Category: Blogging

The WorldWide Bloggers’ Awards

This is a guest post by Murray Newlands

Why YOU Should Enroll at the Worldwide Bloggers’ Awards

One can find lots of excellent bloggers and publishers doing amazing work, and those who stand out deserve to have their work recognized, associate with each other, and see their readerships grow. That’s why the World Media Awards exist – to recognize and reward great contributions to media from bloggers and publishers.

In my own career, I’ve learned and benefited so much from others that I wanted to help establish some way to give back to an industry I love and show appreciation to the up-and-coming leaders. The World Media Awards will culminate in a 1 day event in San Francisco that will celebrate the best in blogging, forums, publishing and media from around the world.

So if you are a first class blogger, why should you enter?

1. Get Recognized- You Deserve It 🙂

You put a lot of work into making your blog remarkable. You know it and your readers know it. The World Media Awards is a way for you to get official credit from other bloggers and industry experts. That recognition will help you increase your readership, make fresh collaborative connections, and hopefully have a few warm fuzzy moments that make all the late nights even more rewarding.

2. Meet Other Bloggers Who Care

Blogging, forums and most other on-line media is about conversation and interaction, but sometimes it’s easy to end up trying to hide away behind a screen in your office or home all alone. Meeting other bloggers and publishers keeps the fire lit and the conversation going. When you enter the World Media Awards, you’ll be listed alongside other bloggers and publishers who put the same level of pleasure, attention and work into making their blog great.

3. Expose Yourself to New Partners

If your blog or forum is part of your company, being part of the World Media Awards will increase your exposure by putting your name in front of countless visitors to our site and the award ceremony. That means you can find out who else is doing great work, strut your own stuff, and expand your network of contacts and collaborators.

4. Make Yourself Irresistible to Clients

What helps your chances at being victorious with that next pitch more than increasing your network? Telling that network that you just won a World Media Award. Winning an award shines a light on your accomplishments, and it serves as an example of the commitment, engagement and exacting standards you apply to your work.

5. Be Part of the Beginning of Something Big

Because 2012 is the first year for these awards, you have the one-time chance to be the inaugural winner and set the standard for the World Media Awards in your category. Getting in on the ground floor of these awards will open doors for you as a blogger and a publisher.

The bottom line is, the World Media Awards will shine a spotlight on the year’s most successful bloggers and publishers, and on the companies and businesses that serve and interact with them.

Now is your chance to be one of them.

The sponsors include Growmap, Pace Lattin, VigLink and Trancos.
World Media Award judges include Steve Hall, Sarah Austin, Chang Kim, Julie Wohlberg, Pierre Zarokian, Ivka Adam, Cheryl Contee, Krystyl Baldwin, Adrian Harris, Jeremy Wright, Rob Bloggeries, Dave Duarte, Tanya Alvarez, Dana Oshiro, Tom Foremski, and Judith Lewis. hashtag #wmads on Twitter.

Media partners include Adrants, Bloggeries, MediaVision, The Affiliate Marketing Awards, Read Write Web, My Blog Guest, Web Traffic Control and FeedBlitz.

Murray Newlands is author of How to Make a Blog Book and Online Marketing; a User Guide. He is also founder of the Affiliate Marketing Awards. Born in the UK, he now spends his time in San Francisco and New York. Murray works for Audience Mindshare and consults for Trancos Ins as well as being an advisor for VigLink. Actually he is working on his new book: The Email Marketing Book.

Are the Top 10 Construction Management Firms Missing the Boat on Blogs?

Sign that reads "No Blogging"I have felt for some time that the building/construction industry was dragging its heels on Internet marketing and social media but  I was surprised to see that even the top firms were slow to adapt. Using Building Design + Construction’s Giants list as a guide in checking  out the websites of the industry’s top construction management firms, I found only one of the top ten construction management companies  – all with revenues in excess of $888 million, had a blog.

There is no denying these companies have achieved success without a blog, but they undoubtedly face increased competition. While I am sure  potential building owners still solicit referrals for a considered set of builders, I am equally confident they also turn to websites at some point during their search.  A company  blog  provides an outlet for thought leadership, an opportunity to showcase expertise as well as a  place  for customers and potential customers and prospective employees  to  engage with you online.

There are plenty of content possibilities … projects in progress, sustainability, charitable work, interesting people and stories. When research shows that blogging drives website traffic, provides valuable feedback to management, and allows companies to showcase their  expertise and talent, I am at a loss to understand why  these top construction management companies are foregoing the opportunity.

No. 6  (Suffolk Construction) as well as  No. 11 on the list, (Hunt Construction Group,) are the exceptions.  Hunt’s  blog, entitled Landmarks, offers an inside look at various projects under construction as well as community events. Suffolk’s blog provides thought leadership from the company’s CEO. While  good efforts, neither of the blogs  provides website visitors with an opportunity to  comment. About half of the  Top 10 firms  have Facebook and Twitter accounts.  However,  often the connections weren’t accessible from the company websites.

Today’s buyers demand more.  A modern site should include blogs and sharing features that foster a sense of community.Why is construction so far behind the curve?

