The Work Media Internet Marketing Blog

Google has a new feature in beta testing that is very cool. It places a button on your web site that lets visitors instantly connect to you on the phone, without showing your phone number. Calls are routed through an online interface and you have the option of answering it or letting your voice mail catch the call. You can even prevent specific numbers from calling you. The feature is called WebCall, and it's actually made available through a service called GrandCentral.

GrandCentral is a service that was recently acquired by Google. It promotes itself as "the new way to use your phones." It provides you with one phone number that rings all your phones and one voicemail box that can store all your messages. It also lets you record calls on the fly. This could be a very useful feature for recording audio testimonials for a web site.

Currently, only select people are being allowed to use the service. Select people, that is, and users of Blogger. We've stated before that we think there may be an advantage to using Google's own blogging platform, and this is another one: preferential treatment from Google with regard to new tools and gadgets.

We will be trying out the new call button. Why not? It may turn out that users who would not otherwise have contacted us will do so just because of the convenience. It is definitely worth trying. You never know what little extra convenience will cause the phones to start ringing.
If you don't blog, start. If you do blog, use Blogger.

If you could use some help with your company's content or blogging strategy, contact Work Media at 888-299-4837 or email Info@WorkMedia.net.

Labels: blog, blog marketing, blogging, blogging advice, blogging service, content, content creation, google, internet marketing

Work Media has begun doing a podcast. This is definitely a new area for us. We blog all the time (obviously), but to me, it is more difficult to smoothly convey a message with spoken words, rather than printed words. In print, I have all the time I need to compose my thoughts and structure the copy the way I want it. In audio, even if you have what you want to say written out, you can't just read - you have to talk. It needs to sound conversational. So we're still working out how to best do the podcast, but we expect to get better the more we do it.

We have found a couple of podcasting resources that may be helpful to you if you decide to get into podcasting:

http://www.podcastblaster.com The most useful feature of this site is that it has a form you can use to automatically create a podcast RSS file. You just provide the details of the podcast and each individual epidose. The PodcastBlaster creates the file you need to supply to podcasting directories.

http://www.podcasting-tools.com This is a pretty useful site that provides lots of information about how to podcast. It also has a nice list of podcasting directories where you can submit your podcast.

http://www.podsubmitter.com A tool that will let you submit your podcast to multiple podcast directories at once. This could save you a lot of time. The caveat is that they require a link to the podsubmitter web site to use the service.

We are still working on a page for our site dedicated to the podcast. In the meantime, there are links to our first two episodes on our home page.

If you need some help implementing a content strategy for your site, including blogging and podcasting, contact Work Media at 888-299-4837 or email Info@WorkMedia.net.

Labels: blog, blog marketing, blogging, content, content creation, internet marketing, internet marketing podcast, podcasting, podcasting advice

Matt Cutts is an engineer with Google who has become quite famous within the Internet marketing community for his blog posts that help online marketers better understand how Google works. A recent MediaPost article focusing on tips culled from various Cutts blog posts revealed the following strategy for optimizing a web page for a particular keyword:

Once in the title, once in the description tag, once in the heading, once in the URL, once in bold, once in italic and once high on the page.

Brilliant. The above sentence masterfully and simply summarizes how to optimize a web page, at least from a content perspective. Now, certainly there is more to on-page optimization. For example, the way a page is coded can have a significant impact on its ranking. But if you combine clean coding with the above copy writing strategy, your web pages should be very well optimized.

Possibly the hardest part of this strategy is getting the keyword in the URL. The ideal solution is to have a domain name that contains one or two critical keywords. This is often in conflict with a company's branding strategy, however. I mean, we (Work Media) might possibly generate more search engine rankings if we had the domain name "internet-marketing-search-engine-optimization.com", but it just doesn't flow as well as "workmedia.net". It would definitely be harder for people to remember.

Fortunately, blogging provides a way to generate web pages with keywords in the URL. We use Blogger, but most blogging platforms probably work in very similar ways, in that pages are automatically created based on the content of the blog posts. If you use important keywords early in your blog posts, and use keyword-rich tags to describe your posts, then your blogging platform should create archive pages that contain those keywords in the URL.

As for the other parts of the strategy, it's easy. Just figure out the best keywords for which to optimize your site (we've discussed keyword research in previous blog posts) and use those keywords often in your pages, spread out exactly as recommended above.

If you need some help implementing a search engine marketing strategy for your business, contact Work Media at 888-299-4837 or email Info@WorkMedia.net. We're here to help!

