Search engines also love fresh content, and blogs, by definition, are constant sources of new content. If written correctly – or more specifically interestingly – blogs can also provide wider link bait and garner links from outside the blogosphere. Search engines, of course, reward for good, inbound links regardless of whether they’re from other blogs.

Jeff Muendel, Natural Search Analyst for Netconcepts, recommends that eCommerce sites take full advantage of WordPress, a blogging platform that offers a host of SEO-friendly options to allow for excellent search engine optimization. To read more about Jeff’s expert advice about WordPress and plug-ins, like the Yahoo! Shortcuts for WordPress plugin, visit the full article on Practical eCommerce.

One of the questions she covers is: Will blogging really help?

If the blog is optimally created and maintained, with a transparent, sincere voice and a commitment to using it to build relationships as well as links, then, yes, it will help. How much? That depends on how much the company is willing to invest in developing relationships with customers and prospects in the blogosphere. The only time blogging can really hurt is if the bloggers are insincere and dishonest and ignore their audience, or if your company has a god-awful online reputation in the first place. If you’re in a war of attrition over your company’s online reputation, it’s going to take a heck of a lot more than a simple blog to fix the mess you’re in.

For more about this topic, visit the full article about getting started in blogging at ClickZ.

In this interview, Steve discusses how Netconcepts has helped him over-achieve his business goals by rebuilding his original ecommerce site and later creating a powerful blog to fuel his viral online success.

Steve states, “I found a couple Web sites [that I liked] and they said “Netconcepts” on the bottom. So I contracted [the company] to redesign the Web site. I wanted to find somebody that wasn’t in my industry, to not get the same old stuff. I liked what [the Netconcepts LLC founder Stephan Spencer] was saying about showing people you’re the expert in that field by what you write. I found out how important it was to have more content, like our experiment library. People started visiting.”

Read entire Wall Street Journal article here.

1. Create a “safe haven” to experiment with blogging. Set up a private blog on your intranet or extranet, or start a blog that’s password-protected. Then offer access to that test to a selected audience. That will give your inexperienced bloggers comfort because they won’t have having to worry that all of your customers, competition, and the media are watching their every move. They’re trying to find your feet, so help them feel safe while they’re doing it.

2. Decide on a permanent home for your blog. The web address you choose for your blog should be one that you will be happy with for years to come. Remember the early days of the commercial Internet, and many a business card included an earthlink.net or aol.com email address? It made it very painful to switch email providers. (I know people that to this day still pay their AOL subscription only because they don’t want to lose their long-standing email address.) Similarly, it will become difficult to switch blog services if you allow the service to be part of your URL. For example, ehobbies.blogs.com, backcountryblog.blogspot.com, and sethgodin.typepad.com are all examples of blogs that are forever wedded to their blog platform — for better or for worse! If they switch platforms, all the links they’ve earned will be unavailable to their new blog. Links are the lifeblood of your search engine visibility, so the significance of this cannot be overstated.

   You may want to utilize the domain name of your online store (e.g. blog.ice.com). Resist the temptation! In most cases, your blog will be more successful in acquiring links from other bloggers by being at an arm’s length from your storefront, in other words by having a unique domain name (e.g. www.justaskleslie.com). Let me supply a hypothetical example. If a life insurance company has a blog about health and wellness and it’s at www.stayinghealthy.com, then that will most likely garner many more links (and consequently superior search engine rankings) than one at blog.lifeinsuranceco.com — particularly if the former isn’t too much of a hard sell for its life insurance products. (Remember, mastering the soft sell is the name of the game in the blogosphere.)

   This may seem like an oversimplification, since I haven’t discussed the branding implications, but I believe the “link-ability” of the blog is what will give your blog a long productive life in the blogosphere.

   Once you’ve settled on a URL for your blog, publish something at that URL straight away. Even if it’s merely some “Coming Soon” verbiage. This will help you establish a history for your new blog site and will help you avoid the “Google Sandbox” when the time comes for you to launch your blog for real. The Google Sandbox is a term used by us SEOs (search engine optimizers) to refer to the penalty Google applies to new sites with new domain names. Google created this as a deterrent to search engine spammers, but unfortunately legitimate marketers are often caught by this algorithm too.

