Do I need a Blog if I already have a Website

Blogs are a relatively new way of communicating with people. The question I get asked most about them is:

“If I have a Website – why do I need a Blog?”

In answer to the question do I need a blog and a website, I can tell you that I was surfing on Google recently and something I was looking for gave my website in the first page of the search results. Gotta love that! But….what I was most delighted to see two entries down in the Google search results was a blog post I had done recently appearing just below my website.

Having a Blog and a Website doubles your chance of being found.

My website has been floating around out in cyberspace for over two years now. My blog has been out there for five months and it is almost ranking as well as my website. I would like to predict that in a couple of months my blog will out rank my website.

When you compare the cost of the website and the time it takes to get web pages loaded = HOURS of work! Then compare that to a free blog and the 15 minutes it takes to write a blog post – I can only surmise that my blog is working for me.

This article by Dr. Charles Baldwin will give you some more ideas on why blogs work.
Article Source: EzineArticles.com

Does Clean Underwear Make a Difference on the Highway of Life?

As a youngster it was imperative that I had clean underwear. In fact life seemed to revolve around underwear. It was either being washed, hung out to dry, ironed (seriously), put away, put on or being scrutinised for its suitability.

This has to be life’s number one learning lesson and it is a lesson that makes no sense what so ever...........or does it?

I got Mum a gorgeous Mothers Days card one year that said on the front –
Mum where would I have been all these years without you?
The inside said: probably driving down the highway of life in dirty underwear!

If Hallmark are in on the act, then perhaps there ARE lessons to learn from dirty underwear?

It got me to thinking about the connection between business and having clean or dirty underwear and its significance in our small businesses. There are a lot of comparisons that can be drawn between wearing underwear (clean or dirty) and having a small business:

• Like underwear we need to have a lot of different selling points
  
  
• We need to stand out in the crowd to be chosen at all
  
  
• We need to appeal in different niche markets and appeal to different people
  
  
• Others judge us when we are really just doing our best with what we’ve got
  
  
• Some things are out of our control
  
  
• If we stretch too far – we end up on the scrap heap
  
  
• We are constantly finding new ways to feel fresh at the end of long day.
  
  

The list could be endless when you start to think about it. Due to the seriousness of this issue I’ve decided to have a poll and see what you think.

So if you have ever been bailed up by the dirty underwear police at a crash scene or can find a business case or comparison for clean or dirty underwear – please leave a comment and vote in the poll.

How to Get Known as an Expert = FAST!

Welcome to 2008 – this is my first blog post since returning from the USA and you never know I might even blog a few posts on what I learnt in waist deep snow. But for today I’m on about forums.

Just when I thought my day was totally full and no room left for one more single marketing activity to do in my small business – I learn I’ve now got to be out there commenting on the forums all around the world. This doesn’t please me as I spend most of my life in front of a computer but it seems forums are yet another (very good) way of getting known in this virtual world we now live in.

If you have been doing my 90 Day Challenge or the Full Practice Building System, you will know how much importance I place on having a strong WHO & WHAT. Knowing WHO you work with and WHAT you do for them is imperative to building a strong practice.

Forums are where the rubber hits the road when it comes to WHO & WHAT because all you need to do is identify a few forums that gather together in your WHO market and you just go on and answer their questions or comment on what they have written. The trick is to be discerning and as always make sure you are adding value. Never just go on and get into a thread because you can. Only get on a thread if you can add value or give a constructive comment or answer a question or you are just like a large percentage of the rest of the world who are wasting their life commenting on forums.

Forums are one way you can quickly become known for your expertise as you start to jump in and comment on things you know something about. This last comment assumes you know something about something but it does seem ok if you know something about anything – there will be a forum for you.

So I figure if I have to do it – then you guys can at least know what you are not doing. You need to search for forums in your area of expertise and the best way to do that is a website called http://www.ning.com/home/

On the first page I visited there was a choice between the Occult and Pagan communities and The Fairy Society. Somewhere between those two there are currently 8.097 other social communities so you won't be spoilt for choice.

You could spend all day in these forums so please just don’t forget all the other marketing activities in your marketing train!!