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Hosting Your Business Blog

Choosing the right web host for a blog is important. When it’s your business blog, it can be crucial. You definitely don’t want your current and prospective clients and customers being greeted by an error message when they try to access your blog. Here, my top tips for finding a good web host for your business blog:

Pay for it.

Yes, there are some fabulous free blog hosting services out there, and in fact some of the services I’m about to recommend also offer free plans- but while those are fine for personal blogs, you do want the control that a paid plan gives you.

Go tried and true.

For the least headaches, use one of the hosting services that are made for blogs. WordPress.com, for example, is hosted WordPress that’s run by Automattic. Typepad is by Six Apart, the makers of Moveable Type. These companies are experts in the blogging industry, so they’re your best bets for managing your blog platform. They also usually have wonderful communities (forums, user groups, etc.) filled with other bloggers who are very helpful.

Use your own domain name.

The average cost of buying your own domain name is around $10 a year. This is affordable (I remember when it was $35 a year!) and a must for any business online. If you already have a domain name you use for your business (e.g. waldoswinches.com), you can use a subdomain for your blog (e.g. blog.waldoswinches.com) or get a new domain name just for your blog (e.g. waldoswinchesblog.com). Make sure to use your own domain for your email address, as well- it’s a little embarrassing to use a free email address (yahoo.com, aol.com, gmail.com, etc.) on your business cards.

Research web hosts.

If you decide not to go with a blog hosting service, and would rather go with your own server, VPS or shared account with a web host, please do some research first. A good place to start is Web Hosting Talk, where you can search for reviews on different web hosts. Or you can consider using one of these hosts- all of which I’ve tried, and highly recommend:

  • WiredTree – I’ve been using them for close to three years now, with zero problems. Customer support is blazing fast.
  • HostGator – Another good one, I’ve used them for my smaller hosting needs. Quick service, and a good customer forum.
  • MediaTemple – Some of the biggest names in business are hosted with MediaTemple, and with good reason. They’ve been around for a while, and have a great (read= stable!) infrastructure, although I’ve found that their customer service isn’t as quick as the two hosts I mention above.
  • Colorteck – Owned by the publisher of this blog (& where we’re hosted), you’ll get really fast, solid and personal service that the bigger companies don’t offer. Contact Will Vacher: will[at]colorteck[dot]com and tell him that you are a Biz Logs reader for a 20% discount off quoted rates.

At the end of the day, you want a host that you don’t have to think about, or even contact much once your blog is up and running.

Three Conferences for Business Bloggers

The truth is: there are no bad conferences. Yes, I’ve been to my share of conferences that bored the bejeezuz out of me, but I’m a firm believer that you can take away something positive from every conference. It starts, of course, by choosing the right conference to attend.

I recommend these Blog Conferences specifically for business bloggers. If you’re just getting started in business blogging, attending one of these is a great way to get your feet wet- and, of course, for both beginners and pros, they offer valuable networking opportunities:

Blog World Expo

Why?:
As the world’s largest blog conference, this is the first one to look at. We’re talking hundreds of people, bloggers who have been doing this for years, as well as celebrity bloggers and devoted readers.

When & Where?:
This year (2009), the conference runs from October 15 to 17 at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

How much?:
A full-access pass will cost you anywhere from $895 to $1195, depending on whether you register early enough. Also available are weekend passes ($395-$495), exhibits & parties passes ($175-$225), and exhibits only passes ($75-$100). Check out the Blog World Expo pricing page for more information and to register.

Web 2.0 Summit

Why?:
Don’t let the name throw you off, this blog conference is known to feature some of the best names in technology. It’s a little pricey, but is a great choice for anyone who’s serious about doing business online.

When & Where?:
This year (2009), the Web 2.0 Summit runs from October 20 to 22 at The Westin San Francisco Market Street in San Francisco, California.

How much?:
The standard price (if you purchase a spot from now until October 19) is $4195. After that (on site) it’s $4395. This includes access to all workshops, on site events, and breakfast and lunch for each day of the conference. For more information, visit the official Web 2.0 Summit pricing page.

