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Business blogging is not as complicated as most think it should be. Often, I hear prospective clients ask, “why would anyone want to follow us?” For a lot of reasons when you are business blogging. It is not always about having a clever personality to speak on your company’s behalf. Sometimes, it is about sharing information that is important to your customers, prospective customers or peers.

There are about a million items a business blog could have, but the essentials make up a short list. Some essentials relate to blog structure, others relate to the message you provide on key pages. Get the following 12 essentials right and your business blogging will get serious results.

Also, be sure to check out the bonus 3 at the bottom of the list.

Business Blog Essentials

1. The purpose of every blog post/page is clear to visitors.

2. A homepage that clearly conveys the blog’s offerings & purpose.

3. Easy to find breadcrumb navigation.

4. Obvious links. (Underlined Links are what we have been using for years. Don’t reinvent the web.)

5. Copy (content) written for the general public. (3rd-5th grade level)

6. All options and next steps are obvious.

7. Free of any wording or imagery that is unnecessary, confusing or distracting.

8. Consistent with icons, buttons, menus and links. (Make sure they look and work the same no matter what.)

9. A site wide search feature which logs search queries.

10. A short sales funnel which tells people what they are getting, what it costs and how to buy it.

11. A “printer friendly” link for content or a style sheet for print media so pages look good on screen and off the printer.

12. Quality assurance system to fix broken links, spelling errors and other items.

Bonus: Three Deadly Mistakes

Not putting descriptive titles and alt tags on pictures and links.
Failing to do so means search engines and people with visual impairments may not be able to use your site.

Reinventing the web.
Make your website look like a website and not like a high end print brochure.

Forgetting that some people have slow connections.
There are a lot of users in offices where the shared T1 is slow or who have an old-fashioned modem at home.

Paul is the President of Professional Blog Service. PBS works with clients making strategic investments into business blogging, social media and search engine optimization.

Indianapolis Colts lose to the New York Jets 17-16 in a defensive battle that saw more stoppages for commercials than I think actual football that was played.

It was the perfect game for advertisers and viewers at home. Men with prostrate problems had plenty of time to make that run to the bathroom and squeeze out a little more. Those trying to maintain their New Years resolutions not to eat as much, had plenty of time to make it to the refrigerator and grab a snack.

For those of us in the stands, it was, “why are we all standing around here? Why aren’t they playing?” Oh..we were supposed to watch the big screens and be entertained on queue. Commercial, watch a sponsor ad, ok, now scan the crowd looking for silly people. Oh….there is a football game, what did I miss.

It’s been a couple of years, since I was at a Colts Football game live. Friends had extra tickets and invited us to go with them. I do enjoy attending live sporting events, so I could not pass up the chance. The tickets were in the upper “Terrace”. You know, the section where you walk vertically up to your seat afraid that one bad step and it’s lights out.

The focus on the game is so commercialized that it is hard to even find the game stats on all the sign boards they have. What down is it? The big marquee board that lines the stadium has a billboard commercial on it selling Toyota, or Budweiser, or something other than the game itself. Finally, my eyeballs found the game information in the end zones. Even then, the stats screen was surrounded by advertisements. It was kind of a Manhattan Electronics store experience.

Maybe I am a sports purist, but all the commercialization in the game is out of hand. We are bombarded with so many messages to buy this, buy that, the reason we went got lost in it all. I went to watch a Football game, not watch players standing around, so commercials could be run on television. All the ads displaying in the stadium were distracting from the real reason we were there.

All the other crap is just that, crap. I am not sure I would go watch a live game again. I’d rather stay home and make that extra run to the bathroom, or find a healthy snack in the refrigerator – overpriced stale pretzels just suck.

The Wrong Prospect

Sometimes in sales, we waste our time calling on the wrong people. How many times do you end up realizing that the guy sitting across from you is just looking for “free” consulting? I used to work for the master of free consulting. He would bring consultants and brain suck them. Once, he even took an idea and turned it into a service, sent out a press release without crediting the source. Proudly wearing the idea on his sleeve, even though he stole it.

How to avoid the guy looking for free consulting?

Every company needs a sales process. It is a defined, step by step process for a prospective engagement that is shared with the prospect. If at any time, it is decided there is no fit, both parties can get out. After all, who wants to waste their time talking to the wrong people. Often, you are helping the prospect say no.

