Business owner and website developer, Lesley, took a few moments to tell us about her business and share some tips that may help you with your business dreams!

What inspired you to start your business?

An avid baker for over 15 years, I caught the cake decorating bug about two years ago. After a while, I came across some cookie decorating blogs and a new love was born. It’s amazing what you can design on a cookie! I was just blown away with ideas. Cookies are easy to share, transport and ship, and can have the same wow factor as a beautiful cake.
I started posting my cookie pictures on my Facebook page, and things kind of took off from there.  I realized there was demand for something more than cakes and cupcakes — especially for folks who want to ship gifts to out of town friends and family. So, I investigated business opportunities in this niche market and officially launched Frosted by Lesley, Inc. (“Frosted”) in October 2011.

What is your favorite part of running your own business?

Stepping out of my comfort zone! It’s a new challenge every day, and I love it.

What lessons did you learn along the way that can help new businesses just starting up?

First thing I tell anyone who’s thinking of starting a business: Get yourself to your local Small Business Association/Small Business Development Center. They are invaluable resources to get your business on the right track – and most importantly, focus on the big picture things that can get lost when you’re so tuned into your “big idea”.  They generally assign you an adviser who holds you accountable every week for making great strides in your business.

How do you use social media (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc.) to promote your business and engage with customers?

Frosted uses social media to promote special offers on the Intuit Storefront and to engage fans. Last Christmas, there was a “Guess how many cookies are in the oven?” contest, and a limerick contest for St. Patrick’s Day. (Usually the prize is a free dozen cookies!)

What are some new or exciting things we can look forward to for your business in the near future?

Frosted will be participating in Chicago-area farmers markets this summer. Also, we just launched D.T.Y. – Design Them Yourself cookies for a truly custom cookie. Perfect for corporate logos, sports, teams and more!

Thanks so much, Lesley! Be sure to check out her website and Facebook page!

Word of Mouth (with a Megaphone)

Word of mouth advertising has always been a great way for companies to attract new customers without spending tons of money on traditional advertisements.  And essentially, social media sites are like word of mouth advertising, but with a megaphone.  The ability of good or interesting content to go viral is more likely on the internet, and the interconnected nature of the web means that it can spread farther and faster than it ever could offline.

One of the greatest difficulties with offline word of mouth advertising is that a business needs to find market leaders to spread the word about the business, those who aren’t well connected aren’t able to share the company’s message as widely.  Unfortunately, authorities in a field, well-connected people in a community and celebrities aren’t always easy to approach or convince.

Linkbait content eliminates this challenge.  While contacting bloggers or those with large social media followings in a specific market can help spread the word about a business, linkbait attracts people on its own and encourages them to pass it on to others, leading to a phenomenon known as “viral marketing.”

The Good Virus

Viral marketing uses different forms of linkbait to start the spread of a message to an exponential number of contacts.  Offline, a person is limited to the people he or she knows.  Online, these same people can tell those they know, who then go on to tell others they know – and the list goes on.  This is why cute kitten videos get a million hits apiece and why Justin Bieber is now a music icon.

The trick with linkbait and viral marketing is to avoid making it look like linkbait.  Most people can see through impure marketing motives, and web surfers may reject the content that a company wants to spread.  When creating linkbait, the intention needs to be focused on creating valuable, marketable content – the rest will take care of itself.

For this reason, a solid linkbait campaign should result in a large number of links back to a website.  This improves search engine rankings, as Google rewards sites with plenty of organic links.  It should also increase the number of targeted visitors to a site – which can, in turn, increase sales and revenue.

Various Forms of Linkbait

If you want to harness the power of linkbait content for your website, know that there are several different types of linkbait that can be used to encourage links and attract visitors.  Some are positive, and are used with the intent of informing, entertaining or flattering web surfers.  Others take the “bait” part of linkbait literally and tend to use controversy, opposition or even insults to drive traffic.  While both forms have their uses, you’ll need to determine what type of results and visitor experience you want to create when using linkbait techniques.

