9 Ways To Run Your Blog Like A Small Business

This is a guest post by Ching Ya. If you want to guest post on this blog, check out the guidelines here.

It’s always about ‘how blogging would help in a small business’ rather than the other way around. Ever since I started my intense blogging in February 2009, I’ve noticed how much my four and a half years of working background in product and customer service for a small company had taught me much about blogging. Whether or not your aim is to monetize, most of us bloggers are hoping for the same thing: traffic and productivity – which in a small business scenario translates to customers and revenue.

Here’s a basic flow of how a small business usually runs:

Starting & Planning:

1. Deciding the Service/Merchandise

Merchandise is the revenue generator for small business. It depends much on the current market and the types of needs your business could fulfill. Small business conductors will carry out brief market research, identify and test upon the targeted market with several prototypes in a considerable amount. They never sit and wait for business to come knocking on their doors.

Deciding your blog niche is essential. Even if you have no idea which niche that best fits you, tryout several writings for your preferred topics. You will then able to decide which will bring you the most satisfactions and success, while pinpoint your weakness and strength along the way. Actions lead to outcomes. Whether good or bad, gain experience from it.

2. Maximize Your Resources

Are you financially equipped? Knowledge and experience wise? Small business conductors will maximize the use of their assets to help in the business, innovatively turn every idea into action.

Some bloggers are well adapted with knowledge of programming, web designs and SEO. By all means, apply these to optimize your blogging results. Even if you don’t have much to offer, take up a self-learning course on the how-tos, joining forums to get familiarize with the blogosphere, get help or necessary advices from the specialists. Make an effort to build your resources via knowledge database because what you gain is invaluable, and will be a major asset for your blogging career in future.

3. Planning and Precautions; Expect the Unexpected

Yes, we heard a lot about the benefits of owning a business plan. However, un-expectancies are bound to happen during the process, such as product shortage on promised date, warranty issues, customer complaints etc. Such experiences taught our company to be constantly alert and have backup plans whenever an issue comes up.

In blogging, it’s advisable to have yourself prepared for situations like burnt outs, data-lost, commenting issues or a sudden server breakdown. Preparation is always better than regretting later. Try to be ahead of your problems if possible. Trust me, you’re gonna thank yourself for initiating the backup plans.

Actions:

4. Publicity & Promotional Methods

Being the sole distributor for a particular merchandise helps to gain popularity fast. Otherwise, you need to work extra hard for publicity, such as offering special discounts or free gifts for loyal customers. Educate your new customers: what’s the main attraction of your product? Why should they come to you instead of your competitors? Sometimes it requires patience, but quality is what ensures business reputations and longevity.

Same as blogging, to stand out from the saturated market, you need to start building your own audiences with quality content. Originality will win you backlinks from other sites while ensures sustainability. You could have exposures done effectively via blog commenting, taking parts in forums, initiate promotions via blogging campaigns, guest postings and participate in social media sites. Another great way is to reward your readers with free subscription gifts or link love for their continuous supports.

5. Quality Product & Customer Service

Nowadays, many small businesses overlook the importance of ‘after sell service’, which sometimes one of the reasons that drive the customers away. Word of mouth can either build you, or destroy you. Thus, be attentive to our customers is always our utmost policy.

In blogging, what defines quality content? Subjective as it is, but not running far from solving a problem, generating ideas and creating good vibe for those who read it. Consider about your readers at all times. Unless you’re super busy with reasons not able to give an instant feedback, otherwise, you need to cater their needs asap.

Reviews:

6. Feedbacks

We do monthly reviews on our merchandises. Such action helps to decide whether our business will continue to benefit from it, or should we move on to other alternatives? It takes into account every customer’s feedback, call of complaints, solutions provided by the vendor, and ROI after considering all the aspects.

Likewise, we are concern about blog visitors and their reactions to our writings. We cannot please everyone, but we still need to take in all the feedbacks, good or bad, and improvise them. Knowing the importance of reviewing your blog will ensure acceptance from your visitors. It could be done by observing your blog comments, emails, and monitoring via Google Alert regarding your personal branding on various sites.

7. Follow Ups

In small business, it’s easier to follow up on customers in a regular basis. Whether it is via phone calls, surveys or a casual conversation during their visits to our premise. This is to build up a marketing relationship with our customers, having them to come back regularly for our services or products.

