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assistant who is in tune with their coaching clients and customizes solutions based upon their individual needs and goals 2. differs from a general virtual assistant as they only partner with members of the coaching industry [syn: 
Archive for Web 2.0
Blogs Are Not An Option, Rather A Necessity
Posted by: | CommentsBlogs have been around for many years. They started out, in the beginning, as great personal journals for Internet users who wanted to share their daily lives with their family and friends. Now, fast forward through the years to today; where they are now commonly used as business tools as well as private diaries of sorts.
Blogs are basically mini-websites authors use to post information about a specific topic. Some blogs share experiences of an author’s career path, while others provide up to date news concerning the topic their blog presents.
What Makes Blogs Such a Great Tool to a Business Owner?
Blogs can provide so many opportunities for business to reap rewards that no business website should be without one. Here are some of the benefits a blog can provide any business owner:
A blog can drive more targeted traffic to their main site.
Blogs are favorites of search engines. They provide up to date content on a regular basis, so search engines will find them easier. Blogs can also be linked with other like-minded blogs to allow for more click-through visitors. Social bookmarking sites, social media sites and even message board forums love them as well. People will refer their friends to them when they see something they like.
Blogs make it easier to gain return visitors.
If a visitor likes your blog, they’ll keep coming back to see what else you have to say on a specific topic. Business blogs can be linked to the main company site as well. The more times people stop by, the more chances an owner has of getting those visitors to your business site.
Blogs allow one to easily gain expert status amongst a target audience.
The more you blog about your site’s topic, the more you come across as an expert in that field. A visitor can be awed by the information you’re offering them and could look up to you as an expert on a particular subject. Now, the next time they need to buy a certain product or need help with something in that area, they will think of you first.
Blogs are user friendly and inexpensive to boot.
There are blog programs that you can sign up for free or for a very nominal fee. Most blogs are easy to set up as they generally walk you through the process step-by-step. There aren’t too many marketing tools that are as easy to use and inexpensive to obtain. This alone makes a blog painless to your business budget.
Business blogs are easier when it comes to upkeep.
Blogs are fun to use, which makes them much easier to maintain. Posting regular tidbits of your chosen topic keeps a blog updated without a lot of hassle. Updating websites is essential, but can be time consuming and confusing as well.
The biggest benefit business blogs provide is…
Building Rapport with Your Target Audience
This is, by far, the best benefit you can obtain from a blog. Blogs have comment sections where readers can leave messages for you to let you know they liked what you said in a post or to add their own thoughts on the topic at hand.
You’re building a relationship with your target audience that can help gain trust from them as well as find out what they’re looking for in a product. This is your way to get an inside look at what your customer’s wants and needs are without spending lots of money on marketing surveys and advertisements that don’t work.
Blogs can give your business everything mentioned above and more. Adding a blog to your arsenal of marketing tools is a must do for any online business owner.
About the Author
Becki Noles is the virtual business manager and online marketing dynamo of the Virtual Accuracy Companies. She and her associates work with the top business and marketing coaches in the United States and the world over providing SEO, Pay Per Click, website development and technical virtual assistant services. Get the free 9 part series “How to Market Your Business” by visiting The Selon Group (a division of the Virtual Accuracy Companies).
Twitter…for Business?
Posted by: | CommentsOne of the newer social networking sites is Twitter. It sounds like a movement birds make. In fact it is a quick way to send messages to your favorite people via the Internet. Due to its popularity with people all over the world, many entrepreneurs wonder if Twitter can actually help them grow their business.
In order to answer that question we first need to find out what exactly Twitter is? It is a social networking site which allows people to keep in touch with friends, family, and others. Through a series of short posts, important information is sent to a person’s followers. Those short posts are called “tweets.”
Twitter has been used by people to send messages to their friends. The posts can be 140 characters long at most, which allows for quick, precise exchanges of information. If you wanted to let your family know that the reunion this year is in Harrisburg, PA and they needed to volunteer to do something, it would be easy to send them all a tweet at one time. When someone logs into their Twitter account or views your Twitter profile page, they would then see the message. They can then respond to you by posting a tweet of their own.
Twitter is real time communication for people who need to contact others right away. Some wondered if Twitter was just a fancy way of texting someone on the computer. Send a tweet to your husband to say dinner is moved to 7:30. Tell a girlfriend you’ve just bought that blouse you saw last week. If you only want to allow certain people to see the messages you are sending, you can easily mark your profile and updates as private.
Although many use Twitter as a more personal way to communicate, even more treat it as a virtual water cooler to connect with all types of people the world over. It seems as if tweeting would get boring after a while. Not so. With talkative friends you could be tweeted to death in a matter of days. Many actually find themselves losing precious time in their day chit-chatting with those with similar interests.
For the skeptical folks who want to know if tweeting will eventually tank, businesses have found a use for the social network that can increase their utilization and visibility on the Internet. First, let’s say that you have an office of fifty employees. Sending a memo every time there is a big announcement creates a lot of paper to file or leave for the trash man.
Businesses can now use protected Twitter messages to keep employees updated on departmental changes as well as company wide agendas. Employees can subscribe to the company feed set up on Twitter. Whenever there is something important posted, they will be notified.
The same goes for small one-owner and Internet businesses and their customers. Customers can subscribe to the company feed to learn about new products and other useful information. New businesses can create interesting tweets that produce interest and can be re-posted by others to help get the business or owner noticed.
Twitter fills a niche in the social networking sector and is here to stay. Businesses have found a way to make Twitter work to their advantage, whether they are work at home moms longing for adult interaction or reaching out to a broader audience to increase profit.
Becki Noles is the virtual business manager and online marketing dynamo of the Virtual Accuracy Companies. She and her associates work with the top business and marketing coaches in the United States and the world over providing online marketing, SEO, PPC, website development and technical virtual assistant services. Get the free 9 part series “How to Market Your Business” by visiting The Selon Group (a division of the Virtual Accuracy Companies).
