Monthly Archives: February 2010

Small Business Blogging Basics

February 25, 2010

For small businesses, blogs are useful for communications, PR, and marketing purposes. They can also be used as a content management system for a Web site. If you’re thinking of starting a blog for your small business, here are 10 tips:
1. Set goals and answer, “Why are we starting a blog?”
Do this before going out and registering a domain name or anything else. Is the blog going to serve as a journal for starting the business? Is it a search marketing tool? Is it to be used to demonstrate thought leadership and create credibility? Will it be a communication tool for customers? Will it also serve as the main company Web site? Is the purpose some or all of the above?
2. Decide your address.
If the purpose of the blog is to support company brand and audience, then the URL should be part of the company Web site. Ideally, the blog hosting situation allows for a sub directory such as companysite.com/blog.  Otherwise, a sub-domain such as blog.companysite.com will work and you can can host the blog elsewhere, separate from the company Web servers. (IT will like that.)
If the purpose of the blog is independent of the primary company brand, or messaging, then a dedicated domain name such as topicgoeshereblog.com might work better.
It’s tempting to use a keyword-only domain name, but those keywords will not be a silver bullet for search engine rankings. A catchy, meaningul brand name for the blog will go much farther as content can always be optimized for search engine rankings.
3. What blog software to use?
In most cases, WordPress is the way to go. An inexpensive Linux platform hosting account that supports PHP and mySQL can be secured for $10-$20 per month. However, should the blog get really popular, expect to upgrade to support increased demand. It’s entirely worth it.
The blog software will need to be installed on the server that will host it and the database will also need to be set up. This is fairly straightforward, but in all honesty, it’s best to have someone that knows what they’re doing help. As an example, I do very little of the technical work on our blog and prefer to have a specialist (Thomas McMahon) take care of maintenance, adding plugins, design, and functionality updates. We have outside programmers do any heavy lifting in the application development department.
WordPress software is open source, ie free, so if you are code/technically savvy and you have the time to figure it out, it’s certainly doable. There is no one “right way” to setup a blog. There are literally hundreds of shades of gray.
It can cost a hundreds to thousand of dollars for a blog consultant to install, set up, and customize the design of your blog. You’re not paying for the software, you’re paying for expertise that will save you MONTHS of time and allow you to get to market more quickly and efficiently.
4. Modify the design.
After installation of the core blog software, there are a number of customization tasks.
First, the blog design should be modified to match your branding. If you don’t hire a consultant to do this, there are many free templates that can then be customized, but many of them require a link to the author at the bottom. Personally, I’m not a fan of those, but they are a low/no cost place to start. Design customization involves modifying the CSS, JavaScript, graphics, and possibly a few database elements.
The second set of customization tasks involves plug-ins to improve the adminstration, front end functionality and the SEO friendliness of the blog.
5. Plan your content.
In concert with the purpose of the blog, it’s important to generate a basic editorial guideline for creating content.  The easiest way to manage this is by creating categories for the kinds of content you plan on posting.
Before you create those categories, it’s a good idea to do some keyword research as the categories will become excellent repositories of related content. Why not make it even easier for search engines to understand and rank them?
Once you identify which keyword phrases best represent the content you’ll be publishing, use them to name your content categories. Each time you make a blog post, that entry will be associated with one or more categories, creating a very search engine friendly repository of content.
Create an editorial calendar or schedule of posts to keep you on topic for your audience and true to the purpose of the blog. Leverage interactions with blog readers as well as your analytics to know if your content and keyword picks are productive or not.
6. Who will blog?
In the case of most small businesses, the blogging team is a team of one. That’s fine, just be sure to document what’s working and what’s not so when the time comes, you can get your blogging team mate up to speed quickly.
Since blogger’s block (like writer’s block) can really dampen a good thing for a small business blog, go ahead and keep a good number of posts in draft mode. Add to them as you get new ideas and inspiration. Or facts and examples. That way, you’ll have a steady stream of blog posts ready to publish in advance. In fact, you can schedule blog posts in advance using WordPress.
7. Plan to interact.
Blogging in a vaccum is inevitable blogging death. It’s essential that you solicit comments in your posts, respond to comments quickly, create and enforce a commenting policy. Don’t covet the comments either. Visit other blogs in your industry and write useful comments. Those bloggers may notice you and it can become something more, like an invite for a guest post, collaboration or simply a new online friend.
Make it easy for readers of your blog to save and share your content with sharing buttons or widgets. It pays to create accounts on the more popular services and develop social networks there. Your contacts on Digg, Delicious, StumbleUpon and similar services will watch for your next post and vote for the good stuff, which can drive your content to be exposed on more popular areas of those Web sites. More exposure can mean more traffic.
8. Socialize.
RSS feeds come with blogs and it’s worth taking the time to make sure the RSS feed is readily available and obvious for people to subscribe. Submit your blog and RSS feed to our HUGE list of blog and RSS directories.
Set up social profiles on sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn as appropriate and automate the sharing of links from your blog posts to those services. In other words, you could use a service like TwitterFeed to publish your latest blog post to Twitter and Facebook automatically.
Be sure to publish your blog URL everywhere you publish your web site address.
9. Make your pages.
If you’re using the blog as a CMS for a small business Web site, then make your static Web pages such as those for About our Company, Product/Service pages, Contact Forms, etc. The blog can be customized to have a home page like any other Web site as well. That way, visitors arriving on your site can see what they expect from a company selling products/services. At the same time, blogging creates a rich and frequent source of useful content that’s syndicated via RSS, promoted automatically to relevant social channels and leaves the door open for interaction via comments.
10. Use blog and social media analytics.
It’s important that you set goals for the blog, a plan to execute tactics and most of all, measure progress. Most Web site measurement is focused on web analytics and metrics specific to different types of marketing such as with email, SEO or PPC.  Standard web analytics software such as Google Analytics will address the vast majority of your needs.
For more small business blogging tips, visit Online Marketing Blog.

