Information overload does not equal knowledge mastery, and sometimes finding the content you need to stay current in your business is like searching for a needle in a haystack.  It’s not easy to know what’s worth your time, and it’s even harder to take the time to wade through it all.

As technology makes it simpler to create content (i.e. WordPress, Blogger, etc.), the problem this produces is scads of people who have no business creating content doing it with complete abandon.  Do a Google search on “marketing” and see what you get.  So, as a busy entrepreneur/executive, marketing manager with a budget, how DO you figure out what is worth reading?  Here’s an easy 3-step process:

1. Start using an RSS feeder account: An RSS reader is simply a site where you can set up your own personal account and choose which blogs and content you would like to follow.  As these blogs are updated, the reader allows you to see these updates and new content without have to go to each and every http://www.blog-I-want-to-check-out-today.com.  It’s all in one place.  I use Google Reader and you can add new blogs as you stumble across them and always have a “home base” to read all the information you need.
2. Follow Blogrolls: Most blogs have a list of other blogs they also read and recommend.  As you start to identify blogs which you find interesting, you can also look at the lists of blogs they read to get ideas for other content you may want to check out.  Chances are, some of the best blogs appear repeatedly in multiple locations, so you can use this occurrence as a metric to determine which blogs may be worth exploring.
3. Subscribe by email to your favorites: Some days are SO busy that I forget to go to Google Reader where I’ve subscribed to over 40 blogs.  Plus, if I skip even one day, I get the joy of opening it up and finding 750+ items on topics ranging from Art to Technology to Fashion to Marketing to Health/Fitness.  It’s just too much and I “declare Reader bankruptcy” by “marking all as read.”  So, to make sure I don’t miss the updates of my favorites, I subscribe to them via email also.  No matter how busy the day is, I’m also on email and you probably work this way also.  As you start to uncover your handful of favorite blogs, make sure you don’t miss valuable information and subscribe to get their updates by email.

Reading blogs for bleeding edge information, news, and topics of conversation offers a convenient form to other types of media you may consume (TV, newspaper, magazine, radio, etc.).  Try not to be discouraged by how many blogs are on the Web and let that keep you from discovering really great new content.  You just might find a blog and information that can be a true source of assistance to your business… real actionable advice that impacts your bottom line is priceless.

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Creating a business blog that increases your search engine visibility, establishes your credibility, generates quality leads and helps you grow your business.  Yet, too many small businesses and non-profits jump into blogging without a plan in place.  This mistake leads to lots of missteps, false starts and costly errors.  Here are final five of the 10 biggest mistakes small business bloggers make… and how you can avoid them.

6.  They don’t leave comments at other blogs: Leaving intelligent comments on other blogs serves many purposes.  It shows that you’re an active, contributing member of the community.  It generates good will with the blogger in question, and it creates a link back to your own blog.  Why does the link back matter?  If you’ve said something of value, visitors to these blogs will follow the link back to your blog to see what other brilliant insights you might have.  WHAT TO DO:   Leave intelligent, appropriate comments on the blogs you read.  However, if your comment comes across as a crass attempt to lure new prospects to your blog, expect that these other bloggers will delete your comment, and might even ban you from commenting again.

7.  They don’t engage their community: Personally, I don’t believe that comments reflect how effective a blog is.  Certain blogs and topics are just going to attract more feedback than other.  Want comments?  Start a political blog or take a stand on a controversial issue.  However, when people leave comments on your blog, they’re most often responding to something you wrote, or an experience they had with your company.  They’ve taken time out of their day to add to the conversation on your blog.  WHAT TO DO:   When someone leaves a comment on your blog, do your best to follow up with them by answering their question or addressing their issue.  You may also want to email a copy of your response directly to them, in case they don’t revisit that post.

8.  They make it difficult to subscribe: There are two kinds of readers at your blog: those who discover it via a search engine of a link, and your subscribers.  Once someone has subscribed to your blog via RSS or email, your content is delivered to them automatically.  Almost all blogging platforms offer RSS feeds right out of the box, and many also allow your readers to subscribe to the feed via email, delivering each post into their inbox.  However, some small business bloggers don’t enable these tools, or make them difficult to find on the home page.  WHAT TO DO:   If your platform doesn’t offer RSS and/or email options, or if you want more control over your feeds, you can use a third party service like Feedblitz or Feedburner.  Both of these services offer RSS feeds, email feeds, tracking tools and more.  In addition, you’ll want to place your subscription options “above the fold” on your blog, making them easy to find.

