My client, Joanna, had explained to me that she hadn't been able to work out how to leave her URL behind when she commented on other Typepad blogs. I couldn't work out where the confusion was, because at the time, I couldn't see how you could fail - there are only 4 fields to fill out in Typepad... (click on picture left to see what they are).

Now I'd like to say that I cracked it, but I didn't. It was Joanna who did that (well she is a wizard after all!) Anyway, you will notice if you click on the picture to enlarge it, that the first sentence under the Post a Comment title there is "If you have a Typekey or Typepad account, please Sign In."

Well, that's fine - you can. But you will get a slightly different outcome... If you sign in, then your name automatically links to your Typekey profile page - which may or may not be complete or appropriate or ideal etc. You can see what I'm talking about by looking at the conversation on this post here: http://claireraikes.blogs.com/bizblogangel/2007/03/business_blog_a.html#comments . If you let your mouse hover over the names of the commentors, you will see exactly where they are pointed. Amanda's and Joanna's link back to their sites, Emma's links back to her Typekey profile (which is empty).

I simply hadn't registered that that would happen as I only ever sign in to comment if the blog I'm commenting on requires it. Otherwise, I do it as you can see from the graphic - and ticking that little box (remember my details) means I don't have to type in my details each time. Notice too, that I use my brand alias in quotes in the middle of my name. You will also see that my email address is there. That is optional and where you give a URL, the email addy won't be displayed. I think that if I were to omit the URL, the email addy would show up behind my name on the published comment - not entirely sure on that as I've never done it. If you know, then do share here. :o)

A real quickie today...  I'm currently doing some really exciting work for new and existing clients, I have a new Podcast Production Company to develop, a new PC, a new (and quite wonderful) boyf and I took 2 days out to go (and speak) at the Corporate Podcasting Summit earlier this week. As a result, I'm struggling a bit with time management.

One of the things I wanted to achieve in moving to Wales, was to have more time for 'fun & recreation', rather than working into the small hours as I used to do as a single Londoner. This is totally doable, but typically, I burn the candle at both ends and then wonder why my productivity levels plummet. I must get more sleep!  Anyway...

Check this link... it will take you to a page where you can download a montage of one of the round table discussions at the European Corporate Podcasting Summit. Not sure I agree with everything that's being said there and will blog more about that over at www.PodcastProductionCo.com just as soon as I've cleared my backlog.

I'm always banging on about how blogs and podcasts are one of the most effective ways to build your brand - and as far as ROI goes, it wipes the floor with most other options.

Well, it's been a long time coming... and here, in episode 3 of Blogging for Business, Consultant Anna Farmery shares not only her own success with blogs and podcasts as a tool to grow her business - The Engaging Brand - but also, how she is helping big business with Training & Development and Internal Communications - using blogs, podcasts and other social media.

Click on "continue reading" link below for full episode notes and references.

3 Ways to Listen:

Subscribe to this podcast feed (free)

Click to Download MP3 now

Listen now - just press play...

PODCAST NOTES

0' 0" - Announcing the new format, my big news and the bronze aardvark!
1' 32" - Introducing this episode's guest, consultant Anna Farmery
3' 22" - About Anna and her consultancy, The Engaging Brand
8' 23" - Anna shares how she uses blogs and podcasts to develop her own business, and...
10' 09" - for Learning & Development and Internal Communications purposes within others.
12' 41" - Anna's take on the technical aspects of Blogging and in particular Podcasting - Do you need to be a geek? - and what she's doing to allay the fears.
18' 29 - Claire confesses her BIG PODCASTING MISTAKE - and Anna shares a key learning about podcast content.
21' 05" - Anna talks about her blog and how she's so quickly building a community around it
26' 14" - Anna's final message to prospective business bloggers and podcasters... "Choose the tool that suits the need."
28' 40" - Claire sums up and signs out.

PODCAST LINKS

The Engaging Brand Blog - Anna Farmery's blog and podcast home.
http://www.theengagingbrand.typepad.com

Women In Podcasting - supporting female bloggers and podcasters at all levels.
http://www.womeninpodcasting.co.uk

International Podcasting Expo (Online)

MyBlogLog.com - building online communities
http://www.mybloglog.com/

MyChingo.com - audio comments
http://www.mychingo.com

The Arc of Stars - stunningly beautiful and inspiring music from Jason Rogers' Arc of Stars
http://www.myspace.com/thearcofstars

Following on from my last post about the value of audio on your blog (site), I came across a really interesting discussion over on Suzanne Falter-Barns's Get Known Now blog about whether people like websites that instantly play audio...

