Following Tweets and what I learn

 After reading the tweets from different restaurants, I learned that there are different ways to get people to follow their twitter account. Ways to do that is ask the followers questions, create discussions so people can tweet back to the account, and place links on the tweet for people to click. I found that this could be beneficial for the companies allowing people to see them, and possibly remember them as well. Placing pictures with the tweets could also allow for the followers to relate better to the tweet.   

Twitter Assignment- Guitar Gear Blog

After reading many articles on guitar gear I have come to the conclusion that the mystified word “tone” is something that is completely subjective. There is no amount of money that can buy a certain device that makes a person have good tone. Therefore, all of these advertising schemes are great marketing campaigns but there is truly no right answer. There is no best compared to the rest. Talent is a human thing rather than a product thing and if I should invest in anything, it should be in lessons rather than gear. 

Benefits of Blogging

1.) It helps drives traffic to your website.
Every time you blog post you creating one more index page on your website. It is also one more cue to Google and other search engines that your website is active and they should be checking in regularly  to see what content you publish.

2.) It helps convert that traffic into leads.
Each new post is an opportunity to create more leads. This can simply be done by creating a lead generated call to action to every blog post. This can be anything such as free e books, free data sheets, and free trials, basically anything that involves the reader to share their information.

3.) It helps establish authority.
 The best blogs answer common questions their leads and customers have. If you are constantly posting content that is helpful and interesting to your target audience, it helps to establish a sense of authority in their eyes.

Once a business can understand the benefits of blogging there is no reason for not blogging regularly and with a specific purpose. Do you think these benefits are worth putting the time and effort into creating a blog?
Benefits of Blogging
         

Nebraska Furniture Mart: Blog or Website?

Back when we got our blog project, Prof. Wegley posted a link to our site about Nebraska Furniture Mart’s new blog. I took a few minutes and went through this blog as a business blog. In a sense, I was disappointed in it as far as a blog goes. The entire site was more of a website than a blog. It was eye appealing but it was set up as a website. Most pages had a video on it but all of them were professionally done- it wasn’t a single man and his camera. There were also obvious links inviting you to shop now for the products used in the video. In my opinion, this wasn't a blog as much of a website “Buy our products so you can use them this way!”

Should a business blog talk about new products out in the entire realm or should it be application to what their business is selling?

Time is Money But Your Investment is Worth It!

I was reading an article about how small businesses aren’t blogging or using social media in general. They stated that one cause of this is that small businesses have such an obviously limited budget (all budgets are limited but small businesses make a bigger deal about it but more on that at another time) that they do not find the instantaneous reward worth the investment. While the social media and blog are free to use, they take time to do well and thus be effective and this time is money and effort that small businesses don’t want to put in without seeing the immediate positive response. The author summarizes their thoughts with this: “In order to see results from blogging for your small business you have to commit to doing it like any other sales, marketing or operational effort. Having said that, I assure you that if you stay the course and focus on content that your buying audience wants to read, the results will come.” Like all aspects of businesses, social media is not a “get rich quick” scheme. You must be willing to invest and temporarily lose in order to ever see a reward.

So you want more people to read your blog?

So you are wanting more people to read your blog. Well this can be difficult for anybody, but there are a few tips for you to follow to gain more followers.

Invite people that you know to read your blog
Let people that you know know about your blog. They can share your blog with their friends which then allows your blog to gain a larger audience.

Allow people to comment on your blog
Allow people to put their opinions on your blog. People love talking about something that they want to say, and they always want more people to know what they are saying. Allowing people to comment on your blog will allow for discussion and people to follow what your are writing about.

Use good content on your blog
Don't just write to write. However, keep the content a good subject, and something that your readers will want to read about.

Allow others to blog on your blog about the same subject
When you collaborate with others this allows the writer not having to write every time. It also allows the readers to read other peoples writings so that they do not get bored of one person.

Join other social websites and share your blog
Join Facebook and Twitter. Doing this you can share your blog on your profile and allowing your friends and followers to find your blog easier.

Use social bookmarking tools
This is a tool that allows people to find your blog. Doing this can allow for people that you would have never had as an audience before find you.

Describe your blog in the keyword section


http://www.ehow.com/how_5823903_followers-blog.html

Audience Engagement and Feedback

This articles had a lot of great advice on the purposes of blogging and steps to growing a good blog. The two things that can really make an impact is simply to get inside the audiences head, and ask for their feedback. The purpose of the blog should be to please the audience, find out what they want to read. Every post should be exciting, new and eye catching to the audience. Also, asking the audience for feedback can be a great way to bring the audience in. The people reading the blog want to feel that they have a say and some type of input. Even asking for feedback on previous posts and asking the audience what topics they are interested in learning more about can make a big difference.

What questions do you think company blogs should ask their audiences?
 company blogging

The other 4 types of bloggers

As I mentioned in one of my last blogs I will be telling all of you the last 4 types of bloggers that are out in the world.

4. The Journal Writer
5. The Platform-Builder
6. The Product Promoter
7. The Freelancer

The journal writer.
These types of bloggers treat their blogs as a public journal to the world. They are seen as "old-school" bloggers. As in they write their blogs in a narrative tone, and tell a story to their readers. They use their blog more as a hobby than anything else, and have fun with their writing.

The Platform-builder.
These type of bloggers want to create a name for themselves with their blogs. They are wanting to create some type of income from their blog, and the readers will hardly ever see ads on these blogs.

The product promoter. 
These bloggers have something to sell to their readers, usually some type of book.

The Freelancer.
These bloggers get paid to write for a major site. These bloggers might specialize in a particular subject and have great insight on that subject.