BlogHer Business

Why?:
Women business bloggers (such as myself!) should seriously consider attending this one- and male business bloggers should, as well. This is a smaller conference (they’re keeping it to around 200 attendees), and focuses on the best practices of reaching women online.

When & Where?:
BlogHer Business 2010 happens on August 5th at the Hilton Hotel in New York.

How much?:
Current “earlybird pricing” (up to March 2010) is at $499 plus a $9.95 fee. This includes all meals, programming, and a cocktail reception. For more details and to register, visit their registration site.

How NOT to use Twitter: A Guide for Businesses

So, Twitter is huge. Millions of people, numbers of sign-ups off the charts, celebrities tweeting, talk of it killing blogging– it’s clear that if you want your company to have a good online presence, you’d better get on Twitter.

Most businesses not only understand this, but understand how to use Twitter to their advantage. Online marketplace Etsy, for example, regularly tweets about upcoming promotions and deals, and responds to customers right away via Twitter. Starbucks, the company from whom I purchased the coffee I’m drinking while writing this post, also uses Twitter wisely, responding almost immediately to their followers and posting information that any Starbucks customer would find interesting.

And then there are the businesses that get it wrong. I’m not naming anyone in particular, but you see these every day: Twitter business accounts that put up their logo, fill out their profile, then proceed to post nothing but junk. They may gain followers, but aren’t using Twitter to their full benefit. If you use Twitter for your business, here are some Do’s and Don’ts for you:

Do not post pure marketing tweets.
Something we see way too often: a page of a business’ tweets containing nothing but “We are the best! Visit us now at http://blahblah..” over and over again, in different wordings. Really, what’s the point? If someone is taking the time to read your tweet, offer them something useful. A discount code, perhaps, or a link to a special deal, if you want to promote a product.

Do sound like a real person.
People like talking to other people, not machines. If your Tweets don’t sound like a real person wrote them, you’re in danger of losing touch with your customers. And speaking of being in touch with your customers…

Do reply to tweets.
Whenever someone sends you an @reply, remember that there’s a real live person, possibly a customer or client, behind it. Don’t ignore these- and especially don’t ignore direct messages.

Do give your Twitter profile some personality.
Take the time to customize your business’ Twitter profile with a nice background and colors that reflect your company.

If you do use Twitter, do use Twitter.
That is, make it known to everyone that your business is on Twitter. Put a Twitter button on your website or blog, add a link to your email, put the URL on your business card and company brochure.

Do plan your strategy.
Read through Twitter’s official 101 for Business, have a look at their best practices, and develop a strategy for using Twitter to your business’ full advantage.

Finally, have fun with Twitter. It’s a powerful tool, but it’s also meant to be a fun and easy to use tool, which is why it’s become so popular.

Do you have tips for using Twitter for business?

Review: Contextual Partnership Plugin

The Contextual Partnership Plugin For WordPress Provides Free Advertising To Help Promote Your Blog & Get You Noticed…

If you’re looking for an effective solution to help get your blog noticed then the Contextual Partnership Plugin for WordPress bloggers could be well worth consideration. Perhaps the most attractive aspect is that there is no cost involved.

According to the developers the plugin is designed to;

    Drive more targeted visitors to your blog (or blogs) by strategically linking your blog to and from other bloggers participating in the network. The exact method used to achieve this remains confidential but apparently it’s not a basic reciprocal link exchange – nor the more common 3 way linking arrangement often seen between bloggers.

    Enhance the user experience for your blog visitors by providing them with links to other high quality blogs for further information on subjects of interest (and it can do this without you actually loosing the visitor which is a great feature).

    Indirectly increase your search engine rankings by building highly relevant incoming links to your blog for keyword terms you define, related to your own niche market.

Not a bad indirect benefit at all.

