If you are looking for advice on how to start a blog for your business marketing and communication, read our easy, step by step guide. Blogging can be a great way to boost the online visibility of your business, raise your professional profile or simply connect with like-minded people.

Luckily, getting started with blogging has never been easier – today, anyone can start a blog for commercial reasons or as a hobby.

Here’s our step-by-step guide:

Choose your topic
You should blog about something you are highly knowledgeable or passionate about, whether it’s knitting, recruitment, saving money, films or whatever else is close to your heart. If you don’t choose a specific topic your blog can become very aimless. People won’t know what it’s really about and you will find it hard to target an audience.

Furthermore, the key to blogging is keeping it regular. This is much easier to do when you’re interested in the topic. People love to hear new ideas and opinions from thought leaders and experts.

Pick a platform
There are numerous platforms, free and paid for, to enable you to get your blogs on the internet and live for the world to see. Options include Blogger, Tumblr, WordPress.com, Wix, TypePad and more. Issues to consider when making your choice include whether you want a specific web address, how tech savvy you are, how much customisation you need, what you need to spend and more.

Ask other bloggers for their feedback, read reviews online and try a few versions yourself before you make a final decision.

If you want to future-proof your blog and you can see it turning into a website and an asset in its own right, you may want to give it it’s own name with a .com, .co.uk or similar extension, rather than being a subdomain of a free blogging platform like those mentioned above. The free solutions will look like ‘yourblogname’.blogspot.com for example – not as professional looking as a .com or .co.uk

If you choose to do this, it’s cheap and very easy to start a blog and host it with BlueHost, who have 1-click installation of WordPress with your own domain name, and you can be set up in a few minutes. I have a few sites at BlueHost and recommend them as an affiliate because of the excellent customer support I have received from them.

You can set up a BlueHost account and start blogging with WordPress within minutes by starting at www.bluehost.com.

Make a plan
You’ll often start off blogging with the best intentions, but like anything else; life gets in the way. And there’s nothing sadder than an unattended blog! If you want to make a connection, build up a following and generate revenue, you have to keep your blogging regular.

However basic, it will help you to set up a simple content calendar so you have an idea of what you’re going to write about and when. This will help you factor in key dates and events in advance and will help keep your efforts on track.

Spruce it up
Make sure your blog looks visually appealing and is easy to use. Customisation of colour, layout, theme and branding is easy on most platforms and it may be worth investing in some expert designer help if you are looking for your website to be a commercial success.

Join the community
The blogosphere is an online community and getting involved will help you quickly grow your network, make connections and more. Comment on other blogs, respond to activity on your own site and throw yourself into social media to make the most of online opportunities.

Blogging really has never been easier – what’s stopping you?

The post How to Start a Blog for Your Business appeared first on County Web.

If you looking to implement some new marketing strategies to drive your business forward, then these top tips for promoting your YouTube videos will hopefully come in very handy.

• Make good use of YouTube titles and descriptions. How you would like to describe your video and how visitors may choose to search may be two very different things. Think about the core content of your video, brainstorm what your ideal visitors may type into a YouTube or Google search to find such content (may be even ask them). Try to ensure that the most likely phrase forms part of a brief title (at least 3 to 5 words) and a good, detailed description section.
• Encourage interaction. YouTube by default has useful sharing and Like / Comment features, but why not ask your viewers to perform such desired actions towards the end of your content or within your description text.
• Integrate video into your website or blog. YouTube provides simple snippets of code that you can use to insert your video onto blog or web pages. This not only can generate additional video views, but can make your own site more interesting and make your pages more ‘sticky’.
• Use offline promotion techniques. Signpost your videos in brochures and use word of mouth to encourage friends or customers to watch, share and interact with your content.
• Use other social media. Get onto Facebook, Google+, Twitter and other social media channels to reach out to different audiences and link to your content.
• Do some PR. Engage with owners of industry or complementary websites and ask them to integrate or link to your video content. If your video is newsworthy, why not contact the local offline or online press as well?
• Don’t give up too soon. Many business owners get disillusioned too quickly when a new marketing tactic doesnt pay dividends straight away. If you produce several videos, perhaps in a regular series, then you may develop repeat viewers and loyalty among your audience. Word of month referrals and sharing by your visitors may increase over time when people realise that you are a consistent source of useful information, rather than a flash in the pan. Stick with it – especially if you enjoy it.

