Setting up a blog

[sewsweet]

So, who has a blog out there. I am thinking about adding one to my site. How hard is it to set up the wordpress blog for a yahoo store? Just wondering who has managed to accomplish setting up one on your own.

[mattb]

Hi Debra!

Setting up a blog on Yahoo! is really easy. If you visit your Webhosting Control Panel, go to the Create and Update tab. On here, you have the choice of using one of three platforms for your blog: Yahoo!, WordPress, and Movable Type. For beginners, I personally recommend using the Yahoo! blogging platform (because it's so easy to use).

When you set the blog up, make sure you DON'T set the blog as your homepage, or you'll find your store is missing

If you have any questions, shoot me a message or post here!

[2smokingbarrels]

There are some challenges, the least of which is actually creating the blog.

Marine Depot Blog

We did ours through Blogger; we eventually moved it to our own servers because we found putting the blogspot address in our email marketing got some messages marked as spam by ISPs.

First, getting employees to contribute I think has been the biggest challenge. I find most of the time it's really just me posting stuff (a marketing dude). Second, the balance of what is interesting to your readers and what serves the interests of your company (namely, sales). Truth be told, our blog doesn't generate a whole heckuva lot of money. It has had some victories though; recently I read a review from a customer on BizRate that said he finds deals at MarineDepot.com on our blog. That made me .

The most important thing you can do to help your blog succeed is to participate in the blogosphere. You need to dedicate an hour or two per week to visiting like-minded blogs (for us, it's people blogging about aquariums) and commenting on their stuff. If you want to draw in free traffic and have loyal readership, you need to be an active blogger ... and that doesn't mean just posting.

The other useful thing you pick up while "networking" on your customers blogs is what type of widgets they use; that way, you can incorporate those community elements on your own blog. Widgets can stimulate a communal vibe and create a level of familiarity for readers, which will make them feel comfortable and want to participate in some of the stuff you have going on, like polls and whatnot.

Lastly, don't be too sales oriented. We've found the best approach is to just be honest and passionate about your niche and throw in the occasional product-related post. For us, it's a deal of the week, new product announcements, best of's, etc.

Good luck with your blog! Oh, Ping-o-Matic! is useful, too.

[cactus_donnat]

Originally Posted by 2smokingbarrels

There are some challenges, the least of which is actually creating the blog.

Marine Depot Blog

We did ours through Blogger; we eventually moved it to our own servers because we found putting the blogspot address in our email marketing got some messages marked as spam by ISPs.
........
Good luck with your blog! Oh, Ping-o-Matic! is useful, too.

2smokingbarrels gave some great advice. Not just blogging, but being an active blogger is where it really pays off- reading other blogs and making comments is a surefire way to gain traffic and thus a loyal reader.

I agree to use your blog more socially-- not a hard sale- but maybe more personal stories, anecdotes, etc. Still link to new products, etc. but don't make each post a sales pitch. This is a great place to write about cool things happening at your company or in your community.

This is a space where you can make people want to buy from you!

Of course a blog is great for SEO- but I truly feel it can also boost consumer confidence and repeat business-- blogs allow you to communicate and build a relationship at the same time.

There are lots of blogging communities like BlogRoll and the like where you can gain reciprocal traffic-- using AddThis helps too- that's where you can have an image on your blog where people can add it to all of their favorite bookmarking sites like Digg, De.Lic.ious, etc. I do this on my personal blog and find to get lots of hits and comments from all over.

As far as the blog itself goes, I use Blogger. I love it. Also- don't forget to add your blog as a link on your social networking sites, too!

If you are using a free software like Wordpress, TypePad or Blogger right now and wish the blog could look like your e-commerce site, you can talk to someone at SC- we do offer blog design as a service if you were not aware.

[cactus_jeanl]

Originally Posted by 2smokingbarrels

The most important thing you can do to help your blog succeed is to participate in the blogosphere. You need to dedicate an hour or two per week to visiting like-minded blogs (for us, it's people blogging about aquariums) and commenting on their stuff. If you want to draw in free traffic and have loyal readership, you need to be an active blogger ... and that doesn't mean just posting.

This is some great advice! Whatever you write about, you need to be active and keep up on your blogging. Make a few days a week your posting days and stick to that. Your readers will get used to regular updates on certain days of the week. What you post about is up to you. It can be industry news, new or interesting products or even something unrelated to your site if you think it will be interesting!

You should read other blogs and leave comments, but make sure they are quality comments. You want to add to the conversation and make a good impression. You'll catch the attention of the blogger and their readers, who will travel to your blog to see what you have to say. You just want to avoid coming off as trying to promote your store in the comments.

[Kaleidoscope Karl]

I am adding a blog now as well for our Kaleidoscope Site

adding content about artists adding a picture of the week. We have decided as a company we have to make time to add content weekly or at least montly for our customers and hopefully we can gain new customers trust as experts in our small nitche

Karl

[Charmlady]

Hi Debra

Adding a blog through Yahoo Hosting is pretty simple - the difficult part is finding time to add to it. We started a blog last fall and although I do add content to it, its difficult to find the time to do it.

I think the best way to do it, is somehow get your customers to interact with it - so THEY post to it too...

Also a great way to introduce new products to your customers - and maybe even send an email blast to them letting them know its out there, to check it often as you add new products.

Ours is very basic, but you can get creative, if you have the time.

[mattb]

If you're looking for a way to make sure you blog often, try installing a program like Windows Live Writer or Flock (both are free). You can easily compose a blog post, just like you would write an email. No more logging in, finding the page to write the post, etc.

[Charmlady]

Ok I have just updated the design of my Blog - and the new resolution is to post to it 3x a week... Lets see how I make out...

Check it out Charming Memoirs

Any input, let me know..

[cactus_donnat]

Originally Posted by Charmlady

Ok I have just updated the design of my Blog - and the new resolution is to post to it 3x a week... Lets see how I make out...

Check it out Charming Memoirs

Any input, let me know..

Liz, your blog looks fantastic! I enjoyed reading through your posts- I like personal stories of customers- nice job weaving those in.