In general, the six most common types of linkbait are:

Attack – “Attack” linkbait pieces can be aimed at a specific target or large group, and are used to incite readers into clicking on the link. As you might expect, if not used carefully, this form of linkbait can backfire on the user.

Humor – Making people laugh is often a positive strategy when it comes to spreading links, which is why joke emails are usually passed along more frequently than political or religious messages. When used properly, this type of hook may reel in the largest catch of visitors online.

Contrary – “Contrary” linkbait is a milder form of the “incite readers” hook.  It uses controversy to drive traffic, but it does it by revealing the other side of a popular opinion or theory.  If backed with information and respect, playing devil’s advocate can also show the business as an industry leader in its field.

Incentive – Baiting a hook with offers such as free items, awards or software is a great way to bring in new visitors.  Few people can pass up on something that’s free – just make sure that the terms of your offer are clear and that there’s no catch to the giveaway.

News – Offering RSS news feeds or the latest information on a specific topic is a fantastic way to drive traffic.  There’s so much information available on the web that it isn’t easy for people to find it all.  For this reason, being a “go to” source for current events should increase your initial traffic and repeat visitors.

Resource – One way to increase the number of new customers visiting your website is to demonstrate your authority as a “thought leader” in your industry.  Creating informative content that resolves important problems for your target market is a great way to create viral links and drive search engine rankings.

17 Types of Linkbait

Now that we’ve established how valuable linkbait content can be and the different types of linkbait you can use to drive visitors to your website, here’s a list of a few specific linkbait styles you can use to improve your site’s online presence:

Video – 90% of web surfers will stop on a website that has a video.  Video links also account for a majority of social media traffic, which is why creating videos is a one of the most common linkbait methods.

Infographics – Like videos, infographcis are informative and visually appealing.  And, with the growing popularity of Pinterest, infographics are rising as one of the most popular forms of linkbait.

Lists – If it works for David Letterman, it can work for your business. “Top 10” style lists have always ranked well on the Internet, as they allow people to absorb a large amount of information in a short period.

Curative Posts – This type of content recaps the important news in a specific industry.  Most people don’t have the time to do this on their own, so they appreciate sites that recount the important information for them either once a week or once a month.

Guides – Both free and paid guides are a great way to attract traffic and links. If the content is written well, it can be included in posts, articles and resource sites for a long time.

Surveys – Whether it’s business-related, political or personal, people love to take surveys.  Use surveys to find out what a target market is interested in and increase traffic to your site.

Interviews – If you’re able to conduct interviews with authorities within your industry, these files can be used as viral-worthy content that’s sure to drive traffic.

Free Software – Shareware represents one of the most downloaded types of content on the web.  Free tools and software that helps solve major problems or make life easier will often spread virally with little effort on your part.

Giveaways – Any form of freebie – whether an e-book, report, shareware or guide – that’s made available on your website is sure to attract attention from interested visitors.

Awards – If you offer awards on your site, contestants and winners will often visit your other pages as well. They’ll also share the links with their friends, family and social media contacts, leading to more traffic and more links for your site.

Contests – Offering contents is another surefire way to create natural links.  As an example, asking people to choose a name for a new product or a new flavor for an existing product line are two popular forms of contest linkbait.

Widgets – As with shareware, helpful widgets tend to spread quickly throughout the web.

News – Keep people informed and prove yourself as an industry leader by posting breaking news in a specific field.  If you’re the first to report on a major subject in your industry, you can expect to receive a major influx of backlinks and traffic!

Industry Discussions – Similar to reporting on breaking news, being the first site to explain new breakthroughs and market news on a consistent basis is a great way to build quality linkbait.

Previews – People generally want to know as much as they can about new products, services, books, movies and more before they buy.  Writing informative previews about hot items in your industry can be a great way to promote your viral marketing campaigns with little effort

Year in Review – “Year in Review” style articles are always a great way to drive traffic.  Recapping the major events that occurred in the past year, as well as how they affected your specific industry, is a great way to create viral-worthy content.