3. Select a scalable, flexible, and user-friendly blog platform. There are so many solutions to choose from! Some are hosted services, such as TypePad, Blogger, and WordPress.com. Some are software packages that you install on your web server, such as WordPress, Drupal or Movable Type. Rather than pour over comparison charts, my advice is simply to go with WordPress (the software package, not to be confused with the hosted service at WordPress.com). WordPress is free, so the price is right. It’s highly configurable, since it’s “open source” and has a plethora of free, useful plugins written for it (I’ve compiled a list of my favorites). And it’s got all the functionality you’d ever need, all wrapped up in an easy-to-use interface. After I and my team at Netconcepts did extensive research on blogging packages, we came to the conclusion that WordPress really is the best.

4. Decide on a posting schedule. Try to post at least three times per week. Allow several hours per week for this. I typically spend 2 to 3 hours per week blogging. Don’t hire a ghostwriter for your blog, or you’ll get slammed by bloggers for lack of transparency (an unwritten rule in the blogosphere). As far as retaining readers, recency is more important than frequency. A couple weeks of inactivity makes the reader feel like nobody’s home. Conversely, having the latest post be only a day old makes the blog appear “fresh”. Personally, I don’t like keeping RSS feeds in my newsreader that haven’t had recent activity.

5. Get respected bloggers on your side. Building relationships with respected bloggers is absolutely key. Not only will they be more likely to link to you, but they will also offer advice and bolster your “street cred.” Posting thoughtful comments on their blogs is only the first step: do it enough and you may get on their radar, but it’s not enough. Attend blogger conferences like BlogOn and Blog Business Summit and meet bloggers in person. Keep the dialogue going through email and through phone or Skype conversations. Become an evangelist for businesses blogging and you will really get them on-side.

   Don’t be afraid to enlist the help of an expert. Many highly regarded bloggers are available for paid consulting. I’d also suggest you work with a web designer who’s very familiar with WordPress (assuming that’s the blog software you decide on). That way they aren’t learning on your dime, and they aren’t trying to steer you towards an inferior package because they are more familiar with it.

Moderator:
Stephan Spencer, President, Netconcepts

Speakers:
Pinny Gniwisch, EVP Marketing, Ice.com
Seth Greenberg, CEO, eHobbies
Steve Spangler, SteveSpanglerScience.com

Seemingly everybody is getting into blogging — celebrities such as William Shatner, gurus like Tom Peters, and journalists like Dave Barry. And yes, the business world too is embracing blogs — from corporate giants like General Motors to small but standout businesses like the Savile Row tailor Thomas Mahon. (I’ve caught the bug too; I blog on e-marketing and SEO at www.StephanSpencer.com.)

WHY ARE PEOPLE READING BLOGS?

A new blog is created every 5.8 seconds, according to the Washington-based Pew Internet and American Life Project research center. Not surprisingly, many of the millions of blogs littering the Web are not meant for public consumption beyond a small circle of friends or colleagues. Business bloggers, on the other hand, target a wider audience consisting of current and prospective customers, catering to their wants and needs with useful info or insightful commentary on a regular basis.

According to marketing guru and celebrated blogger Seth Godin, there are three types of business blogs: “news blogs,” which follow the latest happenings in a particular topic area; “writers’ blogs,” where the blogger mostly riffs and pontificates; and “our blogs,” which are merely firestarters for conversations carried on within the blog by the community of blog readers.

News blogs keep readers up to date with events in their areas of expertise or interest, only pointing out the best or most interesting stuff. Thus, bloggers whom you trust and resonate with can save you time by acting as a personal filter, cutting through the information glut.

Writers’ blogs stimulate the reader’s thinking and challenge his preconceptions. “Our blogs” provide the reader with the impetus to join a conversation on issues that he cares about. In effect, it’s participatory journalism.

TO BLOG, OR NOT TO BLOG?

