Filter The Noise

Small Businesses Using Blogging and Social Media WIN

Kim Kolb - Friday, March 05, 2010

Are you still dragging your heals on getting into the Social Media world? Have you started a Blog yet?

There is a huge amount of data about there that says the Blogging is one of THE BEST, way to get leads.

According to the Small Business Success Index (SBSI), Social Media has doubled to 24% over the last year. There were 500 small business owners surveyed on their Social Media usage. 61% of the small businesses said they had used social media to attract new customers.

It was also noted that 45% of those small businesses reported that blogging and social media was a great contributor to lead generation.

According to SBSI, this is how small businesses are using Social Media:

75% created a company page on Facebook or LinkedIn
69% post status updates on Facebook or LinkedIn
26% use Twitter to talk about their industry expertise
39% have a blog to talk about expertise

Blogging has become one of the most used tools for lead generation according to HubSpot, "State of Inbound Marketing Report."

Inbound Marketing using Social Media and Blogging is far less expensive than traditional marketing. Don't delay getting on this train... It is fast and furious and you certainly don't want to be left at the station.

How is your company increasing it's Social Media presence?

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Which Blogging Software to use

Kim Kolb - Wednesday, December 02, 2009

Hello to all my fellow Bloggers.

I come to you today as a community of well knowledge people who want to help. This is one reason I love blogging so much. I love the feedback that people are willing to give.

So, here is my dilemma. I need a Rockin Blog Software Platform! I hope that by getting your feedback, I will also be able to better serve my clients by being able to provide a case study and a recommendation to them and yes; I will share this with the Blogosphere.

Here is the scoop. I currently have a CMS that has integrated blogging software. Yeah, that’s the good news. The blogging software DOESN’T talk to any other types of tracking tools or analytics tools. The one tool that truly bums my groove is that I can’t get it to hook into Technorati and the software company doesn’t feel this is a huge issue right now, although the forum on this is huge (which means others out there confirm I am not crazy). I can’t even get it to connect to Google so I can set a goal on how many subscribers I get through my RSS like Avinash Kaushik talked about in the last Webinar with HubSpot's Inbound Marketing University. This is the Bad news.

So, I come to you for suggestions on blogging software:

What is the blogging software you use and why do you like it?
Does it hook into all the cool tools that HubSpot recommends to get found?
- Technorati
- Google Goals
- I am sure there are more and please feel free to share
Does it give you complete control over the design of your Blog and if not what kind of limitations does it have (Dave loves to design and have control)?

Since I am fairly new to blogging, I would appreciate any advise you have. I subscribe to some really cool RSS feeds and I read all the important info, but most of you have been doing this longer and know the tips, tricks on getting found and that is what I want, to get found by more, I am convinced the blogging software has a huge impact on this.

As a Web Design and Marketing Company, I am starting to think that websites are a dying breed, like outbound marketing. Blogs can accommodate just about anything we need to convey to the world and most times our Blog gets picked up by Google faster than our website. So HubSpot, HATS of to YOU!

Thanks in advance to all who comment on this Blog! I also hope to make some new friends during this process.

NSA549VW9GZA

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Comments

jane commented on 02-Dec-2009 11:57 AM

Hello - Long time no see. I use iweb. I love it. It is really simple, friendly, and easy. I like that I can use it, and move on to other things quickly. I think that it is designed for personal use though - so maybe it doesn't have everything that a business would need?

Chris Dancy commented on 02-Dec-2009 12:00 PM

Squarespace for simple easy and fast stuff.

Suzanne Vara commented on 02-Dec-2009 12:59 PM

Kim Are you looking to have just the blogging or the entire site. If you are looking for the entire site, I would recommend wordpress thesis. I have spoken directly with some folks who have a LOT of blog subscribers and visitors to the site and they rave about it. I am in the same boat but I am probably going to wordpress. I have to work out the logistics of changing but that seems to be able to suit my needs.

