Copyright 2009
I once asked my good friend to write some content for one of my blogs. This friend is very intelligent and creative and I had no doubt he could produce some solid work for my site. I was very pleased when he promised to get something to me right away.
A number of days passed before my friend informed me he just couldn’t write for my blog. I was quite stunned as my friend seemed perfectly capable of writing a blog entry or two. Much to my surprise, he told me that he just wasn’t feeling creative and had nothing imaginative to write about.
Assuming my buddy was being honest, and not getting back at me for still owing him $20, he wrongfully assumed what a lot of people assume about writing for the Internet. That’s it’s all about being creative. It’s not. It’s about providing useful information, and writing for the Web is also about marketing as well.
Creativity definitely plays an important role, one which we’ll get to later, but the driving force behind everything you write for the Web should be providing useful information for your visitors in a way that creates a win-win situation: they get free information on a topic in which they are interested and you get them to take some kind of action on your site such as purchasing something or giving you their contact information.
If you do this right, your writing will actually drive traffic to your site. Qualified traffic.
Let’s examine how a blog, attached to your website, can drive traffic to your site.
You own a business. You operate a website. You either have or are thinking of having a blog. Maybe you have one but it’s not attracting visitors. Maybe you’re thinking of adding a blog but have no idea what to write about.
It’s easy to utilize a blog for your business’ website if you remember that its main goal is to be useful to the site visitors. They don’t care about you, your company, your products or services or your promotions, they only care about what you (or your site) can do for them.
So, when writing for a blog, you need to keep in mind four important guidelines: provide highly useful information, write as an authority, use words and phrases that are search engine friendly and write regularly.
Say you own a website that sells carburetors. Obviously, customers and potential customers come to your site needing to buy a carburetor. However, there are also plenty of customers, and potential customers, that come to your site with questions about carburetors.
Therefore the driving force behind each one of your blog entries should be giving your reader pertinent information about all-things-carburetors. This is why people use the Internet. So they can acquire useful and free information.
Answering questions, or to put it another way, “offering information” is the goal of every good blog. When you’re writing for your blog think about what questions your customers, as well as potential customers, need answered. What information can you provide to your readers? What generic information about your industry can you provide to make your site visitors’ lives easier, and at the same time establishing yourself as a potential authority and vendor they may use.
As you’re writing make sure to position yourself as an authority. If you have a title, say “Duke of Carburetors,” or a specialized degree, say a “PhD in carburetors,” let you readers know. If you don’t, ensure them you know what you’re talking about by the tone of your writing.
Let’s stop and recap. You’re writing posts with good information and you’re writing like an authority. That’s great, now all you need to do is incorporate keywords and phrases into the body of your text.
It’s these keywords and phrases, also called tags, which show up in search engines. These keywords and phrase are the same words and phrases potential readers use with search engines. To state it another way, keywords and phrases are the things that help people find your blog.
To choose the best keywords and phrases for your site think about all the words people could possibly use to find your product/service on the Web. As you compile your list make sure you ask your customers and employees what words they would use and definitely check your competitors’ Website to see their keywords and phrases.
Next get a keyword tool. Some are free and some cost a little bit. A keyword tool will tell you the most popular search terms and the ones likely to create the most traffic for your blog. Wordtracker is a popular keyword tool. And also Google now has a Search-based Keyword Tool at www.google.com/sktool.
Now you have a pretty good idea of what words and phrases will be used by Internet users to find your site. Incorporate the top words from your list into your articles. But be sure to do it in a completely natural way. Never do something called “keyword stuffing”, which means adding a word or phrase over and over again. Search engines have caught on to this a long time ago.
By incorporating your keywords in a natural way, your blog becomes much more attractive to search engines. And this translates directly into creating site visitors.
Updating your blog regularly also increases your standing with search engines. It also shows readers and potential readers that you care about your products/services and you’re active with site.
No one likes to stumble across a blog that hasn’t been updated in months. It immediately makes the reader doubt your content and your commitment.
You don’t have to write every day but you need to be consistent. On days when you’re suffering from writer’s block use images, videos and news stories for inspiration. But be sure these are not copyrighted and always give credit to the original website. Do not copy and paste entire blog postings from other sources. Search engines don’t like it nor does the person you plagiarized.
Now it’s time to bring in your creativity. You’ll need to use your imagination to incorporate these four ideas into cohesive, legible and informative articles. As you stick to the aforementioned guidelines your visitors should be oblivious to all the marketing going on. You don’t have to mention or promote your own products, just provide useful information.
If you use the four guidelines—provide highly useful information, write as an authority, use words and phrases that are search engine friendly and write regularly—you will soon find that your blog is driving traffic to your website and your website is increasing your bottom line.
Ultimately you have to think of writing for the Web as an exercise in pleasing both search engines and your site visitors at the same time. And your writing should create a win-win situation for you and your visitors: they get what they were looking for and you get an opportunity to turn them into a customer.
