All is abuzz about the new changes that Facebook are in the process of unveiling on their social networking site. So what is changing, what is new, and how will this affect you? Read the rest of this entry »

I believe that change is a good and positive thing, however in the case of Facebook and setting up pages and places and this and that, it has left me in a bit of a mess! So the purpose of this blog, really, is to give you the opportunity to learn from my dilemma... Read the rest of this entry »

Marketing on Social Networking sites is a craze that seems to just keep coming at us, every forum is a possible market-place and everyone is trying to sell their wares... Having a social media strategy in place seems to be the "in thing", with even a new market opened up for businesses to create and promote facebook pages and customise Twitter, YouTube and Myspace profiles so on and so forth - but is this something we should actually be spending our time and money on? 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