Where's the Blog?

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 08:35:00 -0600

Consulting on websites is easily one of my favorite tasks in a day. The opportunity to organize fresh content into engaging design is fun. A recent project included setting up a blog for a real estate broker in Steamboat Springs. After two days of posting I received the following message:

"I've established a blog site, I've blogged, but how can I find it? I've looked in Google and Yahoo and it doesn't appear. How do I make it visible?"

I thought this was a great email. The client is doing the math, that perhaps showing up in the billion searches does not happen overnight with minimal effort. Here are 4 tips that will help you get your blog to appear in search engines:

Link it up: If you post on your blog be sure to tell your friends, peers, clients and colleagues about it. Post a link on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and all of your industry networks.
Keywords: If you are writing about building homes on your blog, make sure you are adding the key search terms that your client demographic would use when searching for you. There are tons of services out there like Google Ad Words, WordTracker and more that can help assess what phrases people use when searching for you. Or better yet ask a professional SEO strategist to provide you with a list of terms and phrases based on some in depth research.
Get tips from the professionals: Sites like copyblogger.com, problogger and others can provide great tips on what to say, how to say it and when. There is no shortage of blogging advice online so try and pick up a tip a week.
Content is King: And most importantly, be consistent with your blogging. Go into your blog with the clear understanding that you will need to be consistent. Set some goals if you need to, but make sure you are updating your site with good content. In an ideal world your content will get the highest praise and become forward friendly so readers pass along your link (or share it) with their network. And once you are a blog master they will sign up to receive it on their RSS feed...and at that point you have successfully created your blog.

Remember, that blogging is a casual forum to provide industry insights. It does not need to be a term paper of perfect grammar and vocabulary. So, don't be shy and start sharing your news, tip and other info.

If you continue to have questions about how to successfully increase your blog traffic don't hesitate to contact us with questions.

Happy blogging.

Welcome to a clean slate

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 00:54:42 -0600

The holidays have come and gone, and hopefully you have packed away the countless number of decorations, houseguests, leftovers and eggnog, and entered one of my favorite times of year - the clean slate. The start of a new year offers the incredible opportunity to set goals, analyze budgets and sort out the strengths and weaknesses of one's day to day operations.

Outside Edge Marketing started the new year with a new website. An opportunity to provide clients with a full portfolio of our services, as well as an educational forum to discuss what is and is not working in the marketing world. The informal editors of this blog will vary from week to week with public relations specialists, tech tips and other industry insights. We genuinely look forward to your feedback.

Additionally, we kicked off 2010 with a presentation on Social Networking that was triggered by a client asking me how much it costs to be on Twitter. Today, I am happy to report there is one less person running around claiming that Twitter is a fad and jam-packed with stalkers. The way we communicate is changing and the ability to embrace that fact constitutes a giant competitive advantage.

Have you set your goals for 2010? If you are looking for some assistance in reviewing your plan for the New Year don't hesitate to call or email. We look forward to raising the bar of our service and stepping into new marketing territories that differentiate our clients from their competitors?

Outside Edge Marketing Group

Where's the Blog?

Welcome to a clean slate