Why You Should Blog... and how Meg will present a presentation she wishes not to present but if for the oodles of business presenting garnishes

Don't get me wrong -- I like it when you read my blog too... but what I would like you to know is that there is significent value in writing a business blog instead of just reading them.

On Thursday, I am giving a 10-minute presentation on business blogging at my BNI chapter in Ballantyne (Charlotte, NC). Each week we meet and another member tells the group a little about what they do. This time, I am speaking specifically on blogging and why it is valuable for businesses. Here is a little preview:

BNI Presentation June 11, 2009

First I will talk about me -- and dazzle the audience with a few quick facts like the fact that I have a Bachelor's Degree in Theatrical Production Arts... and some of these other bullets:

· Toured once w/ Pop Cover Band: Nik and the Nice Guys
· Have held positions as a Master Carpenter, Statistical Analyst, Sales person for a sporting goods store, professional artist, event planner and fundraiser.
· Relocated to the Carolinas 2 years ago
· Wrote a book about business networking for Introverts
· In 2001 began work at a software company where I wrote proposals, white papers, requirements documents, and website content, business & marketing plans – sparking my love of business writing, then became VP of Marketing Web & SEO firm where I did sales
· I began writing more instructional (how-to) articles on SEO and web
· Wrote for the local Business Journal and Daily Newspaper Blog on community, networking and technology, did radio & TV as tech expert
· Gained recognition for my “Geek Speak” (translating nerd-talk into understandable terms for the less tech-savvy) Articles published in a local business magazine
· Currently I write e-newsletters, manage websites, do search engine consulting, copywriting and powerpoint presentations in addition to business blogging.

...all of which I am sure will get tons of "oos and ahs..." as clearly I am very interesting and have experienced a diverse set of experiences which make me uniquely qualified to blog...

Then I will dive right into the beauty of business Blogs... and will probably read the following paragraph, feel awkward about reading it and then try to make it sound like I am being extemporaneous and fail miserably. At which point I will make a self-deprecating remark and laughter will ensue.

...here is that paragraph:

Thanks to the internet and free (or inexpensive blogging tools), any individual business owner or small company can have the same technological impact as the Charlotte Observer or the New York Times, CNN or Oprah. Through your blog you can become known as an expert in your field, and become sought after as a vendor, speaker, partner and resource. Having a blog is the strongest and best platform for sharing your ideas, best practices and expertise with the world.

"Whoa... Awesome" I will say, tying to pep up the crowd I am starting to lose... and then quickly and ungracefully, as I stumble around the ill-placed tables I will hand out 10 index cards--well 11 actually as the first one will be labeled:

"Reasons you need to blog"

Then I will ask 10 lucky people to read these cleverly worded, and fantastic reasons to blog. Some of which were parceled from other sites and re-worded slightly, something I hope will be considered more a complement to the original authors, than seen as plageristic - for that is never my intent... oh yes... back to the reading of the cards:

1. Blogging demonstrates your true commitment and passion for your industry—and you really have to show your commitment over the long-haul. Most people won’t be able to maintain a business blog over long periods of time, but those who do so are rewarded in recognition and credibility. Posting often and consistency is the key!

2. More than 147 million Americans use the Internet

3. Increase your reach beyond your company, town, and industry with a blog since it can be read from multiple places through syndication. Links and email blasts.

4. Your work should be working for you, building your reputation—not just a bullet point on a resume. (A blog is proof of your brilliance and expertise!)

5. Even your old blog entries are valuable and will be read years later—your work will live on and bring you new business for years to come.

6. A blog can increase your website traffic with links in and traffic driven your site will gain ranking and popularity with the search engines. Even if no one ever reads it!

7. You can influence your industry by being a thought-leader and demonstrating positive, actionable ways to make change all while carving out a name for yourself.

8. A blog can help build your personal network, and enable incredible connections with the world around you, (something not possible prior to wide-spread use of the Internet)

9. Your job is changing, and you might want to be involved in the process of what your new job will include—at your current company, or beyond. What do you want to be?

10. Over time, your blog will contain an increasingly rich and relevant wealth of information that will be a Google magnet. Thus, you will become more and more available to the customers you need to attract.

Then I will add in a couple witty and well written reasons that Blogs are great. I will also read these, but I will notice my time is getting short so I will paraphrase, smartly pointing the audience to this blog for the actual original paragraphs:

1 You can be a ROCK STAR by providing an unlimited amount of vital information in a single location. Because Web visitors are desperately seeking answers to their most pressing questions, you have the opportunity to provide just the right answers for your ideal target customers.

2 Blogs enable you to organize your information almost effortlessly to the benefit of your visitors by putting them into ‘categories.’

3 Unlike other social media tools, such as Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn, your blog is open to the entire world.

4 You can request visitors to register and offer them enticements such as a free e-book or eNewsletter – growing your prospect list while offering them beneficial information, (and positioning yourself as a subject-matter expert).