To better understand how the network works, first you need to know what a “contextual link” actually is. A contextual link is simply a link “within content” of a blog post and “within context” of specific keyword terms in that post. For example the term “dog training” found within a blog post becomes a link out to another blog (related to “dog training”) within the network. Contextual Links are found all over the internet – bloggers interlink their own pages contextually, there are paid advertising programs that allow you to place contextual advertising links and earn per click, and bloggers naturally link out to other websites they find useful “contextually” as well.

This is the key to the “Contextual Partnership”. When you install and setup the WordPress Plugin, you’re asked to provide the URL’s you wish to advertise on other partners blogs, and the keyword terms you want those blogs to use to link back to your own. When a match is found within the network for the keyword terms you provide (and assuming it meets with the Contextual Partnership’s strategic linking methodology), a link back to your blog is assigned, and your account has a credit removed.
The amount of credits your account holds appears to be directly related to the number of links you’re providing to other partners in the network for the keyword terms they themselves are looking to use to advertise. Apparently for every link you provide for another partner, you earn 1 credit. That 1 credit is then “cashed in” to assign a link back to your own blog from other partners whenever a match is found for your own keyword terms. So if you already have 100 posts in your blog, and each of those pages finds a match to provide a link to another partner, then technically you could receive 100 incoming links to your blog as soon as you’ve been approved to participate in the partnership. You also continually earn more points and incoming links as you continue to blog and add more posts just like you usually do.

That’s the basic overview and you’ll find more specific information on the plugin website including details of many features not mentioned here (like the ability to select specifically which blog posts you want to include – or nor include in the network)…

http://www.contextualpartnership.com

Uptake by the blogger community seems to have been extremely good and this new service looks to become very popular. In the first two weeks of launch the partnership already had over 54,000 individual places to place links throughout the network, and within the first 4 weeks over 10,000 advertising links had been allocated between network partners. This is most likely a result to how easy it is to actually setup the plugin and participate – it literally takes 5 minutes to install and setup – although approval can take anywhere from 24-72 hours depending on the moderation queue as only high quality blogs are accepted to participate to keep out the splogs and spammers.
This seems to be one of those services worth giving a shot for a few months, and by the looks of things the developers have some exciting new features in the pipeline to make things even more effective for partners in the future.

You can find out full details and download the plugin below…

http://www.contextualpartnership.com

Or alternatively you can download the plugin directly from WordPress…
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/contextual-partnership-link-exchange-plugin/

How Has Blogging Affected Your Business?

Some folks run blogs as a business in itself, usually by monetizing their blogs through various advertising setups. However, many entrepreneurs and corporate folk use blogs as part of their business, usually as a marketing tool, and as a means of connecting to customers around the world.

I know a few folks who market their products solely through social networks and blogs. One good way to market small retail items like fancy jewelry, trinkets and gift items, for instance, is by taking snapshots of these, posting a few sentences as a short description, and offering the items for sale online. Sure, you can try selling on eBay and you will probably get more inquiries (not to mention an easy way to close deals). But running blog features on your products for sale would definitely add to the personality of your business.

How has blogging affected your business? If you don’t run blogs as your business in itself, you probably run a blog for a variety of reasons. Maybe it’s a personal blog, and the discussions about your work or business are an offshoot of your sharing professional experiences along with personal reflections. Or maybe you have the habit of searching for online reviews about your products, and responding on the comment threads when you feel you need to clear up a few things.

Then there’s also the negative aspect of blogging and new media. Have you ever caught employees slacking off during office hours, and writing on their blogs, tweeting, watching videos or connecting to social network friends? Time spent otherwise being productive are being channeled to personal online activities, and this results in decreased efficiency.

Maybe you yourself have experienced focusing on social media too much that you forget your other duties in the workplace or the business. Do you find yourself increasingly enamored with your blog, Twitter, or just about any social media application that you are fond of using? Are you focusing too much on online clients? How about clients and customers whom you are supposed to service face-to-face?

Being involved in blogs and other social media can be a great way to establish your identity online, and perhaps build up your authority in your field. Sometimes, it does have negative effects, too. How has blogging affected your business? Are your experiences all positive? If not, then do you have a plan for better harnessing the benefits of social media to your business?