Incite a Response – This type of linkbait creates controversy by attacking a person or company, or playing devil’s advocate on a popular topic.  This can backfire, though, so use this type of linkbait carefully.

Have you had good results with launching linkbait campaigns in the past?  If so, share your tips and tricks in the comments section below!

Image: cab234

Maybe your company is going through a re-branding and redesign process and you’d like your website to reflect your new business name.  Or maybe you’re moving your website to get away from a hosting provider whose actual up-time never quite reflected the guarantee advertised on their sales pages.

But whatever the case, moving a website is a process that should be approached with caution.  Depending on the specifics of your proposed move, it may be necessary to take proactive action to avoid losing the SEO authority your content has built up at its current location.

Here’s what you need to know…

Typically, there are two major types of website moves – hosting provider moves and domain name moves.  The specific actions you’ll want to take to move your site safely will vary based on the type of move you’re completing, so be sure you understand the distinction between the two before you get started.

Scenario #1 – Moving website hosts

As far as website moves go, switching hosting providers while keeping the same domain name isn’t nearly as complicated as moving your site to a new URL.  Because link authority is based on your URL (which isn’t changing in this situation), there’s no risk that you’ll lose the accumulated value of your backlinks when moving your site.

However, when performed incorrectly, a website hosting provider move can result in downtime for your site.  Too much downtime may negatively impact your site’s SEO and rankings, so it’s important to pay attention to the following recommended steps:

• Sign up for your new hosting account at least 1-2 weeks before shutting down your existing plan.  It will take time to migrate your site to its new account, so the last thing you want is for your existing plan to cut off access to your site before the merge is complete.
• Once your new hosting account is set up, move your existing website files to the new account, which you’ll be able to access using an IP address provided by your web host.  Comb through your new site to be sure any issues that cropped up during the move are resolved before your new site goes live.  (Note – if your site runs on WordPress, you’ll need to create a backup database of your existing posts and import this file into your newly created site.)
• After you’re confident that everything on your new site is in good working order, adjust the nameservers on file for your domain name to point at your new hosting account.  Your new hosting account’s support team can provide these addresses to you if you aren’t sure what information to use.

Keep in mind that, when moving your website to a new hosting account, it isn’t necessary to move your domain name registration as well, as your domain name’s nameservers can be adjusted to point at any hosting account.

However, if you do decide to move your domain name (either because you prefer keeping your accounts consolidated or because you got a good deal on renewal registrations by changing hosting providers), you’ll need to release the URL from your previous registrar’s account.  Different registrars have different processes for conducting domain name transfers, but you’ll likely need to supply a code from your old registrar to your new registrar indicating that you do, in fact, want to move your domain name.

Scenario #2 – Changing URLs

As mentioned previously, changing your website’s URL is a little trickier.  If you’ve spent any amount of effort building backlinks to your new site, changing URLs risks losing the value passed by these web addresses, as any links pointing at your old site will no longer be valid.

While it is possible to notify the search engines of these changes in order to diminish the impact of moving your URL, you’ve got to perform the following steps in the right order for this process to run smoothly:

• Start by making a backup copy of your existing website and its sitemap.  You’ll use this old sitemap later on in the process of moving URLs, so take special care to make sure it’s backed up accurately before proceeding.
• Recreate your site on your new URL while your old website is still live (don’t delete your old website until after this entire process has been completed).  Go through the site you’ve created on your new domain in order to correct any internal links that may inadvertently refer visitors to your old site, and then start building new content on your new URL as quickly as possible.
• Add both your old URL and new URL to Google’s Webmaster Tools (if you haven’t done this yet).
• Go back to your old website and add site-wide 301 redirects that tell the search engine spiders that your content has been moved to a new URL.  The easiest ways to do this are with PHP header redirects or WordPress plugins that can add 301 redirects to all pages automatically.
• Now, resubmit your old URL sitemap to both Google and Bing.  This will cause their search engine spiders to reindex your old pages and detect the 301 redirect indicating that your content has been moved.  It’s also a good idea to complete Google’s “Change of Address” form at this point in the process.
• Once you see that the Googlebot and Bing-bot have indexed your old site and taken notice of your redirected content, submit your new URL sitemap to the search engines and wait for them to index the content on your new website.  Pay special attention to your Google Webmaster Tools account – as soon as your new website is indexed, any errors that occurred during the indexing process will appear in your website’s diagnostics section.

