So, it is very fitting that this blog should be all about blogs!
I would like to start by talking about the benefits of writing a blog:
They are search engine-friendly and one of the easiest, fastest and least expensive ways to increase the online exposure of your business.
Blogs, are fast and reasonably easy to create. They are less formal than a newsletter. They are interactive, and they are loved by the media as well as by search engines (particularly Google) love blogs.
Blogs make your site “stickier” and more likely to be revisited by prospects looking for fresh, interesting content. Google will re-index your site more frequently (meaning new pages you put online will appear in the search results more quickly) and it will also give your rankings a boost.... and we all want that!
(‘Sticky’ is a word used in web design, online marketing and search engine optimisation to describe a site or page’s ability to hold an internet user’s attention. The longer the internet user sticks around, the more sticky the site is. Sticky sites are also the sites that attract repeat traffic.)
There is a great article 7 steps to a stickier website just click HERE for a link, there are other great articles linked to this site!I suppose it is easy for us all to say that we have not got enough time to write a blog, but from all the evidence that I have read, it is probably one of the best and more effective online tools that you can use to attract greater online awareness for you and your business!
So where do you start if you have never written a blog before?
There are a number of free blog hosting sites, such as www.blogger.com and www.wordpress.com These are both really very easy to use sites that can help you set up your blog free, with great templates and themes, tools for writing, up to the minute stats, tagging systems and help and advice when you need it... so what are you waiting for!
To give you a little inspiration I have highlighted a few 'balloon blogs' - There are a number of great 'balloon blogs'... sadly, too many for me to feature :(
We'll start with Matthew Lewis Displays - blog. Matt is a regular blogger and keeps his blogs short, fresh and regular... Matt often posts his blogs on the Qualatex Facebook Group page, freely sharing many of his ideas and experiences!
To see Matts blog click HERE
Here's another great blog! You can already see that it looks so very different from Matt's or "The Very Best Balloon Blog' with a strong black background and white print... this blog is hosted by Wordpress, one of the free sites that I recommended earlier.
I really like this blog, the author known as '007' is in fact David Saker. David has many years experience in the balloon industry and runs a business known simply as Balloon.co.uk. David shares some great stories and offers some truly great tips! I strongly recommend that you read his blog "Small Twitter Tip", if like me you are unsure how to make Twitter work for you, I think this will explain it pretty well... thank you for the great 'Twitter Tip' David!
To view David's Balloon.com blog click HERE
Bunch of Balloons use their blog to show off their AMAZING skills of venue transformation!
I really love the way they explain how they work with their customers to completely fulfil their needs and the attention to detail that they go to making sure that the customers gets what they want and more!
Showing the transformation of a venue is a great way to show off the power of balloons and the art of decor at its best!
To view Bunch of Balloons Blog click HERE
The last blog that I would like to feature is Miller's Balloon Blog. Once again it has a completely different look from the others. I really enjoyed reading their article on weather and balloons along with their other blogs. The author Jodie, really helps to explain using personal experiences on how to work with balloon in different weather conditions, she also emphasis's how you should have agreements (contract) with your clients should you need to make changes because of the weather!
To view Millers Balloon Blog click HERE
I hope that this blog inspires you to start writing your own, and if you already have a 'balloon blog' and would like others to read it, please post a link in the comments section below.
Thank you for reading my blog, I really enjoy writing them! If you have any requests for future topics for my blog please let me know, just drop me an email sue@suebowler.com
Happy Ballooning!
Sue
www.suebowler.com