How to Implement a Blog Hub Strategy in Your Small Business Marketing

Blogs are all the rage right now, and rightly so.

They are very versatile and easy to manage, compared to a big Website.

They offer a place for people to comment and share insights.

And they look good! Well, most of them anyway...

But perhaps most important, for a small business owner, is the blog's potential for making money.

In the lines that follow, I outline the basic strategy for creating a Blog Hub, which can then become the center of your small business's online marketing efforts.

A Visitor-Friendly Space On The Web

Blogs are some of the most visitor-friendly places on the Web.

Why?

Because they are non-threatening.

When people think of a blog, they don't think about getting a sales pitch.

They think about receiving information.

Your blog's first and foremost job is to gather folks together (think of your blog as a virtual meeting place for the people you reach out to in your business) and provide them lots of information, along with an opportunity to interact with you and other visitors through comments.

That's what they expect when they come, and you don't want to let them down, right?

Moreover, along with the great information you provide, people will (thanks to the Blog Hub Strategy) look for an opportunity to take the next step and do business with you.

The Blog Hub Strategy and Your "Feeder Spokes"

So once you have a blog in place, you need to start to get visitors to it, so it won't just be a ghost town. Remember, the search engines will take some time to find you, so if you just rely on your content to get search engine attention and visitors, you might have to wait awhile.

With your blog positioned as the center or "hub" of your online marketing efforts. however, you can start feeding your own traffic in.

And you do this by adding "spokes" in the way of feeder sources that bring you visitors.

These feeder spokes are such things as links from your social networks, links from your article bio boxes, links from forum posts, links from other blogs, links from your other websites, etc.

Your blog is the starting point for people to really get to know you personally, since it's the part of your social media sphere that offers you the best opportunity to not only establish your identity as a businessperson, but also to show off your expertise.

Making Your Blog "Sticky"

A blog with high quality content is what used to be and still occasionally is referred to as a "sticky site."

This means that people will bookmark you and come back at regular intervals, most commonly when you post new content. Having good content is an integral part of a Blog Hub Strategy, since your content is why people come visit you in the first place.

Plus each time someone comes back, your relationship with them is cemented further. That's why you absolutely MUST post regularly to your blog if you want to use it as any kind of a sales and marketing funnel. By posting regularly to your blog, you feed your visitors' hunger for information. The Web is an information medium, after all. People are starving for good information on tons of topics.

You then need a way to follow up with people. This is normally done through email, rather than through your RSS feed. Utilizing the Blog Hub Strategy as a marketing tool means using your blog to make money, and the best way to make money from your readers is to follow up with them by email at regular intervals with more great content and an occasional irresistible offer just for them.

You also need to implement monetization features on the blog itself. These features include things like paid advertising, links to sales pages for affiliate offers, reseller offers, and products or services you provide personally.

Try not to do any heavy selling within the parameters of your blog itself.

IN A NUTSHELL...

Here then is a quick rundown of the 4 central tenets of the Blog Hub Strategy from a marketing perspective:

1) Send visitors to your blog via social networks, links in directories, links in your article bio boxes, links from your other websites, and anyplace else you can think of.

2) Post plenty of solid, informative content on your blog that will demonstrate your expertise in your business field and that will also help people. Don't feel like you are "giving away the farm." You can never give away too much. Giving away valuable information will only endear you to people more, despite what some naysayers might say.

3) Have a way to capture visitors' email addresses so you can follow up with them by email with your offers, updates, general news, and just to keep in touch.

4) Monetize by selling advertising and by having links in sidebars to sales pages where people can click through to and thus have the opportunity to purchase from you. Try not to do any heavy selling within your blog posts.

The Blog Hub Strategy is a formidable marketing weapon and is not being used to its full potential by most bloggers, which is why many of them are not making much money.

It is a highly effective and profitable strategy!

Bruce Carlson is an eBusiness strategist and Web content specialist who helps ambitious, growth-minded entrepreneurs put the power of technology and the Internet to work marketing their small to medium-sized businesses. Visit Bruce's website http://www.SmallBusinessMarketingTechnologies.com to sign up for his provocative newsletter The Small Business Marketing Online Strategy Report and to read his informative and acclaimed Small Business Online Marketing Solutions Blog.

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Easy E-Books to Write and Sell - A Top Home Internet Business

Most people agree that creating and selling e-books is one of the top home internet business models. Digital products are cheap to create, the profit margins are high and they give long term returns for very little one-time effort.

The problem, though, can be in the writing. For many people writing is a real challenge, and can be enough to make them turn away from this very lucrative business model. Even using old public domain works (if you want to do that) requires some rewriting, and as for creating your own original work... well the thought of it can be enough to put you off. Yes there are freelances who can help if you want to pursue the 'traditional' e-book route, but I want to suggest an alternative...

