So does writing a blog really help people to generate sales leads and promote their business? This could be a very short article. The answer is, categorically, yes. There are some caveats to this, though. It’s not as if we can just put a blog out there and suddenly our business is transformed in to an organization as successful as Microsoft. Some things to think about are:

• Blogging is not an overnight method of generating business – it takes time.
• Successful blogs are run by successful bloggers. Without giving your blog time, effort and professionalism, like you do to your business, it won’t flourish.
• Blogs are usually used in conjunction with other products, rather than as a stand-alone service. This may include free downloads, professional services or consultancy. Very few people make their fortune just by blogging alone.

All that said, it is possible to support your business brilliantly through blogging. In fact I’d go so far as to say that no business is truly making the most of its marketing capability without a great blog supporting it.

How does it help?

• Most simply, a blog helps generate awareness of what you do, and the services you provide. This means that you have a broader platform to sell from, and more opportunities of getting your message out to your target audience – paying customers.
• Blogs are cheap to set up, simple to run, and massively effective. When you think that a simple advert which runs for a week can cost upwards of $250 dollars, a blog suddenly makes massive financial sense.
• Blogs are one of the few two-way communications tools out there which invite your customers in to open dialogue. Unlike adverts, brochures and static websites, blogs actively encourage your customers to get in touch and give you feedback. This shows you whether you are on the right track and offers you free advice on how to improve, every day.
• Blogs work for you while you are sleeping. Face to face communication is a great way of generating relationships, but you can’t be out and about all the time. Your blog represents you just like a sales rep would working on your behalf, globally, night and day. You have the capacity to open up your services to an instant global market, and let your site do all the hard work for you.
• Blogging is measurable. Often, when you pay out for advertising or marketing, there is no way of calculating your return on investment. Blogs let you see just how many people are accessing your site, where they come from and when they are looking (use the free Google Analytics). It’s as if you have a world-class marketing agency at your fingertips at all times, telling you your customer demographic and alerting you to what is effective, and what isn’t.

These are just a few of the benefits of a blog. By getting to the top of your search engine through regular, targeted updates, a great blog will work wonders for your networking, customer visibility and marketing mix.

Read the full post: Will A Blog Really Help Me Promote My Business?

However I’m an outsourcer and an outsourcee (a word I’ve probably just invented), all the clients who come to me are outsourcing blog setup and blog customization to enable them to achieve things they don’t have the time, or knowledge to do themselves.

When I take my car to be serviced or when I eat out at a restaurant, I’m outsourcing those tasks. Not because I’m too stupid to learn how to do it myself, but because I don’t want to have to learn how to do it and I don’t have the time.

Outsourcing your time

Tyrone Shum is an outsourcer who I’ve known for quite sometime and he’s helped train and coach hundreds of people to outsource their work and leverage their time to focus on making money from their blogs, with his course Mass Outsource.

He has 35 step by step training videos, which include 18 high quality training videos to give to virtual staff ranging on topics such as article marketing, SEO, video and audio. Each video has templates, resources, and transcribed manuals and in three different formats available – MP4 (for iPhone), MP3 audio and onscreen videos.

The price is not cheap at $197.00 per month for 4 months, but you can get 10 free videos here.

Outsourcing your blog writing and web copy

I recently found a great writer who is supporting me and some of my clients on blog posts to free up some of their time. Not only does she write high-quality copy on time, she also comes up with ideas to broaden the scope of what we write about. She is Jen Syrkiewicz, from Stilus Communications.

Jen charges just $15 per 500 word blog article, and if you sign up for ten you get two free. It can take the hassle away from managing your blog, freeing you up to do other things like optimizing it and networking. She’ll even write you a sample post, which is free once you sign up for the service. Stilus also writes SEO-compliant web copy for your site, press releases, bids and news articles.

If you’d like to know more about the service Stilus offers, please get in touch with her at http://www.stiluscopywriting.co.uk to find out more. I’ll be hiring her for my next sales page project.

Outsourcing your blog setup and customization

Of course, that’s a blatant plug for my services at the end. Why not, it’s my site….