Suzanne reports on a recent survey carried out by Tessa Stowe of SalesConversation.com in Australia which found that only 13.6% of repondents like automatic audio. I just left a comment saying that it's an absolute 'no-no' for me. If I land on a site with instant audio, I back out immediately deciding that this is a person whose opinion (ergo character) I cannot trust.  I'm not saying that I'm right to think that, but I do. I find it discourteous. Let me decide if I want to listen to 'your' audio. 

What's your opinion? Love it? Hate it? Live with it?
Click on 'Comments' below and leave yours...

There's lots of talk in the blogosphere at the moment about 'bling for your blog'. Added to your blog, these little 'widgets' enhance it in some way.  It might be about building a network or community, or encouraging conversation or it could be about engaging people. In a minute, I'm going to tell you about one that does all three, but first let me tell you why you need to know about this.

As you may know, my background is in corporate marketing - specifically 'experiential' marketing and 'brand experience'.  Now, I don't know the stats off the top of my head, but when selling a product or service - particularly a new one, the clincher is to get that product into consumers' hands, homes and/or lifestyles. That's why brands are so keen to 'engage' their potential customers. If I get your attention but don't engage with you - I'm just making you aware that I exist. If I get your attention and we engage - then we are building a relationship with each other and there is more chance that a sale will follow. That's also why I had food company clients spending between 350k and 3.5m UKP per annum on cooking and tasting demos and free samples outside supermarkets!

So how does this relate to business blogging?

Well, this is a major part of the 'blog marketing' story. It's not all about traffic and Google results, you know. As I said, it's about brand experience, engagement, trust and rapport.

Blogs allow us to build these things because the conversational style tends to mean we reveal a bit more of ourselves. I'm talking about personal 'authenticity' here - being our true selves - not trying to portray an image of what we think people want.  If you are working alone or heading a small company, then who you are either is your brand or heavily influences it at least.  (Actually, this is one of the reasons why corporates are still slightly afeared of blogs and staff unofficially blogging - what happens if the blogging voice is not 'on brand'?).

Blogs are designed for conversations, sharing, debate - think Comments, Trackbacks, RSS - and again, these activities are all about engagement.

So would you agree then, that you should be doing whatever you can to encourage your blog visitors to engage with you? Of course you should! And this new widget does exactly that in brilliant way... we're talking Audio Comments.  Now I already had my Comments and Questions line, but this has distinct advantages:

The MobaTalk Audio Comment System (or MyChingo as its also known as) appears as a little audio player module on your blog or website.  Visitors can click on the messages that others have left behind and play them - imagine having people record testimonials, thank yous, congratulations on your great service etc. Hearing an audio testimonial is always going to be more effective than reading something in writing, because we humans communicate using humour, tone, speed, inflection etc. And we are back to authenticity again - you just know when someone is being genuine (or not) when they speak.  So, having heard these audio comments,  listeners will not only be more inclined to engage, but they are also likely to perpetuate the cycle and leave their own message at some stage.

To do that, all you need do is click on the button and you are taken to a page where you'll see a box to input your name and email address and a set of clickable audio player/recorder controls.  Wearing your usual Skype headset, you now click on the record button and talk. It really couldn't be simpler.

Once the visitor has hit the send message button, the comment system host/owner will receive an email letting you know you have a message. You log into your account online and listen to the message. If you are happy to share, you press 'Make Public'.

Have a play around with mine - leave me a message.  (It's over there in the left hand margin).  And don't worry, if you don't like how it sounds, you don't have to leave it for me - just do it again. This is a seriously good little widget and if you have any business blogging sense at all, you will go get MyChingo now!

To get the most from your business blog, add a few bells and whistles which'll instantly turn it into an eCommerce platform.  For example, you see that 'sign up box' for my Blog Digest mailing list there on the right?  Well, that's generated by an 'autoresponder' which also delivers it (when I actually get round to writing it). The 'autoresponder' functionality is just one element of a 'shopping cart' system I use called TotalBusinessCart, a UK version of 1ShoppingCart.

If you are starting a new venture and recognise that using the Internet as your main marketing vehicle is the smart way to go, then you want a shopping cart system.  I've seen a few similar products over the years, but this is by far and away the most comprehensive - along with the only other eCommerce solution I can recommend - ValuedClientSystem. And guess what? They are essentially the very same product rebadged!

Both brands provide a complete ecommerce solution which means clients can place orders and make payments online. You can track orders and manage your customer database more efficiently.  You now have a way to deliver digital products eg. eBooks, MP3s and special reports. You can track and measure the effectiveness of your ad campaigns and you even get 'the perfect sales force' in the form of a sophisticated affiliate management scheme - how cool is that?! 