Before the process can be built, the most important part of process is defining, “The ideal Client.”

The ideal client has the characteristics that ensure the mutual success of the service or product provided and their success using it. A sales process should be started by not only evaluating whether a prospect can afford what you do, but whether they have the characteristics of successful clients you currently have.

At Professional Blog Service, we may define the ideal client in this way:

Example:

“We work with clients that understand Internet marketing is now part of their business and requires substantial investment in marketing and programs to achieve their corporate goals of attracting new customers, serving existing customers and out maneuvering their competition.”

Based off that statement, the rest of the conversation and process is to evaluate whether a prospect has those characteristics. Do they really want to walk the talk, or are they just talking the talk?

Based on the complexity of your product or service, you need to then build a sales process if both parties agree that there is room to work together. A sales process can be as simple as 2 steps or as complex as 6 steps depending on the number of people involved in the decision making. It is important to identify who the final say is in the process, understand the key influencers and make sure you have a process to address them.

In the world of blog ghost writing, the sales process can be simple. It usually involves an understanding of what the clients online goals are, a quote for blog writing, then a contract.

Before any of that can be done, you have to define the ideal client.

Paul is the President of Professional Blog Service. PBS works with clients making strategic investments into blogging, social media and search engine optimization.

Last night was a glorious night in Chicago. I took my daughter to see Rush in Chicago at the Charter One Pavilion. Charter One Pavilion is located on a site where the old Miegs Field used to be. It was a great venue for an intimate concert.

Photo taken by Kozmo4rush from the site Rushisaband.com

We got lucky because the show was a reschedule of a rained out date in July. The most shocking thing to me was that we had no major traffic slow downs into Chicago. No parking lots, no bumper to bumper. Just a steady speed up from Indianapolis into Chicago – shocking! The only parking lot I saw was the one under Soldier Field.

It was a great show. The tour name was Time Machine. The stage props and themes were done in a Jules Verne motif of the future. I think Alex and Geddy should go into acting because their pre-show videos are quit entertaining. Neil has a cameo role in the shorts while Alex and Geddy have you laughing. The show starts when Alex hits the time machine button and the band opens up with Spirit of the Radio. (Sad – it was a great radio station in Toronto that got gobbled up by a big media company and converted into something different than the song is about).

The first set took us through several songs ranging from Spirit of the Radio to Subdivisions. My daughter was especially excited because they played one of her favorite songs off the Presto album called Magic Wand. For me, the song selection seemed to speak to me. Even Magic Wand – “If I could wave my magic wand.” Or, Time Stand Still – “Children growing up, Friends growing older.” Marathon – “One moments high, and glory rolls on by, like a streak of lightening, that flashes and fades in the summer sky.” Or, one of my favorites, Subdivisions – “Conform or be cast out.”

After the intermission, we were entertained with yet another video. It shows the band in multiple iterations playing Tom Sawyer, as Alex keeps hitting his Time Machine. Geddy is dressed like some Andy Warhol character with Alex as a large Ray Daniels (their Manager) and Neil as the cameraman.

The 2nd set took me back to my Junior year in high school. I still remember spring break in Florida in 1980 driving down I-95 to see my brother listening to LImelight. I mean, Tom Sawyer is my personal Anthem. “His mind is not for rent, to any God or Government, always hope for your discontent, most changes aren’t permanent, but change is.” (When I worked in the airline industry, the one constant was change).

It was great to hear the whole Moving Pictures album. I always enjoyed the themes in the album culminating with the lyrics, “Everyone has to deviate from the norm.” How true these words in a society that is pushing for conformity and homogeneity. Conservation at the expense of creativity.

After Moving Pictures, Rush entertained us with their new song Caravan. After 40 years of making music, they still have the ability to write music that is edgy and complex that stirs an old man’s teenage boy. Who needs Viagra, just listen to Caravan and the testosterone will start surging. Then, they played 2112, the ultimate anti-establishment anthem for those of us who grew up in the 70s. Pissed off that corporate did not approve your idea? Then listen to 2112, it will make you feel better.

As the set ended, I prepared my Zippo app on my iPhone for the encore. I was not the only one. They were easy to get back on stage. (I know, it’s just a formality now).

They ended the show with Working Man. They did a Reggae version of the beginning which was actually pretty good before they went into the full song. The show ended.