It has been a little while since I have highlighted a Blog of the Month here, but this month I feel compelled to do so.Blog101

As many of my regular readers will know, through this blog I share with small business owners my experiences and influences as an entrepreneur, insights on emerging market trends and the relevant ecommerce happenings in China and around the world. I also run a blog on Practical eCommerce that looks specifically at the growing importance of China as a global supply base.

Aside from the fact that I enjoy sharing any information I think others will find valuable, my aim is also to demystify the entrepreneurial process and open up China as a supplier hub for those that will benefit from it most – Small businesses.

Lee Oden, CEO of TopRank Online Marketing, believes that for small businesses, blogs are useful for communications, PR, and marketing purposes. They can also be used as a content management system for a Web site. In his blog on AllBusiness.com this month, he shares with readers “10 Essential Tips for Starting a Small Business Blog“. His quick list will help those of you considering starting a blog to get off on the right foot. And once you have, don;t forget to add you link to the comments section here!

1. Set goals and answer, “Why are we starting a blog?”

Do this before going out and registering a domain name or anything else. Is the blog going to serve as a journal for starting the business? Is it a search marketing tool? Is it to be used to demonstrate thought leadership and create credibility? Will it be a communication tool for customers? Will it also serve as the main company Web site? Is the purpose some or all of the above?

2. Decide your address.

If the purpose of the blog is to support company brand and audience, then the URL should be part of the company Web site. Ideally, the blog hosting situation allows for a sub directory such as companysite.com/blog.  Otherwise, a sub-domain such as blog.companysite.com will work and you can can host the blog elsewhere, separate from the company Web servers. (IT will like that.)

If the purpose of the blog is independent of the primary company brand, or messaging, then a dedicated domain name such as topicgoeshereblog.com might work better.

It’s tempting to use a keyword-only domain name, but those keywords will not be a silver bullet for search engine rankings. A catchy, meaningful brand name for the blog will go much farther as content can always be optimized for search engine rankings.

3. What blog software to use?

In most cases, WordPress is the way to go. An inexpensive Linux platform hosting account that supports PHP and mySQL can be secured for $10-$20 per month. However, should the blog get really popular, expect to upgrade to support increased demand. It’s entirely worth it.

The blog software will need to be installed on the server that will host it and the database will also need to be set up. This is fairly straightforward, but in all honesty, it’s best to have someone that knows what they’re doing help. As an example, I do very little of the technical work on our blog and prefer to have a specialist (Thomas McMahon) take care of maintenance, adding plugins, design, and functionality updates. We have outside programmers do any heavy lifting in the application development department.

WordPress software is open source, ie free, so if you are code/technically savvy and you have the time to figure it out, it’s certainly doable. There is no one “right way” to setup a blog. There are literally hundreds of shades of gray.

It can cost a hundreds to thousand of dollars for a blog consultant to install, set up, and customize the design of your blog. You’re not paying for the software, you’re paying for expertise that will save you MONTHS of time and allow you to get to market more quickly and efficiently.

4. Modify the design.

After installation of the core blog software, there are a number of customization tasks.

First, the blog design should be modified to match your branding. If you don’t hire a consultant to do this, there are many free templates that can then be customized, but many of them require a link to the author at the bottom. Personally, I’m not a fan of those, but they are a low/no cost place to start. Design customization involves modifying the CSS, JavaScript, graphics, and possibly a few database elements.

The second set of customization tasks involves plug-ins to improve the administration, front end functionality and the SEO friendliness of the blog.

