Are blogging and social media an integral part of your marketing practices? If not, they should be. Blogging is a vital component of your online client relationship building and retention. That’s why you ought to give it the time and effort it deserves to help grow your business and reach new audiences.

For blogging to work for your business, you need to put some effort into it. There are certain practices you shouldn’t ignore if you want your blog to become an overnight sensation.

About Us page

A quick Internet search will help you realize how important the About page of your blog is. It’s the most visited page on blog sites, because visitors want to know who’s behind these words. They want to know what you believe in, what you think about different topics, and what your overall mindset might be.

For some blogs, depending on what the blog is about, there’s often another page that gets at least as many views: one that provides the details related to the business. For instance, a photographer’s site will have the gallery or portfolio pages getting the most views; a technical blog site will often get the most clicks through to its FAQ page.

Put some thought into how you structure and enrich your About page. Set the tone for your blog, tell people who you are, give them a reason to stick around and read more, and then give them the final reassuring pat on the shoulder by providing testimonials and other forms of proof about what you’re claiming to be and excel at.

Even if it’s a business blog it should get personal. The use of narratives is not an approach exclusively used for personal blogs. Share a story and people will pay attention. They will empathize.

Keep it short and sweet

Resist the temptation to cram your sidebar with unnecessary pages.

Focus on a couple of things besides your frequent new blog post. It should be kept clean, minimal and only with what really matters. Don’t repeat things people can find on your official business site.

Don’t create junk keyword posts for the sake of ranking

Your blog should offer real value to your visitors. Give them insights, highlights, and top-of-the-line information that’s also keyword-rich.

There’s no reason to create meaningless posts for the sake of SEO. If you offer good, quality content, your content will eventually become popular and rank well.

People get frustrated when businesses get obsessed with SEO and offer nothing but information-light content stuffed with keywords. Stand out by offering relevant, informative content your visitors will benefit from and will want to share with others. This way your online community will expand, and the ways they engage with your business will improve.

Proofread

There’s no bigger turn-off than bad grammar. People who don’t pay attention to grammar mistakes are seen as careless, or not well educated. In both of these cases you’re not being a good advertisement for your business or yourself. Grammar matters, and even if you’ve got a more casual approach to your online content, make sure it’s free of mistakes in language or spelling.

A business blog reflects the company it represents, and so the language used does affect public opinion about the company. It would be a shame to lose your hard-earned authority status due to an easily-fixed grammatical mistake or misspelling. Proofread your content diligently and always double-check your posts before publication to avoid embarrassing situations.

Online business marketing requires a comprehensive strategy if it is to have any chances of increasing sales and profits. One often overlooked aspect of business marketing is blogging, which if done strategically can boost your online presence, make your brand more relevant, and of course encourage lead generation and sales.

To be successful, business blogging needs to follow the foolproof tactics that big firms are using and which have been proven to work. Business size is truly irrelevant, as the Internet is an equally accessible tool for marketing your business online.

So what’s worth implementing and what’s no longer efficient when it comes to business blogging rules?

Offer relevant, significant insights, ideas and tools.

Don’t advertise your company or small business. No one likes a shameless advertiser. Rather, actively and substantially create content that’s meaningful and significant to your readers. Think about it. If your content is first-class, your followers won’t think twice, they will spread the word, simply because they find value in your blogging.

Become your industry’s ambassador

Rather than focusing on what you do and what you’ve achieved, it’s more worthwhile to share with your followers what your industry does and where it’s heading.

Give them access to facts, strategies, and ideas otherwise inaccessible to them. Becoming a reporter on your own niche or industry offers much more value than simply sharing one single perspective. Focus on the wider picture, give your readers a sneak peek into your industry as a whole – its trends, its new tools, the long-forsaken approaches, the promising new potentials.

By committing to providing persistently valuable content that’s sharable and valuable you ensure your blogging efforts will pay off.

Prove your value as an industry expert

There are many, many bloggers out there. To stand out, you have to establish yourself as an industry expert. This of course cannot be done overnight; it requires commitment, passion, and a plan.

What sets expert bloggers apart from the crowd is that their followers automatically turn to their blog as a resource of valuable, up-to-date content; readers know they blog about significant and tangible issues. An industry expert is a passionate professional who’s always ahead of trends, in line with current approaches, and has sound, fact-based viewpoints on their industry’s future. These are reasons why expert bloggers develop a solid, ever-increasing following.

What’s more, an industry expert shares ideas or insights bound to overhaul their industry or the way people conceptualize it. Can you be such a blogging expert?

Be part of your community of readers

Blogging is not about accentuating hierarchical differences or the consumer-business relationship.