Rank BD+C GiantsCompanyBlog
1Gilbane Building Co.www.gilbaneco.com/No
2Skanska USAwww.skanska.comNo
3Lend Leasewww.lendlease.comNo
4Hensel Phelps Constructionwww.henselphelps.comNo
5Whiting-Turner Conracting Co.www.whiting-turner.comNo
6Suffolk Constructionwww.suffolkconstruction.comYes
7Structure Tonewww.structuretone.comNo
8Jacobswww.jacobs.comNo
9Flintcowww.flintco.comNo
10The Yates Companieswww.yatescompanies.comNo
11Hunt Construction Groupwww.huntconstruction.comYes

What to Do When Your Company Blog is Failing

Is Your Blog a Sinking ShipDid your company jump into blogging without a plan? Has it been months since any content was created? Are your subject matter experts failing to create the content you need?  It’s not all that uncommon.  But don’t give up before you have tried these tactics.

Get Blogging Training

As you have probably discovered on your own, there is a lot more to blogging than meets the eye. The more your corporate bloggers understand about your goals and objectives, keywords and other blogging basics, the better job they will do. A boot camp for bloggers will empower and reenergize your team, build camaraderie, and demonstrate management’s commitment to the blog.

Hold a Content Creation Brainstorming Session

Devote a few hours exclusively to developing content ideas for the blog. Invite a professional content manager to lead a discussion using your keywords as a jumping off point. Do you have content related to every stage in the buying process? Can you make your customers the stars? What information lends itself to video? Consider a series of posts related to a specific topic. Get input from bloggers, customer service and sales and other departments. By the time the meeting is over you will have plenty of ideas to fill an editorial calendar.  But don’t stop there. Assign various topics to your contributors. Realize that some content takes longer to develop. Choose quality over quantity, but also recognize that there are benefits to frequency.

Start Reviewing Results with Your Team

Share analytics and help your team identify those posts that are drawing traffic and response. Can you elaborate on hot topics or create similar posts using different examples? Identify trends in keywords.  Reward bloggers who successfully engage the audience.

Build Your Social Networks

Understand your audience and encourage participation of employees in industry-related social networks so you can share your expertise and introduce potential customers to your blog. Know where your blog traffic is coming from. Create a plan for promoting posts online, generating inbound links and more. Share links with older posts as well.

There is no doubt business blogging requires a big commitment, but the rewards do appear to be worth the effort. In a study conducted by HubSpot, the average company that blogs has 55 percent more visitors, 97 percent more inbound links and 434 percent more indexed pages.

Can we help you get your blog unstuck so you can reap the benefits?

Save Time and Make Blogging Easier

time stressed writer
What can I write about?

Most companies understand the benefits of a B-2-B blog. But when it comes to writing blog posts week after week, they falter. While a lack of ideas, enthusiasm, and ability may be the problem, more often, it is a lack of time that sabotages their efforts. Writing is time consuming. Here are some ways to streamline the blogging process.

Decide on a topic. This often involves research. After you have read what is written on a topic, you need time to figure out how you can create your unique viewpoint.  Finally, there is the actual writing and editing time, which can vary considerably, depending on the degree to which your efforts are interrupted by other responsibilities. If time constraints are keeping you from producing a better blog, consider how hiring a professional writer can help you.

1) A professional writer can help you organize your B-2-B blog content using an editorial calendar.

Take a cue from B-2-B editors who find they deliver better content when they follow an editorial calendar. An editorial calendar includes a brief description of what you will publish and when.  Instead of letting things fall to chance, you might decide to feature a case study on Wednesdays and a Q&A with a company expert on Fridays. You may have six key topic areas to plan around. Stop scrambling to find a topic the day the blog post is due.

2) A professional writer can research a blog topic for you.

Much of a professional writer’s job involves finding credible sources of information—weeding through a multitude of sources and conversations on the Internet.  While your company experts are likely to be the No. 1 source of information for your blog, following other experts in the field, competitors, keywords, relevant research and news can be extremely valuable.  Consider hiring a professional writer to research a topic or customize and organize market intelligence for you.  With everything at your fingertips the writing process becomes more efficient.

3) A professional writer can edit your blog posts.

If you or your team have great ideas but don’t have the time to give your writing professional polish, you can hire a writer to review and edit your work.  With an editor’s thorough review process you will avoid embarrassing misspellings and grammatical errors. A good editor will help you communicate clearly and concisely, without losing your “voice.”  A writer knowledgeable in search engine optimization can also edit your blog copy to integrate important keywords that will drive traffic to your site.

4) A professional writer can develop and write blog posts for you.

People often wonder how someone can write about an industry or topic they are not familiar with.  However, professional writers successfully do this every day by thoroughly researching topics and formulating the right questions to ask company experts and industry insiders. In contrast, those who are so close to a topic often overlook the obvious questions that potential customers might have.

If time is keeping you from fully realizing the benefits of a blog, consider hiring a content writer to handle a portion or all of your writing-related tasks.  Content for Biz offers all of these writing, editing and content development services. Check out the “Work with Us” tab to learn more or give us a call.