Blogging Small Businesses have 55% More Traffic, 97% More Inbound Links

By Mack Collier, Search Engine Guide

A recent study by Hubspot found that among their small business customers, those that blogged had 55% more traffic and 97% more incoming links than non-blogging small businesses.

The study confirms what most of us that are active in the social media space have known for a while.  Blogs generate more traffic and links than static websites, on average.

Which is great, but more traffic and links alone does not make your blog successful, right?  And neither does more comments.

What your business needs to do is correlate these metrics back to larger business goals for your blog.  For example, if you are wanting to use your blog as a tool to increase sales on your website, does sending more traffic to your site from your blog really matter, if sales don’t increase?

Read Full Story

Promoting your business for free

If you or your organisation has something to say getting your message across is very important but in financially difficult times many are taking the decision that the cost of distributing that message is too great. This is understandable if you stick only to traditional methods of promotion such as PR agencies but more and more ways of promoting a business are available now than ever before for little or no cost.

‘Special delivery’ – a post by Richard Branson

In using Twitter last week I chanced across the account of Richard Branson. As you might expect, he has an awful lot of followers, a number which now includes me. The nice thing is that ‘he’ is following me too.

Obviously I understand that he won’t be physically reading my posts, at least not all of them, but the gesture is so very important. If the time has been taken to acknowledge me, that leaves me with a positive feeling for him and his organisation. It’s something we should all aspire to do.

I also see that Richard has a new book out called Business Stripped Bare. You can even read an extract on Richard’s blog – it’s very good. Click on the graphic here to purchase the eBook version.

His blog is very interesting and I can certainly recommend it. Here’s a recent post on attention to detail and good communication.

Special Delivery by Sir Richard Branson

Good delivery depends upon many things. Two of the most important elements are attention to detail, and good communication. Neither of these essentials is difficult to understand or implement, so, naturally, they’re the first things we forget.

Don’t waste your precious time. Phone calls and emails can eat your day. Don’t let them. No one will think less of you for getting to the point. Because there are so many calls to make every day, I generally keep them very brief. And a short note to somebody is often quicker than a phone call. As the business has got bigger and spread across the globe, a lot is dealt with by short notes. However, I’m always willing to pick up the phone and talk directly to people if an issue needs resolving that way.

There’s no question that if you are trying to persuade someone to join you, invest with you, or make some changes, then it’s important to speak to them directly and take the time so that they know what they need to do. Face-to-face conversations are more efficient, and videoconferencing will always come a poor second to a shared pot of tea.

Read Richard’s Blog: http://entrepreneur.virgin.com