Once you’ve addressed any errors that appear in your Webmaster Tools account, you can assume that your transfer has occurred successfully from the point of view of the search engines.  As long as your 301 redirect was set up correctly, the link authority pointing at your old URL should carry through to your new URL, although it may take some time for the search engines to process all of these changes.

But what about your human visitors?  Although you may be tempted to take down your old site in celebration of this lengthy process being completed, consider temporarily putting up a single page explaining to users who enter your old URL directly into their browsers where to find your new content.  Think of it as a “We’ve moved!” courtesy announcement that will prevent visitors who haven’t been on your page in some time from receiving a “Site not found” message that could diminish their trust in your brand.

Alternatively, you could simply create a domain redirect that automatically sends visitors who land on your old URL to your new pages.  If you do decide to take this route, be sure to keep your old URL’s registration up-to-date.  Although this type of redirect won’t offer a personal message to your visitors explaining the reason for your move, it will ensure that they arrive on the correct page after entering your old URL into their browsers.

Image: Daveography.ca

More and more small businesses are starting to understand the importance of Social Media and how it can benefit their businesses.

Take a look for yourself!

However, offering social proof to website visitors isn’t the only reason branding is more important now than ever before.  There’s also speculation that the search engines – in their continuous effort to weed out thin sites from quality pages – are beginning to mine data related to branding metrics, meaning that websites with strong brands could be rewarded with higher search engine rankings.

According to Kaiser the Sage, a leading internet marketing website:

“With search engines mining brand related, it is almost certain that the next shift in search engine optimization is going to be mostly about branding, seeing as a strong brand presence indicates authoritativeness. Moreover, popular brands are most likely to be rewarded by search engines with higher rankings (for very competitive keywords) on their search results, knowing that they have earned their trust basing from users’ perspectives.”

So what is a “brand” and how can you use your website to build one?  Let’s explore how this powerful business building practice can be integrated into existing websites in order to attract the benefits described above…

Essentially, your digital brand encompasses what people feel and envision when they think about your company.  Think, for a second, what your mental associations are for discount chain Walmart, compared with what you picture when thinking about high-end retailer Williams-Sonoma.  Although both chains are the same in that their primary goal is to sell products, the way that they do that – and, consequently, the brand associations they’ve built around their companies – are quite different.

As a business owner, you have the ability to control and influence these feelings through specific elements of your website’s development.

Element #1 – Voice

The “voice” of your website relates to the textual content you place on your pages – specifically, the way you structure this text to evoke different feelings.

To understand how voice is deployed effectively, consider the difference in tone that would be used on a website publishing scientific findings compared to social networking sites targeting kids and teenagers.  In general, the kids’ site will be much more likely to use simple words, short sentences and quick, punchy phrases to convey a sense of fun and excitement.

The scientific journal, on the other hand, is likely to feature highly complex sentences, packed with jargon that’s unique to the specific field the journal targets.   Clearly, there’s nothing wrong with either of these examples – what’s important is how the voice used on each site appeals to its target readers.

When thinking about the ideal voice for your website, consider the following factors:

• What is the average reading level of my readers? Unless you’re in a highly technical field, aim for content with an average reading level of grades 6-8 (as determined by a readability test website).
• Do the words I’m using convey the emotional state I want my readers to achieve? Whether you want your readers to be excited, happy, sad or nervous, make sure this feeling comes across in the words you choose and the way you structure your sentences.
• Should I use jargon words on my website? Be careful of using too much jargon or you’ll risk turning off readers who don’t understand your meaning.  However, on some technical websites, jargon is a must in order to make more advanced readers feel welcome.