]]>1. DMOZ (free)
2. Yahoo! Directory ($299)
3. Business.com ($199)
4. Lii.org (free)
5. JoeAnt
5. BOTW
6. WebWorldIndex.com
7. GoGuides
8. PR.com
9. Sezza
10. Skaffe
And here are a few decent UK-based directories:
freeindex.co.uk
botw.org.uk
thegoodwebguide.co.uk
If a Web vendor shows up in a search in Google, then you at least know that they have a good grasp of search engine optimization. This of course says nothing about their prices, services, work quality, technical skills, design skills and so forth, but they’re at least off to a good start.
Here are a few tips to help you search online more effectively.
1. Never search using one word. And avoid using only two words as well. Try to use 3-7 words. This search rule does follow the law of diminishing returns however. So searching using 25 words will probably get you little or no results. So there is a “sweet spot” you’ll have to discover for any given search.
Example: web site design company in springfield is better than web design.
2. Weed out irrelevant words by using the minus (-) sign next to the word. Since there may be words that appear in your results that are not anything like what you intended, add a minus sign to such words. In the case above, there is a Springfield in numerous states, so you may do this:
Example: web site design company in springfield –ma if a lot of results are yielding companies in Massachusetts and you’re looking for Illinois companies.
3. Use more than one search engine because you’ll end up getting a wider range of results. Pay special attention to the vendors who appear in more than one search engine’s results.
4. Consider perusing Web vendor directories that show up in the results. There are many websites that list Web designers and developers. You can find a wide array of potential vendors and be able to compare services.
5. Here is a list of keyword phrases you may want to use when searching:
• Web design company in Baltimore (replace ‘Baltimore’ with your city)
• Website creation for small business
• Web design and development for high-tech companies (replace ‘high-tech’ with your industry)
• Website building services in Baltimore for high tech companies
• Hire a freelance web designer specializing in high-tech websites (replace ‘high-tech’ with your industry)
• Hire a Web company in Baltimore for high-tech website
• Web development directories
• Web marketing and design company lists
With a looming worldwide recession, the release of this non-fiction business book is perfect timing since it teaches anyone how to take the first and vital step towards starting a new business or making an extra income; getting a website built. More and more people are starting their own businesses and Jason OConnor’s new book explains to the novice and expert alike how to hire a Web designer and get a money-making business website built properly and inexpensively.
 If you think you’re about to be laid off or already have been, or if the money you make today is just not cutting it, you ought to consider starting an online business  |
| For that, you’ll need a successful website and my new book will teach you exactly how to get it done properly. |
Waltham, MA (PRWEB) November 13, 2008 — Brandon Oak Publishing has published The Ultimate Guide To A Successful Business Website - The Non-Technical Person’s Handbook For Hiring a Web Designer and Managing the Creation, Design & E-Marketing of a Successful Business Website by Jason OConnor, founder and CEO of Oak Web Works, LLC, a Web design, development and e-marketing firm.
The hardcover in the Business and Internet Marketing category is available worldwide on book retailer websites such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble for a suggested retail price of $39.00.
Mr. OConnor’s new book is particularly timely given the current economic crisis that has hit so many Americans and people worldwide. “If you think you’re about to be laid off or already have been, or if the money you make today is just not cutting it, you ought to consider starting an online business,” says Mr. OConnor, “For that, you’ll need a successful website and my new book will teach you exactly how to get it done properly.”
About the Book
The book is divided into three parts, The Fundamentals of Every Website, How to Hire a Web Designer or Web Design Company and The Planning and Implementation of a Successful Business Website.
The book takes the reader on a tour of the basics of websites and the Internet and explains how revenues can be made in many different ways with a variety of websites. It goes on to help the reader in every step of the way when trying to navigate the shark-infested waters of hiring a Web design firm or freelancer. And the book’s final, yet substantial third part explains in detail what the proper process is in going from an idea or an outdated website to a brand new, money making, successful business website. Learn more about this Web business book here.
About the Author
Jason OConnor is the CEO of Oak Web Works, LLC and has also been a webmaster for small, high-tech start-ups and large organizations alike. He has worked as a Web person in some capacity before, during and after the Internet bubble and has done Web work for M.I.T, Intel, and New York Times best-selling authors, among many other clients worldwide. Mr. O’Connor also currently designs, builds and markets many of his own websites today, including ecommerce websites, informational sites and blogs. His periodic online newsletter, The Net Gazette (http://www.thenetgazette.net) and the original articles on the Oak Web Works website are two other areas where people can read his writing.
]]>The Non-Technical Person’s Handbook For Hiring a Web Designer and Managing the Creation, Design and E-marketing of a Business Web Site
Here’s where you’ll be able to ask questions about the book, make comments and learn more. Click on the ‘Comments’ link above to leave a comment or question about the book.
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