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Blogging has proven to be an extremely advantageous resource that can demonstrate to your customers your company's value. Many companies that have implemented a content strategy such as blogging, find that they are able to more effectively drive traffic to their website, convert leads, build stronger relationships with their audience, and overall generate more business for their company.

So you've begun your blogging adventure, that's great! You've probably decided to make the move from traditional advertising to content marketing as you've heard (from countless sources) how beneficial inbound marketing can be when used properly.

Every blog should have a clear purpose, after all blogging is a tool that you are using in order to gain a rapport with your customers, website visitors, and prospective buyers. A blog should never be aimless, or left in shambles, or worse published half finished (gasp). You have to feel comfortable with your topic to ensure you will produce the best quality content you can. Coming up with a topic is hard stuff, we feel your pain, and trust me when I say that no one here has ever come in on a Monday morning (or any day really) and said, "I know what I want to blog about today yay!" Picking a blog topic takes planning, research, and time to select, and shouldn't be taken lightly. After all, it could be the difference between people reading it, or not. Need help getting started? Take a look at ImageWorks' best blog topic choosing practices!

So you want to write a blog, but have no idea where to start. Welcome to the wonderful world of blogging, my friends. Sure, you could Google the best blog title ideas out there, or you could try to come up with something creative and witty, but chances are you will spend an hour watching kitten videos on Youtube before even composing your first sentence. Starting a blog post is the bane of existence for every good writer. Here a few things that you should NOT do when trying to strike gold with your latest blog post.

If you blog for your business at least three times a week (which is optimal for SEO purposes) then you understand how hard it can be to create new, fresh and useful content. Sure, you may know your business backwards and forwards, but don't you ever feel like you've run out of creative and interesting things to tell your audience? Trust us, we've sat scratching our heads trying to come up with blogging content ideas before - and it's not fun. The best way to solve this problem is to come up with a blog content planning guide that will help keep your business blog running like a well oiled inbound marketing and content machine.


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It's a Brave New World

As a Social Media Consultant, I often run into potential clients who are convinced social media is the magic answer to their online marketing needs. Often, they try to pick my brain for special, "tricks of the trade," that I may be willing to share with them for the price of a cup of coffee. Now I am certainly willinging to offer up some guidance on best practices, a couple of learned tricks, and what I consider to be the benefit of some real world experience over the vast expanse of my client base. However, after this brief conversation, I am frequently disheartened to find their social media strategy is already pre-destined to failure. So, why do their social media campaigns explode? Do you exhibit similar signs of social media failure?

Writing a business blog is one of the best SEO laws you can abide by on the internet. Your site will benefit from increased page rank as well as a better reputation, as long as the blogs are of good quality. So what makes a good blog a great one? I've included a list of eight of my favorite blogging tips and rules that I always follow.

Creating a website is a challenge. Ask any business owner. It takes a creative eye, a certain amount of experience, and a business-oriented mind to build a site that combines useful information as well as an aesthetically pleasing look. If a company's website is well done, they've most likely hired a web design firm to handle the task. The web is as competitive a place as any other business venue, and people pay top dollar for quality pages.