By utilizing the same concept, we can try to get in touch with our readers, not only through comments, but through emailing as well. Make use of the social media sites available for effective follow-ups. Form an author-reader relationship. Bear in mind your readers could always go to other similar blogs but they’ve chosen yours instead. With this simple reason they deserved your pamper and attention at all times.

Research & Development

8. Quality Control

We are always told to deliver more than what we promised and never the other way around. A well manageable small business is never negligent of quality control.

Blogging is always about quality control for that matter. Besides writing skills, try to minimize the spelling mistakes, and have a clean blog layout that is easy to navigate. Make sure the content is well structured and not losing your personal touch. Maybe a new input would be good for your blog? Try occasional use of vodcast or radio show for your blogging presentations. But don’t over doing it, or risk yourself without a proper training at first.

9. Outsourcing & Future Planning

A small business will find ways to survive, for example outsourcing for possible ventures. Most small business conductors are risk takers and willing to expand their business to the next level.

Try to figure the next possible step for your blog. Could it be collaboration with like-minded bloggers for a webinar? Building a fan site in Facebook? An ebook? If you’re all about gaining knowledge on how to monetize your blog, it’s important to know how and when it’s the time to make it happen.

It is said that blogging market is saturated. But we need to be optimistic if we wish to go headstrong in this blogging business. Small business runners are risk takers, opportunists, and customer-oriented, something we could learn much about and benefit from. However, it’s important to never lose touch of our own selves. Be honest, sincere, and a positive attitude will help us go a long way, while running our blog successfully like a small business.

Neobux earn money By click!

Today I would like to share my experience with NeoBux

This website provide easy job just surf internet and we can get money from it! It is a true website that we can get real money. NeoBux provide free register for every people and every where.
I just join this website a week but I can get many benefit after I become a member of NeoBux

Member

As a member you can earn simply by viewing all the advertisements we display.

Benefit

 Effortless income
- Earn from home
- Guaranteed ads daily
- Detailed statistics
- Upgrade opportunities
- A dedicated community
- AdPrize + Offers

Now I not yet have any money with it yet but I believe that I will success with this site!

Link Check my experience

40 Ways to Make Money on the Internet

I did a little bookmark scrub this morning and thought I would share the remaining content of my "Online Money" folder. To warn you, there are certain things that I don't like and never bookmark so:

What's NOT included: Taking Paid Surveys, Getting Paid to Surf the Internet, MLM, Contest Sites, "Buy my DVD, CD, Audiobook", etc.

What IS included: Things you can use to legitimately make money online - Everything from Getting Paid to review software to good ole' Adsense.

• Infolinks  - Infolinks is probably the highest paying option for your in-text advertising. On DLM, you will see underlined links scattered throughout articles. Those are a function of Infolinks and without disclosing too much, it's been a great source of income. Best is that they accept all sizes of websites and blogs. Just sign up and begin.

 
• Build a Niche Store  - This is a simple store development platform which enables you to create content based sites that generate income through the eBay affiliate programs. Pretty darn simple and increasingly popular.


• Adbrite  - Sell space on your site for text ads. This would work like the DLM Marketplace you see on the right of my pages although I chose to manage it myself.


• Amazon Affiliate Program - Easily create a store or shopping section on your site instead of sending your visitors to Amazon. Amazon handles the shopping cart and fulfillment.


• Amazon Seller  - Sell your stuff on Amazon


• Associated Content  - If you write a story, how-to, rant, how-to cut grass, etc., you can submit it to them and they will pay you $3-$20 per article if they like it.


• Yahoo! Merchant Solutions  - This is a pretty simple and cheap way to create an online store.


• Azoogleads  - Another ad program. They do have some decent companies lined up as advertisers. You provide space, they'll provide an ad.


• BidVertiser  - PPC (pay per click) program with a low $10 payout amount.


• Blog  - Start a blog and consistently write excellent content. With good ad placement, you may make some money. I detail my process here: Simply Said, How to Blog.


• Cafepress  - You provide a design, they'll toss it on a T-Shirt, Hat, etc. No upfront costs. Get a free online shop and promote your products on your website.