If you advertise your product constantly, you drive your readers away; if you interact with them you increase engagement. Dial down any loud differences, don’t demand, don’t dictate. Instead, share, inquire and respond to your readership. Efficient blogging rests on the idea of you being a true part of the community you’ve created.

Encourage reader engagement

Bloggers tend to lose readers because they assume a falsely superior stance in relation to those readers. Expert bloggers, on the other hand, are the ones who creatively, persistently and strategically engage with their readers. By doing this, they tend to increase their readership and encourage follower loyalty.

Follow back your readers, comment on their reactions, share their ideas, answer their questions and overall engage with them at every level possible through your blog platform and other social media to ensure they will continue reading your blog.

Don’t just assume you know what readers want. Listen to their ever-changing needs, eavesdrop on what they’d like to read about, and provide it to them. And don’t forget to reward followers and readers with special, super-great quality content through email newsletters, exclusive free downloads, or promotions of ebooks and products  that might be of use for them.

Be unique, fresh and unconventional

Don’t just recycle others’ ideas, find new perspectives to look at things from, and stretch out your scope of issues to discover new approaches to existing ideas.

Do your share of curation; show your readers other trusted resources for valuable content similar to yours. Show your skills in critically processing different viewpoints or approaches and your ability to express a uniquely different, but equally valuable, interpretation.

But don’t forget to provide unique, fresh content regularly on your own site. This is what will establish you as an authority and the go-to blog for the latest developments in your industry or niche.

Engage with leading experts in your field

Don’t shut yourself out of the world. Doing interviews, holding mini webinars, or having giveaways for dedicated followers is a great way to strengthen the reader-blogger bond and consolidate long-term loyalty.

Invite guest bloggers to your site. It increases both blogs’ exposure to new audiences and it provides new ideas and strategies, all the while reminding your readers of your active involvement in your industry. Ask top bloggers to be featured in their blogs as a guest blogger or encourage others to do the same at yours.

Regardless of where you want to go in life, good vocabulary is just one of the skills that will help you get there. This is especially true if you’re after a new job or promotion, as research has found a high link between corporate success and vocabulary.

In the 1930s, a scientist named Johnson O’Connor began exploring just how important vocabulary is to success, and it’s a project he worked on for many decades. His studies found a relationship between executive success and an extensive vocabulary.

Later on, studies in the 1980’s and 90’s found that more than 88% of Fortune 1000 executives scored well above average on vocabulary tests, with 71% of managers scoring above average.

Vocabulary doesn’t just help you climb the corporate ladder, though; there’s also a correlation between a student’s vocabulary in 12th grade and the likelihood they will graduate college. There’s even a connection between the student’s vocabulary and their income level in the future. That’s because vocabulary size works to estimate not only your skill in reading, writing and speaking, but also your general knowledge of science and history.

While the link between vocabulary and economic success is a great reason to start improving your own vocabulary and that of your children, vocabulary can also help improve happiness, too. Words are how we communicate with others, as well as ourselves internally. They are the instrument by which we grasp the thoughts of others, and influence the way other people think, and they have a great deal of power. By improving your ability to communicate your thoughts and feelings, you can improve your self-esteem and relationships. You’ll also feel good knowing you’re doing something to better yourself, which is one of the greatest feelings in the world.

Because vocabulary is so strongly related to economic success, it’s important to begin early to help our children develop this skill. There are many ways to do this, including a curriculum that presents new words in a familiar context to help students identify the correct meaning unconsciously without trying to memorize long lists or forcing schools to spend a lot of time on word study.

You can also work to improve your vocabulary simply by watching television shows like The Daily Show and Frasier, which sprinkle in unfamiliar words in a natural setting. Reading enjoyable, well-edited books also helps students and adults alike absorb new vocabulary.

Developing a large vocabulary is really one of the easiest and best things you can do to improve your success and happiness in life, and that of your children. It can be as easy as reading a new book, changing the sort of programs you watch on TV or using a games-based vocabulary improvement program, so the experience doesn’t have to be unpleasant.

Language is one of our greatest gifts, and any opportunity you have to improve your language skills will put you on the path to a brighter future and fill you with the self-confidence that comes from working to better yourself as a person.

How can you find exactly the right words that will close a deal? What kind of words and phrases are key for negotiating? The art of negotiation is 50% confidence and 50% in how you frame your opinions, assertions, and complaints. The following key phrases and words can help you become an efficient negotiator and get everything you want out of the deals you make.

I’m listening

Would you even bother wasting your time with someone who doesn’t even care enough to listen to your own views? Probably not.