Element #2 – Differentiation

Brand differentiation refers to making your company’s unique selling point (USP) visible across all aspects of your website.  Really, it isn’t enough to *be* different – you’ve got to make your website visitors aware of these differences and constantly reinforce them throughout various aspects of your website.

Obviously, the first step in this process is to identify your company’s USP (if you don’t already have one).  Once this is set, consider integrating your point of differentiation into any of the following areas of your website:

• Your site’s header graphic or tagline
• The “About me” page on your website
• As a standalone, featured item on your homepage
• Integrated into an advertisement on your sidebar
• In any pop up banners you make use of

Element #3 – Design Elements

Finally, be aware that the different design elements you use can also play a significant role in how well the message of your brand is carried out across your website.  There’s no doubt that the “look and feel” of a website helps to control the way we think about the site’s brand, which is why it’s important to take the following factors account when integrating your branding message into your website design elements:

• Color selection – We’ve talked here before about how important color theory is to conveying a desired feeling to your website visitors, but now’s the time to check your color selections to ensure they’re in line with the brand you want to build.  Think about our earlier example of the kids’ site versus the scientific journal.  Clearly, to convey the right brand message, the former would do best to incorporate bright, fun colors, while the latter type of site would benefit from more staid burgundy and forest green tones that create a feeling of maturity and learning.
• Fonts – Many of the same associations we hold with colors apply to fonts and type faces as well.  Serif fonts, like Times New Roman, are perceived as being more formal and old fashioned, while sans-serif fonts – including Arial and Verdana – convey a more modern feeling (and don’t even get me started on Comic Sans…).  If you’ve gone to all the effort of identifying the right voice for your content and the best colors for your website layout, don’t diminish your branding efforts by choosing a font that doesn’t match up with your visitors’ expectations.
• Site structure – Although the way your site is laid out may be dictated in large part by the website design platform you use, alterations here can also impact the way your website (and, consequently, your brand) is perceived.  The amount of white space included, the number of images used and even how structured your layout is can all influence the success of your branding activities.

Obviously, if your company has any offline marketing materials, including business cards or pre-printed stationery, you’ll want to be sure the design elements you use on these pieces match the ones you use on your website in order to create a consistent visual experience for your customers.

On the other hand, if you aren’t tied to an offline brand, don’t be afraid to get creative here.  Put some effort into determining exactly what kind of message you want to convey, then take the time to ensure that the voice you use and the design elements you choose help to clearly explain the point of differentiation that makes your business unique.

Image: Adam Crowe

Earle, who ranked at the top of BusinessWeek’s “Best Entrepreneurs 25 and Under” list in 2008, says he constantly strives to improve people’s “Johnny Cupcakes experience.” When he isn’t thinking of new ways to impress customers, he travels the country to talk about how the brand came to be and where he intends to take it. Although his business methods may be a bit unconventional, Earle seems to know what he’s doing and continues to grow his empire.

In his lecture series, Earle shares how he turned a gag into a business with no business plan, investors, or loans. “I thought it would be funny to make a couple random shirts that said ‘Johnny Cupcakes’ on them,” he explains on his website, adding that wearing the T-shirt to work caused quite a stir. “Not only did everyone I work with want [one], but most of the customers wanted one as well!”

Earle also conveys the importance of branding, small-business management, product development, and marketing. Here are a few of his key points:

• Choose quality over quantity. Earle says he had opportunities to sell his products through other chain retail stores and expand faster than he did. Instead, he opted to grow Johnny Cupcakes slowly and to keep the brand distinct by focusing on giving customers the best possible experience. He created a brand that his customer base could trust without having to work at it.
• Make customers the top priority. “A happy customer is a loyal customer,” Earle says. Whether an offering is product- or service-based, a distinct and positive experience is what determines whether or not a customer comes back.
• Invest in your idea. Don’t get down on yourself if you initially spend more than you earn. “You have to spend an arm and a leg to make more arms and legs,” he says.
• Offer exclusivity. Johnny often will make certain items available only in stores, and most of the time he sells limited-edition items. This gives customers something they can’t find anywhere else and makes them feel special.
• Think creatively. Constantly ask yourself why a customer should choose to walk through your door rather than that of a competitor. Thinking outside the box not only will help you stay ahead of the pack, but also give you a break from the daily grind and allow your imagination to wander, Earle says. Go ahead, reinvent the wheel.

