April Tara » Networking

Do you need to blog regularly if you have a service-based business?

April — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 15:56:37 +0000

Earlier this week, I had a nice long chat with a friend and colleague of mine who started her business around the same time I started mine. We were discussing some of the things we’ve learned over the past year and one of the topics was something along the lines of advice we’d been given and how much of that advice we now agreed or disagreed with.

One particular piece of advice I remember getting that went against everything else I’d been learning was that, if you’re running a service-based business, you shouldn’t be worrying about blogging. The advice-giver said it was just one more thing you’d have to fit into your schedule and gave an example of one particular service-provider who had plenty of business yet they don’t even have a blog.

This didn’t really sit well with me but every time I’ve started to feel guilty for letting my blog go stale, that little piece of advice would pop into my head and I would wonder “do I really need to be blogging regularly anyway?”

Since I don’t have an answer to this question, I decided to ask people I trust and admire: Michael Martine, Grant Griffiths, John Haydon, and Danny Brown.

When I say “ask”, what I really mean is that I fired off an email at 1:30 a.m. sucking up to them and telling them how awesome I think they are (I do!) and by the time I woke up and checked my email this morning, they had all taken the time to respond which really says a lot about what kind of people they are to take time out of their late-Friday/early-Saturday to share their thoughts with me. Great guys, I tell ya.

Ok, enough of my rambling….here’s what they had to say:

From Michael Martine

You need to be blogging regularly if the date of post publication shows, because people have a bias against what they perceive as “old” information on the web. If you’re not displaying dates, then it doesn’t matter as much, but it still matters. The reason why it still matters is that regularly updated sites get crawled and indexed more frequently by Google, and this is generally better for your search rank position (provided you’re doing other necessary search optimization tasks). If you’re using WordPress self-hosted and you have the Google XML Sitemap plugin (which you should), then you can alter its settings to tell Google to crawl your content according to the frequency with which you publish.

People crave consistency, so establishing a rhythm is key, regardless of how many times a week you post. Posting frequently means you’ll generate more content at a faster pace, and the more relevant content found via search, the better for a site’s search ranking.

Your readers will respond favorably or unfavorably to changes in posting. Pay attention to their reactions, and adjust accordingly. On Remarkablogger, the majority of my readers indicated in a poll they’d rather receive larger doses of content less frequently. When I delivered, my numbers shot through the roof. You’d think posting less frequently would mean less traffic, but that has not been case. I now receive more traffic.

From Grant Griffiths

Short answer, yes. And to even be more knee jerky, why wouldn’t you want to post regularly if you have a service-based business?

A service business is just that, it is a business. And like any business, you want to market and promote your business. You want to be found and you also want to be known as the place to go for information about your particular type of service-based business.

In fact, it has been shown that in today’s business world, 75% of those looking for a service-based business are going to the internet to find what they need. And if you have a presence online, you are going to be found. But, more than that, you need to make sure you can be found and blogging will accomplish this.

Blogging as a service-based business on a regular basis also positions you as a thought leader or opinion shaper in your particular area of service. There is no reason that a service-based business should not be blogging on a regular basis.

From John Haydon

Yes, yes yes! In order to create trust with folks, you need to give them value first – then they buy. Blog posts (to me) are ways to give away free stuff to thousands of people at a low cost (you write the post only once, but it gets read a thousand times). You’ll notice that all of the successful real estate agents teach people how to buy a home or select a mortgage.

The second reason is SEO. I rank #1 on Google for “how to make a Facebook Page”. Part of that result is due to the sheer amount of posts I have on Facebook. I’m no expert, but I think Google also looks at how current an article is.

Note: John also followed up his email with a link to this post about relationship management.

From Danny Brown

I’d say you need to be blogging as regularly as you have something worthwhile to share to your readers (whether they’re potential clients or not). It doesn’t even have to be about your particular service, but an off-shoot of it that’s still relevant. It’s a great way of showing your skill sets, knowledge and passion all under one cool roof. But… if it’s just filler for filler’s sake, this will come across and put you back a bit.

So… yes, but only if it’s “worth it”.

Now watch the other guys completely contradict me

Nope, Danny, they didn’t! In fact, all four of you gave some great advice! And it confirms some of my own thoughts, especially when it comes to two of the main reasons I think blogging is a great “tool” for marketing your business – you’re providing fresh content for the purpose of search engine ranking and you’re providing value to your clients and readers who may become clients.

Thanks again to Michael, Grant, John and Danny!

