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

Can Small Business Afford Healthy Wisconsin?

Wisconsin small business owners, there's a health reform plan before the Senate that will have a direct impact on your bottom line. How much of the cost of "health reform" are you prepared to shoulder?

Healthy Wisconsin sounds good on the surface. Who's going to argue against affordable health care? Unfortunately, that would be me ... because it's not really all that affordable to the self-employed or Wisconsin small business owners.

Take note of how Healthy Wisconsin will be financed.

All employers must pay 9-12 % of wages of their employees (up to the limit of taxable Social Security wages, which is currently $102,000). Employees must pay 2-4% of their Social Security wages.

An actuarial analysis estimates that the actual figure in 2007 would have been 10.5% for employers and 4% for employees (4% maximum of $102,000 per family). For small firms of ten employees or less, the employer share will be phased in over three years.

(THESE PAYMENTS REPLACE THE PREMIUMS AND OTHER PAYMENTS FOR PRIVATE HEALTH INSURANCE NOW BEING PAID BY EMPLOYERS AND WISCONSIN RESIDENTS.)

The average family income in Wisconsin is about $42,000. So for the average family, the cost would be $140 per month in payroll deductions. On average, the employer would pay about $370 per month.

Self-employed persons and those with income but no wages pay 10% of income up to the Social Security wage limit.

I don't know about you, but for this Wisconsin small business owner, that's a little steep! I don't have employees, don't have health insurance, and certainly don't approve of a government mandated 10% of my income going toward health reform.

I can't comment on the relative cost of this initiative for businesses who already offer health insurance. But for those of us who don't have it - it's not because we don't want it - it's because the entry cost is too high. Somebody show me the math ... who thinks that a new tax of 10% of net income is an affordable cost to the self-employed? And by the way, there are NO exemptions.

Join the Fight Against Mandated Health Care & New Payroll Taxes
The National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) is working on our behalf to defeat this initiative. Your help is needed. If you agree that Healthy Wisconsin is not in the best interest of Wisconsin small business, add your name to the NFIB Wisconsin statewide petition. I'll have scanned in and available as a download later today - but please, don't wait. If you don't see a download link right now, while you're thinking about it - contact me. I'll fax or email you a petition by the end of the day.

Time is of the essence. We have approximately 49 days to make our voices heard.