Curiously, catalogers and retailers are notably absent from the “blogosphere” — the online blogging world. By lagging behind on this new trend, they’re missing a key opportunity to actively participate in the global online conversation that’s now happening without them.

Consider, for example, the fact that wine merchant Wine.com does not have a blog. Wine enthusiasts flock to wine blogs such as Vinography for their daily dose of news and opinion, rather than a Wine.com blog. Yet where does Wine.com figure in to Vinography’s many hundreds of posts? Unfortunately, a mere four times, and those few mentions aren’t all favorable. A Wine.com blog, full of passion for wine and devoid of disguised advertorial, would over time develop a loyal following and be in a position to influence its readers’ buying decisions.

THREE REASONS TO ADD BLOGGING TO YOUR OWN MARKETING ARSENAL

1. You’ll be seen as an expert in your niche
   If your blog is a good one, you build credibility with your readers, and they come to rely on you for the latest thinking, news, and trends in your field of expertise or interest. It’s as if you become the lens through which the readers view the greater Web. Then, as their thought leader, you can influence the readers through a soft-sell approach. Furthermore, a blog draws in visitors, making them want to return again and again to see what new stuff has been posted.

2. People regard you as a human being they can relate to
   The personal voice of your blog is more “real” than the voice of your company’s site; it is more disarming and makes your company seem more approachable. People buy from people, not from some faceless corporate entity. It also gives customers an inside view of how you think, your unadulterated opinions, and your point of view.

3. Search engines love blogs
   Links are the currency of the Web as far as the search engines are concerned. A good blog garners links — in quantity and quality — yielding higher search engine rankings. No links equals no visibility in the natural (unpaid) search results, so links really are critical. Bloggers link extensively to each other within their blog posts, within their “blogrolls” (favorite blogs that they read regularly), and through trackbacks, which create links between a blog and its respondents. Blog posts are also syndicated onto other sites via a technology called Really Simple Syndication (RSS).

But can blogging have a positive impact on your bottom line? Absolutely, if it’s done right. Consider the success story of the Voltaic Backpack, as described in an article in Fortune magazine earlier this year. Entrepreneur Shayne McQuade received an early sample of his company’s solar-powered backpack, which can charge the wearer’s cell phone and other gadgets. He asked a friend — who runs a blog with a niche audience called Treehugger — to blog about it, and he did. The mention on Treehugger didn’t by itself produce a huge word-of-mouth epidemic. But another blogger higher up the blogging ecosystem picked up the story from Treehugger and blogged about the backpack on his Cool Hunting blog, which was then read by Gizmodo, one of the most popular blogs on the Internet for cool stuff and gadgets. Once the backpack was featured on Gizmodo, the orders poured in!

Last year Steve Spangler, founder/CEO of Steve Spangler Science, a catalog selling educational and entertaining science products, launched a blog at www.stevespangler.com. The blog already has a Google PageRank importance score on par with that of the company Website’s home page. The blog is effectively driving traffic and sales into the online store and further positioning Steve as a thought leader in childhood education.

James Robertson, managing director of Website design agency Step Two Designs, writes a blog called Column Two, which has become his company’s top client referral source. The blog, along with a compendium of his articles, accounts for 75% of new leads. Over the course of the blog’s first year (the blog was launched in April 2002), Web traffic went from 200 visitors a day to more than 1,500. Repeat visits per month quadrupled. Robertson reckons blogging has been “the best online marketing I’ve ever done.”

A key point for online marketers: Word-of-mouth plays a critical role in consumer purchase decisions both online and offline. People look to mavens they trust for product recommendations. If a blog positions you as one of those mavens, you can influence the positions and choices of those who follow your blog.

But also there is a real risk in not being part of the conversation. Case in point: Kryptonite Locks (referenced in the Editor’s Note of the May 1 issue). It was discovered that the company’s bike locks could be picked with a Bic pen, and this discovery made its way through the blogosphere while Kryptonite remained silent. The negative word-of-mouth continued to escalate until finally Kryptonite was forced to act, albeit too late to effectively contain the damage. The hubbub eventually cost the Ingersoll-Rand subsidiary $10 million in recall costs — more than a third of its annual revenue.