To anyone else who may be reading, what do you think? Do you have a service-based business? If so, how has blogging (or not blogging) affected your business? If you don’t have a service-based business but you’re a consumer, would it influence your selection of a provider if they were blogging regularly?

Make a Referral Week

April — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 01:37:45 +0000

I am a big fan (if you can call it that) of referrals when it comes to working with someone virtually. Most of my clients are referred to me by former or current clients. Its also a mutually benefical process because it gives each person an idea of what to expect from the other if they do get into a work relationship.

Its also one of the best (and least expensive!) forms of marketing you can do. There’s no trick to it, it doesn’t cost anything, you don’t have to worry about niches and target markets. All you have to do is a good job and clients or colleagues will gladly pass your name on to others.

Now with all of this talk of recession, the economy, and stimulus packages, many people are taking control of their careers and launching their own businesses. And they’re discovering that advertising and marketing can be time consuming and expensive.

Here’s a way we can all help each other out:

Make a Referral Week

From their website:

Make a Referral Week is an entrepreneurial approach to stimulating the small business economy one referred business at a time. The goal for the week is to generate 1000 referred leads to 1000 deserving small businesses in an effort to highlight the impact of a simple action that could blossom into millions of dollars in new business. Small business is the lifeblood and job-creating engine of the economy and merits the positive attention so often saved for corporate bailout stories.

And here’s how you can help…visit the Make a Referral Week website and sign the pledge to make at least one referral between March 9th and March 13th and then return to the site and tell them about the referral you made.

Its as simple as that. Of course, you don’t have to limit yourself to just one referral nor do you have to limit it to just this one week. But its a good start.

A planner for freelancers

April — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 03:42:22 +0000

I have come across some great time management and productivity resources, some of which I’ve been able to implement and some that just don’t work well for me. So what I’ve ended up doing is combining some of my favorites.

Here’s what I do:

Yearly Business Planning

At the end of 2008, I had written a blog post about setting goals for the new year. In that post, I mentioned Alice Seba’s Planning Calendar that breaks down your plans for the year into monthly, weekly, even daily chunks to make it easier to lay out your goals and then the actions you need to take to achieve those. I’ve been using it since 2009 started (although not as diligently as I should be) and its making a big difference. It helps me look ahead and schedule projects and ideas a few months from now instead of feeling like I have to do everything now.

Blog Planning

This is one that I still struggle with. Thanks to the Blog Planner I downloaded from Blog Energizer, I can plan my topics ahead of time and even set up a posting schedule for multiple blogs (last count: 4 active and 3 badly neglected blogs). Its a great little tool and I keep it in my binder so I can jot down topics that come to mind. Then at the beginning of each month, I come up with topics to fill in the blank spaces and voila! A month’s worth of blog topics.

But I’ve come to the realization that planning is not my problem. My problem is action. I can plan stuff out but when it comes down to budgeting my time and plugging those plans into a schedule, I can’t find a balance between adherence and flexibility.

Planners for Freelancers

Well today I was reading through all of my RSS feeds and saw that Charlie at Productive Flourishing published a freelancer’s version of his popular planner pages. I’m so excited to try it out! He’s been putting a lot of work into this and I know it wasn’t easy because “freelancer” can mean so many things and we all have very different ways of working. So finding something that will work for everyone is difficult. (I even donated a few bucks to encourage him and let him know his efforts were appreciated.)

So if you’re a freelancer, definitely head over to Productive Flourishing and download Charlier’s planner for freelancers. And even if you’re not a freelancer, Charlie’s original planners are an excellent resource too!

50+ Ways to Improve Your Productivity as a Freelancer (freelanceswitch.com)
Time Management For Anarchists (lifehack.org)
Four Forgotten Productivity Enhancers (kevineikenberry.com)

Custom Twitter Backgrounds

April — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 22:58:19 +0000

I’ve added something new to my design services – custom Twitter backgrounds!

I’ve had so much fun making them for my own Twitter profile that I decided it was time to help others personalize their Twitter space.

Order your custom Twitter background today!

Nominations for Twitter “Must Follow” List

April — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 19:40:28 +0000

I mentioned Profitable Mommy Blogging in my earlier post and right now I’m working on a series about using Twitter for blogging. One article in the series will be a list of people every blogger should follow. Now keep in mind, this list is for Moms who are new to blogging for profit. So I’m looking for people that understand Mommy blogging and blogging for profit and that are also a good source of information, opportunities, resources and advice.

You can either @ me on Twitter or leave a comment here to share your nominations with me.

Profitable Mommy Blogging, MUIB

April — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 19:02:20 +0000

Just a quick post to introduce everyone to a new podcast and website, launched by Kelly McCausey, about Profitable Mommy Blogging.

