New businesses should blog

| July 2008 Posted in Business |

0 Comments Tags: Advertising, Business Blogging, CMS, content manager, Google, google maps, new business, target market, yellow pages

When you start a business there are a lot of things to consider…

For example; (and this is only 10!)

1. Know what you will do.
2. What will you need to start?
3. What are the government regulations you need to follow?
4. How much money do you need to start?
5. How much money will you make?
6. Where can you get help?
7. How do you intend to reach your target market?
8. How can you get started?
9. What tools can you use to operate and improve your work?
10. Your exit strategy.

With all of these things to think about, and many more I want to focus on number 7.

Having a marketing plan is key, but I’m sure that you are thinking about the money. Small businesses and start up money don’t always go hand and hand, or at lest there never seems to be enough money on hand. Without the marketing budget that some of your competitors might have, how will you compete? Have you considered the head start that your competitors might have

Lets address that unanswered question you have been avoiding….With all the competition, with all the marketing options, what do you do?

How much do you want to spend!? What have you set your marketing budget at $100/month, $500/month? Either way blogging is practically FREE and even more important, it works!

Yellow Pages (phone book) compared to Google

How many times a day do you flip through the phone book?
How many times a day do you use a search engine like Google?

The chart shows Google stats for 2006 (sorry its the most recent I can find) I cant find too many stats for people who flip through the yellow pages, but I’m willing to bet that it wouldn’t look anything like this!

When considering your methods of advertising and marketing, remember that if you want people to find your business then you need to be where the people are!

Quick tip: there is one great way to start advertising in search engines and its absolutely FREE…Google Maps…Submit your business information and get listed. Are you on the map?

Why use a blog to market your business?

Cost – blogging is extremely affordable and can fit into anyones budget.
Internet – There are about 1 billion people that use the internet world wide and with 91 million people searching for things each day, your audience is huge.
Search Engines – S.E love blogs, and they give blogs more love! Placing their importance higher then normal websites in search results (based on relevance of page content).
Consumers – People are become more and more likely to read a blog then they are to sift through a boring website. Blogs are quick and easy ways to get the information you need.
Cost – Blogging is a proven method for business marketing and it is ridiculously affordable

Blogging is not an automatic tool, it will require time and effort. Sometimes thats a little to much to ask from a new company trying to get off the ground. There are solutions to that concern that are relatively affordable. Hiring a company to develop a blog and a content manager to write for your blog is a great place to start. We use content managers for many of our clients, the CM(content manager) is responsible for targeting keywords that will generate more browser traffic to your website (don’t have a website get one!). They will research your industry, competitors, products, services and make sure that they understand your business so you can be well represented. A CM is then responsible for (depending on the package purchased) adding fresh content daily or weekly. A CM also monitors your blog and responds to comments or questions posted by your target market consumers.

To get to the bottom line, which I am sure everyone is interested in knowing, How much does a blogging strategy cost? Here are a few things that you will need to get started…

Server (for hosting the blog)
Blog Platform software
A sleek, clean looking design (something that matches your company image)
Time to write (recommended that you add fresh content no less then 3 times a week, for best results daily)
Understanding of keyword placement in each new post
Time to monitor your blog in case there are comments that need to be addressed

The price break down…

Server – Godaddy offers very affordable hosting plans (4$-60$/month)
Blog Software – WordPress is all that we recommend and its FREE!!
Blog Design – With WordPress there are hundreds of themes available to you that allow customization so you can create a company image, again FREE!
Time to Write – Plan on spending 30 to 60 minutes for each post
Keyword Placement – Google it, research it for FREE!
Time to Monitor – Plan on spending 30 minutes a day checking on you blog to read comments and respond.
Content Manager – Great way to go when starting out, $100-250/month
Hiring a Company – For a custom blog design and hosting package a reasonable price is $350-750/one time and $10-50/month for hosting and maintenance.

(prices listed are based on an average rate. Prices will vary based on project conditions)

The key to making you business blog successful is in sticking to what you know and making sure that your blog can be found by the right people. In order to find the right people you will need to appeal to your target markets needs and wants.

Focus on the basics and you will be fine!

Know your business
Know your audience
Determine what is most important to your potential customers
Be informative and not salesy
Provide frequent updates, lots of fresh content

If you want to be a successful business owner then you will need to drive consumers to your business, and you will want to make it easy for consumers to find YOU!