Social networking, using your blog to promote yourself, blogging for your business, how to write a blog, which social networks should I use, I work with a lot of companies that want to get their name out there on the web but who just don’t know how to do it. They know they aren’t using the internet to its fullest marking potential but don’t know how to use the internet to their advantage either.

Often times they will have a website, usually created by a friend or family member who thinks creating a website is easy and anyone can do it, and can’t figure out why they don’t have any traffic.

When I meet with clients the first thing I do is go over a checklist with them to find out how they are using the internet. These are just some of the questions I ask them:

Do you list your website, Facebook and Twitter page on your business cards?

Do you have a blog?

Do you let friends and family know that you have a website?

Are you networking on Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter and any other network site out there?

Because if you aren’t telling people about your business you have already lost the game. Sure, the internet can be a great tool for marketing yourself but it won’t do the work for you. Simply having a website isn’t enough. You have to broadcast your website, blog, Facebook page, Twitter account, and every other place you have a profile on the net.

You can have all these many connections but if you aren’t letting people know about them they will never find you.

One of the easiest ways to have them find you is by using your blog to promote your other networks.

Yes, the internet is filled with incestuous relationships between Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Google+ and all the other thousands of networks out there. You have a blog so you can promote your Facebook page where you promote your Twitter feed which sends people back to your blog.

Confusing isn’t it?

You see, the thing is, you don’t have a whole lot of control over what happens behind the scenes of Facebook and Twitter and any other network. You can promote those networks but it’s really up to the individual to stop over.

This isn’t the case with your website and specifically your blog. You can fill your blog with the right words, phrases and links so that the search engines find you first, before they find your competition. The key is to post to your blog often, at least three times per week, and to blog about relevant and current topics.

In the coming weeks we will be focusing more specifically on how your can use your blog to promote your business. We will be talking about ways in which you can promote your brick and mortar shop, your real estate business, your home design and remodeling company or your catering business.

We will still be providing tips and information about promoting your website but we will be broadening the subjects to include these kinds of businesses. Because, really there isn’t any difference. Marketing is marketing. You want to influence someone by what they read, hear or see to come by your little corner of the web so you can eventually make a personal connection with them.

Tribal Blogs can show you how to do that. So stay tuned for more on the art of blogging to attract customers.

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