The word “blog” sounds so geeky, but a blog is simply a journal that is archived on the web. The number of possibilities you have when creating a blog is limited only by the words in your vocabulary. That being said, pegging down subject matter and a voice for a blog can be overwhelming, especially when you consider that your blog can serve as a voice for your company.

So what should your voice say?

Here are a few examples of company blogs that serve different purposes:

Direct2Dell: Dell’s blog that covers trends and events in the technology industry, Linux, Windows, and news about Dell’s products and their company. You can read everything from new hard drive configurations to Michael Dell’s visit with Bono. Dell’s blog is a move to make the company more transparent to customers. There are frequent updates to their customer generated feedback system IdeaStorm and the company used this blog to give instructions when it recalled laptop batteries.

inside.nikebasketball.com: Nike’s basketball blog covers news and personal interest stories on NBA players. There are various readers’ polls throughout the site. This blog strengthens the brand and promotes the athletes who endorse their shoes. What could make this blog better? The ability for readers to comment on each article.

http://www.blogsouthwest.com: Southwest Airline’s blog written by various employees in many different positions. Southwest tackles PR issues directly using its blog, so claims that Southwest plains were not safe are addressed head on.

http://samys.webphotoschool.biz: Don’t know how to use that brand new camera you bought? Samy’s Camera Shop out of L.A. features step-by-step instructions complete with visuals on how to use your camera. This is a good move, since if you understand how to use your camera thanks to Samy’s, you will be more inclined to trust them on lens purchases and accessories as well.

Your blog can serve to set your place as a leader in your industry. It can also serve to inform a lot of people about certain issues at once. It can be informative on product usage and industry trends. What it should not be is another blatant sales pitch for your store. People look to blogs for information, so writing a blog article that sounds like a sales pitch is like a writing magazine articles that is a blatant ad. No one will read them.

If you have questions about your business blog and what’s right for your company, please email me.

Michelle Greer, Marketing Specialist
michelle_greer(at)volusion.com
http://www.volusion.com

Technorati Tags: Business Blogging, Company Blogging, Corporate Blogging, Company Blog Types, Corporate Blog Types, Ecommerce Blogging, Retail Blogging, Volusion, Sell Online, Ecommerce Software, Shopping Cart Software

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You know blogging is a good way to get your brand out there. You also know that it is a good way to get backlinks to your online store. Having a store allows you to sell online, but having a blog allows you to have a more established presence in your industry. The best place to start is to find the right blogging platform for the scale and purpose of your blog.

The basic questions to ask yourself when choosing a blogging software are:

• How much flexibility do I need?
• Do I have a budget to spend for a platform or for a consultant to build something?
• How much time do I have to dedicate towards building and maintaining a blog?

Here are reviews of three popular blogging platforms, with advantages and disadvantages to all three:

WordPress: With over 2.5 million blogs using it, WordPress is by far the most popular blogging platform in the world. It is open source, meaning it is free and relies on contributions from users for features. Version 2.5 is supposed to come out any day now. Serious bloggers will find no limitations to WordPress. If you can’t find a plugin or widget that does what you need it to do, you can always build it. This is a great platform for those willing to take the time or spend the money to get the more advanced features available to bloggers, such as profile building, advanced stat features, podcasting and vodcasting options, and Flickr feeds. However, using WordPress can be a daunting task to those not willing to take the time to learn about available options, so using a consultant could be a good idea if you want something more complicated.

• PROS: There is a huge community of WordPress users including consultants and forum members all over the world. WordPress offers more templates and options to choose from than any other platform. By far the most flexible and powerful blogging platform on the web.
• CONS: Finding templates, widgets and plugins can be overwhelming as they are all over the web and are sometimes buggy. Often these modifications are often not supported by their creators, since they do not earn any money by creating them. There is also no definitive documentation for WordPress. Hosting is not included.

2.) Typepad: Typepad is a blogging platform created by Movable Type. It offers several pricing plans that range from $4.95 to $89.95, depending on the level of support, the space, bandwidth, and features. It does offer all of the plugins and widgets that WordPress offers, but using the basic widgets and plugins does not require ftp access. Front end can be customized using software itself. Typepad is a good platform if you are willing to pay for more advanced features and support but do not need the all out customization that WordPress offers. Those features can also be set up quickly, since you do not have to comb around the internet for widgets and themes that support widgets.

• PROS: Hosting is included, as is basic email support and manuals. Interface is set up to be easily customized and search engine friendly features are already built in. Allows for HTML editing.
• CONS: Not as robust or flexible as WordPress. Can end up becoming pricey for higher traffic blogs. Many customers had technical issues upgrading to their latest version.