Then quickly I will point out the reasons to hire a Business Blogger... of course indicating that I would be an awesome choice for this...

Keeping up on writing your blogs and making sure that they are linked properly is a lot of work—often sometimes the internal marketing staff or small business owner is unable to do this while focusing on what they do best… run their business.

I provide a low-cost way to maintain a blog by:

· Creating all new content and posting regularly
· By supplementing your entries with keyword-rich and relevant posts
· By editing what you have written or modifying found articles in you voice.

Business Blogging has is a powerful tool for increasing traffic to a corporate site, informing the public, connecting with customers and sharing information in a casual and informative way. By utilizing a business blog writer, you can capture a pool or prospecting clients and fans, all while focusing on what you do best: Your Business.

Bow, smile, exit stage left.

Meghan Wier
Author Writer Web Consultant

Fabulous February

February starts on Sunday with much anticipated football game in the Wier house. The Pittsburgh Steelers are the team of choice and whilst I am neither adamant fan nor foe, I do wish, for the sake of the men in house, that they do not fail in their pursuit of yet another Super Bowl ring.

SO that is day 1 of February. The rest of the month is looking just as exciting, (at least for me, perhaps not for the Steelers). Confessions of an Introvert becomes officially available (although it technically hit the online stores this past week) and I am scheduled to do at least one radio interview related to that. If I get over my shyness and anxiety, at least momentarily, I will walk myself into a couple of bookstores and see if I can schedule a signing or two--which could be fun, or it could be mortifying...but good for the book nonetheless...hopefully.

The end of February will see me getting ready to go for a quick visit to Colorado to celebrate my sister's pending new addition. This will be quite an experience, as my own pending new addition is due mid-late April, and I am already feeling quite aware of the obvious timeline of the Spring months. ---that wasn't meant to be as cryptic as that came out...let me try again: I am pregnant and by the end of the month I will be enormous and crabby.

I have plenty of work-projects to fill the time in between the big events this month. Business blogging and copywriting are becoming very important to many small businesses as the economy staggers. While I am not complaining about having the extra work, it would be nice if the economy would stop staggering... But while I ride it out, I have plenty of writing to do--on subjects big and small: Charlotte Web Design, to Mint Hill Real Estate, Sports Marketing to Weight Loss... etc. Life is good, and I get to write. I can't ask for more.

(see how I stuck those targeted links in there... clever huh!)

I have to conclude this post, as Facebook and my Amazon ranking are beckoning me. Darn the Internet.

-Meg
www.meghanwier.com



Meghan Wier
Author Writer Web Consultant

Good Morning Charlotte

The mornings don't seem to have started right anymore unless I get to enjoy a few minutes outside sipping my tea and going through my email. This is such a silly guilty pleasure--making a quick breakfast for my son and then slipping outside to the patio while he eats and watches 30 minutes of mind-numbing, but gloriously distracticting morning programming.

I find that I am developing new habits. Good ones. Like waking up early to spend this time breathing in the cool morning air and listening to the birds sing to eachother.

The hustle and bustle of the day--the doctor's appointments, impersonation of a taxi, important phone calls, and meetings will all begin soon enough, but for now I have found a little piece of spiriuality, or meditation, or just peace and quiet--and it is wonderful.

Today I meet with a guy who works for a company who sends out mass text messages... sort-of the new flavor of spam. And I am sure he would not appreciate that description, because in reality there are many useful applications for quickly and inexpensively letting people know what tonight's dinner specials are, or how many tickets are left for the game, or which American Idol to vote for. Apres the meeting I am sure I will have a new-found appreciation for all that texting can do and likely try to convince all of you of the same. Maybe even texting you messages such as "buy Meg's book" or "Are you an Introvert? Find out today at www......." But all the same, I may just send you an old fashioned and way-more personal email. Kids these days I tell you, with their fancy technology. Doesn't anyone believe in email anymore?

On another note I may wander off to the bookstore and buy a copy of 4-Hour Work Week - since I think it was actually written about me. But I will find out and report back after a thorough read. Perhaps he doesn't mean "billed hours" (as I certainly work many more) and probably doesn't count parental responsibilities into "work" which we all know would be incorrect... however, I am fortunate to be able to enjoy a truncated, semi-retirement, situation as an author and writer, (and I may have to add "blogger" since blogging seems not to be considered "writing" in some circles, and if one where to read this entry as a sample, I could see their point).

Oh dear, I am rambling again. Tea is gone. 7:30 is here. It is time to get the taxi packed and the day started.

Good Morning Charlotte.
Meghan Wier


Meghan Wier
Author Writer Web Consultant

BNI about Blogging

Alrighty then... I had my BNI presentation and while I don't think I made a complete fool of myself - I also do not think that I actually got around to making my point!