9.  They don’t take advantage of social media: A blog is not an island.  It’s part of your social media activity.  These days, sites like Twitter, Facebook, Delicious, Digg, Reddit, or StumbleUpon can deliver substantial targeted traffic to your blog.  Ignore this at your own risk.  WHAT TO DO:   Encourage your readers to share your content on a wide variety of social media platforms with a tool like ShareThis.  Although it might seem redundant if you already have ShareThis enabled, you can also get great results from a “TwitThis” or the “Retweet This” button that appears at the top of blog posts encouraging people on Twitter to tweet a link to your post.  Of course, you don’t need to wait for others to promote your post.  However, people who only submit their own work usually don’t see the same level of results as people who also promote the work of others.  If you are going to use StumbleUpon or a similar tool, try and promote other people’s work in an 80/20 ratio to your own.  Trust me on this one…

10.  They measure the wrong things: They focus on how many comments they receive, how many “followers” they have, or how many people have subscribed to their blog.  Comments aren’t customers, and subscribers aren’t sales.  Measure what matters… what moves the bank account.  WHAT TO DO:  Review your business goals, then take a look at your traffic reports to determine if you’re achieving your goals.  If you wanted to increase your search engine traffic, your analytics will show that.  If you wanted to double the number of qualified leads to your web site, your analytics can show you that as well.

Final Bonus: They’re not committed to the blog’s success:   Too many entrepreneurs are excited about the idea of a blog, but aren’t willing to put the work into it that it requires.  Or, they start strong, but after a few months with little to show for it, they cut back on their blogging.  Few blogs are successful in the first six months.  They take time and commitment to the process.  WHAT TO DO:  Budget 3 hours a week to blog for a minimum of six months.  In that time, you should be able to generate at least three posts a week, and leave comments on a handful of related blogs to drive traffic back to your blog.  Don’t use the excuse that you don’t have time.  One of the great things about blogging is that it can be done at off hours.  Fit in some time on the weekends and when the kids are in bed.  Sacrifice a night of TV each week, or eat lunch at your desk and create another post.  It’s your business after all.  Probably, your blog is the most versatile tool in your web marketing toolbox.  It powers both your search engine optimization and acts as your social media hub.

By avoiding these Top 10 11 Marketing Mistakes, and by committing time and resources to your blog, you’ll increase your online visibility, drive more qualified leads to your web site, and help convert those leads into real business.

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It’s easy to start blogging… If you’re just wanting to talk about your cat and what you’re planning for dinner, you can start a free Blogger blog.  For businesses who are serious about utilizing blogging to drive sales, blog CMS systems like WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal make it inexpensive, powerful, a snap to learn AND not only host the entire web site, but offer plugins to capture memberships, customer data, facilitate e-commerce and more.

However, it’s a lot more difficult to blog successfully.  Creating a business blog that increases your search engine visibility, establishes your credibility, generates quality leads and helps you grow your business.  Too many small businesses and non-profits jump into blogging without a plan in place.  This mistake leads to lots of missteps, false starts and costly errors.  Here are 10 of the biggest mistakes small business bloggers make… and how you can avoid them.

1.  They blog without a strategy: Blogging is a tactic, not a strategy.  Too many entrepreneurs start blogging because they’ve bought into the hype or they’re playing the “me too” game with the competition.  They have no idea how to create a blog that will attract the right audience or build their business.  Directionless, they flail, wondering why their blog is providing no ROI.   WHAT TO DO:  Answer these questions-  What are your business goals?  Who is your audience?  What problems or concerns does your audience have that you can help solve?  Once you have a clear vision of your business goals, you’ll know if you’re best served by a blog that’s built for inbound marketing, thought leadership, communication, product support, monetization, or some combination of these types.  Once you know your audience, and what they’re looking for, you’ll be able to create content that addresses their questions and problems.

2.  They don’t get their own domain name for their blog: The problem with piggybacking your blog on someone else’s URL, such as mycompany.typepad.com or mybusiness.blogger.com, is that it locks you into that blogging platform.  If that company changes or goes out of business, you’ll lose all of the incoming links you’ve so carefully cultivated.  The most important reason, though, is branding… It’s not your domain name.  You lose a ton of valuable SEO opportunities and it just plain looks unprofessional because domain names are now 9.99 and hosting is cheap.  Finally, you’re losinge control over whatever content management capabilities and functionality you may want to have on your web site and blog.  WHAT TO DO:  From day one, get your own domain name for your blog and make sure it’s set up properly at the CMS system of choice.  Then, if you’re forced to move, you’ll be able to keep all your domain URLs to articles and posts, and all of your incoming links.

3.  They don’t customize or brand their blog’s design: One reason it’s so easy to get started with blogging is that you can start blogging moments after you’ve signed up… as long as you go with the default settings of the blog platform.  From design templates to color choices to pre-chosen categories for organizing your content, a lot of the decision-making process has been simplified or removed for those who want to jump right in.  Unfortunately, these are the same template, the same color schemes and the same categories that so many other bloggers are using… including your competition.  EVERY communication from your company, including your blog, should be representative of your brand.  The more branded, the more customized your blog is, the more authority it radiates.  WHAT TO DO:  If you don’t have a talented designer in house, hire a professional to design a branded blog for your business… incorporated into your company’s web site.  You’ll likely have this blog design for 3-5 years, so it’s worth the price.