Kim Kolb commented on 02-Dec-2009 01:03 PM

Jane, Thanks for your comment. Chris, Squarespace is a top runner Suzanne, I think we are going for the whole site. I think the best way is to start on the side the blog/website and then once it is complete then transfer the domain. If you need help with that, let me know.

Stan White commented on 03-Dec-2009 07:01 PM

Kim - stopping by from Inbound Marketing Alumni on LinkedIn. We use self hosted wordpress for our 4 sites. It's incredibly versatile and has moved from a blogging software to really more of a full CMS system for building sites. We considered the Thesis theme but settled on Frugal at frugaltheme.com. Additionally, a lot of major sites run using it. One last thought. We looked at SquareSpace also and it's really easy. However, we felt we wanted to be in control of our own content and source code. Since SquareSpace, Blogger, etc are hosted and you build a site using their template system, you have no option to have the source code and move/upgrade to different services. What if they go out of business? You have no site and have to rebuild it elsewhere. Just a though. Feel free to email me.

Kim Kolb commented on 03-Dec-2009 09:29 PM

Hey Stan, Thanks so much for your input. It is actually between Wordpress and SquareSpace. We don't really have a big issue with them hosting, that is how most software works. It seems those are the top 2 contenders.

Adrian commented on 04-Dec-2009 07:44 AM

Dear Kim, I would go for Wordpress because whatever you need you can find as an extensio/plugin. I would also recommend to use the Thesis theme that helps you with both design and SEO. Beside that there are some other extensions that may help you for different tasks. I can give you some suggestions but I need to know what is the problem you have to solve. Best regards, Adrian

Kim Kolb commented on 04-Dec-2009 09:30 AM

Hi Adrian, Thanks for the feedback. The problem is that our current CMS has a blog feature but it doesn't allow Technorati to attach to it and getting google to set a goal for the RSS doesn't register. I want to be found as you know as a fellow IMU student. Plus I have other clients that use the blog tool and probably don't know the drawbacks yet as they aren't actively blogging. So I guess my question to all is what is wrong with SquareSpace. Very few have mentioned that and right now, that is where we are leaning... So if you have some feedback or knowledge as to why we shouldn't use SquareSpace, I would sure appreciate that.

Adrian commented on 05-Dec-2009 04:53 AM

Hi Kim, I just had a look on the SquareSpace. I didn't use it for any of my sites or clients so I am fresh to this. From my first view I see that you have to insert the Google code on your pages and I think you have to do this manually. As far as I understood SquareSpace does not offer an editor for the files it generates on your server so you have to find the needed files and modify them. The same thing goes for Technorati where you get a code for claiming your blog and this has to be inserted on a page. I don't think that you need to change but you have to tweak a little bit the platform you are using. If you decide to use a more programer friendly platform you have some export functions available from SquareSpace in order to export you site on other platforms. As I said previously, I have expertise in WordPress and Joomla as CMS platforms which are both open source and free, but I can admit that their native interfaces are not as friendly as the one from the SquareSpace video. If you use WordPress plus Thesis theme you get near to that and you solve the other SEO and Inbound Marketing problems. Hope this helps.

Kim Kolb commented on 05-Dec-2009 06:44 AM

Hi Adrian, Thanks for all your research and feedback. I want the best tool and you have given some great insight.

Kim Kolb commented on 05-Dec-2009 06:46 AM

Chris, since you use SquareSpace, have you hooked it to Technorati?

Social Media is Altering the Media Landscape

Dave Kolb - Thursday, October 01, 2009

Did you know just how much Social Media is taking over our everyday lives?

These numbers are staggering! This is another official update to the original "Shift Happens" video. This completely new Fall 2009 version includes facts and statistics focusing on the changing media landscape, including convergence and technology. It was developed in partnership with The Economist. For more information, or to join the conversation, please visit http://mediaconvergence.economist.com and http://shifthappens.wikispaces.com.

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Small Businesses Using Blogging and Social Media WIN

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