Godin said at a recent MarketingProfs’ Thought Leaders Summit on business blogging: “What I think blogs can do that’s really powerful is change the culture of an idea and the way a [corporation] sees itself. It’s about very specific vertical groups listening to a human being within a company so that they can hear the story behind that company — the story that the [corporation] needs and wants to tell. And if the stories are good and the ideas are worth spreading, they’ll spread.” Do you have a story to tell?

GETTING STARTED

Now that I have your attention, if you plan on writing a blog, follow these tips:

• Write blog posts as interesting links augmented with your own brief commentary, not in-depth articles or bland corporate-speak or, heaven forbid, press releases. Use a conversational tone. Let your opinion shine through.
• Encourage audience participation by allowing readers to comment on blog posts.
• Update your blog frequently. Aim for at least a few posts each week — the more the better. This garners repeat visits and improved search engine visibility. Search engines like recent content.
• Use a blogging service or software. Hosted services abound, among them Blogger.com, LiveJournal.com, and Typepad.com. Or you can install blogging software, such as WordPress or Moveable Type, on your Web server, integrating it within the rest of your site. A blogging tool makes maintaining your blog a breeze. Most of them provide an “RSS feed” so that people can siphon off your blog updates automatically using news aggregator software. On the road? Many of these tools also allow you to post audio messages and photos from your cell phone. A blog hosting service such as TypePad may cost around $15/month. Some, such as Blogger.com, are free. Some software — WordPress, for one — is free too. Movable Type costs $200-$1,300 depending on the number of users (blog authors).
• Provide multiple paths to your posts. Offer a search engine so that people can dig through old posts, and categories so that people can see all the topics that interest them. Even consider adding a top-10 list of your all-time best blog posts on your home page.
• Register with various blog directories and participate in blogger communities. The sooner you get into sites such as Technorati, Daypop, and Blog Universe, the sooner they’ll start referring traffic to your blog and increasing its search engine visibility through links.
• Have an RSS feed. Offering an RSS feed is easy, because it’s built right into most blogs — there’s no extra charge. An RSS feed is just a file hosted on the blog’s Web server. In many cases they’re subscribed to searches (often through a free service such as PubSub or Feedster). And so, if you sell widgets, all of a sudden, all subscribers to searches for “widgets” can read your blog, as long as the keywords they are searching for appear in your blog post. Be sure to track subscribers, reads, and click-throughs on the RSS feed.
• Allow readers to subscribe to blog updates via e-mail. Many people are still not very savvy about RSS, so e-mail provides a mechanism for them to follow your blog in a way they understand.
• Don’t be afraid to enlist some help. It takes skill as a writer and a storyteller to be an effective blogger. Consider engaging a blog consultant to help you find your right voice and learn best practices. You may even want to engage a professional blogger to help you research topics and draft posts. Whatever you do, be transparent. Don’t try to fool your readers into thinking you are writing when it’s actually a ghostwriter.
• Exercise good judgment. Obviously the rules of business propriety apply just as much in the blogosphere as elsewhere. Don’t leak confidential information, misrepresent your company, say anything libelous or slanderous, and so on. Credit your sources, and link to them.

EXCITING TIMES AHEAD

Blogging isn’t a passing fad; it’s here to stay. Nothing underlines that more than Google’s acquisition of Blogger.com, a service that hosts more than 200,000 active blogs and claims more than 1 million users.

Blogging is becoming an established communications channel in business. Business blogger and author Shel Israel predicts that the power of people to reach real humans inside the corporation will have a liberating effect. In the end, he says, marketing departments as we know them will be reconfigured to some degree.

Steve Rubel, PR guru and author of the Micropersuasion blog, predicts that blogging will eventually bring the end of corporate-speak because it whets people’s appetite for things that are written in a human voice. The heavy corporate communications style — “such-and-such a company today announced…” — is going to disappear because people want a human voice with credibility.

