As you sit down to write a blog you need to ask yourself – who is going to be reading this and how can I help them? As I have mentioned in several of my blog posts the trick is not to create something with the intent to “make” it go viral. The trick is to create a blog that contains valuable information and is well written and then it will go viral. This same principle applies when looking to add to your readers’ interaction. Interaction increases continued readership.

Target Your Audience

I have a good fríend who owns a helicopter flight school and when he sits down to blog he is communicating to an entirely different audience than you or I may be intending to communicate with.

With this in mind make sure that you are targeting the correct audience. If your blog is geared toward an audience looking for information on kite building, you won’t want to write a post that directs most of its attention to model airplane building. You may want to write a blog comparing the similarities and differences between the two, but the main goal of the blog post should be appealing to your readers’ main interests.

You may want to write down some questions that you would be interested to know the answers to if you were new to the niche which you are blogging in and answer those in a blog post or two. Make sure that your blog posts do not wander from the main subject. The more on target your posts are, the more likely your readers are to return to your blog and share it with others they know. Blogs are meant to be dedicated to one subject such as professional networking, vintage car restoration or triathlon training.

I would like to leave you with one last thought when targeting your audience in your blog posts. It is a good idea to re-read your blog posts from the perspective of a reader while in the editing process. Make sure that it captures your attention. You want to be sure to give complete thoughts in your writing. Give your readers some food for thought to spark their own ideas and comments on your blog.

Give Them Your Best Information

Your reader needs to be motivated to be engaged with your blog post. After reading your blog post the visitor should have the desire to comment and share your blog. Why? Because it had valuable information. It was not a sales pitch and it was well written. I am an advocate of giving some of your best content away for nothing. If you have captured your readers’ attention and have given them some quality information, they are much more likely to share your content.

Have you discovered something incredible in your niche lately? Your reader will probably want to know about this information as well. Consider what you would want to get out of reading a blog and make sure that those goals are met in your writing. If you are giving great information in your blogs, your readers will literally beg for more. Getting your readers to ask you for more is the goal of writing in the first place and a validation that you are writing something that they want to read and are actively seeking.

I recently read a blog from Brian Solis called 21 Rules of Engagement. It was a summary of part of his new book, Engage. Not only did I feel like I was getting quality information and a great preview of his book, but it also made me want to go out and purchase his book immediately. I thought that this information he was giving away for nothing was already valuable so I should go and find what else he has to offír. This is an excellent strategy and very effective to create continued readership whether the future readings are free or not.

Do Something About It

At the end of each blog post use a call to action. Ask your readers to comment on what they think about the specific topic. You can even reward them for doing so. For example another buddy of mine posted on Facebook that whoever commented on a blog post he had just posted on his MyMark profile page would get a fríe copy of his e-book. I am sure he had people read his blog that normally may not have, but with this kind of reward they took the time. The blog needs to be good enough that they are happy they spent the time reading it; if this happens they will come back again and again. Even without a specific reward being offered, the reward has now become the quality information you are giving them.

One of the most valuable parts of a blog is the comment section. Usually if one person has a question so do many others. This is a great place for readers to ask questions, answer questions and provide their own tips and tricks that you may not have had time to cover in your blog. You should be asking or telling your readers to leave their comments and make sure that the call to action invites more than just, “great blog.” It’s nice to be validated, but it’s more important to provide readers with further information.

Finally, when leaving a call to action make sure that you act on it as well. If you told your readers to go find something new to learn and write about it in the comments make sure that you are doing this as well. Make sure that you are responding to comments and not just reading them. Continue the interaction in your comment section so that your readers will feel like you are offering two-way communication rather than just talking at them. Any webinar presenter will tell you that one of the most valuable parts of every webinar is the questions and comments part at the end of the webinar. Don’t skip this step. It will likely ensure your success as a blogger and a brand builder.

Plan for Blogging in your Online Marketing Budget

Force Feed : LogIQ has a staff of creative writers and bloggers ready to assist you with your blogging and social media marketing efforts.  Please contact use for more information.