Image courtesy johnnycupcakes.com

Initially, Bruno knew she needed a presence on the internet for her bricks-and-mortar business. While looking online for some help with building her web presence, she found Intuit Websites, and the vast selection of template designs caught her attention. She ultimately decided to use Intuit Design Services based on its customization options and ability to get her website up rapidly.

“It was awesome. They listened to my ideas and jumped right on it. Communication was the key,” Bruno says. “[The site] looked so professional. It had all the pages I needed, and they advised me beautifully on how to put a video up. The best part is that I can add and edit my site if I need to, with support.”

Since Bruno used Intuit Websites to help design and optimize her website, she has seen a healthy growth in online traffic. In December 2010, she had just 100 visitors to her site. By December 2011, that number had jumped up to 510 visitors, and January 2012 is looking even better.

Would Bruno recommend Intuit Websites to a friend? “Totally, and always have,” she says. “My suggestion is to do what I did. Go to Intuit and sign up. They are very responsive, quick, and the support makes it easy if you ever need any help.”

Today, we’ll look at how business blogs work in more depth, as well as cover the steps you need to take to add one to your own website.  Let’s get started!

The first step in launching a business blog is installing blog platform software on your website.  Although you could simply designate a static HTML page as your business blog and update it regularly with new content, this isn’t a recommended solution.  Blog platform software is uniquely coded to manage frequent updates and provides a number of search engine optimization benefits that occur apart from standard HTML pages.

But knowing to use blogging-specific software is only half the battle – the next step is to choose the one that’s right for your website.  By far, the most popular blogging platform is WordPress, which can be easily installed and customized to match the look and feel of your website.  As an added bonus, uploading content and managing posts through the WordPress dashboard is easy enough for even beginning webmasters to handle.

However, WordPress isn’t the only blogging software out there that can be used to create a business blog on your website.  Movable Type, Joomla, Drupal, Expression Engine and BlogEngine.net are all viable alternatives, so you’ll want to do some research into each of these platforms before deciding which blogging software is right for your business.

Once you have a blogging platform picked out, the next step is to install it on your website in order to start building your business blog.  Depending on the way your hosting is set up, this could be as simple as running a script and designating the specific directory on which you’d like your site to be built (for example, http://www.yoursite.com/blog/, with “blog” as your chosen directory).  If you aren’t technologically savvy – or if the process is more complicated based on the type of hosting your site runs on – you can always outsource this process to a qualified web developer.

Congratulations – at this point in the process, you should have your very own business blog up and running!  Now it’s time to design your blog and update it with fun and informative content…

After your blogging software is installed, you’ll want to customize the look and feel of your business blog.  If you’ve chosen to go with the WordPress platform, this is done through the use of “themes” – aka, template files that can be added to quickly and easily change the look of the default installation.  The WordPress directory offers tons of free themes to choose from, although you can also create your own custom theme using tools like Artisteer or hire a graphic designer to create a theme if you have something unique in mind.

As far as choosing a theme direction goes, most website strategy experts recommend coming up with a blogging design that mimics elements of your homepage, whether through the use of similar colors, fonts or graphics.  This will help to ensure a cohesive theme to your site and will eliminate the cognitive dissonance that can disrupt readers’ attention when they land on a blog that looks significantly different from its home page.

Keep in mind that one of the major advantages to installing a blogging platform on your site to run your business blog is that you can change its entire look and feel by simply uploading a new theme.  Don’t get too hung up on making sure that everything is perfect from the get go – remember that you can always make changes and improvements as you go along.

