Everyone has at least one mobile phone, and a phone not being just a phone anymore doubles basically as a personal computer. You can do your banking, check your email, update your Facebook, buy stuff on eBay, check the weather, see what’s happening in the news.... and make a few phone calls too if you like! Read the rest of this entry »

Every business needs a website, in fact if you don't have a website you don't exist, apparently! Rightly or wrongly this is the general consensus of the public in general - it is expected that information about you and your business can be found easily online. This being said it is more important than ever to get not only a website, but one that works and can be found by potential customers, a site which also satisfies the curiosity that led them to you. Read the rest of this entry »

So you’ve decided to start blogging, that’s great... but then you’ve asked yourself the question – what do I write in my blog? Well the beauty of having your own blog is that you can write in it whatever you like! That still probably doesn’t help - still leaves you with the whole “blank canvas” thing happening? Read the rest of this entry »

What you’re reading right now is called a blog (in case you were wondering!), you will have seen many and varied versions of blogs – but what is the purpose of a blog and what is involved with setting one up?

A blog is literally a web-based journal, providing the reader with a list of regular “posts” displayed in reverse chronological order, usually on a particular subject or pertaining to a particular industry and often record a conversation string of comments in response to the post. Blogs can be maintained for personal or professional purposes.  For businesses, a blog (or a blog-style website) can be set-up as an alternative to a static site – the advantage of that of course is the ease of being able to manage and update content.

Creating a blog can be as simple or as complicated as you want it to be.  You can utilise free blog providers such as Google or WordPress (and run a www.username.wordpress.com or www.username.blogger.com blog).  Alternatively you can register your own domain and install the blogging software there.  Both programs offer an endless array of themes and templates you can use to build your site – or you can get your site designed specifically to the design requirements of your business branding and personal taste.

Do you need to blog?

A blog is a great way to get your message out there and educate your customers with information about your products.  Even if you already have a website, a blog is a great way to capture new leads and direct them to your core site. Quite often businesses will have a static webpage in place already so a blog provides a great opportunity to add value to that resource and offer dynamic interesting content to capture the attention of its readers and refer them back to the main site.

Are you using social media sites, or are you looking to start? A blog is the perfect companion to a Facebook page or better still a Twitter “micro-blog”.  Use shorter statements on your social media page or profile and use a URL shortening service like http://bit.ly* to direct traffic back to your blog, which then in turn is being linked back to your website! Think of all those inbound links?

Blogs are just generally a great forum to provide more information about what you do – educate the people with your ways, plant the seed of confidence in their minds and let it grow into a healthy relationship!

Need help setting up your blog? Contact Get-online-now.biz today

*There are numerous link shortening sites available, chose one that offers reporting on how often your links were clicked