I know the folks behind both products personally - and they are all genuinely lovely people, so it's impossible for me to favour one over the other.  So I'm going to leave it to you to decide which of the two you go with... check them both out and then flick a coin or something :o)

or
...TotalBusinessCart.com or ...ValuedClientSystem.com

Now, which system will you choose for your business?

My bed is calling, but I want to share this practical blogging tip with you while I think of it...

Have you ever experienced that thing where you put your post together, carefully formatting to get the paragraph spacing right, and then once you publish it, the paragraph space seems to have vanished? And no matter how many times you hit the enter key to create new paragraph spacing, the space always gets swallowed up?

Or you find that something which looks fine in the 'Compose Post' box before you publish, somehow changes to giant or teeny size letters as soon as you publish it?

Well, chances are that when that last happened to you, it was because you

were using text copied and pasted from another source, eg. a website or a 'Word' doc.  Nothing wrong with that in itself, but when you copied and pasted the text, you also captured a load of 'invisible' code that your blog is 'struggling to read' and make sense of.  But there's a really simply solution which will prevent this happening...

When copying text from another source ALWAYS paste it first into a 'Notepad' doc, then copy it again within that new doc and then paste it into your blog.  Here are the steps then...

1 - Highlight and copy relevant text in source document or website.

2 - Paste into new 'Notepad' document.

3 - Within the new 'Notepad' doc., highlight and copy same text again.

4 - Paste into blog post box.

What's 'Notepad'?

Try looking here... from 'Start' (bottom left of screen probably) select 'All Programs' then 'Accessories'. You'll see 'Notepad' in the drop down list.

Now I'm settled in Cardiff, I've finally put some dates in the diary for the first DIY Blogsite Telecourse of 2007.  This blogging course is for you if you want to learn how to configure your own business blog. (Syllabus details here.)  There are only 5 places to guarantee a good 'student:tutor ratio' and although I haven't announced it to the wider world yet, I already have 2 bookings - so don't hang around if you want to reserve your place.

The course will run on 5 consecutive Thursdays at 7.30pm GMT.  That's 2.30pm in New York and 11.30am in California.  (Get the equivalent time where you are here.)

The dates are: 15th February, 22 February, 1 March, 8 March and 15 March.

The entire course of 5 lessons costs just $357/£187.  We'll be using Typepad, so you will be required to start an account with them for $8.95 a month - that's less than a fiver in UK pounds. You will be calling a US bridge line, so if you don't already have a cheap international call rate provider, you might want to get an account with www.1899.com which will mean calls cost just 1p per minute when you dial 1899 before the number.

To book your place and pay using a credit card or PayPal account, just click on the following button:

It's been a while since I shared any of my work with you...  Many of my clients need a little time to get into the swing of things before they reveal their business blogs to the wider world, but not this one!

  Click on the image (left) to enlarge these before and after pics.

Debbie Bissett is an inspiration! She runs at least three businesses, invests in property and is currently learning about stocks and shares. She wants her blog to act as a traffic driver to her businesses as well as to document and share resources on her wealth creation journey.

I've only spoken to Debbie for 2-3 hours in total - but it's already clear that she is one dynamic, positive, fun- and life-loving individual. When she contacted me, she had already set up her blog using Typepad, but was struggling to get to grips with how it all worked and turn her blog into something she could be really proud of. (She confessed to me later that she "hated Typepad"... at least she did before she came to me!

She told me later that she no longer hated Typepad and it all seemed so much easier and this is what she emailed to friends and colleagues,

"Hi all

I'm such a happy bunny to say that my newly designed blog has now been "officially" launched and I'm absolutely thrilled to bits!!

If you want to have a look, just go to www.DebbieBissett.com and you can see what an amazing difference Claire has made. I now have something that I'm REALLY proud have!!! I hope you all love the design as much as I do!

Debs x"

Was following a blog trail earlier and came across a post written back in July 2005 on www.Inc.com - absolutely aeons ago in the blogging world - or is it? Have things really changed that much?

Having established that "Weblogs are a viable way to build brand awareness and establish an individual's expertise in a particular area." [Yep, still completely relevant] Carole Matthews continues, "To help lessen the anxiety you might feel about blogging, [no change there then] we... uncover the top 10 things you should know before you blog. These tips should help better prepare you for writing and maintaining a weblog for your business."  Read the rest of the article here.

Now I don't know about you, but I reckon that every one of those 10 points is as true today as it was then. The key differences between now and then are that a) more people know about the value of business blogging now - and b) as far as I can see, small business has perhaps overtaken corporate business as far as business blogging 'take up' goes.  What do you think?  Click on the Comments link below to share your thoughts. (Email address optional.)