Read the full post: Outsourcing Your Business

There’s another problem. What the heck do you write about? How do you know what your customers are looking for, and what subjects will bring people back again and again to your site? Here are my thoughts:

Write about what you know
You set up your blog for a reason – to share your expertise and knowledge with other people. Therefore, it makes sense to stick to subjects you are really familiar with. A gardening blog isn’t going to have articles about cooking, and a technical blog isn’t going to be discussing the intricacies of crochet skills. Your main aim is to enhance your customer proposition by speaking knowledgeably about subjects related to your business, so do that. If the thought of writing about a particular subject terrifies you, the chances are it’s not the right subject in the first place!

Bring in current research and ideas

Every industry is constantly evolving, as people discover new tools, processes and innovations to improve it. Regardless of whether you are blogging about networking or needlework, there are going to be resources online that cover the front line when it comes to your particular subjects. Do some careful online research to find out the lowdown on your industry specialism, and keep your readers updated with news and new ideas.

Ask your customers
The best way to find out the kind of thing your readers want to see on your blog is to ask them! Why not elicit feedback from your existing users, and get ideas from people you network with? This has a double purpose, as it also lets people know about your blog, and invites people to take an active interest in it.

Let your hits do the talking
Some days we get loads of comments and views on our blogs, and other days it can feel as if your writing has disappeared in a puff of smoke. Get to know what works and what doesn’t for your entries. If an entry on knitting generates four thousand views, and an update on casseroles gives you one, you’re not going to blog about Hotpot, right? Work out the right topics to please your readers… and stick to them.

Look at other successful blogs for ideas
We all have ‘favorite’ blogs that we log in to religiously each day to get updates, learn something new or keep in touch with some of the great writers out there. Take a look at some of the most successful blogs on the web at the moment, and work out what they may have, that you don’t. That way, you can learn from the experts, and have fun finding new blogs at the same time!

Take inspiration from your day-to-day experiences
Every day, something will happen to you in your job or at home that can be thought about, and put to good use. Whether you are writing for other small businesses or the general public, your experiences can be really valuable to blog about. We like to hear about what other people have been up to, and there are very few events that can’t be turned in to a great story for your blog, and be used to promote your business.

What do you reckon? Let me know the kind of things you think small businesses should focus on when writing their blog updates…

Read the full post: Blogging For Small Businesses – What Should We Write About?

I have a new free mini-site called Get Your Ebook Online that will quickly show you most of the options out there and how easy it can be.

SIX videos cover all your options to sell online:

* Paypal only – Why this is quick and easy to setup, but is NOT the best option.
* Paypal and AWeber – Why you should integrate the two for automatic product delivery.
* WP E-Commerce plugin – Is the free version all you need to sell online and how easy is it to use?
* Ecwid – A new and easy shopping cart solution that I’ve come across that can be setup in minutes to sell online!
* E-junkie – Why paying a monthly fee to sell your ebooks online could be a good option for you.
* ClickBank – The pros and cons of using Clickbank to sell your ebook.

Simply enter your name and email to the right and confirm your subscription to get the videos emailed to you right away.

There is no upsell, there are no affiliate links and there is nothing to buy from me. Simply six videos that will show beginners the options for getting their ebook or digital product online. All I ask in return is your email address over at Get Your Ebook Online.

The videos are completely non-technical overviews of how to sell an ebook on your site, and I will hopefully be adding to the videos when new options come up, I already have PayDotCom on my list of avenues to explore, but if you know any more or have any questions please leave them below.

Read the full post: How To Sell An Ebook Online

Rather than look back at the past, I want to look forward to the future. So may clients have exciting ideas and wonderful plans that I’m constantly amazed, as am I at their dedication and hard work.

You may have heard that on January 6th, together with my business partner Andrew Rondeau from www.WeBuildYourBlog.com, I am launching the Income Blogging Guide course. However there is no need to wait until then, we have a fantastic FREE 95 page report on the step-by-step process to building the platform to making a full time income from your blog. It’s full of pure content, no hype, no filler, no affiliate links to buy other expensive services, it’s our gift to you this Christmas, and we hope in a small way it can make a difference.

You can get the step-by-step Income Blogging Guide Blueprint almost instantly on our squeeze page here (incidentally using the new Squeeze Theme from Unique Blog Designs), or to the right if you’re reading this on my blog.

Until then, I hope you have a fantastic Christmas/Holiday season with your families, I wish you a very prosperous New Year, and am looking forward to helping you once again achieve your goals.

