I can see a pattern to something that is beginning to make me think that the economy is hitting even the professional blogging industry.  In some respects there has been an increase in companies seeking ways to help reduce their marketing, advertising and other online marketing budgets through the use of outsourcing bloggers.  This helps them reduce the spending they have in those areas yet increase their productivity.  This has kept my phone and email smoking of late from those companies in that camp. In other areas, like for instance in the larger companies with larger budgets, I’m seeing the opposite.  It’s time to shed the ballast is their minds.  What is considered ballast?  Anything that is not nailed down.   Employees and departments that were once hiring professional bloggers in the field are tightening their belts and putting their noses to the grindstone. It is time to protect them and their own.  Department heads are having to do with 10 what they used to do with 15 people.  What was once considered a luxury of having money to pay someone to blog, department heads are now having to do for themselves, or worse yet, not at all.

Businesses in this economy are going back to what has worked for them in the past. Blogging is too young to pass that test.

It is the “not at all” that most concerns me in the immediate future.  Businesses in this economy are going back to what has worked for them in the past. Blogging is too young to pass that test.  Those things that have garnered them the attention online, and something that has shown a definite return on investment are what they are doing.  Why?  In their minds blogging is still too early to give credit to and until they can show its benefit it will be put on the shelf.  They are going back to what was working when they had to have it, what was needed to survive, what they cold prove was a benefit.  When times are tough, we always fall back on what worked before.  We go back to the well that was producing.  In this case, we are going to see a bump in the areas of pay-per-click campaigns or those things that have “metrics”.  Google will be where people go for their marketing and advertising.  Their last Adsense campaign seemed to increase their revenues, and when they were questioned by the powers above they could show hard numbers on conversions as click-thrus and those crunching the numbers were able to give it value.  Blogging is too much like business voodoo when it comes to showing the CFO why you are spending that precious dollar on a blog post.  They cannot see what possible benefit can come from someone reading about your mission statement, or about your company’s latest cool news item.  They want to see a pie chart for every dollar spent.  Blogging is just not the right fit for that type of thinking.  SEO professionals will again be relied upon to work their tricks, but as some have revealed, that wand may also be out of magic.  It is too early to tell what will happen in the professional blogging industry.  As I stated before, business is still good and many companies are still looking to hire bloggers to do the work they themselves cannot.  I for one hope that is the continuing trend, otherwise I need to get that Twitterers For Hire URL nailed down.

I recently attended an invitation only conference or business meeting here in Boulder just last month, and was able to meet a new colleague in the social media marketing area.  This person is doing very cool things and not just in business, but also because he jumps out of perfectly good airplanes!  I am speaking about Peter Shankman.

Peter has been in the public relations industry for a while now and he has done some really cool things, like write a book.  His site describes him perfectly as I remember him from the conference:

…when you harness the power of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and make it work to your advantage.

“PR Week Magazine has described Peter as “redefining the art of networking,” and Investor’s Business Daily has called him “crazy, but effective.”  Peter Shankman is a spectacular example of what happens when you harness the power of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and make it work to your advantage.  An entrepreneur, author, speaker, and ingenious worldwide connector, Peter is recognized nationally and globally for radically new ways of thinking about social media, PR, marketing, advertising, creativity, and just about everything else, as well.”

It is his latest project that has everyone including his competition standing up to take notice.  The phrase that gets the attention for his new project is “Everyone Is An Expert At Something.”  Peter does not lie, as I think I can be an expert in at least two or three things in this world such as procrastination or daydreaming, but his premise is right on the money.  I sell the idea to companies all the time.  There is an expert blogger out there for just about any business.  Go ahead and challenge me.  I can’t think of a business that doesn’t have at least one person that is passionate about it.  The thing that can be a problem is how do they get the information for their blog posts after they run out of their own expertise? 

HARO could be seen as the perfect matchmaker.

