If you’re new to integrating SEO into your blog or Website, this article (see link below) provides basic beginner-level tips to get started. While we believe that it’s important to integrate SEO into your content, we also are not die-hard SEO supporters to the extreme. First and foremost, you should write your content for living, breathing human beings who will be visiting your Website- not for the Google bots.

However, just like it’s a good idea for a car manufacturer to pay attention to optimal gas mileage, where to place the cup holders, and what size tires and rims are popular when building a new car, it’s important for online businesses to consider SEO and keywords before, during and after the content creation phase of developing a Website.

SEO is a tool- it is not the core of your Website. Your content is the meat and potatoes of your online business.

“If the content is the King, we can say SEO is the Queen.”

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Is your Twitter followers group filled with spammers, lonely people, and newbies? Do you feel like no one actually reads your Tweets? The problem may lie in what you are Tweeting… and how you are Tweeting it.

There’s an unspoken rule to Tweeting that many people seem to have forgotten in all the excitement of following, followers, and tons of information moving at the speed of light across your Twitter stream-

what you tweet reflects who you are, as a business professional and as a human being.

2 Hard and Fast Rules for Using Twitter

1. NEVER post anything you didn’t read yourself. If you can’t be bothered to click through and read it, why should anyone else? This also helps avoid posting links to articles with great headlines but spammy content, which adversely affects your reputation on Twitter.

2. Twitter REQUIRES interaction. If you expect to just post 900 links to your own content everyday and everyone will fall in love with your blog (and you)… well, let’s just say you probably have more serious problems in life than a crappy following on Twitter. Get to know a few folks on Twitter. Exchange morning pleasantries. Say please and thank you and give credit where credit is due. Engage people in conversations about their posts, their businesses, or their lives. Twitter is not a soapbox or a soap opera where you are the star of the show. Take time to interact with others.

Are you considering using a blog platform as your main company Website? You should. Blogs are great for SEO purposes and help to attract industry-specific readers, visitors, and customers. If you’re looking for a few tips on using your blogs as a business Website, or if you’re still on the fence, this post is a must-read.

“Using a blog as a main website make sense for many types of businesses for many reasons: (Some powerful tips when you are writing a blog…”
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Hiring a freelance SEO Copywriter has many benefits, which have nothing to do with increasing my salary. Attention to detail, mastery of the nuances of the English language, incorporated sales and marketing tactics proven to work, and engaging your target audience are a few that come to mind. What benefits of outsourcing to an SEO copywriter have you found?

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“If you are running a WordPress-powered website, its security should be your primary concern.”

WordPress is a wonderful blogging platform with tons of flexibility, but sometimes all the flexibility leaves the door wide open for security issues. Blue Duck Copy was targeted in last year’s attack on WordPress blogs, and we promptly consulted our hosting service, InMotion Hosting, for advice. They helped us batten down the hatches. Be sure your WordPress blog is secure, and save yourself time and a few headaches.

Do you have any other WordPress plugins you use for security reasons?

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Get tips on how guest blogging can benefit your online business.
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From WordPress to Blogger, choosing a blogging platform can be confusing. Blue Duck Copy recommends the WordPress platform for business blogs. Want to know why? Just ask. =)
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Why do you blog (or pay someone to blog for you)? Get world-class tips from a Problogger guest on how to get your clients clicking in droves on your Website with your blogging tactics.
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“If you freelance, are you running a business? Unless your freelancing is a hobby, the answer is yes.”

Freelancing can be a temperamental animal, but many of the same business principals apply whether you are freelancing or running a brick and mortar business. Find out 10 essential differences between the two.

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What are you doing to safeguard your business in uncertain economic times?
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The economy is crap, businesses are going under, and relief is no where in sight. We can sit around and whine, blame politicians, blame Corporate America (or some other country of choice), or blame El Niño but what are you going to DO about the recession’s effects on your business? Will your business survive to see brighter days?

I have a slight advantage when it comes to navigating rocky waters. I’m a penny-pincher. When people find out I SHUT OFF MY SATELLITE TV SERVICE 5 years ago, they’re often flabbergasted. (!) They can’t imagine life without network TV. But the truth is, it’s a perk, not a necessity, no matter how much you like to watch American Idol.

