Is It a Blog?

I run into people all the time that say they do not read blogs.

This could be true.  Maybe they only read one or two websites and never do searches.  That is entirely possible.

But what many people do not understand is that the web and blogs are not two separate things.  When you do a search, many blogs come up in the results of the search.  Blogs are naturally optimized for search engine results.  And with some customization the blog can often capture the top spots in seach engines because Google loves fresh content.

Also, blogging is just a form of a CMS.  (Content Management System) People are often on blogs and do not even realize it.  If you landed on an individual post in this blog and read the article without looking around too hard, would you really be aware that you are reading a blog post?  What is the difference between a blog post and a web page anyway?

What is a BLOG?

A blog is only a CMS.  CMS stands for Content Management System.

This is a tool that helps you organize information on the web.

A blog typically has some key traits.

1. RSS – This is a feed that gets broadcast to the world when the blog gets published.
2. Articles called posts – The most notable feature that makes something a blog is that it has more frequent content updates in the form of articles called blog posts.  These are often displayed newest first.

Primarily a blog is a website.  Outside of those two features, there is nothing that makes it different from another website, and even those two features are optional.

This brings up an interesting question.  What is the difference between an online magazine like FastCompany and a blog?

Nothing other than professionalism and effort.  A blog can be used as an online magazine content management system.  The only real difference is the effort.  To do a really great online magazine, you will really need to use many blog plug ins and customize it.  Then you will need a staff of writers and graphic designers.

So what is a blog?

A Blog is a widely accepted form of publishing information on the web  that search engines love.

New Business Blog

If you are going to start blogging and you are setting up a new business blog, here are 10 tips.

1. Don’t think about what a blog should be.  Think about what you want your blog to achieve for your small business.
2. Blogs are just CMS websites (Content Management Systems) – don’t be intimidated.
3. There is no absolute right or wrong.  You can write a combination of short, long and medium blog posts.
4. Use images, but if you do not have time, just put up the text.
5. Post less more frequently, not a lot only occasionally.
6. Add Google Analytics right away so you can watch your progress.
7. Don’t clutter your business blog
8. Don’t drive people off of your business blog with too many external links
9. Don’t make people search all over your new business blog for your contact information.
10. Link to your business blog from outside resources to get it a better reputation.

Content Management for Lead Generation

How does a Conent Management System effect your customer acquisition?

Simple.

A Content Management System, such as a blog, can should be able to be optimized for small business to produce daily leads.  Don’t confuse your normal webpage, which is probably more of an online brochure.  You can use a content management system to produce more content faster – and a good content management system will automatically optimize the content for search engine optimization and for lead generation.

In that way, a blogging system such as Employee Ambassador helps you with your client acquisition and sales.

When you are comparing content management systems, here are some things you want to make sure they have.

1. Automated Search Engine Optimization, including mod rewrite for friendly and optimized urls.
2. Super easy publishing.
3. Grids of data – we use a matrix of virtual blogs to create a grid of information.  Each node in the grid targets one particular keyword target.
4. Platform History – Is your system built on a platform that can expand with the times?  Any custom system has the danger of falling behind on the technical front.  That is why we choose to build our customized platform on the Wordpress Engine.  If a new technology comes out, we can quickly adapt.

Lead Generation with a Content Management System is all about targeting, the offer you make to visitors, fresh content and the focus of the site.  With only these few variables, you can quickly get an idea of how the effort is doing for you and make adjustments.

Blog as CMS

CMS means Content Management System.

This originally referred to ways to edit and organize websites.  But now it has morphed.  It still manages websites, but now the content has made the manager morph into a new media management system.

Video Blog?  Still a content management system.

Image Gallery?  Still managing content.

So when you are looking for the best content management system, it is not a question of which cms is best.  Instead, it is a question of which cms is best for your needs.

1. Do you need eCommerce?
2. Do you want to easily embed video?
3. Do you need to integrate with Amazon S3?
4. Do you want a small business blog or a five page website?
5. Who will be developing and supporting your cms?
6. Are there free plug-ins?
7. What other features may you need?  Threaded message boards?  Calendar with event registration?  Surveys?
8. Does it have RSS?
9. Is it search engine optimized automatically?
10. How does it manage users?  Does it allow for different user levels for advanced blogging and content management?
11. What language is it written in?  PHP or .Net?
12. How often does it get backed up?
13. Is it a hosted blog or cms – or do you need to host it on your own server?
14. Are there a lot of people that could customize it for you?
15. Are there free themes available?  Are they easy to modify to make them your own?

These are just some questions to get you started as you think about what CMS is the best option for you.