We are entertained by another video. As I am watching it, I am thinking it is their escape video. They must have jumped into their coaches and started heading up to Minnesota for the next show. The odd sense I got was how programmed we are to stop and watch the video, while they make their escape. (I may be wrong, but I could not see them hanging out in the trailers that were positioned behind the stage).

Great show! Nostalgic for an old guy like me that has been following the band since 1976. Pure joy for my daughter who discovered the band in my iPod collection. She is more fanatical about them than me. Joy to have a daughter that likes the same music as me both old and new.

Paul is the President of Professional Blog Service. PBS works with clients making strategic investments into blogging, social media and search engine optimization.

This is a funny song. I kind of agree that the whole antenna issue is overrated.

Last week on Thursday April 22, 2010, Erik Deckers participated in the Strategy Session called Mistakes Small Business Makes in their marketing.  Erik was responsible to talk about “The 3 Mistakes Companies Make with Their Blogging and Social Media.  He will discuss the following:

1. Ignoring Social Media
2. Broadcasting, Not Conversing
3. Abandoning the Plan

I think he did a pretty good job.

Check it out:

Years ago, I used to work in the airline industry having spent 10 years in it. My first job was with American Airlines working in reservations in Hartford, CT. (Sad, the office is no longer there). My job required me to be trained on using SABRE, the original computer reservations system developed by IBM back in the 60s. To my knowledge, it is still being used today.

To modernize it, they have upgraded the GUI by putting another application on top of SABRE to make it more user friendly. Here lies the problem. Most of the online travel agencies are GUIs on top of the 60s technology that are the computer reservations system.

There was a company out of New York City that had developed a new booking engine specifically for online reservations. They used the 60s technology to only look at the availability of inventory on a flight, but built their own schedule and fare program. Speaking with my old boss, their system worked and was bought by Get Travel which was eventually bought by SABRE. I don’t think they ever implemented the fast and easy booking system.

So, here I was, making a reservation online and finding myself back in 1997 again. See, nothing has really changed. I went to Orbitz, Priceline, Southwest and Air Tran. All of them kind of suck. It seems that the designs are made based on the underlying technology and not what the user wanted.

The example for me was on Priceline, there was no way to request the flight I wanted and the morning with the flight I wanted in the evening on my return. They had the morning flight with another morning flight even though I told it I wanted a morning with an evening return. As an old SABRE hack, I would have simply selected my segments and said, “Give me the best price for those flights.”

So, in 10 years, non of these online agencies have made any improvements in the online booking experience. They seem more like Christmas Trees with all their 2nd sale decorations than a I need to buy an airline ticket. I advise people on 2nd sale stuff, but do it like the displays in your grocery store. Don’t distract people from their primary purpose for being there, to buy a ticket. Even Bob Parsons lets you get your domain name before he bombards you with all his chotzke offers.

Like AT&T’s confusing pricing, maybe the data is showing these online travel agents they make more money by making their booking systems suck. It just seems that buying an airline ticket online could be easier after all these years.

An earthquake in China took place today.  It was a doozy that registered over 7.0 on the richter scale.

Image is a copyright of the Associated Press

As I am going through and reading the reports, the news media are focused on the death and destruction of the event.  Reports are 400 dead and possibly 10,000 people injured.  The usual suspects causing the death and destruction – poorly built houses that are not earthquake proof.

Yet, in any of the reports, there is no explanation as to why there is an earthquake in the region in the first place.  See, the region where it has occurred is not on the edge of a tectonic plate.  So, why is the media not educating us why it happened and reporting on the geologic changes that are occurring underneath us? The earth is one big puzzle of pieces that collide and move.  Could the earthquake in Chile have transported energy to the Indian plate which then has pushed itself up against the Asian plate?

I guess we will have to wait for Pat Robertson to give us the explanation.  I am sure there was some ancient deal made where the Tibetans shunned Christianity to follow the bald headed guy in robes.  The earthquake is obviously a punishment from God.

With these natural events happening all over the world, couldn’t we put the death and destruction angle down for once and talk about the science behind it happening?  Not only are we a nation of geographically challenged, we are also a nation who are geologically ignorant.

Come on media, put some of the shock and awe away and include some education in your reports.  If you need the shock and awe at the beginning to grab attention, fine.   Put the education into the article to make us smarter for reading it.