Kelly will be hosting a podcast interviewing lots of interesting guests and discussing the various ways to monetize a Mommy Blog. There will also be helpful posts by other bloggers, including me, so be sure to subscribe to the RSS feed while you’re there.

I also want to mention Moms United in Business (MUIB) which is a networking and support site for moms running their own business, whether its crafts, coaching, blogging or freelancing. Membership is only $25 a year but what you’ll get out of it is worth much more! I was recently given the honor of being named Team Leader of the Bloggin’ Mamas of MUIB group so I’d love to see some of you there.

Attorneys & Web 2.0

April — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 18:11:21 +0000

An article in the September 2008 issue of the ABA Journal reveals that only 8% of law firms and 2% of attorneys maintain a law blog.

Wow. That’s a lot lower than I would have expected, especially since this same survey shows that 96% of attorneys are doing their legal research online and over half of the solos who participated in the survey have websites.

Ironically, a vast majority of the attorneys responded that they receive their information from websites, newsletters and discussion lists. But who provides the information contained on those websites and in those newsletters?

Obviously there is a huge market for online legal news. And in this field, news needs to be…well…new. Static websites that are rarely updated are not news. Articles, blog posts, newsletters…this is the direction that news in the legal field is heading. Legal blogs even have their own unique title and are referred to as “blawgs”.

Legal blogs are no longer a task left up to the firm’s IT guy. Sure, they can set up a website for the firm, maybe even add a blog and show the attorneys how to add content. But who is going to write the content? The IT guy can’t help you with that. He knows computers, not legal analysis. And every firm has at least one attorney who really ‘gets’ technology and has a real interest in it. But what are the chances that he has time to maintain an active website with constantly updated content? Probably pretty slim. And what if you’re a solo attorney? Or what if you are ‘the attorney/computer geek’? Do you have both the time and the computer skills to take on such a vital task?

The purpose of sharing this information isn’t to give you some sort of sales pitch but I am going to explain to you how a Virtual Legal Assistant can help you solve this problem.

First, there’s the blog set up. You may already have a domain and website but how do you add a blog? The most common blogging platform is WordPress. A VLA can install WordPress for you, add the essential plugins such as those for SEO (search engine optimization), comment forms, and social bookmarking, and even design a template for you incorporating your practice logo and contact information.

Then there’s the content. Now obviously, as the legal expert, you’re going to be the one responsible for providing the content. But chances are that you don’t have the time to sit and write it out, especially since the time you spend on it is non-billable. The most efficient way to do this with the assistance of a VLA is to send an outline or notes or dictation to your VLA for compilation or transcription. The VLA would then draft the post for you, submit it to you for your approval, and then once you’ve approved the content, your VLA can take care of adding it to the blog for you.

Once you’ve got your blog set up and some content added, its time to promote it and let others know its out there. Your blog audience may be other attorneys or potential clients. Consider both of these as a possible source of income. From other clients, you may acquire referrals and from the non-attorneys who have probably found your blog through a search for information about a specific legal topic, you may gain a new client.

Again, marketing your blog is an area that your VLA should be equipped to handle. After all, we do own our own business and have spent a lot of time marketing it using many of the same methods we would use to promote your blog. There are several social networking sites, most of which I have mentioned before, that provide marketing opportunities. Linked In has become very popular with those in the corporate world and there are many LinkedIn groups available for specific industries, including law firms and even legal bloggers. You can also take advantage of social bookmarking and use those to highlight particular posts. One of my favorites, other than the well-known Stumble Upon and Digg, is Social Median. Social Median allows information consumers to “clip” certain articles and categorize them to be shared with special interest groups. For example, I subscribe to groups such as Knowledge Management for Legal Professionals, Law and Technology, and two that I created, Work at Home Resources and the Virtual Assistant Industry.

Here’s a perfect example of how blogging and networking has helped one attorney build his solo practice. Andrew Flusche is a Virginia attorney who has expanded his business to include webinars (online seminars) and a regular business law column at the Home Office Warrior, a popular website for professionals and entrepreneurs working from home in a variety of industries.

Hopefully this article has given you some ideas and inspired you to take advantage of the online resources available to help you in the growth of your legal practice. And, as always, Advantage Virtual Assistant is available to assist you in these areas and answer any questions you may have.

Blog marketing

April — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 19:23:18 +0000

I recently read a discussion on a group for legal bloggers in which an attorney was asking for comments on his blog. I haven’t met a blogger yet who didn’t appreciate comments. We all have our own personal measures of validation whether its traffic stats, RSS subscribers or how many comments we receive.