Looking at the latest search marketing conference agendas, articles, and online news in the SEM space, it certainly appears that social media marketing and networking are the wave of the future.

To a certain extent, they are.

Social media, and social networking in particular, create a back-and-forth conversation with your target audience, so you can virally market your website through the “buzz” that can be created. When something interesting, cool, or unique is being talked about in “all the right places,” it can certainly provide a boost in website traffic.

We search marketers tend to hang out in numerous online and offline communities where it’s easy to promote our own products and services, yet I can’t help wondering if our view of Web marketing is skewed because of this.

Are potential B2B clients and even B2C customers spending time at Digg? Do they attend SEM conferences in order to hire a company, or are they just trying to learn to do it themselves? And what about other industries? Is there a Sphinn equivalent for developers of product lifecycle management software? Are there groups of people online comparing the various brands of auto parts? Are there really people seeking out articles on these topics?

Perhaps.

And if so, we’d be remiss not to promote our clients’ websites in those spaces. But is this search marketing? Or is it simply marketing? Arguably, it becomes search marketing when it increases link popularity, but surely that should be the secondary goal of this type of marketing campaign. True link popularity comes from having something worth linking to, not something you’ve asked your insulated circle of cronies to link to.

Certainly, the boost in direct traffic that a site can gain when it is being discussed in all the right places online is not to be taken lightly – and that alone is reason enough to try to be found in all the right places. Yet how much of that traffic actually converts into anything good, and how much does it help your organic search rankings?

More important – how does it incréase your bottom line?

For instance, I’ve written a few articles that receíved upward of 1,000 visitors a day from StumbleUpon alone. The spike in traffic was nice, and the slight addition in newsletter subscribers was certainly welcome, but for the most part, those StumbleUpon visitors spent just a few minutes on our site, and only a small percentage signed up for our free newsletter. None of them were interested in using our services. They read the article and then stumbled their way to the next site of potential interest.

Isn’t participation in social media really just preaching to the choir?

You reach your peers, not the people who will purchase your product or service. Sure, it’s a nice ego stroke to have others in your industry tell you how cool you are, and there’s something to be said for building credibility within your community. I’m certainly not knocking that, and have built my own credibility via various online communities in which I’ve participated over the past decade.

But how does it sell your products and services?

Do you gain customers and sales from your social media marketing and/or your participation in social networks? Does it increase your rankings for the keyword phrases your actual target audience is typing into the search engines? If your business model depends on traffic for traffic’s sake, or on how many ad impressions your site generates, then there’s an obvious value. But if you sell a product or a service – then not so much.

My fear with all the hype about social media marketing is that people new to search marketing will believe it’s what SEO demands and what SEO is all about.

It isn’t. Not by a long shot.

Social media marketing is a great addition to any traditional SEO work that you do, but it’s not a substitute. It’s more akin to hiring a PR firm once you’ve launched your already-SEO’d website. On-page SEO is definitely not as sexy as social media marketing, but it is still the most important investment in your website that you can make. Period.

So, go to all your social media conferences, and Digg your way to increased traffic. But first learn exactly who your target audience is, what they’re searching for in the search engines, and how your website can solve their problems. Then make sure your website does exactly that. All the social media buzz and traffic won’t amount to anything if your target audience isn’t already part of the online conversation.

Be sure to have your house in order before you give social media marketing a try.

And don’t be surprised if it doesn’t actually provide you with the ROI you hoped it would. In most cases it will depend on who your target audience is, where they hang out, the types of services or products you provide, and whether your website truly provides people with what they’re looking for.

Getting back to SEO basics – that is, creating a crawler-friendly website that is built around the keyword phrases people use at the search engines to find what you offer – is the first and most important thing you can do for your website and your business. Yeah, it’s not as fun and exciting as social media marketing, but skip this step at yóur own peril!