• Chitika  - Their eMiniMalls service has shown great results for many Bloggers and site owners. You choose a keyword and they show relevant products on your site using a pretty unique interface.


• Clickbank  - Quickly becoming my favorite affiliate program. They have thousands of things for you to advertise on your site.


• ClicknWork  - Get paid $5-$150 per hour for basically doing freelance work on a per-assignment basis. You have to pass a pretty tough test to get in.


• Clicksor  - These are the guys that generate contextual ads on sites that show up when you hover over a double-underlined word.


• Commission Junction  - If you have a site, you can join Commission Junction. Once enrolled for free, you can choose companies whose ads are pertinent to your site. Companies have the ultimate say on working with you. There are easily over 1,000 companies to choose from here.


• CreamAid  - For blogs only, advertisers provide you with a topic and you write about it on your site. To do this, you have to install a flash widget into your blog post. The more people you bring into the conversation through the widget, the more you get paid. It's difficult to explain.


• eefoof  - Think of it as YouTube + Flickr + Music. You add original content and they pay you based on the visitors you attract.


• Ether  - If you are an expert on something, Ether provides a way for people to pay you to talk about it in a one-on-one setting. If you want to charge $250/hr, that's fine. You have to do all the advertising so you should have a blog or site already established.


• eBay - Come on, you know what this is. Gather your junk and sell it!

 
• eBay Stores - If you have a real store and want to sell your stuff online, this is a decent option to get you started.


• ELance  - Name gives it away. Programmers, Codes, Web Designers, Writers, Editors, can look for freelance opportunities.


• Feedvertising  - This is an arm of Text Link Ads  and is currently only good for Wordpress users. This does me no good currently, but as you can guess, they place ads in your feed(s).


• Feedburner / Google  - Not only are they the best place to house your feeds, they will also add ads to your feed and website. You get paid per impression and if you implement Google Adsense to your feed, you are paid per click.


• Google Adsense  - Come on, you don't need an explanation; these ads are all over the place. Google displays relevant ads based on your site's content


• Google Adwords  - Create simple text ads and choose keywords that determine when they are displayed. This is where the Adsense Content comes from. You do not need a site for this.


• H3.com  - Get paid to fill jobs. Commissions range from $50-$5,000. It all depends on how tough the job is to fill and how desperate the hiring company is. This is another one that's tough to explain.


• Indeed.com  - Add their job board to your site. They then post jobs based on the geographic location of visitors and the position types you pre-select. I tried it and I they continually report that I sent 0 visitors and I know that's not right. Nevertheless, I may have an isolated problem so they make the list.


• InnerSell  - If you have a customer that wants to buy something you cannot sell, you can sell the lead here.


• Jigsaw  - It's a pretty flaky model but if you have a Rolodex full of good contacts, you can sell them here. I can't make sense of it but it looks like you get $0.10 per profile.


• LinkShare.com  - If you have a site, you can join Linkshare. Once enrolled for free, you can choose companies whose ads are pertinent to your site. Companies have the ultimate say on working with you. Like Commission Junction, there are a ton of companies waiting to evaluate your site.


• Microsoft Adcenter  - Bid on keywords and Microsoft places your created ads then they are searched for. This is similar to Google Adwords. You do not need a site for this.


• Overstock.com  - Sell your stuff on Overstock.com


• Pay Per Post  - I don't agree with this model entirely but they have advertisers that will pay you to write about their products on your blog.


• Pheedo  - If you have an RSS feed, run it through Pheedo. Like Feedburner, they can include ads into your feed and if you really become large, advertisers will pay a premium for you to show their ads.


• Shareasale.com  - I've used them for a couple years for some banner advertising. They are similar to Commission Junction and Linkshare however they seem to have lower tiered companies with advertising offers.


• Shoemoney  - This is a blog that can teach you a ton on making money online. I've spent hours reading his old stuff.


• Software Judge  - They will pay you up to $50 to review software.


• Text Link Ads  - I have never made a dime here but I know people that have. You can earn by sending advertisers to them or by selling spots on your site. You must have a real site or blog to do this - nothing on a shared domain (i.e. /blogspot).


• Vibrant Media  - Don't bother unless your site has 500,000 page views of text based content a month. If you have that readership, these are the guys that display bubble box ads to underlined words on your site.


