Why should your business have an active online presence?    Here are a few amazing statistics I came across in the past year.  These numbers really speak for themselves, don’t you think?

80% of all small businesses use internet to conduct business activities.

There are over 2 billion videos viewed every single day on YouTube.

Here is a little tip for Twitter and Facebook users.  In this post I’ll show you how you can easily setup an RSS feed to post updates automatically to your Twitter account and Facebook pages or profile.

This is very handy if you want to:

Twitterfeed Homepage

If you’re anything like me, you use Twitter not only to connect with people, but also to find new interesting articles and websites that people you follow recommend.   By linking an quality RSS feed to your Twitter account, you can “give back” some of that goodness and suggest content to your followers, without having to do anything. It’s all done automatically.

Sure, you should only do this with a quality RSS feed that you are certain your followers will find interesting so you don’t overdo it.

Here is how to link an RSS feed to Twitter or Facebook:

1Go to www.twitterfeed.com

2Create your new account and login

3Create New Feed by clicking the button in top right corner of the screen

4Define your source RSS Feed – enter the name and RSS URL.

Setting up a RSS feed

5Go to “Step two” – connect the RSS feed to your services. At the time of writing this article, you can link RSS feeds to Twitter, Facebook, Statusnet and Hellotxt.

6All done.  You now have an RSS feed linked to your Twitter or Facebook account and it will post new updates as they come in.  You can also check how many people clicked on your links from the Twitterfeed dashboard.

Should you start a business blog on your website?

What can a blog do for your business?

A blog is a great and easy way to promote your business. Studies have shown us time and time again businesses that do blog have clear advantage over their competitors. To sum the most obvious benefits having a business blog will help your search engine rankings, increase your website traffic, generate more leads from your website and improve your brand visibility.

A quick introduction to blogging

The word blog is derived from the term “web log”. It is a platform for easy publishing of content. A website that’s part online journal and part open forum. Sometimes blog readers can post their reactions to blog posts and other readers can then add their two cents to those comments, thereby continuing the dialogue.

A few facts and statistics

Businesses that blog get 55% more website visitors.

The so-called blogosphere contains blogs on practically every conceivable topic. Every day there are over 900,000 new blog posts. Technorati – a blog search engine – has indexed over 133,000,000 blogs since 2002.

More important for business owners are the business blogging statistics. According to HubSpot – an internet marketing company – businesses that blog get 55% more website visitors, 97% more inbound links and 434% more indexed pages in search engines.

In a study done by marketing research company MarketingSherpa, businesses have found blogs to be 4th most important tool in generating new sales leads. But enough with the numbers and let’s look at the actual benefits of having a business blog.

Benefits of having a business blog

There are so many benefits it seems almost insane not to have a blog these days. Here are just a few reasons why having a blog is good for your business.

1. Create great content

Content is the king! By having a blog you can provide your readers with relevant information that’s related to your industry and products and keep them informed about the latest news. If you publish new posts on a regular basis your readers and customers will keep coming back to your website and they will always think of you first when they need your services again.

2. Search engines love blogs – having a blog will help your search engine rankings.

Search engines just love blogs because they offer a large amount of text content that is updated and added to on a regular basis. Because your posts are relevant to your field, you are generating invaluable content filled with the right keywords you need to rank high in searches, just by posting articles. As other people start linking to your blog posts your website will be accuring the all important inbound links from other relevant websites. As at end of 2009 inbound links and good content are the two most imporant factors in search engine rankings. Blog is an easy, cost effective way to get your business visible at the top when people search for your niche.

3. Demonstrate your expertise

By sharing your knowledge about your industry or services over a period of time you to demonstrate your expertise in your field. Blogging builds your credibility with your readers and potential clients. Your audience will have confidence in you as they can see that your are knowlegeable about your particular industry or product.

4. Low cost marketing – it only costs your time

Blogging is effective low-cost marketing. It doesn’t take much to add a blog to your website or you can use one of many free blogging services like WordPress, Typepad or Blogger.  Once you have setup your blog the only investment required is your time.  Get in the habit of posting blog updates regularly and the benefits you start getting back in return will amaze you.

5. Connect with your audience on personal level

A blog gives you an incredible opportunity to be yourself and communicate with your audience on a more personal level. Most of the materials found on today’s websites is formal and impersonal. People are looking to make a personal connection with those they do business with.

Imagine this: your potential customer is looking at yours and your competitor’s website. He needs to decide who is he going to call first. Who do you think he’s going to pick? Naturally he will call first to the person he feels more connected to. Your blog will help you make this connection and nudge your potential customers to give you a call first.

6. Increase your brand awareness

A blog gives you a great opportunity to buld up your brand awareness. The more a customer hears your name, the bigger chance of remembering it. By connecting your blog with social bookmarking and social networking sites like Digg, Redit, Stumpleupon, Twitter or Facebook you also spread your influence into areas of potential customers you would not be able to target otherwise.

7. Increase the number of leads and sales through your website

Building up brand awareness goes hand in hand with increased sales. As indicated by Business Weeks’ Olga Kharif in “Blogging for Business”, Jonathan Schwartz, president and chief operating officer of Sun Microsystems disovered his blog was a gold mine when his sales people started reporting they were selling deals faster to the readers of his blog. Blog also gives you an opportunity to mention your latest special deals and promotions in a more casual form than your main website.

8. Develop relationships with other bloggers

Once you get into your blogging routine you will discover there are other bloggers like you with similar goals and interests. Start promoting them and they will promote you in return. The whole blogosphere is built of connections and there are thousands of bloggers helping each other out every day.

9. Blog is a central element for online interaction with your customers

Source: BetterBusinessBlogging.com

Your blog will become a central place for all your other online interaction with customers and prospects. Even if you use other channels like Twitter or YouTube to engage with your followers, blog will allow you to bring all of your online activities together. In his brilliant post “Treat your Blog as your online home” Mark White says:

A blog, however, allows a business to bring all of these other elements together, creates a focal point for a community of customers, provides the company with its own social network hub whatever else goes on in the market and allows it to expand on the information disseminated on Twitter, YouTube or iTunes.

10. Develop library of marketing materials

This benefit of a business blog is often not mentioned. As you post your articles and updates you will over time generate an extensive library of marketing materials you can use elsewhere.  Need to print a new brochure for upcoming show or mailbox drop? Look into your blog archives – chances are you will already have some information in your blog therefore saving you time otherwise needed to write new copy for your brochure.

Keep it useful…

Ultimately blog can be a low cost, easy to use, highly effective marketing tool for differentiating your business from the competition and increasing customer loyalty.  All that’s required to run a successful small business blog is commitment, creativity, most importantly, keeping your blog useful for your readers.