If you would like more information on how Force-Feed : LogIQ can help you with any of these services, please contact us.

By Mikal E. Belicove   | Entrepreneur Magazine – August 2010 | Article Source

Off-the-shelf content management systems and design templates have made building and managing a website easy and affordable for small-business owners with modest needs. Not counting your sweat equity, you can build and maintain a small website for less than $250. But, honestly, do you really want to bank your company’s online presence and messaging on a low-cost website? Working with a full-service graphic design and web programming firm is a more savvy business decision.

Using a professional team, you can expect to pay from $1,000 for a very basic site to more than $50,000 for a larger site with custom graphics, programming and other options.

The cost of your website will be based on the size and complexity of the site required to meet your business-related needs. A five- to 10-page site introducing your business and the services you offer will cost considerably less to build than one that processes purchase orders, for example.

When budgeting for web programming and design, draw up an itemized list, including the following:

Domain registration: Cost: $10 to $35 per year per domain.

Hosting: Fees vary considerably based on the complexity of your website, estimated traffic and security requirements. Cost: Shared host, $8 to $50 per month; merchant plan, $25 to $250 per month; dedicated server, $125 to $1,000+ per month.

Graphics: Unless you have existing graphics, including a company logo, you need to use stock art or pay a graphic artist. Cost: Royalty-free stock art, starting at about $10 per image; graphic artist, $50 to $150 per hour.

Content development: Content development usually starts with you, but professional copywriting services can help. Cost: $50 to $85 per hour.

Content management system configuration and implementation: CMS makes your site easier to populate, maintain and update. Cost: $50 to $85 per hour.

Programming and/or third-party application fees: Programming includes online forms, e-commerce and CRM tools, as well as custom components necessary for your site to deliver what your business model calls for. Cost: $85 to $125 per hour and/or flat fees or rates for use of third-party applications. If you insist on building your site in Flash, expect to pay 25 percent to 50 percent more.

Usability testing: Cost: $35 to $50 per hour (plan for at least half-hour per page).

Analytics: Google Analytics is free, and it’s quick and easy to install. More robust analytics tools vary in price. Cost: $50 to $85 per hour to set up and configure Google Analytics or other programs; $50 to $5,000+ monthly fees for more robust systems.

Blog: Adding a blog to your website or separately is an additional cost to consider. Cost: $500 to $2,500 first-time setup including graphic design, programming and configuration.

Because most web programming services are ultimately billed at an hourly rate, the total cost of your website hinges on the site’s size and complexity.

Even if you’re still a bit unsure of the benefits Web video brings to your marketing efforts, think of the commitment Google has invested in YouTube and then you’ll know where the biggest search opportunities exist. So let’s all agree, video is where it’s at, but hold on just a second, let’s call it compelling content presentation, or more precisely, properly conceived, professionally produced, attention-to-post video that delivers a meaningful memorable message in a manner that is less advertising and more content, less pitch and more experience.

Can you do this yourself? Doubtful, but maybe, so before you run out and blow the petty cash on the latest HD video camera, proper lighting equipment, editing and motion graphic software, how to DVDs like ‘You Can Be The Next Ridley Scott’, a computer and hard drive powerful enough to handle HD file sizes and software processing, custom photography, signature music and sound effects; and before you ask your accounts payable person or spouse to shoot you in your office with a backdrop of photos featuring last year’s office picnic and the broken office chair you’ve been meaning to replace; ask yourself, is this really how to go about marketing my company? I mean maybe your appearance is camera friendly, maybe you have the right voice that fits your message, maybe you understand body language, maybe you have acting experience, maybe you know how to write a script and maybe… well you get the idea? And we haven’t even talked about content and concept. There is a place for amateurism, it’s just not in business.

The Ad Content Challenge

The real challenge in website design is not backend technical issues, search engine optimization, or feature proliferation but rather how to turn advertising into content, and content into an experience. We know no one likes to be sold, especially if it’s a hard sell pitch demanding instant decisions and immediate action. People are more likely to run from such a sales attack as quickly as possible, particularly on the Web where escaping is just a mouse clíck away.

