Businesses that blog get 55% more visitors

From FurlongPR

Based on a survey in August of 1500 businesses by Hubspot, those that blogged had 55% more visitors, 97% more inbound links and 434% more indexed pages.

Most businesses accept, even if they don’t anticipate these sort of figures, that a blog will revolutionise their static corporate website, but trying to get momentum for that internally can be a trying business. Who’s going to write it, what will it look like, who’s going to build it.

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Communicating with yourself: Acting on your decisions

Why are you here? On this page I mean. What was it that made you decide that you should look at this particular article over all the other thousands on the Internet?

That’s not for me to say but hopefully I can persuade you to stick around a while. It might not be as easy as it sounds because you are a free spirit – you make your own decisions and you decide what’s coming next in your life, not me.

Now think about that for a moment. Are you already wavering as to whether you should carry on reading this or not? Are you thinking that I’m wasting your time by not getting to the point? Just what is it that I’m trying to say? Well I’ll tell you: At every single moment of every waking hour you are making a choice and it is you that is in control of every one of them. It may not feel like it but it’s true.

Sure, there will be occasions when we will be placed in awkward situations by other people that we don’t want to deal with but it is us that writes the next scene. For example my boss could fire me. What would I do? I may get upset or angry or violent. I may be philosophical, rational or pleased. Hey, you always said you wanted to leave that crumby job.

Do you see what I’m saying? I’m faced with a situation, I react to it. The question is what reaction will it be?

SMEs receive nothing for business referrals

From www.smallbusiness.co.uk

Small businesses are missing out on the benefits of business referrals, according to research by OpinionMatters on behalf of IT company Easynet Connect. The survey of 275 executives found that 81 per cent of SMEs regularly refer business but earn no financial reward in return. SMEs typically make three referrals a month, with an average value of £7,500. This amounts to £270,000 of uncompensated business referrals a year.

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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?

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Marketing, Social Media Increasingly Important For Business Development

Written by Resources for Entrepreneurs Staff

A recent survey from The Creative Group found that marketing and advertising departments have greater influence over business decisions than they did three years ago.

It may be due to the heightened need to acquire new clients and retain existing ones, or perhaps it is because of the attention garnered by the social media revolution, but marketing has become an increasingly important aspect of business development in recent years, according to a study from The Creative Group.

The national study found that 61 percent of marketing and advertising executives believe marketing teams now have a greater influence over business decisions than they did three years ago – 18 percent believe the influence has increased significantly, and 43 percent believe it increased somewhat.

Read full story: www.gaebler.com

Recession encouraging businesses to take marketing online

Article source: www.businessstrata.com

Growing businesses have been encouraged to embrace online advertising by the economic downturn, according to an expert.

Eva Berg-Winters, senior manager and new media specialist at PricewaterhouseCoopers, said her “gut feeling” was that the downturn has “enhanced” the movement from traditional direct marketing to web-based solutions.

However, she added that firms should not necessarily believe that the internet is immune from the effects of the economic climate.

Out of the recession is emerging a ‘new breed of business owner’

Story from Bytestart.co.uk – the samall business portal

New research has revealed that a new breed of ’super entrepreneurs’ is evolving as a result of the downturn.

These business owners, who Darwin would have been proud of, are making themselves fit to survive the current downturn and thrive in the future.

Super entrepreneur profile

The study, conducted by Bibby Financial Services, shows that the the new breed of ’super entrepreneur’ is most likely to be:

• Female
• Aged between 45 and 54
• Living in the South East
• Have started their business between 1995 and 1999
• Running a business with a turnover of between £250,000 and £500,000
• Running a business that employs five or more people
• Experienced two downturns including this one

Expert claims direct mail offers benefits for ‘astute SMEs’

From Adferro

A new report claims that marketers may struggle during 2009 as potential customers may be put off opening messages due to the sheer amount they are receiving.

The 2009 Marketing Almanac by ExactTarget found that 48 per cent of marketers are planning to increase the use of email marketing.

It also found that marketers are planning to use a wider variety of messaging mediums alongside email marketing, with an increase in SMS text messaging expected during the year.

Morgan Stewart, director of research and strategy for ExactTarget, said it will be “more important than ever” to deliver “relevant, timely information” to consumers.

Study reveals the value of user-generated content to companies

From Adfero

Placing user-generated content into direct marketing or on websites could help growing businesses push through sales, according to new research.

The study by Nielsen Online found that over 70 per cent of people feel consumer reviews make them more comfortable about their purchasing decisions when buying online.

Around 81 per cent of online consumers also claimed to have read such articles while carrying out their Christmas shopping this year.

Ken Cassar, vice-president of industry insights for Nielsen Online, said consumer reviews are “a must-have for online retailers” as they can help people feel more assured when buying items they have little knowledge of.

Its official: websites are the key B2B information resource

From B2B Marketing Online

Websites have officially become the most important media for business decision makers, according to new research by the AOP (Association of Online Publishers).

The study claims that 97 per cent of business decision makers polled cite the web as the ‘most used’ form of media, whilst 60 per cent of respondents regard business websites as “essential tools”.

Websites were also shown to have achieved a dominant role in the decision-making and purchasing process for businesses, with just over 50 per cent suggesting that the Internet is their first port of call. However, this suggests that traditional media (specifically print and events) still plays a significant, if minority, role in this process.