It really amazes me that in the last 4 years, the blogosphere has really exploded. And we have been evangelists, spreading the word about this medium and on using the Internet to reach new customers and bring new eyes to you and your business.  And yet every week, I run into people who still don't get it. We have numerous articles on our main site, Business Blogging Consultants, that explore all of the aspects and advantages of blogs, Web 2.0 and Social Media.

If you have only a website today, that's like having a billboard out in a cornfield on a dirt road. Wouldn't you rather have your billboard on a busy freeway where thousands and thousands of people can see it???


Some people get it - some people don't. Since we have  LIVED   THIS  for  the  the last  3  years, we understand it,   inside  and   out!  We have invested over 10,000 hours between us, "blogging"!  I  grew up living at the library! (remember those?!) 
But delivery of information changed the world when Google joined the game 10 years ago with a mission to digitize the world! You have a question? Google it! You will find your answer in seconds!
 
 
BLOG  is an ugly word for many people - and it is misunderstood and underutilized!  They started out as boring junky journals. A place for people to vent, share their thoughts, whatever. They have now become robust online magazines!  The top bloggers in the world  figured out the more they post, the faster their audience grew. 


    What is a Blog? The Lines Continue To Blur...

Wikipedia defines blogs as:

A Blog (a contraction of the term "Web log") is a Web site, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order.

The Blogosphere is the collective community of all blogs. Since all blogs are on the Internet by definition, they may be seen as interconnected and socially networked. Discussions "in the Blogosphere" have been used by the media as a gauge of public opinion on various issues.

But as the Blogosphere grows in size and influence, the lines between what is a blog and what is a mainstream media site become less clear. Larger blogs are taking on more characteristics of mainstream sites and mainstream sites are incorporating styles and formats from the Blogosphere. In fact, 95% of the top 100 US newspapers have reporter blogs.
 
Blogs are the NEW website. So you can have an old-school website, out in the  cornfield...or a new-school website on a super highway. Or have both, and just link them together.  

We live in an information society!  And people want their  news, media, entertainment  NOW - not on tonight's TV news and not in tomorrows newspaper.
 
Ask any business - what do they want to accomplish? Reach new clients and/or potential customers! Well guess what? A website probably  won't  do that. A website is simply a glorified business card or brochure online. It's a one-way "push" source of information. 
 
ALEXA  a respected authority in the WEB industry, the top 100 "websites" are not websites at all. (for the most part)
they  are what we call  WEB  2.0  sites. Interactive sites. Streaming news sites. Most of them are updated hourly, daily or weekly. And/or they allow interaction with the public. People seek current, useful information and the public can now participate in the sharing.  (the #1  website in the world? GOOGLE!) 
 
Google (and most search engines)  know how to separate the good from the bad. There is a lot of garbage out there. There are "spammers" who try to weasel in and "work" the system. However, 9 times out of 10, Google will deliver you the best of the best information about what you are looking for.
 
Most people do not realize what has happened in the last few years.YELLOW PAGES  are dead. They are doorstops!  Google changed search. And Blogs  and  "new" information have taken over. And business owners can use this to their  advantage. 
  
This is the power  of blogs.  Providing information. Google  loves  freshness and they love information, that is why most websites don't get indexed well. They are not fresh. They don't provide useful information - they SELL. Also, most search robots cannot read a website fully, because of the crazy code used and complicated  bells and whistles people add to the site to make it  fancy, to make it  "pretty".  Search robots will shut down, and walk away.
 
 
You have to PUSH people to websites.  60-90% (usually)  of all website traffic, is usually  direct hits. Pushed  traffic. People who already know the name of your company or have the web address.  The information these websites provide usually does not attract the search robots.
 
You can PULL  people  to a blog. It can attract   readers organically. 60-90%  (usually) of all blog traffic, usually comes in organically. They  find  YOU.  That's the difference. That's the beauty of blogs. It's because they are written in a simpler code, it's because  Google and robots can read them faster and easier, it's because  search algorithms have gotten smarter! However, you have to understand how they work, the strategy behind a good publisher's efforts, and what the search engines are looking for to win in the game of organic keyword search! And you have to provide information people are searching for. 

 
Google looks  for  freshness. The more you post, the more lift you get.  Most websites do not update very often.
 
Google  WEB  2.0   CONSULTANTS - we're  on page one, out of 8,000,000  links!
 
Google  GAY  TRAVEL, we're  on page  one, out  of  5,000,000  links!
 
Google  MINIATURE  YORKIE - we're on page one, out of 1,000,000 sites!
 
Google   BUSINESS  BLOGGING, we are usually on page one  or  two, out of 10,000,000 sites.
 
Google  SKULL ART,   under images  - we represent an artist, who wanted a website - and we talked him into a blog.   He is  ALWAYS   on page one!  In the last 6 months, he has sold  8,  $3000  pieces of art  AND  been picked up by 3 galleries, all because  they found him and his  "blog".  -  which is really just  a website that he updates about every  12 weeks!
 
 
Google  GAY  ANAHEIM   - we have an article usually on page one or two.  The city of Anaheim and the Orange County Tourism board discovered we  were always on page one  for  GAY  TRAVEL. They wanted to be there too -  and expose their amazing city to gay travelers. They flew us out there, and wined us and dined us, all expenses paid, to get us to cover them. Because the saw the  power of our site. Last month alone, we got phone calls from MTV,  LOGO  TV, and press releases from 10 different companies, all asking us to help them promote something or they wanted to buy an ad on our site! They came to us. 
 
We  have a wonderful  client here in Chicago who does electrolysis - permanent hair removal. She had a website and just was not happy. She heard us speak and she hired us to help her build her blog site. In 6 months - she has gotten more new clients, that have found her with the new site! And get this, she originally had about 2 dozen "keywords" that she thought people would find her by. We ran her analytics reports...over 5000  people found her using 2000 different keyword combinations! An old-school website can not deliver that. Period! 
 
Any business-any industry-can benefit. Anyone can set up a blog! It's cheap. We can  help get you there quicker, by shortening the learning curve. That's why people come to us. They don't want to spend 6 months figuring it out and make the top 10 mistakes most people make. 
 
 
We have countless examples.  IT WORKS!  It may come in round about ways, but people will come and find you! People are still set in the old mindset though, I need a  website... but guess what? blogs are websites. They are the NEW  WEBSITES!  You just have to understand them and how they work, to maximize your information that you can share with the world!

 

 Web 2.0  Consultants and Strategists 
Derrick Sorles and Michael Snell - We Help "Pull"  New Business To You!
            Your Business MD's - Business Blog Consultants & Internet Marketers