Labels: blog marketing, blogging, blogging advice, content, content creation, google, internet marketing, search engine marketing, search engine optimization, seo, web site marketing

We're still amazed at the number of times we get contacted about optimizing a BRAND NEW web site that is lousy from an optimization standpoint. Usually the problem is that the site is constructed in such a way that it is very difficult to get any optimized content on the site. For example, it may be an all-Flash site or a site where the text is contained in images.

Please remember this: you MUST have text on your web pages!

Find a way to get some text on your web pages. One technique which is cool is to place text in layers (using div tags) and either hide it off-screen or dynamically display it at certain times, such as when rolling over a link or other object. We have heard that Google may now be checking for this, so it may be a technique that stops becoming useful soon.

Regardless of whether you use layers to hide your text or whatever, you MUST get some text on your page. If nothing else, place it low on the page, below the main section, if your site is constructed in such a way as to not allow text in the main content area.

As smart as search engines have become, they are STILL looking for quality, indexable text. So get some text on your pages!

For help optimizing the content and code of your web site to rank better in the search engines, contact Work Media at 888-299-4837 or Info@WorkMedia.net.

Labels: content, content creation, internet marketing, search engine marketing, search engine optimization, search marketing, seo, web marketing, web site marketing

The movement toward online video/entertainment continues to pick up speed. There are a lot of major established entertainment industry veterans, such as Disney's Michael Eisner and the Coen brothers, who are creating content exclusively for the Web. This is a reflection of the changing entertainment viewing habits of consumers, especially those under 35.

The good news for you is that, unlike broadcast TV, the Web is a space where you can compete. You don't have to have a large budget. And you don't have to own a television network. There are two major strategies you can take with regard to using online video: release interesting content to video sources in an attempt to drive traffic to your site; or as content for your site that will result in a loyal audience.

You might want to do both. However, it is unlikely that the same video content will work for both purposes. If you are an accounting firm and create a series of videos about cutting your taxes, those would be excellent content for your web site. However, it is unlikely that there would be wide distribution of the video outside those specifically looking for such information.

For a viral video effect, your video needs to be very interesting or unusual. If it makes people laugh, then it has a shot at being spread around. Going back to the accounting firm example, if the firm could create a video that was short and humorous, that would work much better than the drier material specifically related to taxes.

So what kind of video could you create to promote your business? Just think creatively, and make sure you come up with some kind of unique angle for your content. Also, make sure you tag your videos with keywords - you need people to find your videos!

Work Media has full video production capabilities and would be happy to talk with you about using video to promote your business. Feel free to call us at 888-299-4837 or email Info@WorkMedia.net.

Labels: content, content creation, internet marketing, video, web marketing, web site marketing

Jerry Work here. Man, I really "mailed it in" in my last blog post. In other words, I basically just slapped some words down to get something out, but did not put much real effort into it. But sometimes you have to do that just to keep the thing going. The key to success (well, maybe not THE key, but a big key nonetheless) is consistency. It's actually a lot like working out. Once you get on a roll and get in the habit of doing it 3 or 4 times a week, it gets a lot easier. But if you stop for an extended period (as we recently did, going a month without posting a new blog) and then try to start back, it becomes much more difficult until you get back into a good groove.

Last year, when I first launched Work Media as a full-time business (rather than a sideline) it was much easier to blog regularly because I didn't have much else to do. I didn't really have any clients to speak of so I had plenty of time for marketing, such as publishing my blog. Funny how things change once you actually start getting some business.

Now there are two of us working full-time, with a major expansion about to happen that will greatly increase the number of people associated with Work Media, and it's all we can do to get our work done. So blogging has fallen way down the list of priorities. But it must be done!

Why? For one thing, it generates search engine rankings for our web site. Another reason is that it is a way for us to clarify our thoughts on subjects related to Internet marketing - a way for us to think out loud. It also helps establish our credibility by creating original writings about our industry. We have used a lot of content originally published in our blogs as material for articles and books.

So...you should do the same. Force yourself to post three blog posts every week. And on those days when you just can't come up with anything, phone it in. Just getting it done somehow is better than not doing it at all.

Work Media provides a blog publishing service. If you just don't have the time or energy to do it, we'll do it for you! Contact us today at 888-299-4837 or email Info@WorkMedia.net.

Labels: blog marketing, blogging, blogging advice, blogging service, content creation, internet marketing, web site marketing

Ma.gnolia is a very nicely designed social bookmarking site that is easy to use. It has a Google Page Rank of 7, so it can be a nice boost to your site to acquire links from it.