But there’s more to it than just saying “Hey, I wrote some blog posts. Can you please go read them and leave me a comment?” Blog comments are like compliments. They have more meaning when they are sincere and unsolicited.

So how do you get more comments? Well, in order to get comments you need to get readers. And in order to get readers, you need to market your blog.

Let’s start with some of the easiest and most popular methods of publicizing your blog.

Blog directories – Think of a blog directory as the “yellow pages” of blogging. Bloggers can submit their listing and, depending upon the directories format, the blogs are then categorized or tagged by topic, making it easier for readers interested in that topic to find them. Most blog directories cover a wide variety of blogging genres, both personal and business. You can also try business blog directories, most of which break their listings down into types of businesses, such as marketing, computers, health, education, and law.

Signature lines – If you have a business and you use email, you probably have an email signature. Most signatures include your name, company name and your phone and fax numbers. But what about your website or blog URL? Including it in your signature lines will let your existing contacts know about your blog. Don’t overlook forum signatures either. If you belong to any forums, check their guidelines about signatures and if links are allowed, add yours!

Leave comments for others – Everyone appreciates comments and sometimes you have to give to receive. If you come across an interesting post, show the author of the post some appreciation by letting them know. However, don’t just leave a comment saying “Great post. I agree.” Engage in conversation, even if you don’t agree. Provide interesting and thought-provoking feedback and others just might follow your link back to your blog to see what else you have to say.

Social networking – If you’re not investing some of your marketing efforts in social networking, its time to start. As I’ve said in a prior post, use places liked LinkedIn, Ning and Twitter to get the word out about your business and your blog.

But publicizing your blog to get more readers and more traffic isn’t enough. Like the saying goes, you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink. Once you’ve brough someone to your blog, you have to give them a reason to want to stay as well as to come back again later.

Now let’s look at how to keep the readers once they’ve found you.

Engaging content – Blog writing is different than any other kind of writing. Its more interactive than journalistic writing, less “wordy” than legal writing. Keep paragraphs short and make your first paragraph attention-getting.

Visual appeal – Make sure your blog is easy to read. Avoid using fonts that are too small or don’t contrast well with your background. Break your blog into sections by making headers clear to distinguish between posts, use photos to draw attention to your content, and avoid using too many distractions like animated images or lots of ad links.

Invite and encourage – Once you’ve managed to draw a reader to your blog then kept them interested in your content, ask for their participation. Invite them to comment by asking questions like “What do you think?” or “Have you ever experienced this? How did you or how would you have handled it?” You can also add social bookmarking services at the end of your posts to encourage readers to add your post to popular sites like Stumble Upon and Digg.

Make it easy for them to come back – If you don’t have an RSS feed, get one. Give your readers the opportunity to subscribe to your blog updates by email or feed reader. Feedburner is a good choice and its very easy to set up and monitor. Once you’ve added RSS subscription options, make it easy to find. Its frustrating for readers who have found a blog they like and want to continue reading to have to hunt down your subscription info. Use an RSS icon and place it somewhere at the top of your blog. Some bloggers even add subscription options at the end of each post.

Once you’ve added some of these steps to your blogging regimen, you’ll see some increased traffic and more comments. If you need assistance with any of these, whether its promoting your blog, designing it, or adding content to it, Advantage Virtual Assistant can help. Its just one of the many services we provide for our clients.

Make networking work for you

April — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 23:52:33 +0000

Earlier this week I was thrilled to find out that I was awarded the Virtual Assistant Blog of the Week award from VA Networking. This is such an honor for me because of my admiration and respect for the VA Networking Group and I’m proud to be a part of it. My business was also featured on Virtual Rave as a result.

With the evolution of the Internet and “Web 2.0″, social networking has become a major business marketing tool. Whatever your profession may be, you can find a way to make online networking work for you. But most business owners don’t have the time to invest in networking on the Internet. This is another service that I offer through my business, Advantage Virtual Assistant. We can register your information, set up accounts and profiles, and manage your messages on various networking groups, including LinkedIn and Facebook as well as industry-specific sites and services.

An online Networking group is where you are joined with success-minded people as well as coaches who provide resources and directly answer your questions.

In a good Networking group, you’ll find people who take their business seriously. Think about it. If the other members are willing to invest money to be there, you know they want to learn. Their business is not treated as a hobby. The members are dedicated to their businesses and work hard to achieve success.