How about creating a different sort of e-book. Something that is not only much shorter, but also much easier to write and put together. And one that is just as profitable, or more! ...

AN ALTERNATIVE, EASIER APPROACH

I am talking about short, 'how-to' guides. These could be based on your own hobby, or interest or specialist knowledge. You can keep them short by dealing with just one aspect of the subject per guide (which is also how you build a product line), and being how-to guides you will want to include some pictures or diagrams -- which also means less writing.

Moreover, as well as there being less to write, the style of writing can be much easier than for other types of e-book: because it is a how-to guide most of the text will be instructions, perhaps step-by-step 'do this, then do that'. This lends itself to a conversational style, as if you were talking to a friend. No need for carefully crafted paragraphs or lengthy explanations. And of course if you are talking about your own hobby or special interest then that in itself makes it easier to write.

JUST AS PROFITABLE, OR MORE!

These short how-to guides can also be very profitable. This is what makes this a top home internet business! Each guide doesn't take long to create, and by selling them cheaply at $5, $10 or $15 each there is no real price barrier to sales. People will happily pay for a short low price guide that tells them exactly what they want to know, rather than pay a higher price for a bigger e-book which they have to wade through to find that piece of information they need. So these can sell in large volume -- like hamburgers, rather than 3-course restaurant meals.

But it gets better... by dealing with just one aspect of your subject per guide, and keeping them closely related, you can create a series of guides so that any customer who buys Guide A is also very likely to buy Guide B, and Guide C etc.

Having established a customer base, you can then make it even more profitable by creating a higher priced 'back end' product that they might also be interested in. This could be done by simply combining some of the information from the existing individual guides and adding some extra material.

So don't worry about your writing skills -- with this sort of product you can do it the easy way and build yourself a very profitable business.

To find out how you can easily build your own top home internet business with simple, easy to write how-to guides, go to => http://tophomeinternetbusiness.blogspot.com David Nickalls has run his own successful book production and publishing company for over 16 years.

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Ebooks and Ecourses - A Smart Approach to Marketing

Writing an ebook or creating an ecourse is an easy way to make big money on the Internet. Imagine selling an ebook over and over with no cost of goods sold. What that means is there is no shipping, printing or storage space involved as with a physical book. The customer can get their product delivered instantly to their email box in a matter of minutes of their purchase. For the author, it is just a file that can be delivered again and again with no large outlay of cash. For the beginning author or Internet marketer, this is an effective and inexpensive way to share their expertise and information with the world.

Ebooks can work for you well after the sale too. In .PDF files, the general way that ebooks are delivered, you can leave clickable links to websites in the pages of the book. This is a way to send traffic to your sites and blogs after the ebook has been purchased resulting in additional income and exposure.

Ecourses are a valuable Internet marketing strategy as well. They deliver content on an ongoing basis that keeps your customers engaged in your business. Think of the perceived value of a technical course or information training that you can send to your customers that won't cost you a dime. Savvy marketers attach additional links to products and services at the end of each course installment that gets mailed out. And information training can be highly profitable! You are the expert in your field. You can charge very high amounts of money for specialized training that your customers may not be able to get anywhere else. Instead of having people attend an expensive and high tuition school, they can have the ease of studying the material at home, when they want.

Ebooks and ecourses can be easily delivered by an autoresponder. This is an automatic email program that sends an instant email to anyone that purchases a product or subscribes to a newsletter. This makes it easy on the website owner. You don't have to be physically present at all times for customers to get their products or training.

Imagine how ebooks can work for your business. Imagine writing a book once and getting paid over and over again with no printing or shipping costs!

Whether your a newbie to Internet marketing or have been making money for years, there are always new updated techniques to creating an online business being discoved every day. Learn to make money with Alka Dalal, an expert internet marketer and public speaker for over 25 years.

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Advantages of Running a Work at Home Business

Working from home has so many advantages over going out into the hustle bustle of the daily grind. There will not ever be a boss looking over your shoulder to complain about your performance, because you will be the boss of your work at home business. You will no longer have a long commute in busy rush hour traffic, because your commute will consist of walking over to your computer in your home office. Needless to say, that will solve many of the day's frustrations like having road rage over slow drivers or missing the last seat on the public transportation system. All of this and you will never have to pack your lunch or grab a quick 10 minute lunch of fast food. Sounds wonderful, right?

Many people are opting to work from home these days for those advantages and there are many more; being your own boss is one of the biggest advantages. When you run your own work at home business you are the boss and do not have to take orders or be on any type of schedule. Running your business efficiently, of course, will require you to stay on some kind of schedule. Office politics and petty gossip will be a thing of the past as well.

