Thursday, November 12, 2009

Can a Dormant Blog be Revived?


A neglected blog is a sad affair. Once a blog has sat dormant for 11-months, is it better to delete it and put it out of its misery or can it possibly be revived? I honestly don't know the answer to that question ... how 'bout we figure it out together?

It's been an intense several months, lots of ups and downs both in business and in our personal lives. We started a new business, Zero To Sixty Marketing LLC. Anyone who's started a business knows how all-consuming a new business can be. It's fun, exciting and exhausting.

Zero To Sixty Marketing is a virtual marketing department serving small businesses nationwide. Our "staff" are independent business owners, each with a stake in providing the best possible service for a reasonable price. So far as a team, we've taken on the layout, design and marketing of a niche magazine, built and wrote copy for several search engine optimized Web sites, created advertisements for print and Web, designed trade show materials, and wrote lots of copy for brochures, sell sheets, press releases and business profiles. Our goal is to provide agency-quality services at freelance prices. That doesn't mean we're cheap, but our overhead is low and we pass our savings on to you.

So where does that leave this Local Wisconsin SEM Blog? My initial goal was to help you develop online strategies and show you steps you can take to draw local traffic to your business. The need for this information is just as strong as it ever was, so if you'll forgive my absence, I'd like to pick up where we left off.

Today's tip is rock solid and simple. Whether you've heard it before or not, you absolutely need to build quality links to your Web site or blog.

Link building includes things like commenting on blogs, writing articles that point back to your Web site, posting links to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and an assortment of social networking sites, getting involved on forums associated with your industry, submitting your site to local business directories, even setting up feeder Web pages that point back to your main site. It’s not a do-it-once type of endeavor, but something that is done systematically, and the results are cumulative over time.

So where do you start? How does a busy business owner find the time? You set a reasonable goal - say 3 blog comments in a one-week timeframe, and you make the time. In subsequent weeks, you tackle other link building activities, one small step at a time.

Read more about link building for a better Web site.

Image Credit: a.drian on flickr