2. Mission Statements – It’s About The Why

Mission statements are generally useless exercises in self-congratulatory bunkum. If your mission statement says your company aims to have the best products, at the lowest prices, featuring world-class customer service, then you know your mission statement is useless. When people hear those kinds of platitudes they yawn and move on. When was the last time you heard a mission statement that promises inferior crap, at inflated prices, with little or no customer service support?

Instead of a meaningless mission statement, create a ‘Why Statement’ that answers the question, why should anybody want to do business with you? I’ve already given you our version – “we turn advertising into content, and content into an experience” it’s what we do, what we are committed to, and if it’s not what you want, then you need another production team. You have to give your clients a reason why they should care about your company, why they should do business with you. It is a commitment not to be feared, but embraced. It is the message you want to deliver, the one thing your audience will remember about you that will distinguish you from your competition, and ultimately it will be the reason they do business with you or not.

3. Six Things You Need To Know

The Why Statement provides your brand point-of-view and personality. It focuses audience attention on the key benefits you deliver. So the next thing you need to provide is the six most important things you want to say about what you do.

Why six? You need to show some discipline in your messaging in order to be effective. Limiting the number of things you say emphasizes what’s important so that it doesn’t get lost in a haze of marketing jibber-jabber, and it avoids creating information overload.

Let’s assume for a moment that you want a professional Web presentation and not a homemade ego-satisfying customer-repellent video. Let’s also assume that you’ve hired a team that has the necessary skills to deliver the ‘right stuff.’ The next step is to provide that team with the assets they need to do the job.

Gather Your Assets

The first thing you’ll need to do is get all your resources together. Here’s a checklist of things you’ll need to supply or have created in order to get started:

1. Logos That Work

A properly designed logo is a must. I can’t tell you how many times we’ve had to design or at least redesign logos for clients who have been in business for years. A video campaign is all about communicating a corporate personality and that identity needs a visual tag to affirm that brand image.

Most business people realize they need a logo but they generally only think of it in one dimension, graphically. With a properly designed logo in hand, an audio logo tag can be associated with it so that your brand message is penetrating both visually and audibly. Remember your goal is to turn advertising into content and to do that you must create a memorable experience, and the whole point of using video is to communicate your message using sight, sound, and subliminal psychological persuasion.

Step #1 – Research Your Keywords

One of the important steps you need to take for great SEO before you submit your site to the search engines is to research your keywords. No doubt, you already know what the topic of your site is all about. It is important that you choose the right keywords now before you submit your site. When you select keywords, keep in mind criteria that the search engines have for keywords. Look for niche keywords instead of keywords that are so broad you’ll never rank well with them.

Step #2 – Improve Your Title Tags

Another step to take before submitting to the search engines is improving your title tags. One of the biggest things that will determine your score within the search engines is the appearance of keywords in the title tags. Do not go with title tags that don’t use your keywords. Your title tags should be keyword rich, which can help you ensure that you get strong rankings when your site is submitted to the search engines.

Step #3 – Check Out Your Site Technology

Take some time to check out your site technology before submitting your site to the search engines as well. Some technology built into sites can end up confusing the spiders that crawl through websites. Image maps, CGI scripts, frames, and other types of technology may not be understood by many of the spiders out there. Go through your site carefully and ensure that technology is not holding you back from getting high rankings in the search engines.

Step #4 – Check for Errors

Checking your website for errors is also going to be a critical step to great SEO. It’s a good idea to use a site maintenance tool to make sure that you catch any errors before you start bringing customers to your website. Any errors in HTML can end up causing problems for search engine spiders. Not only can errors cause problems with spiders, but they can also be frustrating to site a user, which means they may leave your site. Now is the time to ensure that any errors are taken care of.

Each of these steps is essential to the success of your website. Before you submit your website to the search engines, go through these steps and ensure that your site is ready.