Nowadays, it seems like everyone and their mother has a “blog”. And in many ways, these blogs can function like mini-web sites. Almost anyone can get one for no cost at all from blog service providers such as Wordpress, Blogger and Typepad. And most times you can tell who the newbies are from those who are actually using their blogs to try to gain revenue.

Separating the Newbies from the Business People

Typically, the newer the blog user is, the more focused they are on expressing themselves and trying to find their own personality via blogging. Often, these blogs will have personal anecdotes, pictures of family and friends, short stories and links to pages as well as other bloggers they like. These bloggers tend to have more fun with writing, as they feel no restraints in what kinds of topics they can write about.

On the other hand, there are those bloggers who (increasingly so) are out to market themselves in an effort to bring attention to an issue; but more often than not, it is to make some sort of revenue from the blog. These blogs are peppered with AdSense ads, and other nonsensical things, which tend to cloud the reader’s ability to focus on what should be the most important part of the blog: the content. Now, don’t get me wrong; there are some decent, high-quality blogs out there that do a really great job with providing quality content while making some money on the side. However, this brings up the whole notion of self promotion.

There are many schemes for earning revenue for all of the blogging that a person can stand to do in any given week, month or year. A lot of times, bloggers will promote their blogs or other blogs that they are earning revenue off of by promoting it on other sites. This is where the whole “do follow” and anti-spam rules come into play. Recently, for example, I have noticed that there are a lot of people who have been sending me messages on MyBlogLog.com. The thing is, though; they’re not actual personal messages. Instead, they appear to be mass messages sent out to hundreds of viewers simply saying something like, “Please check out my site at www.—-.com and leave a comment”. Would most readers consider this form of self-promotion to be spammy? While it may seem clever to spread the word about your blog (because admittedly, sometimes I will click on a link out of sheer curiosity), more often than not I just find self-promotion annoying half the time.

For more information about Internet marketing, contact Create Business Growth today!

Tags: Blogging, Communication by Janelle - 5 Comments »

If you’ve ever left a comment on someone’s blog or even if you’ve ever done business online (such as pay a bill, etc.) then you may have seen one of those weird little boxes with different sized letters and numbers in it prompting you to copy what you see in the space provided. While it may seem annoying as well as somewhat pointless at the time, you may be extremely thankful later-especially if you have your own blog. The weird letters and numbers are what is referred to as a CAPTCHA.

How Do CAPTCHA’s Work?

According to Wikipedia,

A CAPTCHA is a type of challenge-response test used in computing to ensure that the response is not generated by a computer. Because other computers are unable to solve the CAPTCHA, any user entering a correct solution is presumed to be human.

Coined in 2000 by Luis von Ahn, Manuel Blum, Nicholas Hopper and John Langford, CAPTCHA stands for Completely Automated Public Turing and works wonders when it comes to blocking out all of that unwanted spam. For many, CAPTCHA’s are great because it really helps to keep the spam count down. Some of the applications of CAPTCHAs, according to the main site include:

• Preventing comment spam in blogs
• Protecting website registration
• Protecting Email addresses from scrapers
• Online polls
• Preventing dictionary attacks
• Search engine bots
• Worms and spam

For more information about Internet marketing, contact Create Business Growth today!

Tags: Blogging, Communication by Janelle - No Comments »

For all of those out there who have their doubts as to whether or not blogging makes a difference, listen up because as it turns out, blogging is good for you! This shouldn’t really come as too much of a surprise since blogging is essentially a form of writing. And as many of us already know, researchers and therapists alike have known for quite some time how therapeutic writing can be for the individual.

Blogging is Good For You!

According to one article published in Scientific American,

Self-medication may be the reason the blogosphere has taken off. Scientists (and writers) have long known about the therapeutic benefits of writing about personal experiences, thoughts and feelings. But besides serving as a stress-coping mechanism, expressive writing produces many physiological benefit. Research shows that it improves memory and sleep, boosts immune cell activity and reduces viral load in AIDS patients, and even speeds healing after surgery. A study in the February issue of the Oncologist reports that cancer patients who engaged in expressive writing just before treatment felt markedly better, mentally and physically, as compared with patients who did not.

Reaping the Benefits

So, not only does blogging benefit you by helping you to feel better both physically and mentally, it is also a great way to drive traffic to your web site (provided you are writing content that is somewhat intelligible and content-rich). Many companies are now realizing the power and value of having a blog. It is a great way for them to connect to their target audience as well as provides a valuable source of information relevant to that particular industry. Additionally, blogs provide a sort of forum in which readers can respond and voice their opinions on various matters.

For more information about Internet marketing, contact Create Business Growth today!