• West Work At Home Agent  - Not entirely online but this is worth a mention because it's won awards and is very legitimate. If you are an at-home Mom or free-lancer without work, you should check this out.

10 Blog Post Ideas You Can Use Right Now

Stuck for an idea? Not sure how to structure your post? Use one of these handy suggestions (you might even want to print out the list and keep it near your computer).
And if you’ve got a favorite post type or template, let us know in the comments!
#1: The Beginner’s Guide to…
Even if you’ve not been blogging in your niche for very long, you can write a beginner’s guide. In fact, you’re in a great position to do so: you’ll be able to remember all the questions you had when you were just starting out.
#2: How to…
One very simple way to create a strong title is to start with the words “How to.” When you plan your post, come up with 5 – 10 steps to take readers through the process of accomplishing a particular task.
#3: 10 Tips and Tricks For…
Often, you’ll have lots of good advice that readers can pick and choose from — it doesn’t need to be followed step by step. In this case, a “tips and tricks” post works well. Come up with 10 or so strong ideas, and make sure each one can stand alone.
#4: The A-Z Guide To…
It takes some work to put together an A-Z guide … but this sort of post can make a fantastic resource for readers. You could write an A-Z guide for your whole niche (e.g. “The A-Z Guide to Blogging”) or for an aspect of your niche (e.g. “The A-Z Guide to Writing Great Content”).
#5: This [Week’s / Month’s] Best Posts On…
A round-up post is a great way to establish your expertise: it shows that you’ve got your finger on the pulse of what’s happening around the internet. By collating great recent posts (perhaps from the last week or month), you also point readers towards valuable resources.
#6: The Pros and Cons of…
Even if you have a strong personal opinion about a particular issue, you might want to present a balanced view. A “pros and cons” post can help do that — you give readers the advantages, and then the disadvantages, of a particular action/product/etc.
#7: How I …. And How You Can Too
This type of post works really well whether you’re new to your niche, or an established expert. Think of something you’ve accomplished that your readers would love to do — and tell them how you did it. Make sure you include some tips on how they can emulate your success.
#8: Seven Ways To…
This is a bit like a how-to post with a twist: you’re offering a bunch of different possible ways to do something. There’s often not a one-size-fits-all solution, so help your readers explore different ideas and encourage them to try a new technique.
#9: Review of…
Whatever niche you’re in, there’ll be books, products, services, and even other blogs that you can review. If there’s a major book or product coming out, get your hands on it as soon as you can (you might even ask the publisher for an advance copy) and let your readers know what you thought.
#10: What 5 Experts Say About…
Perhaps you know your readers want a post about a particular topic — but you don’t feel you know enough to write that post. Instead of trying to come up with the content yourself, look at blogs, books, or articles to see what experts in your field have said. (Make sure you attribute each quote.)
Do you have a favorite post type from the ones above… or a different idea to suggest? Let us know in the comments!
Bio: Ali Luke writes a regular column for DailyBlogTips. She will be leading blogging courses in London from September. If you’d like to learn more about blogging, with hands-on exercises and one-to-one support as part of a small group, then book your place today.

50 Creative Ways to Make Your Blog Popular

Here is a list of some very creative ways which can help you make your blog popular. If not popular, at least it will give you some ideas of what to post on your blog if you are running out of topics to write about.

1. Start a controversy. Just remember not to cross the line.
2. Start a contest. Make sure to end it too.
3. Give away free goodies. People love them.
4. Write about other bloggers to interest their visitors to read your blog. Keep it positive.
5. Dress up your blog often (By dress-up I mean tweaking the design)
6. Interview other bloggers and post the interview.
7. Write about your personal life sometimes.
8. Ask questions to your visitors.
9. Share some secrets.
10. Celebrate your birthday with your visitors. Think of innovative ways for doing this.
11. Celebrate your blog’s birthday too.
12. Write something funny or disgusting. (Don’t make it a habit)
13. Make a bumper sticker with your blog’s name and stick it on your car. (Just make sure you drive often)
14. Write an e-book and distribute it to your visitors for free.
15. Introduce a commission based affiliate program.
16. Tell your visitors about your latest fad or obsession.
17. Post interesting pictures of your pets.
18. Congratulate the top commentators occasionally.
19. Encourage sharing of opinions.
20. Donate for a cause or become a volunteer for a non-profit organization. Ask your visitors to join you.
21. Put your blog’s ad in the local newspaper or the yellow pages.
22. Hold blog competitions.
23. Create polls.
24. Hold an auction and let people bid for something useful (For example, advertising space on your blog).
25. Write about your blog achievements.


