Small Biz Blog Wiz - Easy, Affordable and Productive Blogging for Small Businesses

Will the Search Engines Find Your Blog?

Building a business blog is a great idea that's easy to implement. Getting a significant amount of traffic via the search engines is a great idea that can be a bit more challenging, albeit very rewarding. Here is a comprehensive article with practical advice on how to optimize your blog for search engines. The quote below from the article is especially useful for all business bloggers.

Link: Optimization for Business Blogs ~ ISEdb.COM

"The important thing to remember is that no matter how many optimization tactics you employ with a blog, there is no substitute for quality content. Blog optimization is only as effective as the quality and usefulness of the content you’re optimizing. "

Web Tool Review: The New Yahoo! Page

Yahoo has unveiled a redesign of their Web site, the #1 destination on the Web. This redesign will affect millions of people, probably including you.

The new Yahoo page is MUCH better organized than before. Because Yahoo is such a sprawling Web property, previously it was hard to find what you were looking for among their myriad of services. Categories and services are now neatly ordered and easy-to-find with small icons. Exploring the new page, I found Yahoo features I didn't know existed or had never used before. Yahoo has made it easier to find their own content. Smart move.

All of Yahoo's customized services are at the top of the page. This is especially important because it symbolizes the company's commitment to putting the customer's experience and content first. If I went through the trouble of setting up my email, weather, news, instant messenger, etc. all through Yahoo, I want it to be out-in-front, the center of my online experience.

The advertising and sponsorships are less obvious and much less annoying. I don't know if Yahoo decreased the total percentage of their page dedicated to advertising, all though I suspect they did, but the impact is instantly noticeable and rewarding.

This will be the new face of Yahoo and its a much better face for the company. The new Yahoo is friendlier, more comfortable and less obnoxious. Interesting that these are just the kind of qualities we also admire in people.

Local Business, Local Search

The article linked below is a useful summary of the advertising options available to local, small businesses. The graphic linked here is very compelling. It shows that nearly 20% of customers are searching for local businesses online first. Your business needs to be at the top of those results. Advertising can accomplish that goal. Blogs can also accomplish that goal with additional benefits. Blogs are sometimes seen as more credible than bought-and-paid-for advertising; blogs also develop a stable of loyal readers and, usually, blogs are higher in search engine rankings than traditional, static Web sites.

Link: StartupJournal | Small Firms Try New Advertising Avenues