The first and most critical step for getting on the right foot with your fellow negotiator is to actively listen. Reassuring phrases such as “I see what you mean,” “You’re right,” and “That’s a good point actually,” tells the other person that you respect them enough to actively engage with them during their interpretation of a situation.

You can win the other person over simply by making them feel respected and listened to. Yes, it’s that easy – and sometimes that’s all it takes to conclude a successful negotiation. Extra Tip: Don’t assume you know what someone’s about to say. People find it annoying when someone else constantly jumps in to end their sentences for them. While occasionally this might show how much you empathize with and focus on what is being said, you might come across as a know-it-all, and nobody likes that sort of person.

It’s not you, it’s me: Offering the right perspective

Another important thing to consider when negotiating, whether it’s with your 3-year-old child or your manager, is adopting the right perspective. You don’t have to sacrifice your assertiveness and dynamism to achieve a good deal. What you need to do is not offend the other person, or make them feel uncomfortable or frustrated. That’s easy to say, but you might ask yourself how to achieve this. It’s actually easy to do, as well: simply say what you believe, feel, or think rather than talking about what the other person has said or done. By shifting the focus to your perspective, you are essentially making it easier from them to accept your assertions, because you remove any implication of blame. Therefore, the statement “I feel this is not what we had in mind” is much more effective and less offending than “You don’t understand what we are after, I’m afraid.”

The first introduces disagreement in a mild and indirect manner, with the sense that you feel it might have been your own explanations and descriptions that led to the misunderstanding. On the other hand, the second is full-on negative and slightly harsh, essentially telling the other person that they’re just not smart enough to figure it out.

Don’t ever assume you know what the person in front of you is thinking. To make assumptions is to risk losing that person’s attention and respect. Focus on “I” statements and steer away from speaking about what you think they think, want, or have.

Show Empathy

You have better chances at winning a negotiation if you show empathy. People are naturally defensive during a negotiation so managing to make them feel less threatened will win you some ground. Find something you have in common. This could be anything: you’re both young women, you’re both parents, you work in the same field, you like the same style of art, you just read the same best-seller … pointing out the similarities between you makes it easier for you to mold the other person’s opinion towards a direction that benefits you. Show your empathy with phrases such as these:

“I understand (where you’re coming from).”

“I feel the same way about (the situation, the problem, that point).”

“I would be (happy, upset, curious, disbelieving) in that case too, you know.”

Using these key phrases and being willing to listen attentively will increase your chances of achieving the deal you’re after.

These days it seems as if anyone can become a self-published blogger or online writer. It only takes a word editor and basic writing skills. Or does it?

Yes, there are bloggers who’ve been blogging for over two decades now. There are people who are leading experts in their field, and blogging about what they know comes naturally to them. But what about the rest of us, the small and medium businesses, the freelance professionals and the solopreneurs who wish to run and maintain a blog? Is it feasible to become a blogger if you’ve never really had a way with words?

Becoming a blogger is a process that assumes that you:

• Love and know your subject

• Have excellent writing skills

• Have a marketing plan and stick to it no matter what

People who are passionate about and experts at what they do will have no trouble finding topics to talk about on their blog. You’ll find that especially if you’re a leader in your niche market, you will see how quickly people will become dedicated blog readers.

However, when it comes to writing skills, you won’t keep those readers if your English isn’t in tip-top shape. Yes, typos and misspellings do happen and people will forgive them or ignore them occasionally, but if you fail to abide by simple 4th grade grammar rules, this will harm your blog and the reputation you’re trying to build around your brand.

If you want to start a blog, ensure you first brush up your writing skills — especially spelling and vocabulary. Even if at first you’re only using text messages or a Twitter feed, make sure you know the meaning of the words you’re using, and that you’re spelling them correctly. Proper English and good grammar will never go out of style. By ensuring you write professionally in every medium, you’ll create a stepping stone towards writing blogs that will (potentially) go viral.

Bloggers who are fanatically followed and read by their communities are the ones who have self-improvement and self-education as their top priorities. These are people who are able to contribute new ideas, introduce new perspectives, and find new ways to solve a problem or unveil an ignored factor people couldn’t see before.

That being said, ensure you are active in your market so that you know what you’re writing about. Learn about the latest developments, see what’s trending, and take note of what is falling in popularity. Learn new words and concepts introduced in your market and in the wider social discourse as well. This way, your writing will reflect this relevancy and radiate the self-confidence of a knowledgeable, expert blogger.

Finally, remember some basic rules for blogging:

• Write in a conversational tone. Use “you” a lot to make the blog post more shareable and personal.