One way is to go out and get the information.  Peter’s business allows for that very concept in Help A Reporter Out. HARO, as it is known, is a site that can allow for reporters, journalists and yes in some cases even us lowly bloggers, to get information from experts in any field.  It does one of the things that Peter does so well but on a much larger scale, it puts people together that need each other.  HARO could be seen as the perfect matchmaker.  It’s easy to sign up for the service if you are looking for or are wanting to loan your own expertise.  Take the time, and you may be the next expert quoted in the New York Times, or perhaps even one of your favorite blogs!

[Peter Shankman photo via Shankman.com, Reporter Notebook photo via sskennel]

One of the things this accomplishes is to provide you loads of content when you are caught staring at your computer screen wondering what you might possibly post about before the day is done.  I wish I had a few interviews left myself.

Interviews also accomplish another very cool thing for your blog, it helps you get noticed.  You get noticed not because you are talking to an expert in the field, although that is a great way to get noticed, but because that person will go out and let everyone he or she knows that they have been interviewed.  They may link to your blog post to let their readers know about the interview, or they may mention you on Twitter, or perhaps they will give someone the link at a cocktail party.  The ultimate goal is another reader, and even another person that is exposed to your blog and may subscribe to your feed or may return later to see what else you may have written.

Interviewing people is a great skill to learn.  Don’t be afraid to ask for that short Q&A, or that on-camera interview.  People love to be seen as someone that might have something important to say.  It can mean more readers for your blog and more links.  Nothing can be wrong with those benefits.  Now if I could just get Wendy to think what I have to say is important!

[photo via Wendy Piersall]

I have another client that has launched a new tech site as well called www.techstartups.com.  We have yet to really break onto the scene with much of a splash, but I think that once we get more established in the area, we will be seen as one of the tope tech startup sites to get information.  Easton Ellsworth of Know More Media Fame, is on board writing professionally for the TechStatup.com team.  Go on over and let him know I sent you over!

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I have been trying to keep up with the other social media tools that are being used by everyone, like Twitter, Flickr and the rest and it is impossible to read it all about how we all feel this is a huge day for the United States.  My RSS reader is smoking with the key words of “social media and elections”.  I was contacted by a number of campaigns that were using social media for their campaigns and looking for professional bloggers to handle their applications and other software and it was difficult to keep up with those requests as well.  I’ll be sad when this is all over, but while this ride is happening raise your hands in the air and have a great time.

Enjoy this election day if you are in America today!

What big factory can even BEGIN to compete - workmanship-wise - with a skilled jeweler, or cook, or inventor, or designer who puts a great deal of HIMSELF/HERSELF into each one-of-a-kind product?  Quantity doesn’t beat out quality, not now, not ever.

The problem is, how do these small-time entrepreneurs get the word out about their products or services?  Newspaper and magazine ads are prohibitively expensive, radio and television ads aren’t always appropriate and are costly as well.  Ditto for catalogues.

The best way to advertise anything these days, in my humble opinion, is by putting your business online and making sure a blog is part of your web design.

Many businesses pay a lot of money to have a fancy web page, but the fact is, Google will only crawl over a static page a few times.  It’s the BLOGS that get the attention from Google, because blogs change daily, and each time Google crawls over it, the blog will be perceived as something new, thus guaranteeing another crawl tomorrow.

Each business has key words which help customers find its web page, and those key words must be placed differently with each post.  It doesn’t take long before Google will start sending searchers to a particular web page each time a certain key word is typed into a search page.

It’s also important that a business’s blog be well-written, and contain interesting, relevant content.  All the great key words in the world can’t compensate for a poorly-written blog.   Yes, spelling and grammar DO count, in a business blog.

It behooves any business, the huge booming ones and the small ones, to hire a blogger to write the blog.  A good blogger knows how to use key words strategically, and a good blogger knows how to put together content that holds a reader’s attention while giving the reader the information he/she needs.

A good blogger will increase your business.  A good blogger will make sure Google recognizes your business’s name and all of its key words.  A good blogger will bring hits to your site.

You can get a good blogger right here at Bloggers 4 Hire.  Jim Turner will see to that.  He’s the best.

Gone are the days when big and small businesses dismissed the idea of a web log (blog) as insignificant and as having no “pull” or influence on a client or customer.  Bloggers for Hire has long known what incredible and lasting power a blog can have on a business.

