Ed C. Anderson

Ghost Blogging – Taking the hassles out of maintaining a business blog.

Ed Anderson — Sun, 30 May 2010 05:27:23 +0000

Blog Ghost Writer

You’ve seen it in the journals. Your web guy has mentioned it. All the marketing experts say you need it. If you want your website to be looked by anybody more than once you need constantly changing content. You have to give your customers and potential customers a reason to keep coming back to your site. Otherwise they look at it once and it’s forgotten. They won’t go back. They’ve seen it. They know your hours and location.

But how do you keep constantly changing the website? The easiest way is to add a blog to it. You put an article on your blog a few times a week and bam they have a reason to come back. It’s simple. Every week you put together a few choice words and there you go. Another problem is solved. This web business is cake.

But, then you realize one detail. You need a never ending flow of articles. Are you going to write them? Do you have time between running the company, finding the customers, and providing the services and products? You may not. A lot of people don’t have that time to write something every week. But they still keep their blog current. They find a writer to fill in for them. This is a new writing specialty called ghost blogging.

A ghost blogger is someone who writes web posts and deals with the mechanics of keeping a blog current. They write the content. They can post it under your name if you wish. They can also reply to the comments if you want. All for a minor fee. Your website gets repeat traffic and your customers stay informed.

There are quite a few people who do this. However, it’s important to find someone who is easy to work with and understands what the blog’s purpose is. A company blog is the voice of the company. Customers feel that this is the company speaking to them. Because of this it’s important to discuss the blog’s purpose and focus with your writer. When I’m ghost blogging I like to meet with the client and make sure I understand their vision for the blog. You will also want to review the blog posts and be in the loop for any comments left by customers or possible customers. No matter who actually writes the posts it’s your website and you are responsible for it’s content.

Ghost bloggers can be found on sites like crag’s list or the freelancer auction sites. If you currently have a copywriter or marketing consultant, they may be able to recommend someone. In any case, keeping communication with your customers is important in this competitive market. You want your customers listening to you and not your competitors.

A resource and a half for marketing and small business

Ed Anderson — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:05:12 +0000

Michael Senoff is someone who took the idea of giving before you get to heart. He is the author of a amazing resource for anyone involved in marketing and small business. His site, www.hardtofindseminars.com contains over a hundred recorded interviews from a wide range of experts. The experts range from the current gurus like Bob Bly to past greats like Eugene Schwartz. Many of them come with down loadable transcripts. Some require fees but the majority of ones I looked at were free (150 hours of free audio). Anyone who wants to make their living in direct sales or Internet marketing should have this site in their bookmarks. There is a lot of good information here. He has another site www.hardtofindads.com. That is a collection of classic ads for students of copy writing and marketing.

www.hardtofindseminars.com

www.hardtofindads.com

Quest On…

Live From Spark Plaza, A Co-Working Space

Ed Anderson — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 07:09:40 +0000

Spark Plaza Conference Area

Good news, I am starting working on my blogs again. I’ve decided to get a little more serious on my web aspirations and start getting my writing in front of people. I’m here today at Spark Plaza in downtown Johnson City. It’s a co-working center. Co-working centers are one of the new office options for freelancers and telecommuters. That’s a rental area that offers shared desk space and facilities. Instead of a complete office, you get access to a cubical or desk, a conference area, and even coworkers to have coffee with. At Spark Plaza you also get wireless Internet, a kitchen, and a classy downtown location. The price for this is dependent on if you want a floating location or a fixed desk. In either case the price is much lower than renting a complete office for yourself.

It provides an inexpensive option for the freelancer who needs a professional office to meet with clients or to get away from distractions at home. You also get a more standard office environment. Since freelancing is typically a very lonely operation, it’s nice to be around people with common background and focus. This helps with a problem that people used to working in offices have. Mainly, people miss the social aspect of their job. At a co-working space you have people working around you. You have someone to talk about business related topics or just the latest family issues and last night’s TV shows.

If you are one who likes to go to the office to work, this can be a good option for you. However, this is a very unstructured work environment. There are no set hours here for any of the members. People come and go regularly. Your ability to stay focused will no doubt be tested. If you need quiet to think and don’t deal well with interruptions, you may want to start with a short term membership to see if this is a good fit for you.

Spark Plaza is run by the husband and wife team of Jose and Shannon Castillo. They are good people who I have found to be very friendly and helpful. Usually they offer one day a month as an open house to allow new people to try out the co-working concept. It gives people a chance to see the facilities and decide if it fits their needs. If you are interested and live nearby I recommend you come by. In any case, you should keep co-working centers in mind if you need an alternative to a home office.

Http://Sparkplaza.com