Now that you’ve chosen a design theme to move forward with, it’s time to start adding content.  There are a few different types of blog posts that you’ll want to consider adding to your publishing schedule:

Newsworthy Content – In late 2011, Google released a major “Freshness” update with the goal of providing up-to-date results for specific topics.  Basically, for certain search queries – like those related to conferences, major events or other time-sensitive occurrences – the search results follow a new algorithm which prioritizes timely content over articles that would otherwise rank well according to traditional SEO.

Because of this – and because of the potential for your business blog to brand you as an authority in your industry – it’s a good idea to feature many articles on your blog that are related to high priority industry news.  For example, if a new product or service is released in your niche, weighing in on it could help your site to get noticed in the Google SERPs faster than it would through traditional SEO.

Evergreen Content – “Evergreen” content is referred to this way because it contains information that will always be useful to your website visitors.  For example, if you run a website in the fashion industry, certain trends will come and go, but articles on topics like “dressing your figure” or “budget shopping techniques” will always appeal to your readers.

For best results, try to structure evergreen content around good long tail keywords in your niche – that is, keywords that have consistent search volume and a low number of competing pages.  As your evergreen articles get shared around the web, these back links will help your articles to maintain high positions in the search results pages, ensuring that even more traffic finds its way back to your site.

Personal Content – One of the other advantages of running a business blog is that it lets your readers see “the man (or woman) behind the mask.”  When you run an internet business, you aren’t able to connect with customers the way you can in a traditional offline store.  This often prevents the loyalty and associations that people have with their favorite offline retailers from developing with online merchants.

A business blog lets you remedy this situation by sharing elements of your personal life or personal opinions with your readers.  Obviously, your business blog isn’t the best place to post on the great meal you had for dinner, but by carefully referencing pieces of your family life or personal philosophy can help readers form a more personal connection with you and your business.

When it comes to balancing these types of blog posts, there’s no exact formula to follow to determine what percentage of different types of posts will be appropriate.  If you work in a fast-paced industry where things change quickly, you may want to dedicate more of your posts to newsworthy content.  On the other hand, if you work in personal development or personal finance, sharing more information about your life through personal content could be valuable.

To identify the ratio that’s right for you, track how visitors respond to specific posts on your site.  If you get more comments or social shares on one type of post over another, that could be an indication that your audience prefers this type of content.  By paying attention to the reaction each post gets, you’ll be able to better tailor the content on your business blog to meet the unique needs of your audience.

Image: mugfaker

One of the jobs I’ve held here involved helping small-business owners to design and create websites. This included writing content for their sites, specifically information about their businesses. I gave them basic guidance about what they might want to consider including (or not including) in their text. I was confused when quite a few people told me, “I don’t know what to write.” I’m not a small-business owner, but I thought that if you built and ran a company, it would be pretty easy for you to write about its history, operations, and staff.

And then recently I was tasked with writing a post for the Intuit Websites blog. I write for a large portion of the day — every day — at work. I thought I was quite knowledgeable about Intuit Websites and our products and services. But I spent what seemed like days trying to figure out what to say.

Suddenly, I understood the dilemma that many small-business owners face. Even when you know a subject inside and out, writing about it is a whole different ball game: What do I say? What if my post is boring or makes no sense? Fortunately, I have the support of a wonderful manager who encouraged me, guided me, and helped me to realize that I just really needed to get started — and the rest would work itself out.

Now I’d like to share what I learned with you. Here are a few tips for novice writers and bloggers:

• Write what you know! No one knows your business like you.
• Use your website’s home page to provide a broad overview. Tell your business’s history on an About Us page, including your personal background and stories about what keeps you going. Put descriptions of products and services on the appropriate pages.
• Do some keyword research and insert those terms into your content. Try to integrate those keywords into your posts without it looking heavy-handed. Link those keywords to other pages on your site.
• Once you really get going, you may want to write a ton. Practice restraint. You can easily overwhelm visitors with too much information.