Marketing Sherpa recently released a mini-case study on a professional and small business owner who definitely could use a business blog to boost her online marketing results. It’s open for public access until Sept 9th here.

This is a great overview of the basics of Web site optimization, and it highlights the key points addressed to boost marketing results with higher search engine rankings.

Women’s health specialist Dr. Randine Lewis used a powerful combination of Web marketing plus bookstore presence to attract hundreds of women to her $10,500 retreats. Yep, that’s right — $10K-plus live events primarily sold online!

Now while that’s impressive, and she has gotten good enough results to turn off her ad-words campaign — she could be getting much higher rankings in the top search engines if she were to add a business blog to the site.

The results prove it out

A quick review of search rankings in both Yahoo and Google for the keywords “fertility” and “infertility” yielded no results for Dr. Lewis’s site in the top 5o results. And using the search term “fertility retreat” (which by the way is the actual URL used by Dr. Lewis, www.fertilityretreat.com,) yielded a position at #11 in Yahoo and #31 in Google on 08/31/05.

Incorporating a carefully crafted business blogging strategy into her overall marketing plan would give Dr. Lewis a powerful advantage over her competitors on her top keyword phrases. With a proper understanding of how to structure the navigation of her business blog, how to select and incorporate keyword phrases in critical areas, and a few other simple (but little known) business blogging strategies — Dr. Lewis would be amazed at the results.

Not only would she gain a top 10 ranking on certain keyword phrases within 30-days, she would be:

- Building better relationships
- Enhancing her credibility
- Further positioning herself as an expert in her niche
- And communicating her passion in a way that none of her competitors are doing right now

In short — she could easily position herself as a top leader in her niche by marketing with her business blog and her web site.

Successful online marketing is about connection and communication — not just search engine rankings

Women love tons of information when making a buying decision (typically much more than men.) And women typically will rely much more on a feeling of open communication and connection than men do.

Business Coaching Sidebar: if you think you’re not marketing to women, think again. Unless your business is sports or hot-rodding cars, more buying power is in the hands of women than you may ever guess. Numerous studies have shown that 85% or more of all buying decisions are either made directly by or are influenced by a woman. (Yes that’s right ALL, including business and corporate buying decisions.)

With the secrets of high-impact online communication and a well-structured business blog Dr. Lewis could connect with her target audience through:

- Articles and other written report series
- Regular Podcasts (so working women can take her regular connection point on the road with them)
- V-blogging with clips from recent retreats

… I mean I could go on and on here. And that’s just the front end of marketing with business blogs.

On the back-end (once people have already purchased) I can think of at least a half-dozen other ways Dr. Lewis can use business blogs, Podcasts, and RSS. www. She could take her relationships with clients to a whole new level and ignite a literal firestorm of word of mouth marketing.

How could you boost the marketing of your small business or profession with business blogs, Podcasts, and RSS?

If you haven’t thought about that yet — I suggest you start today, before one of your competitors does. It’s always easier to get solid marketing results (and maintain them) when you’re the first in your niche to reach “the top of the hill.”

If you’re in a niche or situation even remotely similar to Dr. Lewis (where few if any competitors are using business blogs to boost marketing results) — you could be king or queen of the hill in your niche, industry, or profession.

To do that you have to build a solid business blogging strategy, learn the secret shortcuts, and practice the proven principles of marketing with business blogs to do it. Without a step-by-step system, your business blog will end up nothing more than a disappointing conglomeration of digital content. BUT with those keys in place you’ll win with both search engine spiders and human visitors alike!

Enjoy!

Learn how to unleash the maximum marketing power of business blogs, podcasts, and RSS (in any industry, profession, or niche) with Marketing With Business Blogs.

John-Paul Micek is a published author and weekly columnist for the business section of the Honolulu Star Bulletin. He’s known as the “Click-and-Mortar Business Coach” by business owners around the world thanks to members of the Business Owners Coaching Club™.


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