• Storytelling is a great hook. Use this technique to intrigue readers into staying on the page.

• Write compelling content. Use numbers, cite studies, and share stats to drive a point home. These help build trust.

Cross-posted on the Vocabulary Improvement blog.

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments

<div align=”center”><img class=”pinthis” src=”http://www.ultimatevocabulary.com/images/blog/writing_as_professional.jpg” alt=”” /></div>

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<p dir=”ltr”>These days it seems as if anyone can become a self-published blogger or online writer. It only takes a word editor and basic writing skills. Or does it?</p>
<p dir=”ltr”>Yes, there are bloggers who’ve been blogging for over two decades now. There are people who are leading experts in their field, and blogging about what they know comes naturally to them. But what about the rest of us, the small and medium businesses, the freelance professionals and the solopreneurs who wish to run and maintain a blog? Is it feasible to become a blogger if you’ve never really had a way with words?</p>
<p dir=”ltr”>Becoming a blogger is a process that assumes that you:</p>

<ul>
<li dir=”ltr”>
<p dir=”ltr”>Love and know your subject</p>
</li>
<li dir=”ltr”>
<p dir=”ltr”>Have excellent writing skills</p>
</li>
<li dir=”ltr”>
<p dir=”ltr”>Have a marketing plan and stick to it no matter what</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p dir=”ltr”>People who are passionate about and experts at what they do will have no trouble finding topics to talk about on their blog. You’ll find that especially if you’re a leader in your niche market, you will see how quickly people will become dedicated blog readers.</p>
<p dir=”ltr”>However, when it comes to writing skills, you won’t keep those readers if your English isn’t in tip-top shape. Yes, typos and misspellings do happen and people will forgive them or ignore them occasionally, but if you fail to abide by simple 4th grade grammar rules, this will harm your blog and the reputation you’re trying to build around your brand.</p>
<p dir=”ltr”>If you want to start a blog, ensure you first brush up your writing skills — especially spelling and vocabulary. Even if at first you’re only using text messages or a Twitter feed, make sure you know the meaning of the words you’re using, and that you’re spelling them correctly. Proper English and good grammar will never go out of style. By ensuring you write professionally in every medium, you’ll create a stepping stone towards writing blogs that will (potentially) go viral.</p>
<p dir=”ltr”>Bloggers who are fanatically followed and read by their communities are the ones who have self-improvement and self-education as their top priorities. These are people who are able to contribute new ideas, introduce new perspectives, and find new ways to solve a problem or unveil an ignored factor people couldn’t see before.</p>
<p dir=”ltr”>That being said, ensure you are active in your market so that you know what you’re writing about. Learn about the latest developments, see what’s trending, and take note of what is falling in popularity. Learn new words and concepts introduced in your market and in the wider social discourse as well. This way, your writing will reflect this relevancy and radiate the self-confidence of a knowledgeable, expert blogger.</p>
<p dir=”ltr”>Finally, remember some basic rules for blogging:</p>

<ul>
<li dir=”ltr”>
<p dir=”ltr”>Write in a conversational tone. Use “you” a lot to make the blog post more shareable and personal.</p>
</li>
<li dir=”ltr”>
<p dir=”ltr”>Storytelling is a great hook. Use this technique to intrigue readers into staying on the page.</p>
</li>
<li dir=”ltr”>
<p dir=”ltr”>Write compelling content. Use numbers, cite studies, and share stats to drive a point home. These help build trust.</p>
</li>
</ul>

<em>Cross-posted on the <a href=”http://www.ultimatevocabulary.com/2014/09/play-with-words-become-a-blogger-yourself” target=”_blank”>Vocabulary Improvement</a> blog.</em>

<hr />

<strong><em>Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments</em></strong>

Have you ever wondered how words can affect your perception of reality, let alone your emotions and self-image? Words don’t just express emotions or ideas — their function is not purely communicative — and words can in fact have an enduring and substantial influence on your self-esteem.

Limiting yourself to static, negative words and phrases harms your sense of self-worth. Confidence partly stems from how we perceive ourselves and partly from how we believe others perceive us. Therefore, by broadening your vocabulary, enriching it with affirmative phrases and words, you give yourself the vocabulary you need to describe yourself in the best possible light.

Urban lifestyles force us to use a limited vocabulary on our day to day activities. In fact, we try to communicate with the fewest possible words to save time and get things done faster.

What if we could do something more constructive instead?

What if we consciously chose meaningful and emotionally charged words to describe our feelings, intentions, and thoughts? Then we would get a more rewarding experience of ourselves and our reality, encouraging a more positive approach to life.