Another advantage that you will have when you are working from home is that you do not have to even get in your car to go to work. Simply walking into another room will get you to work. When you do not have to commute to a job it will save gas money and mental stress of the traffic jams and slow drivers, as well as trying to get home after a long day in rush hour traffic. There will also be less pollution when you are not driving your car to work every day and running your own work at home business.

Setting your own hours is another wonderful benefit of running a work at home business. If you feel like taking a day off to spend with your family at the park and have your business tasks complete, you can do so without asking permission from anyone. Also, when your children have field trips or class parties, you will have the freedom to attend them. Traditional jobs outside of the home would require a request for time off and only allows a predetermined amount of days that are available to you. As long as your business doesn't need you at the time, then it is your prerogative to take time off when you want.

Additional tax benefits come with being self employed and working from within your home. There are a number of things that you can take off on your taxes that may lead to a bigger refund when it comes tax time. Start up costs, business supplies, utility charges and a portion of your rent may be allowed as an entrepreneur running a work at home business.

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Banner Advertising - 5 Fast Ways to Make Your Ad Stand Out By Matthew Palmer

With the cost of creating and using banner advertisements dropping drastically, more websites and businesses are using them to attract visitors and drive sales. But are you getting the most bang for your buck? Could a small tweak be holding you back from more clicks and money?

Here is a quick checklist of five important but often overlooked parts of a successful banner ad, either one you make yourself or one a designer makes for you:

1. Have a specific call to action - "Click here" is a call to action because is asks the user to do something, but it's vague and won't help your ad stand out. Try adding something more descriptive like "Learn More" or "Buy Now" to your banner ad. It not only encourages people to click on your ad, it also tells them exactly what you want them to do when they get there.


2. Work on a punchy headline - If you're stuck, you can even try the best-performing headline from your Google or Yahoo paid search advertising. Basically, the fewer words, the better. Make it clear and compelling. If you try to be too clever, you risk confusing the reader, who may only be looking at your banner for a moment.


3. Have the background color stand out from the web page - If you're placing your banner ad on a specific webpage, note the background color so your ad doesn't blend in. Many pages have a white background, giving you a great opportunity to choose a bold color for your banner.


4. Get a good spot - It sounds obvious, but make sure you know where on a web page or in an email newsletter your banner ad will appear. Is it front and center or is it buried "below the fold" (meaning people need to scroll down to find it)? While larger ads and more prominent placements will likely give you more clicks, smaller ads have their advantage too: they often cost less.


5. Make it blink (just kidding) - While it may be tempting to have a shaking or blinking ad, fight the urge. Banner advertising is not just about getting clicks but also building enough trust with your customer that they'll do business with you when they arrive on your site. Show that you respect them by not making them dizzy.

Most of these changes aren't huge, but they could be just the thing to turn an average banner ad into a top performer by sending people and sales directly to your website.

adcherry is an easy-to-use online tool where you can make a banner ad in just minutes for free or at huge savings over a designer. Visit http://www.adcherry.com today to create high-impact banner ads that can help you attract new customers and increase sales.

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Work at Home Business - How to Stay on Track

Haven't you always thought about what it would be like to work from home creating a wonderful life for you and your family? Wouldn't you like to spend more time with your kids and never miss another ball game or school concert? Well I think that I can show you how this could be possible because each year more people are trading in their 9 to 5 jobs and starting a work at home business. In this article we give you a few tips to help you make that transition the right way.

The first thing to remember is you will have to change your mind set when you start a home based business. No longer will you depend on your boss to maintain order at the work place. You are totally responsible for starting your new day on time and control each break you take through out the day.

Discipline will play a major part of your success or failure. Although you will be tempted to hit the snooze button, you have to maintain order each step of the way because this is where most home business owners fail before they get their feet on the ground.

Making a schedule each day is crucial for your success. One tip that maybe helpful for you is to make a schedule at the end of the day for the following day. You will be surprised how helpful this one act alone will start each day smoother and keep you more focused on the job at hand.

Staying focused is a challenge for a lot of people so it is recommended not to open your email box first thing in the morning. Most Internet marketers are guilty of this because they are too tempted to see statistics from the day before. Doing this can alter your plans for that day and get you off track very easily. If at all possible, wait closer to the end of the day or perhaps during your break time. Staying focused will not only keep you on track, but can also keep you miles ahead of your competitors.

You can start your work at home business and be miles ahead when you follow a few tips and guidelines. Remember to maintain discipline, keep a schedule, and stay focused and you can very well be the next success story in the home business arena.

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Three Tips That Will Leave You Saying "Building My First Website Was Great!"