4.  They don’t realize how essential SEO (search engine optimization) is to the success of their blog: Search engines will deliver the majority of the traffic to your blog, including almost all of your first visitors.  All too often small business bloggers write content that’s filled with industry jargon or is just out-of-sync with what their prospects are searching for on Google.  These actions result in poor search engine visibility, anemic traffic and little to no new business.  WHAT TO DO:   Start with a keyword analysis to determine what phrases your audience is using at the search engines.  Either hire a search engine marketing firm or use a tool like Keyword Discovery to uncover these phrases yourself.  Writing great content about “rhinoplasty” is pointless if everyone’s search for a “nose job.”  Once you’ve uncovered your best keywords, make sure they go in the titles of your blog posts.  Titles are the most important element of your blog post. Good titles improve your search engine visibility, engage your audience, and often get people to share your content before they even read it!

5.  They don’t read other blogs: Blogs are often the best way to stay on top of trends that affect your industry and your clients’ businesses.  By ignoring these blogs, you’re missing a real opportunity to stay in the loop and establish yourself as an expert.  In addition, by reading other blogs, even ones not in your industry, you can get a better understanding of what works and what doesn’t.  The best chefs eat at other great restaurants.  WHAT TO DO:   Use a blog search engine like Technorati to find blogs in your niche, as well as popular bloggers in other niches.  Subscribe to the ones you enjoy through the RSS feed or email subscribe box.  This way you can keep track of dozens of blogs every day without having to visit each one.  Not sure how to subscribe to an RSS feed?  Watch this video.

That’s enough for everyone to absorb today… check back tomorrow for the rest of the 10 biggest mistakes.

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The last part of this series on blogging for business success…

A Genuine Conversation:  Blogs are also engaging for readers because they provide a convenient forum for genuine dialogue.  Successful blogs build on direct communication.  Once your fresh content has attracted readers, you want to keep them engaged in the conversation you’ve started.  Blogs provide a number of ways to encourage that connection. 

1.  Reader comments– Most non-blog web sites don’t offer a way for people to comment on specific new content added to the site.  Tenacious readers may hunt down your email address and send you their thoughts, but that kind of conversation takes place in private, adding nothing to the vitality of your site.  Blog comments add the voices of your readers to your posts and give you an opportunity to gain priceless insight about your market and its view of your products/services and your company. 

2.  Interaction with other bloggers– Blogging culture encourages conversations that start on one blog and spill over into others.  Blog A discusses (and links to) a post on Blog B, and the readers of both blogs leave comments that link to other sites, spreading the conversation to even more readers and creating the “buzz” that blogging is famous for. 

3. Sponsor or host blogs– A low-risk strategy is to sponsor a blog that contains editorial content that appeals to your potential and existing customers.  This is what Boeing has done with their “inFlightHQ” blog.  inFlightHQ is not a blog specifically about Boeing or its products, but it does contain posts that business flyers find interesting with its “tools, tips, and techniques for being productive at 30,000 feet.”  This approach doesn’t require the company to blog, and presents little risk. 

In conclusion, one of the most beautiful things about blogs is that they don’t require a massive Web design project.  They’re small, nimble, and simply structured, so your company can launch its blog in a matter of hours and immediately begin playing with the medium. 

Part 2 of the blog series… Today, unobtrusive repetition of the marketer’s messaging.

Broadcast your content automatically:  Blogs can broadcast their content via “RSS feeds.”  RSS stands for Real Simple Syndication, and simple is the key word.  This technology, which is built into most blogging systems and applications, allows people to subscribe to your blog they way they’d subscribe to an email newsletter… without you doing any extra work or managing a list of subscribers. 

Again, let’s look at the paragraph above:  Prospects and customers are opting-in and want to receive ongoing contact and communications with your company!  The importance of the “stickiness” marketers can now create between prospects and customers to their brands through RSS feeds cannot be overemphasized.  One of the most interesting things people discover when they start a company blog with syndication is how soon they get visitors and subscribers.  These same potential customers receive notification via their Web browser, email system, or special news-reading software when your blog is updated.  Your messages don’t get lost in email or mistaken for spam, your clients can read it when they want to, and it all drives traffic back to your site. 

By analyzing public reaction to a blog, reading comments, and directly engaging in the world of bloggers (informally known as the “blogosphere”), companies can gain access to a wealth of information about their market’s opinion of them.  By responding to comments, sponsoring or hosting blogs on other sites, and running your own company’s blog, businesses can build, revive, and extend their brands for several reasons that I’ll explore over the next several days.

Readers LIKE Blogs:  In the age of information overload, headlines and new blurbs that are short, focused, and written in conversational English are much appreciated by online readers (am I feeling your appreciation right now?  just kidding!).    Additionally, it’s now common for people to find answers to questions via search engines.  Due to simple structure, strong link networks, and fresh content, blogs have enormous appeal to search engines, and it’s often easier to find relevant blogged content than to find the same information on traditional Web pages.  Many bloggers have found that their posts often rank higher in Google than the pages and sites they are writing about!