http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/667/Choose-A-Platform-And-Blog-Blog-Blog/ User submitted comments to Practical Ecommerce's article entitled Choose A Platform And Blog, Blog, Blog en-us Copyright 2007 Confluence Publishing Sun, 23 Mar 2008 20:48:31 -0600 http://www.practicalecommerce.com/rss/ Practical Ecommerce v2.0.1 Ecommerce kmurdock@practicalecommerce.com bgetting@practicalecommerce.com 60 http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/667/Choose-A-Platform-And-Blog-Blog-Blog/#comment8115 I have tried various blogs over the past 3 years and all have one consistent result....NO TRAFFIC!!! Why? I now have 2 blogs, 1 on wordpress and 1 on blogger. I followed all the steps in submitting the blogs and increasing my seo. Nothing. Any help is appreciated. Sun, 23 Mar 2008 20:48:31 -0600 http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/667/Choose-A-Platform-And-Blog-Blog-Blog/#comment8115 http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/667/Choose-A-Platform-And-Blog-Blog-Blog/#comment7316 When to blog and when not to blog... As a business consultant in a number of industries, I get this question fairly often --- business owners see all of the hype surrounding blogging and wonder if and how they should participate. My answer is never about appropriateness --- blogging has a lot of virtues and values for most types of businesses. But there is the matter of priority. For many of the businesses I deal with --- even some e-commerce companies --- there are dozens of other things that should take much higher priority over blogging because they simply have greater impact on the performance of that business. With limited resources and time, businesses need to be very careful to focus their efforts where they'll have the most impact --- and sometimes blogging can be pretty far down the list. Wed, 05 Mar 2008 13:50:10 -0700 http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/667/Choose-A-Platform-And-Blog-Blog-Blog/#comment7316 http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/667/Choose-A-Platform-And-Blog-Blog-Blog/#comment6881 I agree with Michelle Greer about setting up WordPress. Most small biz owners probably don't have the time nor the technical inclination to do a self-hosted blogging solution. In addition to Typepad, I would also recommend using Blogger.com BUT setting up the FTP option so the blog is published at your own domain. @Mitch - Blogging software/platforms take security into account by only allowing very basic HTML code. For example, commenters can usually format text (bold, italics) and insert links, but not insert images or Javascript. Sun, 24 Feb 2008 00:49:36 -0700 http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/667/Choose-A-Platform-And-Blog-Blog-Blog/#comment6881 http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/667/Choose-A-Platform-And-Blog-Blog-Blog/#comment5687 Now, how about the security risks involved in allowing blogs on one's site...the possiblility of dropping some java script into the blog and then have the ability to monitor the carts of your bloggers.....grabbing information as they come and go.....I have not seen anyone address this issue yet.... Tue, 12 Feb 2008 07:27:29 -0700 http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/667/Choose-A-Platform-And-Blog-Blog-Blog/#comment5687 http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/667/Choose-A-Platform-And-Blog-Blog-Blog/#comment5159 Careful, WordPress is an incredibly robust platform, but building a WordPress blog is not for the faint of heart or those short on time. Many merchants don't even know what ftp is, much less how to use to do upload templates and plugins. If you are comfortable with crawling in forums for answers, Wordpress is great. If you can hire someone to do it, even better. If you just want to put up some content and have easy access to some decent plugins, Typepad is a great option. An extra but very underrated benefit is that Typepad actually has customer support. Many good blogs (Guy Kawasaki and Seth Godin, for example) use this platform. Both of these blogging platforms have worthless WYSIWYGs, so either get familiar with Dreamweaver or download another WYSIWYG if you actually want what you write to show up the way it is supposed to. I've used a Wordpress WYSIWYG that actually deleted the tags I put in the code of a post. What's up with that? Sat, 09 Feb 2008 14:25:40 -0700 http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/667/Choose-A-Platform-And-Blog-Blog-Blog/#comment5159 http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/667/Choose-A-Platform-And-Blog-Blog-Blog/#comment5074 I've often thought about ways to add customer interaction on my website. Thanks for offering up how a blog can do this while also adding new content that the search engines will look favorably on. I'm going to look into WordPress and see if I can integrate into my site, www.recycledcreations.com Thanks again! Jeff Wed, 06 Feb 2008 21:53:35 -0700 http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/667/Choose-A-Platform-And-Blog-Blog-Blog/#comment5074 http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/667/Choose-A-Platform-And-Blog-Blog-Blog/#comment4978 I've been reading a lot lately about how adding a blog to an ecommerce site can add quality backlinks. But, being a non-techie and a new website owner, I'm still trying to put the pieces of this magnificent puzzle together. So let me ask specifically and simply- How would blogging generate links to my ecommerce site? Isn't a blog a separate domain entirely? Thanks, Derrick Gentry Wed, 06 Feb 2008 07:36:25 -0700 http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/667/Choose-A-Platform-And-Blog-Blog-Blog/#comment4978 http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/667/Choose-A-Platform-And-Blog-Blog-Blog/#comment4935 WordPress is a really good blogging platform. It does have a steep learning curve, though, especially for people who don't know much about blogging (like me). There's lots of documentation, but it may as well be greek for a non-techie like me. Tech support is non-existent. You can ask questions at the wordpress forum, and maybe you'll get an answer. Apparently all the people there are volunteers, and some are none too friendly. That said, once you figure it out, it's really a fantastic way to put up a blog, especially if you self-host. I've had two websites, but they've gone by the wayside. Blogging is the only way to go, if you ask me. I have one blog already, and I plan to start another one soon. I tried the Yahoo Shortcuts, but it never came up with any pictures from Flickr for me, just weird links. So I deactivated it. Darlene Norris http://yourcatcareguide.com/wordpress Tue, 05 Feb 2008 18:33:44 -0700 http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/667/Choose-A-Platform-And-Blog-Blog-Blog/#comment4935 