5. Plan your content.

In concert with the purpose of the blog, it’s important to generate a basic editorial guideline for creating content.  The easiest way to manage this is by creating categories for the kinds of content you plan on posting.

Before you create those categories, it’s a good idea to do some keyword research as the categories will become excellent repositories of related content. Why not make it even easier for search engines to understand and rank them?

Once you identify which keyword phrases best represent the content you’ll be publishing, use them to name your content categories. Each time you make a blog post, that entry will be associated with one or more categories, creating a very search engine friendly repository of content.

Create an editorial calendar or schedule of posts to keep you on topic for your audience and true to the purpose of the blog. Leverage interactions with blog readers as well as your analytics to know if your content and keyword picks are productive or not.

6. Who will blog?

In the case of most small businesses, the blogging team is a team of one. That’s fine, just be sure to document what’s working and what’s not so when the time comes, you can get your blogging team mate up to speed quickly.

Since blogger’s block (like writer’s block) can really dampen a good thing for a small business blog, go ahead and keep a good number of posts in draft mode. Add to them as you get new ideas and inspiration. Or facts and examples. That way, you’ll have a steady stream of blog posts ready to publish in advance. In fact, you can schedule blog posts in advance using WordPress.

7. Plan to interact.

Blogging in a vaccum is inevitable blogging death. It’s essential that you solicit comments in your posts, respond to comments quickly, create and enforce a commenting policy. Don’t covet the comments either. Visit other blogs in your industry and write useful comments. Those bloggers may notice you and it can become something more, like an invite for a guest post, collaboration or simply a new online friend.

Make it easy for readers of your blog to save and share your content with sharing buttons or widgets. It pays to create accounts on the more popular services and develop social networks there. Your contacts on Digg, Delicious, StumbleUpon and similar services will watch for your next post and vote for the good stuff, which can drive your content to be exposed on more popular areas of those Web sites. More exposure can mean more traffic.

8. Socialize.

RSS feeds come with blogs and it’s worth taking the time to make sure the RSS feed is readily available and obvious for people to subscribe. Submit your blog and RSS feed to our HUGE list of blog and RSS directories.

Set up social profiles on sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn as appropriate and automate the sharing of links from your blog posts to those services. In other words, you could use a service like TwitterFeed to publish your latest blog post to Twitter and Facebook automatically.

Be sure to publish your blog URL everywhere you publish your web site address.

9. Make your pages.

If you’re using the blog as a CMS for a small business Web site, then make your static Web pages such as those for About our Company, Product/Service pages, Contact Forms, etc. The blog can be customized to have a home page like any other Web site as well. That way, visitors arriving on your site can see what they expect from a company selling products/services. At the same time, blogging creates a rich and frequent source of useful content that’s syndicated via RSS, promoted automatically to relevant social channels and leaves the door open for interaction via comments.

10. Use blog and social media analytics.

It’s important that you set goals for the blog, a plan to execute tactics and most of all, measure progress. Most Web site measurement is focused on web analytics and metrics specific to different types of marketing such as with email, SEO or PPC.  Standard web analytics software such as Google Analytics will address the vast majority of your needs.

Posted in: Blog of the Month, Personal Insights – 3 Comments

Inspiring Reads: Business Stripped Bare

February 21, 2010

This month I’m reading the candid insights of Sir Richard Branson in his latest book “Business Stripped Bare”.

As the only person in the world to have built seven billion dollar companies from scratch in seven completely different sectors, Branson has remarkable advice on how to grow a lasting and viable business. And unlike some business authors, he is not afraid to address the failures as openly as the successes, making his insights significantly more realistic and valuable.

As a British entrepreneur he launched, amongst other global ventures, Virgin Mobile USA, the fastest growing company in history to reach a billion dollars in revenue, faster than Microsoft, Google or Amazon.com. His approach to borderless business holds particular relevance in for any company looking to connect overseas – be it with suppliers or customers. He is down to earth and straight up, and I find him an extremely inspirational businessman and author.rbranson

See Richard Branson talk about \’Business Stripped Bare\’ in a short video

Several years ago I devoured his autobiography, “Losing My Virginity” and “Business Stripped Bare” is proving to be equally addictive. He tells the story behind the launch of Virgin America, his new airline in the USA and how Virgin Galactic is set to initiate a new era of space tourism from a spaceport deep in the Mojave desert. He also shares his thoughts on the changing face of the global economy and how businesses worldwide need to work together to tackle environmental challenges and invest in the future.

Enjoy!

Posted in: Inspiring Reads – No Comments

Made in China: The Brand

February 11, 2010

As I write this entry, the Chinese Spring Festival is upon us. It is the most important Chinese festival and celebrates the start of the Chinese New Year and the advent of spring. It is traditionally a time for people to gather and indulge in a weeklong celebration of food, family and festivities. Think of it as all the merriment of western holidays rolled into one, but with a lot more fireworks!