BL Ochman, of whatsnextonline.com, points out that one of the things so annoying about the Internet today is going to Websites where you can’t find a human anywhere. In the blogosphere, you find humans. And while a lot of retailers may pull back, asking “What would we do with all that feedback?” or “What are we going to do when all those people start responding to our blogs?” some may seize this opportunity and discover something exciting and powerful: that their words really can have an impact. Ochman says, “That’s going to be one of the bigger changes that companies will have to deal with, and it’s a very positive change that’s going to come about, all because of blogging!”

Problem:

Although Steve Spangler has this great persona in the offline world, it wasn’t translating very well to the online world.

“Our ecommerce site was terrible. No, it was worse than that. The website was abysmal,” says Steve. “I was getting one million viewers a week on TV but I was ashamed to send people to our site. After a first re-design (by another company) there will still problems. They knew nothing about SEO or how to translate the Wow Factor into sales. They could make a site that was aesthetically pleasing but they didn’t know how to wrestle the credit cards out of people’s wallets.”

After researching the problem Steve discovered Netconcepts and began a dialogue that continues to this day.

Solution:

The engagement with Netconcepts began with a website audit. We evaluated their existing site and made a whole raft of recommendations on how to improve it or do it better, as far as usability, functionality, search engine visibility, and making the site stickier. All of this had the goal of changing the site so that people will want to return to it again and again.

Steve Spangler Science liked the audit so much they asked us to implement our recommendations through a site re-design which we did, vastly improving the functionality of their ecommerce shopping cart site, and getting every page into Google. The whole site was re-built from the ground up to be search engine optimal.

Steve comments: “Netconcepts taught us to do things differently, to think differently about our web content and to write differently. I realized I was searching for the wrong thing. I had to learn to see the invisible stuff behind the web pages that make them rank well in the search engines. I had to stop thinking like a cataloger and instead draw upon my TV skills from the Four O’Clock News, I had to grab someone’s attention and keep them from clicking off to another site and Netconcepts helped me realize this”.

We also wanted to convey how entertaining Steve was. We did that through installing fun product demonstration video clips on the site and then later through suggesting Steve start a blog. We helped Steve through the whole blogging process: evaluating blogging software, designing the look-and-feel, and training Steve on how to write for blogs.

“The blog came about when I came to Netconcepts with an idea for a site re-design and they replied with the blog concept. What’s more, their concept was going to cost one-third less and be more effective than my original idea. I thought this honest, collaborative approach was great and in retrospect the blog was the right next thing to do. It gave our site more punch. Now it will become the cornerstone of my new speaker website.”

Netconcepts also assisted with email marketing: email strategy, with template creation, delivery and tracking, ensuring the goals of increasing visibility and usability were adhered to at each step.

Results:

Steve Spangler’s ecommerce site has grown in the past 18 months with revenue increasing three figures to mid five-figures a month..

Steve’s blog, although relatively new as of this year has already achieved a PageRank score on a par with his ecommerce site.

“A detailed analysis of our print catalog marketing plan revealed a direct correlation between catalog distribution and increased web traffic. However, a survey of our top customers revealed that they turned to our website to get MORE information on a product that interested them. Our high-content website not only answered their questions but prompted them to buy additional products that “grabbed” their attention.”

“Together we worked to make a very successful arm of my business. I am a tough client and I don’t have a six-figure annual web budget. Why did I agree to publish information in this case study? Am I concerned about our competitors getting a hold of it? Sure. But I have trust in Netconcepts to protect our innovative ideas and creative marketing strategies. Anyone can hire a web design company to “open up shop” on the internet. But just because a store is open doesn’t mean that anyone is shopping or buying. Netconcepts taught us how to turn shoppers into buyers and the key is have creative ideas, to think differently and to be innovative. It’s easy for our competitors to imitate (and we see it every day), but the real secret to internet marketing is to innovate. That’s why our competitors will always be 8 month behind. Thanks Netconcepts.” - Steve Spangler

(Also be sure to check out Steve’s testimonial for Netconcepts)