To sign up:

1. Visit http://ma.gnolia.com.

2. Click the Join button on the top menu. The URL is: http://ma.gnolia.com/join.

3. Type in the required information and click “Join Free”.

4. In a few minutes you will receive an email from Ma.gnolia that you will click to
activate your account.

To bookmark a web page:

1. On the front page, there is a box on the right side of the screen labeled “Add a
bookmark”. Click the arrow beneath the textbox to expand the box to give you
options to add a title, description, and tags (separated by a comma).

2. Type in the information and click Save. Leave the checkbox labeled “Keep
bookmark private” unchecked.

3. As before, make use of the keywords someone would use to search for your web
site in the tags and in the title.

To see the top tags being used on the site, click the Tags link on the top menu. Then click
the tab labeled “Everyone’s Top Tags”.

To add the functionality to your browser to bookmark sites without having to go do the
Ma.gnolia web site, visit: http://ma.gnolia.com/support/bookmarklets.

We suggest that you create an account and bookmark every page on your site that has strong content. Hopefully some other people will see your bookmark, check out your site, and bookmark it themselves. Another strategy is to get people who know you or are associated with your business to create their own accounts and bookmark your site as well.

For help integrating social bookmarking sites into your online marketing strategy, contact Work Media at 888-299-4837 or Info@WorkMedia.net.

Labels: content, content creation, internet marketing, ma.gnolia.com, marketing, social bookmarking, social media

I have had a fair amount of experience working on optimizing web sites that were built on top of some kind of sophisticated content management systems (CMS), and my first thought is almost always the same: man, I wish they had contacted me before BEFORE building the site. The very nature of a CMS works against what you want to accomplish with your site from a search engine marketing perspective. I've said it a number of times, but it bears repeating: you want to maximize content and minimize code. Unfortunately, when you are dealing with a system that has to flexible enough to accomodate all kinds of different content of different lengths, widths, and attributes, the code to make that happen is often very poorly optimized.

But if you follow our suggestions, you will be more likely to hire a company (and a CMS) that will allow you to effectively manage your content and also rank well in the search engines:

Look at examples of code generated by the CMS for other web sites. If you don't have a strong grasp on what well-optimized code should look like, hire a search engine professional to do this for you. It will be money well-spent. If the CMS provider can't provide samples of cleanly coded web pages, move on to another company.

Ask for a list of other companies who have used the CMS. Then search for their web sites in the search engines (by industry, not by company name) to see if you can find them. If they don't appear in the search engine rankings, then that is a clue that the CMS provider creates web sites that are not search engine-friendly.

Ask the CMS vendor about search engine optimization. They will probably say things like you can insert keywords, meta descriptions, etc. That's not what you're interested in. You want to know if they really know anything about search engine optimization - listen for terms such as "keyword density", "CSS", "layers", and "optimization." Again, it may be very helpful to hire a search engine expert to take part in this conversation.

Call companies who have used the vendor's CMS and ask about their satisfaction and if they are getting much natural traffic from search engines.

If after doing the above things you don't feel very confident that the CMS will work well AND will help you establish high search engine rankings, then look elsewhere.

If you need help choosing a content management system for your web site (this needs to be done BEFORE you build your site!), call Work Media at 888-299-4837 or email Info@WorkMedia.net.

Labels: CMS, content, content creation, content management system, internet marketing, search engine marketing, search engine optimization, search marketing, seo, web marketing, web site marketing

When writing copy for your web site (or any other marketing piece), don't assume that the reader will understand why he should do business with you. Don't overestimate the intelligence of the reader. Write in such a way that a person who doesn't know anything about your industry will understand what you are saying. Don't worry about insulting anyone's intelligence.

In addition to producing more sales, a detailed letter written for a wide audience will be easier to read. It will flow. The reason is that reading on a computer screen is more difficult than reading on paper. It's hard on the eyes. So short sentences and short paragraphs, along with bullet points and other visual effects, are easier to follow.

Use stories, anecdotes, facts and figures to make it crystal clear to the reader why she must do business with you. You probably won't accomplish this by listing the details of what you do or sell. You must convert those features (of the product or service) into benefits (to the customer). Provide an inventory of all the benefits that will accrue to the customer. One after another. This is no time to be modest.

Give proof that what you say is true. If you have specific training, education, or certifications in your industry that are evidences of your status, then tell about it. If you have specific experience and have accomplished certain results, then tell about it. You will do this after discussing the benefits. In essence, you are trying to entice the reader into purchasing from you, and then using concrete evidence to reduce skepticism.

