===================================================================== An iEntry.com Mailing ===================================================================== SmallBusinessUK - 12 Tips On Brand-Building With Blogs June 12, 2007 http://www.smallbusinessuk.com/ .................................................................... Free Click Fraud White Paper and Personalized Demo Zero Tolerance for Click Fraud - This report reveals PPC ads that are victims of click fraud. Use web analytics to determine the source of problems. >>> Read the Whitepaper then Try the Free ClickTracks Demo to detect click fraud http://aj.600z.com/aj/29349/0/cc?z=1&b=29022&c=29347 .................................................................... 12 Tips On Brand-Building With Blogs Neville Hobson | Expert Author There's a great post by Darren Rowse at ProBlogger with advice on how to build your personal brand with a blog. Darren offers seven specific tips (read his post for the details on each one): 1. Build trust 2. Be personal 3. Use story 4. Establish expertise 5. Be generous 6. Establish relationships in your niche 7. Be consistent To this list, I'd add five more: 8. Set the right expectations. Be clear on the goal of your blog, what you'll write about and how frequently so that visitors know what to expect. 9. Identify who you are. May seem obvious, but I see so many blogs with great content yet it's almost impossible to find out anything about the author. Sometimes not even who the author is. So make sure you at least have a concise but clear ‘about' page. And don't forget - include some means for readers to contact you. ..................................................................... Reach farther. Grow Faster. Start Meeting Online! Easily Meet Online with Zero Hassle and Zero Travel. Try WebEX MeetMeNow for FREE! http://aj.600z.com/aj/29349/0/cc?z=1&b=29172&c=29346 ..................................................................... 10. Enable the tools that lead to conversations. That means allowing people to comment on your blog itself as well as connect to your posts (trackbacks) from their blogs or other websites. If you don't want to do this (ie, have conversations), why would you think a blog will help you build your personal brand? You want to engage with people, not just present them with static reading material. 11. Share all your content with RSS. Don't be tempted to set up your RSS feed to deliver just a summary of your content. If you think the goal here is to drive traffic to your site, ditch such a turn-of-the -century notion of connecting with people. It's not about visiting your site: it's about making it easy for people to consume, share and connect with your content, in a way that is convenient to them. 12. Get your own domain name. If you really want your blog to be associated with your name - especially useful when people search for you by your name - isn't it better to have BillSmith.com rather than something like billsmith.blogspot.com? Much depends on your goals, of course, but I strongly recommend acquiring your own domain name. Inexpensive to do these days. Undoubtedly there will be lots more to add... ===================================================================== About the Author: Neville Hobson is the author of the popular NevilleHobson.com blog which focuses on business communication and technology. Neville is currentlly the VP of New Marketing at Crayon. Visit Neville Hobson's blog: NevilleHobson.com. ===================================================================== ===================================================================== For ad details and prices... mailto:susan@ientry.com ===================================================================== Signup for free newsletters: http://www.ientry.com/page/newsletters ===================================================================== --- SmallBusinessUK is an iEntry.com publication --- http://www.iEntry.com iEntry, Inc. 2549 Richmond Rd Second Floor Lexington, KY 40509 ====================================================================