26. Share your hopes and aspirations about your blog.
27. Start an award distribution system.
28. Make contact with your local visitors and hold a get-together or a bloggers’ meet.
29. Start a blog comic strip.
30. Dig up some old article that you wrote on your blog which became famous and start a discussion.
31. Try and get a photograph clicked with a real celebrity and post it on your blog. (Hold on Tiger..don’t rush to that Photoshop button!)
32. Post videos that will help your visitors learn something new. Also submit them to video sharing websites like YouTube.com.
33. Write about your hobbies and interests. (For example, if you like cooking, post a new recipe)
34. Post about one of the weirdest thing that you ever did.
35. Get featured in a print magazine.
36. Buy a paid review from any famous blogger(s).
37. Brand your blog with a catch phrase along with a logo.
38. Distribute T-shirts or merchandise with your blog name on it.
39. Join Yahoo! Answers and put a link on your website to your answers.
40. Keep a track of websites that pick up your articles or press releases. Offer them exclusive news or content.
41. Do surveys and publish the results to your visitors.
42. Build tools that your visitors might find use for.
43. Start a newsletter.
44. Podcasting is another good way to make your blog popular.
45. Publicize your blog to your friends and relatives and let them do some work for you.
46. Be active in Social Bookmarking websites.
47. Share Link Love and you will get it back.
48. People like to read about Web 2.0. Write about it.
49. Write about something that’s already famous.
50. Last but not the least, be yourself.

How to Make your Website More Popular

Everybody who owns a website wants it to be more popular. From the web design team at the New York Times right down to the small retailer trying to expand into ecommerce, popularity is the key to success. Reading and working with popular websites every day can sometimes feel like living in a bubble where everybody has good search engine rankings and sites are all beautiful so it’s nice sometimes to look at how “normal” websites can improve their popularity.

Invest in a good design – while people like Ling  might think design isn’t everything it is one of the key aspects a site can use to build their visitors trust  so you need to get it right.

Learn about usabilty – having the best designed website in the world is useless if normal people can’t use it. Sit behind some of your non internet savvy relatives and friends and watch them navigate your site and make purchases from your store. If they struggle with things you need to improve your usabilty.

Create a useful website – I know this might sound simple but having a website isn’t just a way to tell people about your company. If you really want to become popular make sure your website is actually going to be helpful to the people who arrive there. If every visitor who was pleased by your site gave you a link or told one of their friends your traffic would increase to Facebook levels in months.

Keep it up to date – if your company can’t be bothered to keep your website updated at least once a year then I probably won’t want to use it. Broken links, outdated news and copyright notices from 2003 are not going to turn me on.

Be topical – just because you are a retailer it doesn’t mean you can ignore the latest news in your niche. Having a company blog might be a bit beyond most businesses but you should at least have a news section to publish company information and responses to popular stories.

Manage your reputation – responding to your readers/customers comments is key to establishing your company as one that cares about what people say about you. You could also use the criticism to make your website better.

Learn about the internet – this might sound simple to some people but trying to explain to a middle aged company directory why they need to worry about buzz marketing is hard enough without them asking questions about what links are and what blogs do. Knowing how ideas spread through forums and blogs is essential for webmasters to understand online marketing.

Be controversial – having a boring corporate site isn’t always the best way to become popular. Sometimes you need to upset 95% of the world just to get the attention of the other 5%. After all, having 5% of the population loving your site isn’t a bad goal to have.

Be interesting – sometimes a website can break every rule in the book and still succeed. The one characteristic these sites have is they are interesting. So much content on the web is boring and repeated that having an interesting site is probably the best way to get noticed.

Learn about Google – ever wondered why some websites rank highly on Google while some languish on page 4? It’s because one of the owners understands how Google works. Spend a few days reading the official guidelines  and making sure your site follows all the normal optimisation rules and you might be surprised how much of a difference it can make.