The final dot that needs to be connected is what action the reader needs to take. Again, don't assume that it will be obvious to the reader what he should do. Tell him what phone number to call, when to call, what email to use, when to email, what web site to go to, etc. etc. etc. Using the ideas of scarcity ("supplies are limited") or time constraints ("Offer ends this Friday") are ways to prod the reader into action. People naturally procrastinate, so you have to do something to force action.

If you would like some help writing sales copy for your web site, contact Work Media at 888-299-4837 or email Info@WorkMedia.net.

Labels: ad writing, advertising, content, content creation, conversion strategy, copywriting, internet marketing, marketing

Yesterday's post got us into that direct marketing kind of mode. The weather in Nashville was beautiful so I (Jerry) spent some time in the afternoon sitting outside reading a Dan Kennedy book, No B.S. Wealth Creation for Entrepreneurs. Highly recommended, as are all of Kennedy's books. Anyway, in keeping with the theme of applying direct marketing concepts to your online marketing, I thought I would spend a little more time talking about headlines.

Following is a short list of classic, proven headlines that you can modify to your own situation:

How a New Kind of Clay Improved my Complexion in 30 Days

How I Improved my Memory in One Evening

6 Types of Investors - Which Group Are You In?

A Little Mistake that Cost a Farmer $3,000 a Year

Advice to Wives Whose Husbands Don't Save Money

Are You Ever Tongue-Tied at a Party?

Discover the Fortune that Lies Hidden in Your Salary

Who Much is a Little Leak Costing Your Company?


One thing these ads all have in common is that they pique the curiosity of the reader without giving away too much detail. Each one is a little bit of a mystery. The point is to make the reader want to read more to find out the detail. Each play on a concern or problem that the prospect has, and implies that reading more will reveal the solution to the problem.

The headlines should also be tied to your "USP" - your Unique Selling Proposition. This is the thing that separates you from others in your industry, and the reason someone should do business with you. Jay Abraham has a technique for creating a USP that is very simple but does a great job in helping you discover the USP for your business. Here is what you do:

1. Get a couple of sheets of paper and a pen.
2. At the top of one sheet, write "You know how..."
3. At the top of the other, write "Well, what we do is..."
4. Then just fill in the blanks.

For example, if you are a stock broker, you might say:

"You know how some stock brokers don't ever call you to let you know how your portfolio is doing?"

and then respond with:

"Well, what we do is call all of our clients every Friday afternoon with a report about how their portfolio did that week."

You could then build your USP around the idea that you provide superior customer service by calling all of your clients weekly to discuss their portfolio. This could then be tied into a headline such as "Does Your Stock Broker Ever Leave You Wondering What's Going on With Your Account?" Your headline then feeds into your marketing content where you explain about the extra effort your firm puts into maintaining communication with your clients.

So start with your USP, and then use it to create a powerful, provocative headline which leads into benefit-packed advertising copy. Do this on your web site, your emails, and all other forms on online marketing.

If you would like help implementing an effective online marketing campaign for your business, contact Work Media at 888-299-4837 or Info@WorkMedia.net.

Labels: ad writing, advertising, content, content creation, conversion strategy, copywriting, internet marketing, web marketing, web site marketing

A.I.D.

Attention, interest, desire.

This is a classic direct marketing formula that, if you apply it to your online marketing, will make you much more successful. Today's blog is a lesson in applying this formula to your Internet marketing.

The "Attention" in A.I.D. means that you use some kind of immediate, attention-grabbing start to your marketing. Typically, this is accomplished with a headline. Just like traditional advertising, your Internet marketing - a web page, an email, a press release, or whatever - needs to have a headline that sparks the curiosity of the reader.

Here are a couple of examples of classic headline formulas that have worked for years:

They laughed when I [did something] but not when I [did something else unexpected]

How to [do something] 236% better.

The first formula plays off of the human desire to do something, or to do it better. The original use of the headline was for instructional material about playing the piano. It implied that the product would teach anyone how to play the piano. The second example demonstrates the use of some kind of very specific, proven result. It may seem odd to use a percentage like 236% rather than some rounded number, but that kind of specificity lends credibility to the headline. The point is to try and craft some kind of headline that compels the reader to read more. The headline is the ad for the ad.