How can an online Networking group benefit you? As you may know, in sports, having a good coach will increase your chances of success. Also, the players on your team can make or break your game. If you play on a team with players who are mediocre, your game will remain mediocre. If you join a team with better players who take the game seriously and you add a a great coach, your game will improve as well — significantly.

How do you choose a quality networking group? There are several key factors to deciding if a networking group is worth your time and effort. I’ll use Shelancers as an example, as I feel it offers a great deal to any Service Provider.

1. The leaders
Do they know what they’re talking about? What are their qualifications? A good group will be led by experts in their field, by leaders who have experience in the topic and know how to share that information in a clear, concise manner. They are not afraid to share their success and are confident in themselves to be able to lead others to succeed as well.

2. The Resources
Most Networking groups offer resources that are only available to their members. These may be interviews with experts, ebooks, audio and video teleseminars, and software. Take a good look at the resources available. Oftentimes the resources alone are worth many times the price of the membership.

Shelancers offers step-by-step resources that are focused on their members’ needs, not just general marketing material.

3. The Forum
A good Networking group will include a forum where you can brainstorm and build relationships with other members. This is where you’ll get specific and applied help. The coaches or leaders should also have a very visible presence on the board, personally answering questions and giving guidance.

4. Additional bonuses
If the group offers additional bonuses, it’s worth checking out. For instance, Shelancers includes free advertising in the members’ directory.

5. Affordable Price.

You’re on a budget. (Aren’t we all?) So, spend your money wisely and find a group that is affordable. Where do you go from here? It’s simple. Enroll and decide for yourself whether a membership in the group will boost your business. It’s the best way to find out what goes on behind closed doors.

So, yes, there are great free forums online and valuable free resources. But, if you want to improve your game, then find the best coaches and jump into the game with a team who can take you to to the top.

Check out Shelancers today at Shelancers.com.

Networking: It Pays!

April — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 15:50:52 +0000

Yesterday I was thrilled to find out that I was awarded the Virtual Assistant Blog of the Week award from VA Networking. This is such an honor for me because of my admiration and respect for the VA Networking Group and I’m proud to be a part of it. My business was also featured on Virtual Rave as a result.

With the evolution of the Internet and “Web 2.0″, social networking has become a major business marketing tool. Whatever your profession may be, you can find a way to make online networking work for you. But most business owners don’t have the time to invest in networking on the Internet. This is another service that Advantage Virtual Assistant offers. AVA can register your information, set up accounts and profiles, and manage your messages on various networking groups, including LinkedIn and Facebook as well as industry-specific sites and services.

An online Networking group is where you are joined with success-minded people as well as coaches who provide resources and directly answer your questions.

How do you choose a quality networking group? There are several key factors to deciding if
a networking group is worth your time and effort. I’ll use Shelancers as an example, as I feel it offers a great deal to any Service Provider.

1. The leaders
Do they know what they’re talking about? What are their qualifications? A good group will
be led by experts in their field, by leaders who have experience in the topic and know
how to share that information in a clear, concise manner. They are not afraid to share
their success and are confident in themselves to be able to lead others to succeed as well.

2. The Resources
Most Networking groups offer resources that are only available to their members. These may
be interviews with experts, ebooks, audio and video teleseminars, and software. Take a good
look at the resources available. Oftentimes the resources alone are worth many times the price of the membership.

Shelancers offers step-by-step resources that are focused on their members’ needs, not just general marketing material.

3. The Forum
A good Networking group will include a forum where you can brainstorm and build
relationships with other members. This is where you’ll get specific and applied help. The
coaches or leaders should also have a very visible presence on the board, personally
answering questions and giving guidance.

4. Additional bonuses
If the group offers additional bonuses, it’s worth checking out.
For instance, Shelancers includes free advertising in the members’ directory.

5. Affordable Price.
You’re on a budget. (Aren’t we all?) So, spend your money wisely and find a group that is affordable.

Where do you go from here? It’s simple. Enroll and decide
for yourself whether a membership in the group will boost your business. It’s the best way to find out what goes on behind closed doors.

So, yes, there are great free forums online and valuable free resources. But, if you want
to improve your game, then find the best coaches and jump into the game with a team who can
take you to to the top.

Check out Shelancers today at Shelancers.com.

April Tara » Networking

Do you need to blog regularly if you have a service-based business?

Make a Referral Week

A planner for freelancers

Yearly Business Planning

Blog Planning

Planners for Freelancers

Related articles by Zemanta

Custom Twitter Backgrounds

Nominations for Twitter “Must Follow” List

Profitable Mommy Blogging, MUIB

Attorneys & Web 2.0

Blog marketing

Make networking work for you

Networking: It Pays!