Spring Festival also involves one of the largest annual human migrations with well over 200 million people making their way around the country; usually back to their home town for a family reunion.

Not surprisingly, China closes down for a week or so. Officially the country is on holiday from the 13th to the 20th February; however, the Festival can unofficially run from a week before to a week after these dates. In the case of businesses, most will only close for a few days of the official holiday. For example, at my company, DHGate.com, our customer service team be on holiday between the 13th and the 16th but will operate with a skeleton staff from the 17th to the 20th .

Most Chinese suppliers and shipping companies will be closed for a few days; therefore slight delays in processing overseas orders may be encountered. The shipping of products that are warehoused in the US and UK should not be affected.

During my recent business travels around Asia and the US, something that has caught my attention is an ad that promotes the ‘Made in China’ brand which is frequently appearing on international television. You may have seen it on CNN. The slick advertisement is a deliberate attempt, (the first to my knowledge), by the Chinese Government to rebuild and promote the China brand in the international market. Have a look at the ad here.

The theme of the ad is ‘Made in China, Made with the World’. Clearly the intention of the Government is to rebuild trust with overseas consumers after a string of product safety and quality issues and also to allay fears that cheap Chinese products take jobs away from overseas countries.

The message is that it’s a collaborative effort. People don’t often realize that over 60% of Chinese exports to the US are produced by firms owned by foreign companies. A computer ‘made in China’ is likely to contain a large portion of imported components. Also, although the final assembly and testing is done in China, the design and specifications were created overseas.

One of the other themes in the ad is that China is now very serious about the integrity of its brands both national and product specific. The commitment to product safety, quality and integrity by the Chinese government and manufacturers is greatly improving. In the future, I’ll detail the efforts being made in these areas.

Posted in: Events and Happenings, Know-How, Personal Insights, Trend Insights – No Comments

The View from China

February 3, 2010

I was recently selected by Practical eCommerce, the industry’s leading resource site for online merchants, to keep their readership updated on the changes and happenings in China via an expert blog. My first post in ‘The View from China’ is below or can be found here.

To keep regular readers of this blog in the loop, I will repost my monthly entries here – So you will have a single hub for all my thoughts on entrepreneurship, running a business and the developing supplier and eCommerce situation here in China. And, if you have any areas you would particularly like me to cover, why not drop me an email or comment below? I’d love to hear form you.

“The View from China”

by DHgate.com Founder and CEO, Diane Wang

On the eve of the Year of the Tiger, I’m proud to present a new blog to readers which will give regular updates on the events and opportunities within the Chinese ecommerce scene. Here, I aim to give an insight into doing business in China and an insider’s eye into the world’s most exciting emerging market.

International ecommerce and ecommerce technology have been my passion for the last two decades. After leaving the security of senior management at Microsoft and Cisco I decided to go it alone. My first company, online consumer marketplace Joyo.com, was acquired by Amazon in 2004, and that same year I founded DHgate.com. My purpose was to create a platform which connects SMEs to the manufacturing hub which is China, and therefore level the playing field.

Despite the global financial crisis, 2009 was a great year for China. GDP growth for 2009 was 8.7% and the country’s manufacturing activity accelerated in December at its fastest pace in several years. Foreign exports rose to US$130.7billion, up 17.7% year-on-year, and analysts expect that the Chinese growth momentum will continue in 2010. Although the Chinese Government is playing it down, it has been confirmed that China has overtaken Germany as the world’s biggest exporter.

As an increasing number of Chinese businesses, large and small, are setting up wholesale and manufacturing operations online, I believe that there are now great opportunities for US retailers, particularly SME’s, to source products directly from China.

Recently, as part of its extensive stimulus packages, the Chinese government has implemented a policy to spur the growth of SME manufacturers and suppliers throughout China. In particular, it has directed local and provincial governments to encourage emerging industries through reform, assistance with market access and fostering local banks to provide finance to expanding businesses.

At DHgate.com, we have seen a surge in the number of Chinese SME manufacturers and suppliers who have migrated online. As these numbers grow, so do the opportunities for US retailers to be cost effective. I believe that there has never been a better time for US retailers to take advantage of the Chinese online sourcing market.

Because of this, I believe it is timely to introduce a blog on the Chinese ecommerce scene which will post regular updates on the ecommerce market in China with a particular emphasis on B2B sourcing.

The regular reports will focus on issues such as trends, new platform innovations, technological and other improvements and government initiatives and policy developments. I will also address pressing consumer issues such as product quality and safety.

Posted in: Know-How, Personal Insights, Press, Trend Insights – No Comments