http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/667/Choose-A-Platform-And-Blog-Blog-Blog/#comment4934 Thank you for this article. After reading it I think I will add one to my design sites and see what happens. I have lots of clients and I think they also would like to add their 2 cent to the blog about the projects I've done for them. If it works well, I will offer blogs to my web customers to add function, info, and SEO (linking) to their sites. My site should have a blog up in a week or two. www.jeidedesigns.com. Thanks again for the great information. Tue, 05 Feb 2008 12:53:20 -0700 http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/667/Choose-A-Platform-And-Blog-Blog-Blog/#comment4934 http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/667/Choose-A-Platform-And-Blog-Blog-Blog/#comment4928 I agree that there is no inappropriate blogging scenarios. If you have a point of view and expertise to share (interior designer example) then you should absolutely be blogging. Share your ideas, share your successes, in the case of a designer, share pictures of your work or even videos. What you are doing when you blog is putting content out there that is already (if done correctly) optimized for SEO more than most websites that small business owners put together. If you put similar content on your website and on your blog, I almost guarantee that the blog content will get picked up faster and rank better. In terms of in house blogging vs using blogger or hosted WordPress, I have seen both strategies mentioned. I personally would rather have the blog generated natural search traffic coming to my domain instead of to a free blog site and I would rather see the natural SEO juice benefiting my site than Blogger. I have a client now that I would love to see... Tue, 05 Feb 2008 11:49:53 -0700 http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/667/Choose-A-Platform-And-Blog-Blog-Blog/#comment4928 http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/667/Choose-A-Platform-And-Blog-Blog-Blog/#comment4931 Regarding when not to blog, or when to blog... I have been debating for a while about adding a blog to my website, and so far the main plusses seem to be that it is a good source of backlinks and that it provides new content regularly. Regarding the new content, is there a difference between new blog content and new other content? I add new articles regularly, so is this just as good if I would blog at the same rate as I add new articles? Any thoughts? Tue, 05 Feb 2008 11:49:08 -0700 http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/667/Choose-A-Platform-And-Blog-Blog-Blog/#comment4931 http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/667/Choose-A-Platform-And-Blog-Blog-Blog/#comment4926 So first, Let me reply to Gene Bowen on inappropriate blogging situations. I don't believe there is ever an inappropriate business blogging situation. Blogging is about telling your story, sharing your expertise and basically humanizing your organization or business. You interior decorator is missing a key point (unless she doesn't want to grow). You designer could do great by talking about her projects, profiling her clients (with or without naming names), displaying pictures and video and basically telling a story. The most sucessful sales tactic of all time is the "Similar Situation". The more stories you tell, the more likely prospects have to find a story that "feels" like them. What social networking is teaching us is that humanity matters in marketing. Blogs are the best way for any organization to express their humanity. Tue, 05 Feb 2008 08:40:06 -0700 http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/667/Choose-A-Platform-And-Blog-Blog-Blog/#comment4926 http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/667/Choose-A-Platform-And-Blog-Blog-Blog/#comment4925 I believe that blogs are great and useful; but, I also believe there are certain business or audiences for which blogging will not be a worthwhile investment. Why hasn't someone address the topic, "When Not to Blog." Here's an example. I recently put up a web site for an interior designer and explained what blogging was. We talked about starting one for her. She explained that her clients come from very affluent neighborhoods and would probably never have the interest nor the time to spend blogging with a designer. On the other hand, I think designers should blog among themselves since the exchange of ideas could benefit them. Furthermore, she said the value of her web site is not so much to get picked up by these people who are searching the web for a designer; but as a reference to send potential clients to who contact her another way and want to see examples of her work. Has anyone else recognized the futility of blogging in other situations? Please share those with... Tue, 05 Feb 2008 07:06:46 -0700 http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/667/Choose-A-Platform-And-Blog-Blog-Blog/#comment4925 http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/667/Choose-A-Platform-And-Blog-Blog-Blog/#comment4909 An interesting article, but your recommendations for an in-house blogging platform are only really applicable to websites that are already well established. Surely it makes sense for smaller sites to use blog.com or blogger.com and ensure they link back to their site from the blog. These established blogging sites are more likely to be indexed regularly than the small little known site and it provides a easy way for the site to gain visibility. Tue, 05 Feb 2008 06:17:19 -0700 http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/667/Choose-A-Platform-And-Blog-Blog-Blog/#comment4909 http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/667/Choose-A-Platform-And-Blog-Blog-Blog/#comment4919 Wordpress is the way to go and sure blogging helps in networking and getting traffic to the site... I took up blogging so I can earn while traveling and am fulfilling my dream now through www.reviewsaurus.com. Tue, 05 Feb 2008 06:16:27 -0700 http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/667/Choose-A-Platform-And-Blog-Blog-Blog/#comment4919 http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/667/Choose-A-Platform-And-Blog-Blog-Blog/#comment4923 I agree with Alex regarding Wordpress. I had been using that before I started using moguling free business blog for my business, It has built in SEO tools and integrated with a social media platform, I was able to generate quite a few new leads after using it for a month. The thing what I like about moguling is regular new addition of seo and marketing features to help users get good results for their business, though Wordpress also does that but from seo point of view and business blog point of view i would go with moguling. www.moguling.com is where its available for free. Tue, 05 Feb 2008 06:14:24 -0700 http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/667/Choose-A-Platform-And-Blog-Blog-Blog/#comment4923