Small Businesses Want it Kept Simple

One of the key things we wanted to to do when offering our blogging service as a marketing tool to other business was KEEP IT SIMPLE! When we first set about starting our company we researched several other companies offering the kind of services, to see what the competition looked like. One of the main observations I came away with was that, in almost every case, their own sites had way too much information on them. Many were cluttered and you just didn't know where to start. It has always been my understanding, and from my own experience, that most small businesses don't have the time to wade through mountains of information to find what you are looking for. They just want to know what it is, what it can do for them, and how much it is going to cost them.

We set up our business - Dude Blog Your Business - to offer a powerful, affordable and simple way that businesses can market their product or service while connecting directly with their customers. I was around when the internet first got going; when you had to go out and persuade businesses that they really did need this new-fangled thing called a website. Now, it is just taken as a given that you need an online presence, whatever you do. Well, blogs have been described as a "website on steroids". Now is an interesting time to be offering the service we are offering because people are just beginning to cotton on to how powerful a medium blogging is.

For those of you who haven't quite caught up with the whole social media thing, the difference between a website and a blog is as follows:
A website is static - you can tell people what you have to offer and customers can read it. Thats it. With a blog it is a two-way interaction. It is a conversation. By utilising the comments section at the bottom of posts, people can make observations, ask questions, seek advice, get notified whenever there is an update. You, the business owner writing the posts, become an authority - you can answer their questions, suggest solutions. You can convey trust - and customers are far more likely to buy from you if they a) know you, and b) trust you.

Blogs are also great Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) tools as well. Because you are posting once or twice a week the search engines are more likely to pick your site up because it is regularly updated, and by optimising the keywords used in various places throughout the blog the more likely it is that people will find you in a search. If you do have a web site presence then you can drive traffic to it through the 'less formal' blog. The problem is that many internet marketing companies like to bamboozle their clients with SEO in order to justify the large monthly fees they are charging. It is really not that complicated. It is not rocket science, even though many firms would like to make out that it is. They are playing on business owners lack of knowledge and need to stay ahead of the game. When it comes to SEO there are certain things that can help you when it comes to getting 'seen' by the search engines, especially when you are in competition with a lot of other businesses all trying to get attention for the same product.

Ultimately, I would argue, it is not how well placed your key phrases are, it is the authenticity and the value of the content on your blog or website that is the important thing. Each and every one of us in business has something original to offer - themselves. If you didn't you wouldn't be in business for yourself anyway. There are probably hundreds, if not thousands, of people selling the same thing you are selling. But there is only one 'you' selling it. And that is what you need to get across to your potential customers. You can sell to anyone if you can just get someone to listen, right? Well that is what a blog can do for you - enable a conversation with your customers, and let them get to know you. That is what makes a blog such a powerful tool for businesses. You want visitors to your blog to say to their friends - "hey, you gotta see this." That is where you get your site traffic from - much more than you ever do from someone searching on Google. It is the same in most every business - you best customers come from referrals - and that is the power of social media marketing.

What is the great thing about a blog? Everything is there for you - everything is free - you don't need to know any code - and you can talk to someone across the other side of the world about why what you have to offer is so much better than what anyone else has to offer. How great is that?

Now, not everyone has the time or the computer 'savvy' to blog for themselves. That's where we come in. It is important to have a professionally designed blog. No one is going to take what you say seriously, however good it is, if it comes from a crappy looking site. And many people need some guidance in how to use the equipment, and just how to write well for your particular audience. That is where we can help, and where we can keep it simple for you. We have a few articles on our site which will help you see the value of a business blog. We hope you make good use of them in your decision making process. And if you think we can be of help in making it happen then, of course, we will be happy to hear from you.
Jasper Blake
Dude, Blog Your Business

Help the environment. Go GREEN. Join the fight against yellow pages, yellow books, and all other bulky businesses directory books.

Every year by our front doors we get yellow pages or some other large business directory in print. How often do you have a use for it? With todays access to the internet and phone information lines, is there really a reason for those books except for charging businesses for advertisement. Besides the fact that numbered people actually use those books, most people just dump them into their trash cans as soon as the directories are received. Thats waste of paper and cant be good for our environment.

We can all participate in the fight against the paper waste by voicing our opinions. Call the company who you are receiving the business directory from, let them know you have no use for it. Even if they do send it to you, the least we can do is recycle it instead of throwing into the garbage.

When is the best time to move?

It's a known fact that people usually plan on moving during the summer months. Because it seems easier to move when the weather is nice. Although I dont think it's a smart idea. During the summer months families looking to move increase by more than 30%. This means that most moving companies are not complaing about lack of work. This also means if you will submit your free request on QuoteTotal.com for our system to locate the best quote and a quality provider you may receive quotes that will be above your budget. Moving companies during the summer have plenty of work and are not eager to negotiate their rates, this decreases the likelyhood of our members getting the best deal as one would expect during the months December or January. You will have more shopping power during winter because moving companies will be in their slow business period and will be in the mood to negotiate just to bring business in.

If it so happens to be that you cant change your plans for a move and the move needs to happen during the summer, I recommend trying to plan for the beginning or middle of the month. For some reason, which I cant explain, the amount of work moving companies get increase during the end of the month. It can be because alot of time, either leases expire or closings for real estate purchases happen during end of the month. If you plan your move during beginning or middle of the month QuoteTotal.com system and our represantatives will be able to negotiate better terms for you move. And therefore, you will receive a quote that you will be very pleased with.

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