Once you've got the reader past the headline, it's time to tell him all the reasons he should do business with you. This is the "Interest" part of the formula. The copy should focus on the reader and what she gains. This is where you tell all the benefits of your product or service. Benefits are not features. Features are the technical details of what you do or sell. It is things like size, color, and services that will be performed. You should not assume that the reader understands why the features are desirable. You should specifically tell him why the features are good. Translate every feature into a benefit to the prospect and focus your copy on that. Discuss features AFTER discussing benefits. The interest section is also where you can discuss your credentials and other things that set you apart from your competition.

The "Desire" part of the formula is where you convince the reader that he will benefit greatly if he does business with you right now, but will lose out if he delays. You create a feeling of desire by offering free bonuses if the prospect acts immediately, or a discount price. Or by placing a time limit on the offer, so that if action is not taken by some date, then the product or service will no longer be available.

The copy should close with a call to action - tell the reader exactly what to do. Make it EASY to do business with you.

It is possible that strict adherence to the A.I.D. formula isn't quite appropriate for your business. But you need to keep it in the back of your mind when writing copy for your web site or other purposes. Provide the reader with valuable information, but don't forget - ultimately, your goal is to turn a prospect into a customer.

For help writing convincing copy for your web site, contact Work Media at Info@WorkMedia.net or 888-299-4837.

Labels: ad writing, content creation, copywriting, internet marketing, marketing, online branding, web marketing, web site marketing

Today we thought we would talk a little bit about where to distribute articles for Internet marketing purposes. If you've read much of our blog, then you know we are huge proponents of article distribution as a way to drive traffic to your web site. The key word there is DISTRIBUTION. You need to get it out there.

Here are some article directories to get you started:

http://ezinearticles.com
http://articledashboard.com
http://easyarticles.com
http://buzzle.com
http://article99.com
http://articlealley.com
http://articleexpress.com
http://articledash.com
http://articlenexus.com

All of the above sites require membership with the site to post articles. There is software that claims to distribute your article to lots of these kinds of sites at once. It's probably worth investing in, although the surest way to get it done is manually.

One other article site we really like is http://isnare.com. It has a feature whereby you can have your article distributed to dozens of other sites that are part of its network, so that is a good, low-cost, high percentage way to leverage your efforts and reasonably sure that your article is getting distributed.

If you can write and distribute one article per week, it will have a profound impact on your web site - even more so if you combine article writing with blogging.

For help implementing a content distribution plan for your web site, contact Work Media at 888-299-4837 or email info@workmedia.net.

Labels: article directories, article distribution, articles, content creation, internet marketing

You put a lot of work into getting people to your web site - search engine optimization, pay-per-click, content creation - but it doesn't mean much if you are not able to convert traffic into customers. Following are a few tips for improving your conversions.

Make it easy for the visitor to convert

Make it very easy to do whatever it is you want your web site visitor to do. If you want her to fill out a form, make the form easy to find and don’t ask for too much information. This is another area where testing can help you find the best way to do things. For example, you could create two different landing pages with different forms, and then use pay-per-click ads to drive traffic to those two pages. Your analytics (discussed later) will then tell you which one converted better. You will then know with great confidence which of the two forms works better.

Get the visitor involved

You want to draw visitor into your web site and get him involved. Get them clicking, selecting and typing. Devices such as text boxes, radio buttons, check boxes and dropdown lists cause your visitors to interact with your web site. The more they interact, the more likely they are to engage in some kind of conversion event. Even if it's simply getting their email address, that is far, far better than their leaving with no conversion event at all.

Tell the visitor exactly what to do

Don’t assume anything! Give your visitors specific instructions on how to go about ordering, subscribing, contacting you, or whatever action you want them to perform. If they need to click the big red button, tell them to click the big red button. And despite what you may have heard, there is nothing wrong with a link that says “Click here”. Research has shown that those types of links actually have higher click-through rates. Don’t worry about insulting your visitors’ intelligence. You won’t. It is much safer to design for the lowest common denominator – those with little web surfing experience who need specific, step-by-step instructions.

If you need some help converting your web site visitors into customers, contact Work Media at 888-299-4837 or info@workmedia.net.

Labels: content, content creation, conversion strategy, internet marketing, search engine marketing, search marketing, sem, seo, sponsored search, web marketing, web site marketing

Dan Kennedy has a piece of marketing advice that I really like, and that I try to adhere to every day (actually, Kennedy has many pearls of wisdom), that goes something like this:

Do something every day to put prospects in the pipeline.