Remember, the Google or Yahoo or MSN or Dogpile robotics will “see” a post only as many times as it changes.  A static website, while it might be a real looker and cost a fortune, doesn’t change, and those keywords will be in the same place every time the robots crawl over it.  After a few crawls, a static website will be seen as spam or dead space.  With a blog, however, a company’s keywords will move all over the page, causing the browsers to label it “fresh” every single day.  This is what makes a company’s page move UP in a brower search, and those keywords must change daily.

Big and small businesses pay out a hefty chunk of cash each month for regular advertising, but no magazine, newspaper, or television ad can begin to have the audience that a good, well-written, interesting blog can attract.  Businesses would save an awful lot of money by simply hiring a blogger!  (The really good, or really terrible, video ads usually end up on YouTube eventually, anyway!  Boring print ads are simply ignored. Bottom line:  money wasted.)

Savvy businesspeople are realizing more and more that their companies NEED a blog, and a blog requires a blogger.  Occasionally, the business will already have an employee who understands the blogging business but more often than not, a business will need to hire someone to do their blogging for them.  That’s where Bloggers for Hire can step in and save the day!

Blogging is a winner in many ways, both for the blogger and for the business.  A blogger will charge far less than a magazine or newspaper, resulting in tons of money saved while getting tons of money in new business.  The blogger is usually a stay-at-home parent, student, or someone who wants a part-time job, and he/she is happy to get a low hourly rate,  or a standard fee per post,  in return for writing in their pajamas at midnight.  Bloggers for Hire takes good care of its bloggers, while also helping businesses save a lot of money.

Bloggers also know and understand how to use other forms of social media, such as FaceBook, MySpace, Twitter, etc.  Many people who would NEVER buy a product based on an old-school print ad will be the first in line at the store after reading that a fellow blogger used it and liked it.  Social Media is a hotbed of subtle advertisements, based mostly on someone’s personal use of something.

Bloggers for Hire understands social media and blogging, and we hire bloggers who know how to promote a business or product using keywords and internet references.  Our bloggers are tech-savvy and are not only good with words; they also know how to make the proper connections for your product or business.

A business with a blog is a business that is telling its customers, “We want you to feel like a part of our company.  We want to share our thoughts and feelings with you, so you’ll know us inside and out.”  A business with a blog is tellings its customers that it has no secrets, and that it wants its customers to feel confident enough to share their opinions with the CEO, as well as their own personal friends.  And, of course, a good CEO will read the blog and occasionally make an appearance on it.

When people comment on a business blog, their comments will be acknowledged and answered, or forwarded to someone who knows the answer.

How many people will read a Press Release?  Not very many.  How many people will read about a real person who tried a product and liked it and lists the reasons why, along with a few things that need improvement?  Millions.  Put those opinions on a FaceBook post as well, with a few links and some shared keywords, and you’ve got something sensational.

Smart businesspeople have a blog.  The smartest of all, ask Bloggers for HIre to write it for them.

Oh, and it’s not just businesses with a product, or big businesses, that are well served with a blog; it’s the small businesses, as well.  A business that wants some attention, no matter what its size or goals, will do well to have a blog.  These days, that’s the best and fastest way to get customers to take notice of you.

A good blog and a good blogger can help that small business become a big business, and it won’t take all that long, either.

If you are interested in attracting customers to your business, contact Bloggers for Hire. We’ll do that for you.  In the meantime, read Miller’s article, either on the Review Journal or LVBusiness Press.

If you had asked me two years ago about the difference between LTL and FTL, I would not have known what you were talking about.  Two years ago, I did not understand  what a wireless RSS feed could do for your living room decor or for your business’s front window.  A year ago, I would not have believed that a trash bag or tablecloth could keep your garden pristine without the use of pesticides, and that all you needed to keep your children safe from insects inside your house was a particular brand of trash bag.  Just a few months ago, I knew that the combination of Diet Coke and Mentos created a spectacular geyser effect, but I could not have explained to anyone WHY.

The thing is, in order to become a successful pro blogger, a writer must not only become interested in the product or business, he/she must also become knowledgeable about it, and even these two alone are not enough.