Building your first site can be a pain in the you-know-what. More often than not, it seems, first efforts are time-consuming and result in a site that just doesn't cut the proverbial mustard. Luckily, it doesn't have to be that way. If you follow these three tips, you'll end up saying, "Building my first website was great!"

First, temper your expectations a little bit. You're not going to sit down at the keyboard as a novice and turn out an award-winning site featuring perfect design, flawless navigation and pages perfectly optimized for the search engines. It just isn't going to happen. Practice makes perfect and your first site is part of that practice. Change your expectations. Look at this as a learning experience and fun project, not as a test of your worthiness!

Second, feel free to experiment. Here's the great thing about building a site: You can't break anything by making changes and adjustments. Nothing horrible is going to happen if you commit an error. Allow yourself to try different things and to enjoy the process of experimentation. This is a low-pressure situation and you'll always have time to "fix" or change something that you don't like about your first site.

Third, go into the process with some expert advice in your hands. There are great tutorials and guides that will help making your first site more productive and much easier. If you don't put yourself into a situation where every move is a "do it yourself" adventure, you'll be able to create something faster and you'll be able to spend more time learning and enjoying the process of site design than struggling with "how to" details.

That's it. That's the recipe for making the process of putting together your first website more enjoyable. If you manage your expectations, experiment and utilize a quality resource to provide instruction, you won't emerge from the process angry or frustrated. Instead of looking back on the experience as a time-wasting and annoying exercise in futility, you'll be pleased with what you've accomplished. You'll be happy to tell everyone that, "Building my first website was an absolutely fabulous experience!"

This look at building my first website only skims the surface of a deep pool of valuable information. Take advantage of this opportunity to plunge even deeper into building my first website. You'll love what you find there.

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Fast Web Site Design - 3 Top Ways to Web Site Design

When online users visit a website, they initially form an opinion based on its appearance. At first, it will not really matter if your contents are of high quality or if you are offering excellent products and services. If the design of your website is lousy, online users will not waste time and just click the big X button on the upper right hand corner of their screens. Attraction plays a crucial role if you would like to create interest among your visitors. Thus, it follows that you must know how to properly design your website so your visitors will be encouraged to stay longer on your it. Here are the top 3 ways to website design:

1. Effective color combination. Did you know that certain colors can manipulate your visitors to react positively on your website or even on your offers? To make colors work for you, you have to make sure that you utilize color combination that conveys positive feelings. By doing this, your website will be able to communicate warmth and trust to your visitors. Study each color and the emotions that are usually associated with them and use the best ones on your website.

2. Do not overload your website with flashy animation, scrolling or blinking text, auto-loading sound, or animated GIFs. Flashy animations and loud music can distract your readers from understanding your content. In addition, some online users who are on dial up will have hard time downloading your website if it is full with animations.

3. Avoid image backgrounds. Have you ever wondered why established sites such as Google, Amazon, eBay, Yahoo! Etc. do not have image backgrounds? Its because these images are not professional looking and are usually used by amateur webmasters. Make your website appear professional so your clients will trust you.

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Sean Mize is a full time internet marketer who has written over 9034 articles in print and 14 published ebooks.

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Keep Your Web Site Simple For the Most Sales

To go back to the television metaphor for a moment: imagine that you're watching an infomercial for a new kitchen knife. You hear the expert testimony, you watch the knife do its work, and you find the price reasonable. You decide, based on all of this, to buy the knife. So you wait for the end of the infomercial in order to learn how to order this wonderful knife--and you're told to dial a certain 1-800 number, to navigate a complicated menu, to enter a 12-digit confirmation code from the infomercial along with a social security number, and finally to talk to a sales representative about shipping information and payment. By the time you've gone through all of this and are about to read off your credit card numbers, a thought strikes you: was one knife really worth all of this trouble?

This is exactly what you don't want your customers to think at any point while they're using your website. If your website is built on flashy but hard-to-use menus, if your ordering information is buried under a maze of links and supplementary pages full of product details, and if your ordering procedure is complicated and full of bugs, your customers are going to be too frustrated with your website to order your product--and worse, they might start to think of your products and your business as equally customer-unfriendly.

Computer scientists have an acronym to combat this possible problem: KISS, or "Keep It Simple, Stupid." If your website is easy to navigate, if the information about your product is clearly presented on as few pages as possible, and if your ordering procedure is bug-free, then viewers won't be scared off by your website--which leads to a much higher conversion rate, and thus a successful direct response marketing strategy.

We've talked about what direct response website marketing is, why it's an excellent strategy for your business, and above all a few basic principles of its implementation.

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Sean Mize is a full time internet marketer who has written over 9034 articles in print and 14 published ebooks.

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