I hope these YouTube video promotion tips prove useful for your business in 2017 and beyond!

The post Tips for Promoting your YouTube Videos appeared first on County Web.

This brief article looks mainly at the marketing pros and cons of setting up a subsidiary company, as well some other factors to consider.

Staying As-Is

Pros of staying one large company

If you have been established for many years, that age gives potential clients a high degree of trust that you will still be there in 2, 5 or 10 years to support their needs. Your company name will form a lot of this trust and potential clients that hear the name could see this stability from a basic company search by name.

For recruitment, your current structure may show job hunters that they could work for a large company with potential sideways, as well as upward progression.

Potential clients will see a relatively large team with diverse skillsets, and likely back-up if key staff leave or are absent / unavailable.

In terms of the website and SEO, content added to an established site tends to have a chance of higher chance of gaining search engine traffic due to the strength of the website gained over many years when compared to a brand new site.

Cons of staying as-is

With your company’s history and depth of website content focused on its more established target market(s), this can sometimes overshadow a new division. The result is that some potential clients of the new division may report that the company is too focused elsewhere, while you may never even hear from other potential clients who discount your newer division without ever making an enquiry – these could even be a ‘silent majority’.

A wider downside of serving an increasingly diverse range of clients could also be that it is to the detriment of sales to your historically core market as well. Some potential clients may start to feel that you are spread too thin or lack expertise in their needs. The fact that you are likely to have niche competitors focused only on their needs means that when a customer wants a company who truly understands their needs, you may look too ‘Jack of All Trades’ to make their shortlist – even if that is not the case.

Forming a Subsidiary Company

Advantages of setting up a new company

A new website and company would create brand ‘focus’. Potential clients would likely gain reassurance from the fact that your new company understands its needs due to this focus, and has staff with the necessary specialist skills and experience.

Clients in the industry of your subsidiary would not complain of a perceived focus elsewhere, while your main brand could return to its roots of being specialists in its original core target market.

A separate company can negate the business risk to the parent company if something was to go wrong in the subsidiary – financially or legally.

For the purposes of liability, taxation and regulation, subsidiaries are distinct legal entities.

– Investopedia

Creating a subsidiary company from a major division seems to be a progressive move based on what many other large companies in such situations often seem to do.

Famous investor Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. has a long and diverse list of subsidiaries, including Clayton Homes, the Pampered Chef, GEICO Auto Insurance and Helzberg Diamonds.

– Investopedia

A new website focused on the needs of a specific target market may attract links from other website owners who want to signpost providers of services specific to this niche. Search engines may favour a focused website for phrases in this niche in the medium / long term vs a more generalised website.

Disadvantages of creating a separate company

A newly formed and / or a smaller company may look a less secure supplier to large corporate organisations and may even fail their due diligence assessments of company age and size.

A smaller team may appear to lack the depth of talent and staff back-up available in larger companies.

A basic company search for the subsidiary alone may fail to show a potential company the secure history of the parent company.

Signposting the parent company would be required as part of marketing activities to negate the risks above.

At least in the short-term, a new website would need time to gain trust and strength in order to compete in search against larger / more established websites.

Overall Summary

Creating a subsidiary company from an up and coming business division looks like the long-term progressive move from a marketing, finance and legal perspective, given the behaviour of many other large companies with distinct divisions.

There will be some headaches to overcome, such as the short term pain of creating new a new website, and taking care to reassure and signpost potential clients to the secure parent company background.

From a marketing perspective, creating a new website and subsidiary company for an offshoot division could give greater clarity to website visitors and potential clients looking to use solutions within both your historical and your relatively new target markets.

Related information elsewhere on the web:

http://www.smallbusiness.co.uk/starting-a-business/setting-up-a-company/22496/starting-a-subsidiary-company.thtml (UK)

http://www.vernimmen.com/html/articles/article16.html (US)

http://smallbusiness.chron.com/advantages-opening-new-division-15843.html (US)

http://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/subsidiary.asp

The post Marketing Pros and Cons of Setting Up a Subsidiary Company appeared first on County Web.

