Comments on: Blog Your Way to New Customers and Repeat Business

By: Jamie Favreau

Jamie Favreau — Tue, 12 May 2009 05:04:11 +0000

I believe that blogging can get you a job in a tough job market and create opportunities you may not have had other wise. I have landed two jobs through my blog alone. Though I am interested in internet marketing I believe this is a great way to showcase your skills.

The first thing I was taught was to blog. Then as I read I have learned comments are just as important as the blog itself. By commenting, then getting creative, I have landed an interview with a newspaper for an article, a job, and other good things.

Content is king and when you have great content and others believe in you than doors open.

By: Allen Taylor

Allen Taylor — Thu, 07 May 2009 03:55:05 +0000

For beginnings, Blogger might be a good way to learn how to write a blog post, but if someone is setting up a business they should have their own domain name. Tracy is right that WordPress is easy to use and is optimized well for search traffic.

Owning your own domain name actually has search engine benefits that Blogger doesn’t provide despite being owned by Google. I’ve set up hundreds of blogs and I can’t think of a time when I’ve seen a Blogger blog outperform a blog that I set up with WordPress on a standalone domain. I’m sold on WordPress and owning your own real estate.

By: Tracy

Tracy — Thu, 07 May 2009 03:35:28 +0000

Hi interesting post! I’m actually toying with the idea of going into business helping small businesses start blogs.

I disagree with you about using blogger though, I think a wordpress blog isn’t that much harder to set up and looks more professional. From what I hear, there is no difference at all between search engine rankings between wordpress and blogger blogs.

That said, I totally agree with you that small businesses need to set up an online presence and a blog is an excellent opportunity to gain customers and retain them by offering something of value. It shocks me how many businesses in this day and age don’t even have a site with their hours on it!

By: Tumblemoose

Tumblemoose — Tue, 05 May 2009 13:53:29 +0000

I agree that the value has to be there. As well, make an attempt to stand apart a little bit from the throng. If you’ve chosen a niche that you are passionate about, this will come easy.

Great guest post. Bravo!

Cheers

George

By: smallbizbee

smallbizbee — Mon, 04 May 2009 19:58:33 +0000

@Greg
You bring up a great point, and I couldn’t agree more. Don’t write just for search engines, write great content and the search engines will come to you. You’ll also build more of a community if you tell those stories, and personalize the copy than you will if you solely focus on search engines.

Thanks for coming by,

Matt

By: Greg Rollett

Greg Rollett — Mon, 04 May 2009 19:42:40 +0000

I agree that Blogging can lead to some great client introductions. The most pivotal part is balancing what you write for the search engines and what you write for your readers. There needs to be a balance b/c writing for search engines is boring copy (usually). The compelling copy comes from story telling and personal relationship building, something that SERPS haven’t caught up to yet.

The 2nd major factor is the off page stuff that overwhelms most small business owners looking to jump into blogging as client building. The business owners that take your advice and get out there and devote time, energy and resources to building great content will reap the rewards. Great stuff!