Tags: Blogging, Communication by Janelle - 3 Comments »

The battle is on to get the coveted number 1 spot on search engines for whatever your individual business is. I’d say that this is a good indication that Internet business is alive and well. For growing numbers of businesses, especially those who rely solely on the Internet for the bulk of their profits, achieving a high rank among the search engines is crucial. I’m talking about search engine optimization stuff, people! To help better explain, I will now turn it over to Wikipedia, who so succinctly states,

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via “natural” (”organic” or “algorithmic”) search results for targeted keywords. Usually, the earlier a site is presented in the search results or the higher it “ranks”, the more searchers will visit that site.

Why is SEO Important?

Search Engine Optimization is important because it makes the process of finding relevant information easy for search engines to index, find and display. If you think about how many people out there actually use the Internet, it is mind boggling. Every day, every minute, someone is searching for information on a topic. People will go to a search engine like Google or Yahoo and type in a term which will yield endless pages of results (depending on the topic). However, most people will only look at the first few results on the first page only. So, if your business is located on the second or third page, etc., then there is a good chance that your site will not receive any traffic.

For more information about Internet marketing, contact Create Business Growth today!

Tags: Blogging, Business Networking, Communication by Janelle - 1 Comment »

Embracing Conflict
By Martin Brossman

The bottom-line cost to avoiding conflict is tremendous, but few people are taught how to be effective with conflict. My introduction to the subject surfaced just out of college when I discovered I did not have sufficient tools to deal with conflict on the job. Promoted to manager of a retail store with one of the highest levels of shoplifting in the city, I decided I’d better learn about conflict pronto.

That was the start of my training in the martial art of Aikido, which views physical conflict as a state of imbalance. It teaches that we become stronger in the process of transforming conflict. In Aikido, instead of trying to be stronger than your attacker, you come from a centered place and then meet them, blend with them and ultimately lead them to a place that does little or no harm to the attacker. You are responsible for your own well-being and that of the attacker. When I mapped these principles on to the conflicts that occurred in my retail store, I discovered that I not only resolved the conflicts but also developed more loyal customers and trusted friends.

Later when I joined IBM, I had become so adept at handling conflict that a manager from upstate New York flew in to meet the customer service rep—me– who “liked having people yell at him and could save large contracts.”

So what are the core principles I discovered?

1. Understand their upset.
Treating conflict with calm controlled behavior is like putting gasoline on a fire. If you have ever been really upset and someone kept telling you to calm down, what did it do? Yes, you need to come from a centered, grounded place, but you need to move into their world to understand that their concern is real for them. The quicker you can validate it in an authentic way, the quicker you can move them to a more harmonious win-win solution.

2. Get clear on your commitment.
Are you committed to looking good? Being right? To winning? If so, you are almost guaranteed to lose. More productive commitments might be enhancing the relationship, giving the best service, or finding the gem of value in every criticism. Of course when you’re upset or rattled by a conflict it’s hard to remember what you are committed to. I recommend the Aikido technique of breathing deeply, becoming centered by putting your attention on your center of balance (about 2 inches below the navel).

3. Enter their world.
Next blend with your opponent to see through their eyes and allow yourself to become concerned to approach their concern. You truly validate their issue by understanding it, not justifying or giving “good reasons.” From there, with a clear commitment, work with them to create a new solution that aligns with your commitment and addresses their concern.

4. Assume positive intention.
Stay engaged with them until it is resolved. This requires you to develop the ability to be with other people’s upset and not lose your own commitment. At IBM there was a client who was so hard to deal with that they passed her on to me. She was a small, aggressive woman with great influence in many departments. When I came in she would meet me part way and start yelling about the current problem. “How can you work for a company that builds junk like this!” I would simply start listening, but really listening like I wanted to be part of the story. One observer said that when she yelled at me she would be shaking up and down and it almost looked like I was doing the same while listening to her. As she continued complaining I would ask if there was anything else–and there always was. Then, surprisingly, after a few minutes of this she would suddenly get quiet, turn her head to the side, and ask cheerfully, “Do you want a Coke?” I would say yes, adding that while she was getting it for me I would start working on the machine. The account was saved and I managed it for several years.

By avoiding dealing with conflict we miss building character. We miss the chance to transform an adversary into a loyal customer. And we miss the deepened relationships that can be found on the other side of a conflict when we choose to do more than manage conflict and actually embrace it. Don’t miss those opportunities!

Martin Brossman - Success Coach / Trainer / Author www.CoachingSupport.com - martin@coachingsupport.com Podcast: www.Inquireonline.info

Tags: Business Networking, Communication, General Business Issues by Martin Brossman - No Comments »