A new initiative is offering free marketing support for green businesses in the UK and in English-speaking countries worldwide.

Green Business Support has been set up to help environmentally focused companies, or those with a strong eco-friendly agenda, to compete with their less-green counterparts.

With many years of experience in digital marketing, Green Business Support can help organisations with the following services:

• Online market research to help understand how website users are searching for your type of products and services.
• Competitor analysis to see what site content and what search phrases are driving visitors to their websites
• Content development and SEO (Search engine optimisation) to help improve your website’s rankings for those phrases
• Regular ranking reports and progress updates

Often, green products and services are seen as a niche, even ‘hippy’ choice, coming with a perceived downside in terms of quality, affordability or suitability.

However, in so many cases, the opposite is true, especially when it comes to business supplies and services.

A ‘green’ choice is often so because it helps to reduce energy consumption – at least over the long term, as is the case with energy provision from solar panels, wind turbines etc.

There are government subsidies and tax breaks available for many green choices – take transport for example. Electric cars offer many reduced costs, with no road tax to pay, no congestion charge for those driving into London, and vastly reduced mileage costs as charging the batteries is so much cheaper than petrol or diesel.

The overall goal of Green Business Support is not to communicate these benefits to those seeking them though, but rather to make greener businesses more visible to those looking for the best products and services for their current needs, allowing buyers to decide then whether the green provider is right for them at that time or not.

If you run a green business or one that works to a strong environmentally friendly ethos / agenda – or if you know someone who does – and would like to know more, please visit the Green Business Support website to learn more or give them a call on 01872 211 704 to discuss your company and its goals.

 You can also connect with Digital Marketing Consultant Av Srivastava who runs the initiative, via LinkedIn.

The post Free Marketing Support for Green Businesses appeared first on County Web.

• Content is king – yes still! It’s not a game where you have to figure out how to trick the pesky search engines before anyone will get to read your great ideas. If search engines like Google are trying to favour quality websites and content over those that prioritise SEO, then why not give them what they want. Focus on writing great text that will help, inform and even entertain your ideal visitors. That way, you should not need to worry about the next changes in search engine algorithms and your target audience will engage with you and come back for more.
• Start with your customers’ goals in mind. What problems are your customer trying to solve and what are they likely to go looking for. There is a balance between writing about what you enjoy and what visitors will enjoy reading. You may want to shout to the world about the achievements of you or your business, but is anyone looking specifically for that apart from you? Think about what your target audience might be looking for and try to help them.
• Forget about keyword density. People still ask and look for advice on the perfect percentage on the page for their target keywords. There is no right or wrong answer to this because as search engines each behave differently and as they all change their algorithms to keeping favouring good content vs SEO, what may have been great one day, may be a no-no the next. The best answer is to avoid the content and focus on more important issues, such as choosing the write topics and writing the best information.
• Get niche. In terms of SEO, people will talk about ‘long-tail keywords’ – those of at least 3 and maybe 4, 5, 6 words that are detailed and specific to the requirements of that visitor. If you are writing for a leading website, then your article or web page may have a chance of gaining traction ahead of the competition, but for those writing on less well known sites or blogs, targeting a specific, niche demographic could not only get you seen more, but by the right people. Highly targeted articles and product / service pages tend to convert much better than those reaching out to the whole world, as they are likely to be more relevant to the reader.
• Use diverse language around your topic. You may use certain terminology and if writing for a business website, there may be phrases that tend to be used by you and your peers that may differ from that used by your potential customers. Brainstorm, empathise with your target readers and use different terms to reach out to those who may search for and understand your topic in different ways.
• Use effective titles and descriptions. Title tags are a key factor for search engines like Google to understand the topic of your content, while also being the link that people click in the search engine results pages (SERPs). The description tag is really there for your to give the reader a bit more detail before they click that link. Use your copywriting skills here to encourage the click from your ideal visitor.
• Get social. Spread the word that you have written the new content in places where your ideal visitors tend to hang out – be in Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn or wherever. If the right people like it, they may well share it with more of the right people!

I hope you find these points useful and if you dont get great success straight away – keep at it and you’ll improve

The post 7 Website Copywriting Tips appeared first on County Web.