Last week I started assisting my mother and my aunt in starting blogs. It’s been quite a while since I created a new blog from scratch using the WordPress platform and it gave me a unique chance to see the blank slate a blog starts on. All those exciting possibilities to create a space for your words and thoughts for people to read.

My mother will be using her blog to talk about the experience of writing a cookbook. She’s newly retired and this will be her first “I’ve got to stay busy” project.

As I was going through the different sections of the blog she needed to customize, I told her she was going to need to write an “About” page.

“About what?”

“About you,” I answered. “You want to give people an idea of who you are. Why you’re writing this blog. They will want to know why they should trust your information.”

This morning, as I was catching up on some of my blog reading, I noticed this post by Lisa Barone on “Crafting a Killer About Page” at www.smallbiztrends.com.

It goes through some really useful tips on how to make your About page stand out and creating a bases of trust between your customers and your business.

“Your About page is what allows people to get to know you. It’s your introduction and their chance to look behind the curtain to see what lies beneath. You wouldn’t go to a party and stand around not introducing yourself, so why commit the same act on your site? Don’t forget your About page.”

To her very good advice, I would add that you should also make a note to check your About page and update it, at the very least, yearly. It can be as simple as updating your profile picture or adding some new exciting information about your business, product or service.

Fantastic advice for either a personal blog or a business one. And as always, make sure you read the comments to get even more great advice.

‘Chelle Parmele
Social Media Marketing Manager

Tags: advice, blogging
Posted on October 5th, 2009 | 3 Comments »

Every time I think about blogging, I question what I should write about, whether or not I have the time, if people will read my posts, etc. But when I actually think about what blogging can do for our business, it’s really a no-brainer. Blogging is pretty much free marketing (and can actually be kind of fun!). So how can you go wrong with that?

I recently read an article stating that in times of economic crises (like many feel we are experiencing today), you should continue or expand your marketing budget. The logic was that if others are cutting their budgets, you have a “greater window of opportunity to get your message across to your market.” While I do understand this logic, it is always prudent, recession or no recession, to be smart about how, where and why you are spending your marketing and advertising dollars.

Traditional advertising often doesn’t provide the results businesses are looking for, so even if they have a robust marketing budget, organizations often look for creative (and low-cost) ways to market and advertise. Blogging is one such way, and it can be an extremely effective marketing tool. Not only are you putting content out there for others to read, but when people comment and link back to their blogs, it can start a cycle of exposure.

Aside from creating and writing your own blog, there are other ways to get noticed in the world of blogging. Just like others can comment on your blog, you should explore and find a blog you like, post comments and link back to your company’s blog. There are an abundance of bloggers out there, so you are sure to find at least one that provides interesting and useful content for you to read and comment on.  And since there are so many bloggers out there, another way to draw attention to your company is to act as a guest blogger for someone else in your sphere.

Both Wordpress.com and Blogger.com provide free accounts, so take advantage of a free account and add blogging to your marketing mix.

Kristen Langham
Manager of Business Development
Palo Alto Software

Tags: blogging, blogs, creative marketing, Marketing
Posted on October 30th, 2008 | No Comments »

Over 12 million American adults currently maintain a blog. Over 57 million Americans read blogs. There are over 1.4 million new blog posts every day.

That’s a lot of conversation.

Does your business have a blog? More and more, people looking for information on your business are going online to see if you have a website. Having a blog is the easiest and fastest way to get new information about your business online and to your customer.

BlogWorld and New Media Expo, is taking place next month in Las Vegas and if you are a business owner, marketing, PR, or media professional who is interested in learning how to take advantage of the opportunities that blogging and new media represent to you and your clients, then you might want to check out the information on this conference.

Kimberly L. Coerr from Blog World Expo offered blog.bplans.com a code to pass along to anyone who wanted to get a discount for 20% off any registration type at the Show. Visit the website blogworldexpo.com and use the code “BHLDKC” to receive the discount.

Take advantage of this quick – the registration window is closing soon!

‘Chelle Parmele
Social Media Marketing Manager
Palo Alto Software

Tags: blogging, conference, education, Marketing, networking, new media, social media
Posted on August 21st, 2008 | No Comments »