3.) Blogger: This is Google’s free blogging platform. Blog can be hosted with Google’s hosting service BlogSpot or on your own server. It is not nearly as robust as TypePad or WordPress, but it is meant for a beginning blogging audience who wants to get something to get started.

• PROS: Free and very quick to get started. Easy to set up for first time bloggers. Allows for HTML editing.
• CONS: Does not have available community features, templates, or widgets found in WordPress or TypePad.  Widgets are available, but lack the variety of options found in other platforms.

There are many platforms to choose from, but these are three of the most popular. Do you have any questions about blogging platforms, or blogging in general? Feel free to leave a comment or email me.

Michelle Greer, Marketing Specialist
michelle_greer(at)volusion.com
http://www.volusion.com

**Thanks to Mike Simmons for current feedback on Blogger platform.

Technorati Tags: Business Blogging, Ecommerce Blogging, WordPress Review, TypePad Review, Blogger Review, Blogging Software Review, Blogging Platform Review, Blogging for Business, Ecommerce Blogging, Blogging SEO, Choose Blog Software, Chose Blog Platform, Volusion, Sell Online, Ecommerce Software, Shopping Cart Software, Sell Online

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You wouldn’t want a competitor to steal your marketing ideas. So why would you want them stealing the words on your website? Although duplicating someone’s content is not supposed to benefit your search engine rankings, it is not uncommon for someone to steal or “scrape” text from your site

without linking that content back to you.

What can you do about it? There is a site called Copyscape that will show you all of the websites that have and are currently scraping your content. Checking this will ensure that whether you are writing words for a blog, a product description, or a homepage, those words will either remain original on your site or will at least be accompanied by a backlink.

Copyscape has been widely covered by the press and should make a good bookmark for you to check from time to time.

–Michelle Greer, Marketing Specialist
http://www.volusion.com

Technorati Tags: copyscape, copyscape reviews, prevent content scraping, prevent copyright infringement, protect online content, volusion

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If you’ve embraced the concept of Web 2.0 by creating a blog for your online business, you can pat yourself on the back for evolving with the ever-changing internet. It’s likely that your blog was created for your customers, to engage and inform about topics of interest regarding your product line or range of services. By giving your blog more exposure, you can help to gain more of these potential customers.

Here is a list of some of the top directories on the web for submitting your blog.

Answers
Submit
Page Rank: 7/10

Best of the Web
Submit
Page Rank: 5/10

Blogdigger
Submit
Page Rank: 7/10

Blog Hop
Submit
Page Rank: 6/10

BlogPulse
Submit
Page Rank: 7/10

Boing Boing
Submit
Page Rank: 7/10

Digg
Submit
Page Rank: 8/10

FeedBurner
Submit
Page Rank: 8/10

Findory
Submit
Page Rank: 6/10

Google Blog Search
Submit
Page Rank: 8/10

IceRocket
Submit
Page Rank: 7/10

Kinja
Submit
Page Rank: 7/10

Plazoo
Submit
Page Rank: 6/10

Reddit
Submit
Page Rank: 7/10

The Technorati Blog Directory
Submit
Technorati Ping
Page Rank: 8/10

Yahoo! Publisher Network
Submit
Page Rank: 7/10

Haven’t created your Blog yet?
See Using Blogs to Gain Influence in Your Industry for some insight on how to create a blog, and how it can benefit your online business.

-Stacie Leonard, Ecommerce Marketing/Copywriting

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Somewhere someone is broadcasting the most random details of their life on the internet. And another someone is sitting at their computer watching that broadcast of that person eating cereal or watching TV. Anyone with a computer and internet connection can blog about anything, and as unsubstantiated as that opinion can be, nothing stops it from gaining influence. Whether you are using the web because you want to cash in or simply because you have something to say, historically, the barriers of entry for influence have never been lower.

So what steps are you taking to influence your customers?

Hopefully you have blogged or have written articles about your trade for customers to read, and you haven’t broadcast yourself flexing your pecs in the mirror (well, as long as this isn’t linked to your online store). Not only are blogs and magazine articles SEO gold in terms of relevant content (and hopefully back links to your online store), you can use your blog to gain influence in your industry. Online consumers are bombarded with products they “need” to buy all the time. If you can offer a source of free information regarding the product they are purchasing, they will 1.) be more inclined to purchase because they can now make an informed decision and 2.) will regard you as an expert on the topic and will probably buy from you again. All that because you bothered to write about something that you hopefully feel passionate about in the first place.

So think back to the basics from freshman English class, get out there, and write! Let your customers know what you know and then to send them to your store.

Looking for a blog? Here are a few places to look:
Blogger
MoveableType
WordPress

Read how to Link Your Blog to Your Volusion Store

Have a blog and now you want to open your own store? Start one Now!

-Michelle Greer, Volusion eCommerce Consultant
http://www.volusion.com

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