Blogging for business is good. Blogging for business is beneficial to your company. Blogging can increase customer satisfaction, can drive traffic to your corporate site, can act as a sales tool, can market your business through testimonials, can assist in improving the perception of you and of your business... it can, it can, it can!

Luckily - I handed out a bunch of paperwork, and if anyone bothers to read it... it may help round out my message a bit.

Ug. 10 minutes is not enough to explain the benefits of business blogging.

But at least the Coffee and Bagels were good (thanks to James and Sammy at Sammy's Diner in Indian Land)!
-Meg


Meghan Wier
Author Writer Web Consultant

Blogging (for Dummies)

Firstly, I need to say, "yes, I did borrow this pic from Amazon -- and thank you." ...I wouldn't want to get in trouble for not citing my source - also, if you are interested in the book (Blogging for Dummies by Brad Hill), and if I have correctly added the link, you should be able to click the image and go to Amazon and buy the book...from my good generous friends at Amazon... (see I am looking out for you guys!)



All that aside, I wanted to mention that I have spent a good part of the weekend thumbing through this book on blogging and I would like to say that the author Brad Hill is a pretty funny guy. I enjoyed the wit and humor--and generally I think that this book would be palatable and helpful to all. I hope the the door prize winner at BNI on Thursday will enjoy the book as well (and forgive me for looking through it myself before giving it away).



There were a couple things in the book that I did not know - or at least had not thought of--such as the "blogger's code" - to be honest, or always attempt honesty in the posts (with the exception of fiction writing) -- and that I believe I have always done.


Hm...I guess I need to take that back... there are times when I use a false name or composition of situations for blog entries, especially when writing an entry for a client. A lot of times my clients are asked the same question over and over, and we post the question and answer on the blog. There are situations where I will merge the two into one, and then answer it as if it were one originally. But I don't think anyone gets too bent out of shape about this... we would just be answering the same question twice and that would be boring and redundant. SO --- I have come clean, I don't know if there is someone better to confess to than the blogosphere. (Maybe Pete McGourty will know...) I digress--Other things to do as a blogger is to of course cite your source, link when possible instead of cutting and pasting big chunks of text and do not comment spam. All great advice. I do consider myself to be pretty "white hat" when it comes to such things. Blogging is such a new-old thing, with an ever changing landscape. But it all comes down to the kindergarten mantra " be nice to your friends." (which is obviously "borrowed" from famous "do unto others..." which is taken from so many sources, it is probably one of those things which is technically un-citable, given the concept's roots in everything from Greek Philosophy to the Baha'i Faith).


INHALE...


On a somewhat related note, I have remembered that my posts are still being syndicated on the Amazon profile page. This blog (I believe...) was taken off the Confessions of an Introvert page, so I didn't give it much thought... but it does still appear on the Meghan Wier profile page. So hello! Amazon people. Don't forget to check out the new Confessions of an Introvert book which will be re-released in October.... rest assured I will be blogging about that soon, and asking for your reviews and feedback! I may even ask for your thoughts on my next book, "untitled," (catchy huh! -- I probably won't call it "untitled" -- that is more of a working title)

ug - that was a bit of a ramble, wasn't it!



Well, the Blogging for Dummies book does say to keep blog entries short... so alas...





Meghan Wier
Author Writer Web Consultant

Blogging for Business

I am preparing a presentation this weekend for my BNI group in North Carolina. If you have any Blogging for Business questions, please comment or email me: meg@meghanwier.com.

THANKS -- Meg

Meghan Wier
Author Writer Web Consultant

JUMP into Friday

I am amazed that it is Friday morning already. I am amazed that it is Friday, that I have no outside things/running around/errands to do, that I have the time to get work done and it is already 10 and I am just beginning my "morning papers" -- I believe that I know why Pete McGourty wanted me to write on paper... paper does not have the Internet, paper does not inform you that you have new email, and paper does not have any fun flashing boxes to click on. (Weeee fun flashing boxes....click, click, click)

---but paper makes my hand hurt. Paper does not have email. Paper does not have the Internet, the weather, the stock market, the news.

and so I type. I am such a rebel.

Much writing must be done today for JUMP, and I need to pump it up a bit (pun intended) so that we can get that site to rank well. The Jump concept is such a great one, with essentially a huge warehouse space transformed into a play center for kids, (and sanity-refresher for parents). The inflatables are huge and the kids have a wonderful time. As a mom, I am so thankful that these places exist...especially on the cold and wet days. I wish there was a JUMP near us here in Charlotte--heck, I wish they existed when I was 4!

Other things today include writing more about blogging. I may even blog about blogging-- if I can think of a fun way to do so. Reading a blog about blogging may get a little dry, so I will do my best to spice it up a bit if I can get there later this afternoon.

Much copy, copywriting, clever SEO, shameless self-promotion and blogging to come. Stay tuned.

-m

Meghan Wier
Author Writer Web Consultant