By improving your vocabulary you equip yourself with new concepts to describe and experience your identity. On the other hand, a limited vocabulary is limiting: it doesn’t let you fully explore the positive qualities and sensibilities that you have, it doesn’t let you acknowledge and articulate them and, by extension, appreciate your self-worth.

Therefore, consciously strive to enrich your vocabulary with affirmative, meaningful words that can uplift, motivate, and support you. Learn and express affirmative words that highlight your assets, your qualities, and your uniqueness.

Sensibilities

even-tempered, solicitous, fair-minded, optimistic, unostentatious

Qualities

zealous, sagacious, high-reaching, inspirational, joyful

Traits

organized, conscientious, autonomous, judicious, dedicated

Here are three more words that you can use to describe yourself:

Sagacious

It’s the synonym for shrewd and smart. You might consider yourself shrewd and intelligent, but these are words that have lost their momentum because they’re worn-out from daily use. Sagacious, on the other hand, has a different kind of power and vibe to it. It is a word that’s uncommon, and out of the ordinary, instantly giving you a more strong impression as to its capacity and reach.

Asserting that you are sagacious rather than clever, you visualize yourself in a much more flattering light. The same can be said for all of the other words in the lists above.

Offbeat

Using offbeat to describe your inclination to be peculiarly unique has an entirely different ring to it. By describing yourself as offbeat, instead of weird or strange, you assign an affirmative quality to your self-identity. This word helps emphasize your uniqueness and brings out your uncommon but fresh take on life.

Quixotic

Refers to people who are idealists, who are inclined to be romantic and at times excessively utopian. Asserting and endorsing your quixotic nature lets you take this quality and invest it in ways that can be practical and beneficial. Others might consider your starry-eyed stance unrealistic and immature, but if you embrace your quixoticism you take what’s considered a weakness and turn it into an asset.

By enriching your vocabulary with affirmative words like these you create a pool of dynamic and agreeable concepts you can use to improve your self-image and change the way you look at yourself and your life. Ultimate Vocabulary software can be your primary tool to taking this essential step.

Learning English is now made easy with the wide range of resources available over the internet. Initially, the valuable resources that taught the necessary English grammar and spelling knowledge tended to be priced fairly high, making it impossible for people on a budget (such as students) to easily purchase them. However, with the passage of time, the rising level competition in the market, and the availability of e-reading material means that books have become more competitively priced, making it easier for individuals to learn English without straining their budget. Here is a list of five books that provide the necessary English spelling and grammar knowledge while being cost effective.

Essential Grammar in Use with Answers: A Self-Study Reference and Practice Book for Elementary Students of English

Raymond Murphy (Author)

This grammar book is highly recommended by teachers and professionals and is described as a complete guide towards learning the basics of English grammar. The latest third edition has been updated and now offers more exercises and learning material for readers. The book is also known for its clarity and easy language that allows students and learners to absorb the information quickly. The book also contains answers to exercises, which mean that learners that wish to study on their own will find no difficulty. Lastly, a summary is also included within the book that highlights all the key grammar rules, making it ideal for a quick revision and review.

Advanced Grammar in Use with Answers [Paperback]

Martin Hewings (Author)

This book is specifically designed for students that are at an advanced stage of learning English. The latest version focuses on the technicalities present within the English language and allows advanced learners to grasp the underlying concepts with greater clarity. A section of the book also focuses on basic grammar thereby allowing students to review previous concepts before studying any further. The book is an ideal resource for self studying as the clarity of language and availability of answers mean that little or no help is required.

Improve Your Spelling in English: Materials for Learning and Teaching – Students’ Workbook

Meryl Wilkins (Author)

This comprehensive guide is ideal for students and teachers that are seeking to discover strategies that can significantly accelerate the spelling learning process. The book includes a range of exercises that focuses on various areas within English vocabulary and allows learners to focus on learning strategies that target different aspects of spelling.

Basic Spelling

Michael Temple (Author)

This book is specifically designed for learners that are at the “beginner” stage of learning spelling. The book highlights a range of words and letter combinations that are frequently misspelled and focuses upon words that are commonly used in communication. The book is highly recommended for anyone that initially wishes to target their personal area of weakness and practice from an array of exercises that focuses on an extensive range of words in common use.

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One of the basic reasons for a lack of productivity is the inability to focus on the task at hand. Lack of focus can come about due to many different reasons, but most have in common an unorganized system that does not allow you to think clearly. Just like you are unable to find the right pair of socks in a room that has not been cleaned for days, you are unlikely to find a way to work unless you have organized your personal and official issues systematically.Continue Reading…