Free Blog Posts When You
Use All Custom Content

March 3, 2010

If you do business online, then you know that a blog can help increase your exposure, reputation and most importantly, your profits. Blogs:

Showcase your expertise.
Help you build your list quickly.
Are easy to share on social networking sites.
Allow you to connect with other like-minded entrepreneurs.
Create closer relationships with your readers and customers.
Can help you get media publicity.

In short, they can be an incredibly valuable piece of virtual real estate. Problem is, a blog is also hard work. To reap any of the benefits, you have to publish with some regularity and as a business owner, you have more important things to do with your time than write all day.

How to Fit Blogging into Your Work Week:

Plan your content ahead of time (Use Annette’s Editorial Calendar Tips)
Make sure your content has purpose, so you get the most out of your time.
Make a schedule you can handle – don’t over commit yourself. You’re running a business and blog simply complements that.

Or You Can Get Someone Else To Do the Writing

Alice & Annette wanted me to share an opportunity for you to get your blog posts written and some of them for free! For the whole month of March, All Custom Content is offering 2 free blog posts for every order of 10.

Important Note: This offer is good only for requests made in the month of March 2010. Just fill out the request form and let the ladies know you heard about the 2 free blog posts deal.

About the Author

Lesli Mack is a niche-marketer that creates content across a wide variety of markets. She enjoys working quietly in her own home office, creating websites that earn money…even while she sleeps. She brings plenty of great strategies to the table, based on years of personal experience.

Blog Energizer Review

November 24, 2009

blog-energizer As an online business owner, you’re probably well aware of the benefits of blogging. You know that it helps you build a relationship with your audience and keeps them interested in your business. But if you’ve been blogging for any length of time, you may have also discovered that it’s not as easy as it looks. You have to constantly keep coming up with fresh topics and looking for new ways to promote your blog. Even for the most enthusiastic blogger, it can seem like a chore at times.

Sound familiar? Maybe you should take a look at Blog Energizer. It’s a membership site that provides lots of great resources that can help you breathe new life into your blog. It’s run by Contentrix’s own web developer, Lynette Chandler, and she provided me with a free premium membership to check out. Highlights include:

Monthly topic ideas – Each month, members get a whopping 90 topic ideas – 30 business topics, 30 health topics, and 30 home and family topics. But that’s not all. There’s also a topic calendar published each month that includes holidays, observances and conferences that provide inspiration for many more topics.
Buzz topics – Want topics that are hot right now? Take a look at the Buzz Topics section. It contains keywords that are all over the latest news, blog posts and social sites, and it’s updated in real time. You’ll never have to write about yesterday’s news again.
Guest bloggers – A fresh perspective can work wonders for your blog, and the easiest way to get it is to find a good guest blogger. Blog Energizer members can visit the Guest Bloggers section and find fellow bloggers who are looking for guest blogging opportunities. They can also submit offers to write for other blogs if they’re looking for a way to expand their audience.
Freebies and special offers – Everybody loves free stuff, and your blog readers are no exception. Members get access to lots of freebies and other special offers that they can share with their readers, as well as products that fellow business owners are willing to provide for them to review.
Bonuses – Members get access to exclusive discounts, free reports and other great bonuses.

The premium membership offers all of these great features and more. There’s no doubt that it’s a real bargain at only $10 a month! But you don’t even have to pay that much to try it out. You can join for free and try out some of the features for as long as you like before you buy.

If you have a blog that needs some TLC, Blog Energizer is for you. Check it out and see for yourself!

About the Author

Kristy Pruitt is a freelance writer and blogger. She specializes in web content and ghostwriting. Her work has been published on several websites, including eHow, Associated Content and Coupon Trunk.

Do I Really Need A Blog?

November 7, 2009

As with anything related to Internet business, the subject of blogging for business brings forth a wide variety of passionate opinions. If you want a short answer to the question of “Do I need a blog?” I have one for you.

The answer is NO (but don’t stop reading yet).

If you want to earn a living online, there is no one thing you NEED.

Some people don’t have their own website (but that’s not really a business, but that’s another story…)
Some people don’t have their own mailing list (crazy… I know!)
Many have blogs and many don’t.
Plenty use sales letters and many don’t.
Some people sell information products. Some people don’t.

All in all these are just tools and you need to choose the right tools for your business. What tools you use will depend on:

Your business goals (this post has info showing you some of the benefits of blogging).
How much time you can invest.
Budget (but thankfully, in the case of blogging, in its simplest form, personal blogging is cheap).
Your personal style and preference.

Now, just because you don’t feel like blogging, don’t swear it off as a tool for your business just yet. Here are some benefits to consider about blogging.

A blog allows you to:

Get more personal with your readers. You can speak directly, offer glimpses into your life.
Give your readers and customers more opportunity to communicate with you directly through commenting.
Create linkable “content”. Most people won’t willingly link to a sales page, but they will readily share an entertaining, thought-provoking or informative blog post.
Easily post updates about your company or products.
Sell while informing. Your blog can be a center of information that leads your reader to buy your products.

What if you can’t blog regularly?

Many people worry about starting a blog if they aren’t sure they can post regularly. Now, you don’t necessarily need to post every day or even several times per week, but having some kind of regularity will help you gain a following for your blog.

Consider these tips for less frequent blogging:

Remove the dates from your post. A blog with an old post date may appear abandoned.
Try for a weekly or bi-weekly update. If your readers know you post on Wednesdays, for example, you can (in effect) train them to look forward to your posts.
Plan your topics in advance. Knowing what you plan to write about makes it easier to put your posts together. You can even write several at once and publish them ahead of time.
Invite guest authors to post on your blog.

But also consider… a blog is not just a blog.

When we think of blogging, we often think of a public diary/online journal of sorts, but a blogging platform offers you a convenient and relatively simple way to share information and updates, even if you don’t do the blogging yourself.

Here are some alternative uses to the blog platform:

Blog as a CMS: Use a Wordpress set up as a content management system (CMS) where you post general articles. You might employ ghostwriters or use PLR.

Blog as a media centre: Post your press releases and brief company updates. Your VA can do these updates for you.

So once again, a blog isn’t a necessity, but comes with many benefits and uses. Whether you become an avid blogger, post occasional update or use your blog as a CMS, blogging will likely become part of your online business.

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About the Author

Alice Seba is the owner and creator of Contentrix.com. With a focus on using content to create relationships, loyalty and results from writing, she loves helping online business owners get more bang out of their content.