To be a truly successful pro blogger, a writer must take some ownership of the product/business.  A writer must believe his/her own blogposts and become a loyal user or advocate of the product/business.

If my house caught fire tonight, I would make sure my family was safe first, but the very next thing I’d walk through the flames to save would be my wireless digital picture frame.  Why?  Because it is the repository of my family’s history.

If I had to move anything large, heavy, or awkward, I wouldn’t bother with the Yellow Pages.  I’d call Freight & Shipping, Inc.,because they are, plainly and simply, the best.

Why do I spend a little more than I used to on Repell-em trash bags and tablecloths?  Because I understand exactly what they do and it’s exactly what I need for my family’s safety and convenience.

Why do I advocate Steve Spangler’s methods and products and constantly recommend him, and them, to other teachers and parents?  Because I know exactly what he’s doing and why, and he is fantastic.

I am a loyal employee of One by One Media and Bloggers For Hire, yes.  But I also consider myself a loyal employee of the four businesses for which I write, and you’ll hear nothing negative about any of them from me.

Pro-blogging, done right, is an enlightening and educating experience.  Jim Turner taught me everything I know about it, and he taught me well.  I’ve been writing for Jim for over two years now, and enjoying it more with each passing day.

I also realize now just exactly why and how any business these days desperately needs a blog.  Holy cow, the difference between a business with a blog and a business with nothing but a fantastic, expensive, well-done STATIC website is absolutely unbelieveably huge.  I won’t reveal all of my secrets, but if anyone wants to know maybe a few of them, go ahead and email me via One by One Media.  Better still?  Contact Jim and tell him you want to hire me.  I will do for you what I’ve done for my other clients, and that’s a promise.

Often I sit down and have a strategy session with the blogger and with the client for that initial get to know you period, and a goal setting session, and talk about what the strategies are for the company, and how the blogger fits into that campaign.  In this particular instance I made some assumptions.

I got lazy.  I had what I thought were more important things to get done.  All of it merely an excuse for doing it wrong.  The things that I did well before and the process I had stuck to was for a reason.  The client and the blogger have just met and they are not a party to what I know about the blogger or perhaps the weeks of discussions and campaign strategies I have had with the client.  It all rattles around in my head a little and somewhere gets filed away in my database but the client and the blogger have no key to unlock that space (Nor would they want to be inside that nightmare. I’ve locked it up for a reason.)

As a professional blogger and if you are hiring a blogger for the first time, make sure you have a meeting up front after you have chosen your candidate.  Talk about the things that needs to be discussed:

• What is the company mission and message?
• What are the goals of the company and how can the blogger help accomplish those goals?
• How does the blogger want to move forward?
• When would be a good time to review and revisit the goals?
• What happens in a crisis?
• Who is the contact and that person’s back up contact?
• Where is the company going?
• Does the blogger understand their role in the mission and message.
• Do they have the proper bullets to stand in your street at high noon?

Okay the last one is to help with the metaphor, but you get the picture.  These are merely a few of the questions that should come to mind when you have been hired and when you have actually hired your blogger to perform for you.  If you bring them in and they show you their shiny gun, make sure they are on your side and are willing to stand in the street with your best interest at heart.

This is the mistake that many bloggers make when they come to me and tell me that they want to be a professional blogger.  They are great at copy and great at the written word, but that is where the skills end.  One of the things I like to see in my bloggers is not just that they can generate quality content and provide those needed words on the page, but I like to see how they interact with their readers.  I also like to see how they interact within their communities or in their niche.  Are they commenting on other sites, joining in threads in forums, microblogging on the sites like Twitter or otherwise doing more than their standard blog post? These are the important questions I like to have answers for when I respond to potential clients about their inquiries about the bloggers networking abilities and their skills.

If the potential customer or client has not asked those important questions themselves, I also like to educate them on these realities.  Bloggers are more than just writers.  You are not paying for their prose alone or the fact that they understand grammar and spelling, but you are also paying for that special skill known only to the most prolific bloggers and those that have influence–they participate.

[Photo courtesy of Andyrob}