (as he admits himself in his newsletter to his new subscribers) last week Mike Filsaime made the most severe announcement of the Death of Internet Marketing alltogether. - And he is right, as everyone could have seen since at least the last four months.... (see footnotes as well)

Now, before its real break through Blogging as a business tool is already in danger!

There is software offered, which will allow you to "blast out 1000 Blogs at one click" or so...

How many will use it? What would such an explosion mean for the blogosphere? This idea is really frightful.

Not only Blog Marketing will be affected, private bloggers, political bloggers and whoever does not do it for advertising will be covered by all those marketing blogs which would then exist, blogs nobody ever would read anymore of course either - thousands of blogs with the same things in it would be pretty uninteresting alltogether. Who would like to browse them for something new?

And who would want to browse blogs just for the fun of it, if every second one, or even more suddenly would be a marketing blog? Also, bloggers have now the chance to run adsense or other programms alongsite, or to post texts and reviews for special sponsors when they fit into their blogs - all these possibilities will be gone.

How can anyone want such a thing? - Don't the developers of such software see from the above mentioned examples, that such overuse and/or misuse of the originally best marketing tools lead to their death?

Death of Blogging? - Footnotes

Possible reasons for the death of adsense and internet marketing

1.) Adsense

So called black hat adsense sites which had no real content, only high rated keywords in hidden tags and senseless writings around them, only built to cheat the search engines and the searchers, make them virtually flee from such sites by a quick click misused this feature.

Overuse - well, there are just too many sites around, adding to information overload. No matter how good some content may be, some sites will never be seen, only few can make it to the first page of a search engine.

Just a few years ago one site in thousands still had a chance - now it is one in millions.

2.) Internet Marketing

(here I actually wanted to cite an unfinished rant in my blog and a forum post with my comment among others before I had time to read the report, but the most important parts of my connection are mysteriously down at the moment)

It is obvious, that one sector is completely down: Information Material for marketers of any kind cannot be sold anymore. It cannot even be given away free effectively anymore - everyone owns everything already.

This struck me, when I looked into Richard Legg's membership site beginning of August - packed with great stuff, designed to Succed In 30 Days. The free course was (is) very good and logical, though a bit too optimistic; just because the stagnation had already begun.

Everyone should read the 50 page analysis by Mike to see what is wrong with Internet Marketing, why the strongest and most visible branch is dead and be curious about the ideas and changes he will come up with to safe our businesses.

At the moment I am like running against a wall with everything I try - wether I just learned it from someone who knows from (former) experience and seriously wants to help "newbies", or wether I think it up myself.

Now I know well only what does NOT work although it should according to logic, and how it comes that such an anourmous mass of scams is coming up all the time and finds so many followers....

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ShortSaleRealtor wrote...

great lens 5 stars 4 u

Posted December 03, 2007

Lensmaster

John wrote

Having a online home business is an excellent option for mothers or fathers that stay home with young children. Not only does it allow them to spend more time with their children, but they are earning an income as well. Doing work from home makes it easier to deal with everyday life. There are doctor's appointments, errands that need to be taken care of, emergencies, etc. http://www.millionairebusinessideas.com

Posted October 11, 2007