In other words, do some kind of promotion every day to bring business. It could be:

• Make a blog post
• Send an email
• Write an article
• Send a newsletter

These are just a few examples. Unless it's a day where you are determined not to do any kind of work, don't rest your head at night until you have done SOMETHING to bring in business. Work Media really likes the approach of blogging every day. It creates lots of original content, helps our search engine rankings, and helps get our name out to the world. If we at least make a blog post, then we have made some kind of little effort in the name of marketing.

Which is why, as on many nights, this post is being made at just a little before 11:00 PM. It might be bed time...but we're still promoting.

Labels: blog, blog marketing, blogging, blogging advice, business, content, content creation, internet marketing

Even if you don't know a thing about HTML, you can at least partially optimize the pages of your Web site by "eyeballing" them and passing the suggestions along to your web designer (or doing them yourself if you have that ability). Here are some tips to get you started (these tips assume you already have some idea of keywords you need to target):

• Does the web page have a keyword-loaded title?
• Does the keyword have a keyword-loaded header? A lot of un-optimized web sites have a header that says something like "Welcome to my web site!". Scrap that and replace it with a header that instead uses your keywords.
• Does your web page copy use your keywords and are the keywords used near the top of the page?
  
• Is the web site copy easy on the eyes? Copy on a web page is much more difficult to read than words on paper, so you should break the copy up into short paragraphs and use lots of bullet points, along with occasional bold text, italics, etc. And use dark text on a light background.
  
• Does your front page have some kind of call to action? You should try to get the Web reader to read more, sign up for your newsletter, read your blog, or whatever would further your objective.
• Is the web design clean and uncluttered? Is the site easy to navigate?
• Think from your customers' perspective. Are you giving them what they need? If you don't know what they need, you should find out by asking or doing surveys.

These suggestions have nothing to do with keyword density or anything like that. They simply relate to making sure your web site is easy to read, easy to use, and tries to get your visitors to perform some specific action.

For help optimizing your web site, contact Work Media at info@workmedia.net or 888-299-4837.

Labels: content, content creation, copywriting, internet marketing, search engine optimization, seo

Unlike the real world, where doing press releases is a slow, laborious process, in the on-line world, sending a single press release can result in extremely wide distribution and almost immediate feedback. The first key is to use a press release distribution service such as PRWeb. PRWeb already has a huge network of writers, editors, webmasters, bloggers, etc. who voluntarily receive press releases. You can also have the press release injected directly into search engine news results.

One powerful aspect of online press releases is how fast your information is distributed. Upon sending a press release, your information could appear on news-oriented web sites in 48 hours or less. These sites will now link back to your site. Also, if you use keywords in your press release, you could quickly achieve high search engine rankings for those keywords. In a 48 hour period you could create hundreds of new, keyword-loaded links pointing back to your site.

You need to take great care when composing your press release. You need to think in terms of both compelling, interesting copy, and of search engine optimization. Use your keywords as near to the top of your copy as possible, and use them as often as possible without sounding spammy. If your press release contains a strong call to action, that is even better. You want to compell readers of the press release to visit your web site for more information.

We will be talking more about using online press releases in future blogs. For help implementing an online PR campaign for your business, contact Work Media at workmedia.net or 888-299-4837.

Labels: content, content creation, internet marketing, online pr, online press releases, online publicity, pr, publicity, web marketing

The whole point of your Internet marketing campaign is to drive people to your web site and then get them to do something: buy your product, fill out a form, call you, whatever. The more traffic you can drive to your site, the better your chances of achieving your web site goal. So everything you do should be for the purpose of driving traffic to your site.

If you have a blog that is separate from your web site, you are splitting your efforts. Your blog should be part of your web site. Your blog can be used to feed content throughout your site. This can be accomplished by specifically tagging your posts and then using your own RSS feed to feed content to different sections of your web site. Using the Work Media web site as an example, our page about Pay-Per-Click Marketing features snippets of blog posts that have been tagged "pay-per-click". As a result, every time we update our blog, we create new content that gets spread throughout our web site. And you know search engines love content that changes often.

The same effect could be achieved with a blog that was hosted with your blogging service (such as blogger.com) or at a separate domain, but you weaken your branding effort. Readers of your blog won't see your domain name in the browser window. They may not even see the connection between your blog and your web site. You should set your blog template to look as much like the rest of your web site as possible. Think "branding".

Contact Work Media for help implementing your blog marketing campaign at info@workmedia.net or 888-299-4837.

Labels: blog, blog marketing, blogging, blogging advice, branding, content, content creation, internet marketing