Blogs Find Favor as Buying Guides

While the rise of blog readership in recent years is no secret, the power of blogs to influence what people buy is less established. But as a recent study reveals, that power is significant — so much that a majority of blog readers say blogs are useful when they make purchases.

Half of blog readers said blogs were useful when they were considering what purchases to make, and more than half of that group said they looked at a blog just when they were about to buy something.

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Best Podcasts on Social Media

There are many ways to acquire information on the topic of social media ranging from blogs to books to Twitter. Here are useful resources on topics related to digital PR, search and social marketing

> Talk Social News

> For Immediate Release

> Inside PR

> Marketing over Coffee

> Buzz Marketing for Technology

> Managing the Gray

> Marketing Voices

> 6 Pixels of Separation

> Marketing Edge Podcast

> Across the Sound

> Find and Convert

> New Comm Road

> Dishy Mix

> Be the Voice

> User Friendly Thinking

Learn more about these podcasts and vote for your favorite >

Attract More Customers With Six SEO Copywriting Strategies For Your Corporate Blog

Writing for your company’s blog should be done with one focus in mind, conversion. But to get that, you need to write with a purpose and follow industry-standard SEO copywriting techniques.

> Headlines  Google loves headlines that are search engine optimized. When you write a headline, use keywords in a promise that communicates exactly what the post delivers. 

> Opening Paragraph Not only do you want people to read your content, but you want Google to read it too. So, you should repeat target keywords in the opening sentence.

> Put Keywords In Your Subheading Use subheads because they break up longer entries and introduce new material to readers.

> Remember Your Human Readers Count Most  Good copy should have variety to it. So don’t over use keywords. Find synonyms or different phrases to make your writing enjoyable to read, because search engine algorithms are sophisticated enough to recognize properly contextualized words that support your targeted keywords.

> Show Don’t Tell Cut the adjectives and hype from your writing, and stick to Noun/Verb construction written in active voice. Keep your message simple, clear  — concise.

> Call To Action You want readers to do something with the copy they read. You want conversion from your time and effort. So you need a compelling call to action.

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Twitter as a search engine

Twitter has held the attention of the web. While the premise is simple — briefly answer the question, “What are you doing?” — the benefits are numerous.

Some users share the minutia of their day. Others promote projects they’re working on, while others connect with far-flung friends, seek help to puzzling questions or simply “eavesdrop” on the informal thoughts of people they admire.

Here are some advantages of using Twitter over Google as a search engine:

It doesn’t interrupt workflow

High quality results

Pose a question in real English

Results based on knowledge, not SEO skills

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Re-Tweets Comprise Two Percent of All Twitter Volume

Many tech bloggers have become lazy in simply re-blogging links rather than breaking news or writing essays that outline powerful new ideas or big questions. Now there are signs that the same is spreading to Twitter.

Two percent of tweets – or a staggering 34,000 Twitter postings per day – are simply re-shared content.

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Are Banks Short-Changing You on Security?

Given the financial fallout we’ve all been treated to this year, online banking and investment transactions may face increasing risks from hackers and sub-par network security. Buying and selling via the Internet is the most common form of trading stock — and the most vulnerable. With so much money changing hands through the Internet, bank security risk is critically high. 

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