Read the full post: Have A Prosperous New Year With Your Blog

I have a lot to be thankful for in my life – in addition to my wonderful friends and family, I am very thankful for all my clients who have helped me build a successful business.

As a way of showing my gratitude, I’d like to give you, my clients, something to be thankful for as well. So during the week of November 23-27th, I will be giving away 5 FREE hours of work per day (excluding Thanksgiving itself of course…).

There are just 20 one hour slots (five each day for four days), so you will need to act quickly. Applications can only be made via the special online form. Where is this form? You will have to sign up for my newsletter to see the announcement that will be emailed out on Friday 20th to my newsletter subscribers.

I have tried to summarize below answers to any questions you may have as to why I’m doing this and what’s involved.

Questions You May Be Asking

Why are you doing this?
It’s a way of giving back to you. Plus I’m just that kind of guy!

How do I get my free hour?
Details of the sign up form will be announced via my newsletter only. So you have to be subscribed to my newsletter to find out how to apply. You can subscribe below, or if you are already a subscriber you receive the details in an upcoming newsletter.

Is it open to just new clients or just current clients?
Both! Current, previous or new clients are eligible for a free hour, I don’t discriminate.

What if I want/need more than one hour? Can I buy more time?
Not during this week, it’s one hour maximum, no paid work in addition will be accepted. I will be working on ongoing projects during that week too, but any additional paid work to a free hour will only be accepted after this week.

Will you accept any work?
No, as with my paid work I reserve the right to decline any work for any reason.

What conditions are there?
- One hour only.
- WordPress setup or customization only.
- You must have backups of your site content, theme, uploaded files, everything! In case of disaster you must have a backup that is capable of restoring your site to its previous glory. I take no responsibility if you don’t have a backup, my usual website terms and conditions apply too.

Any further questions please leave a comment below, or email me and I’ll get back to you ASAP.

Read the full post: Blog Tech Guy Thanksgiving Promotion

You can still join me and get 20% off any pass using coupon code RICKNDAVE20 if it still works. Speakers such as Chris Brogan, Darren Rowse, Guy Kawasaki, Leo Laport, Kara Swisher and many many more will be there. Plus it’s the home of WordCamp Las Vegas that I’m hoping I’ll have time to attend.

If you’re going and want to meet up, send me a note and we’ll see if we can work something out, it’ll be great to meet you I’m sure.

If you feel like stalking me, my schedule for BlogWorldExpo is probably something like this:
http://blogworldexpo09.sched.org/BlogTechGuy.

It’s also embedded below but the formatting and link duplication makes it a little unreadable.

Until then, have fun!

Read the full post: Vacation and Blog World Expo

It was to my surprise then when I noticed I had gone over 200 clients. New client building has never been my aim, I am fortunate to have long term relationships with many clients that are over a year long. However it’s pretty exciting to hit the 200 client milestone, and thought I would share three of the many, many things I have learned (and am still learning):

1. Everyone is a beginner sometime – No matter how many times you’ve done something, there was always a first time. This may be the client’s first time, so remember how it felt.
2. Honesty goes further than promises – If you can’t do something or don’t know how, it’s more advantageous to say so than say you can do it and do a half-assed job of it.
3. This client is number one – No matter who else calls or has work waiting, the current client work is the number one priority. It often doesn’t make financial sense to do it this way, but it makes moral sense to me!

So a huge thank you to the 200+ clients who have helped build my business to what it is today. I’m always happy to help.

Read the full post: Top 3 Things I've Learned From Over 200 Clients

Where to get good advice is a source of worry for me sometimes, and also where to refer my clients to when they ask. Of course there are great courses and businesses out there too, and often I point them towards this man, Brendon Sinclair of Tailored Web Services. Here he is talking about getting good search engine rankings (if you can’t see the videos, go here):

While that was good, here are some of his finer moments:

No bull, no spin, just good, solid, actionable advice. Good on ya mate!

You can follow him on Twitter at @brendonsinclair, but how his ego fits into 140 characters, I’m not quite sure!

Read the full post: Straightforward Marketing Advice

I’ve been preaching the virtues of having a custom design for a long time, and now thanks to Nate over at Unique Blog Designs I now have an awesome one myself.

Comments would be much appreciated, we have some tweaks to finish off but I’m very, very happy with it! Check it out

Read the full post: New Blog Theme on BTG