1. Eliminate Non-Necessities. This applies to your home life and your business.

• Turn off the landline phone
• go to the library instead of the bookstore
• stop eating out
• stop shopping for pleasure
• turn off the lights when you leave a room
• buy inexpensive, off-brand consumable items when possible (like soap, toilet paper, groceries- anything that ends up in the trash or down the drain at the end of the day)
• look for free entertainment choices when possible
• Save money however you can!

Lessons from Your Grandparents

Another way to thrive during a crap economy is to be flexible. During World War II in America, your parents, grandparents or great grandparents (depending on your age) suffered through food rationing, sky-high taxes, wage and price controls, and an economy verging on disaster- not merely a recession.

How did they survive? They were flexible. Women went to work, which was nearly unheard of back in the day. They learned new skills, they shrugged off stereotypes, and they did what needed to be done to keep their country and their families going.

2. Be flexible. Take an inventory of the skills you have and how they can put to use in your business.

Branch out into new areas. Try a new niche.

Be creative and brainstorm ideas on how to generate revenue and new clients. Know what your client needs and find a way to fulfill that need.

If you don’t have expandable skills, get some. Go back to school. Educate yourself about a new market or niche at your local library. Find a mentor.

While I’m not quite old enough to have experienced life during World War II, I’ve heard life stories from countless patients over the years who remember it well. People had a different mindset back then.

They conserved resources not for the sake of being politically correct, but because it made sense. They saved the tin foil off last night’s roast, and they sent every scrap of aluminum to the government for the war effort. They shut off the water and electric to keep bills down, they ate less, moved more, and spent wisely.

Lesson from the American Government*

(*Did I really just say that?)

Even the government seemed to have more common sense back then. They saw that Americans were saving money to protect their families against the pending economic slaughter, and they came up with the idea of investing in War Bonds- then they promoted the hell outta the idea.It got the economy moving and helped fund the war effort. It boosted morale.

It was smart.

They found a way to turn a bad situation to their favor, and you can, too- with a little ingenuity.

3. Stop sitting on your posterior. If you’re used to customers streaming through your front door, you might find that a different approach is necessary during a rough economy. You might actually have to be a go-getter.

Actively look for new clients.

Invest in the relationships you have with longstanding clients.

Network, mingle, and advertise yourself like you did back when you were new to business.

Pound the pavement, put forth extra effort, try new approaches, make business happen.

Your business is taking off and life gets hectic. It’s easy to make the mistake of getting caught up in being busy. I know. I work full-time, attend graduate school part-time, homeschool two gifted children, and try to keep up with my marriage, volunteering, renovating a house, and maintaining the family farm. I know busy intimately.

But I also know that it is vital to keep your focus amidst all that craziness, otherwise you end up at a destination you never intended to reach, wondering how in the heck you got there.

Keep One Eye on the Big Picture

Writing down goals and creating action plans are good ideas, but it’s easy to get so wrapped up in the small details of how to steer your business, you forget your destination.

• Why do you get up every morning and go to work?
• Where do you want to be in five years? What about in ten years?
• What motivates you everyday? (If you don’t know why you do something, it’s only a matter of time before you flub up the job at hand.)

Keep Your Feet on the Ground

Once success starts to set in, many people find (perhaps without realizing it) all that success goes to their head. Suddenly everything is about them. They’re someone important- in the community on Twitter, or in some obscure social circle- and their whole attitude changes.

They treat others differently, they become negative and superior, they talk more about what they’ve done than what their dreams are. They start to live in the past, in a world where they are kings, ninjas, or rockstars.

They gain credibility (and often fame) among the sheep but lose the respect of those who really matter.

• Stay connected to those who support you- your family, friends, and close peers. You need them- in good times and bad.
• Remember the little guy when you make it big. He helped you get where you are today.
• Mentor someone in your field so you aren’t tempted to make yourself an irreplaceable superstar. Give back what was given to you.

Know Your Audience

Many of the newly successful businesses that come to me for help with their Websites seem to have acquired a type of amnesia. They no longer market to their customers, but begin to market to their peers. They try to outdo their competition or gain credibility with their peers. Or worse yet, they start to treat their company blog as their own personal journal or soapbox.

The bottom line question is, “Who are you selling goods and services to?”

All of your efforts should be directed at meeting the needs of your target audience. Now part of that process often includes networking within your industry, but avoid the trap of shifting your focus from your clients. They are the bricks and mortar of your business- they are what keep you anchored and on course.

photo credit: FrancoForeshock