Esther Crawford from ShePosts.com and Jennifer James from Mom Bloggers Club got together and created this fabulous ebook called From Blog to Business.  Don’t let the price fool you – this is one valuable tool if you have a blog or are interested in starting one!  These experienced ladies give you all the information you need to figure out how to monetize your blog, where and how to find sponsors, and how much to charge.  You’ll also find sample forms and marketing materials to help you create a professional media kit that can help you attract sponsors and advertisers.  Head over to FromBlogToBusiness.com to get your copy today!

1)  Decide on a domain name.

If you already have a website for your business then you might want to use something like blog.mybusiness.com or mybusiness.com/blog as the web address for your blog.  If you haven’t already purchased a domain name then you’ll need to go ahead and register one, we highly recommend using GoDaddy as the registrar where you’ll pay about $10/year for the domain name.  There are several services that will allow you to start a blog for free without even registering a name, however the drawbacks of going this route  are that it doesn’t look as professional to have a web address like mybusiness.myfreeblogplace.com and you don’t have complete control over your own blog with this method.

2)  Host the blog.

Now that you have a domain name you’ll need to get it hosted – fees for hosting range from free to a couple hundred bucks a month.  When you’re just starting out with your blog and traffic isn’t yet an issue, you can easily get everything you need for less than $5/month.  Hosting through GoDaddy starts at $4.95/month and includes more email addresses than you’ll need and excellent customer service.  In fact, they’ll even setup the blog for you, just click the box to have WordPress installed when you setup your hosting account.

3)  Choose a Theme

There is more than one option when it comes to choosing your blogging software but WordPress is by far the leader in the field.  It is free to use and because it is so prevalent, you’ll find lots of themes, plugins, and online tutorials that will help you to customize and use WordPress.  The most enjoyable part of creating your blog is probably choosing the theme!  Take some time and really think about what you want for your blog, look around at other blogs and make some notes on what you like about them.  Do you want a large header image or no header image?  Do you need a dropdown menu?  Do you want one, two or three sidebars?  Should they be on the left, right or both sides?  Once you have a rough idea of the format you’d like, do a Google search for ‘free WordPress themes’ and start scrolling through them to find ones that most closely match your list.  Keep in mind that it is much easier to change the theme’s colors and images than it is to change its format and overall layout.

4)  Settings and Plugins

Once you’ve picked out a theme and have updated it with your own images and color scheme, you’ll want to take a look at the blog’s settings.  This is where you’ll decide things like what to use for the blog’s title, whether comments will need to approved, and what format to use for links to posts and pages.  Although it is easy to change, you should carefully consider what to use for your blog’s title since it will show up in the title bar for your web pages.  The link format is also an important decision because this is not very easy to change later.  Your options include links formatted with the post number or post title in them.  If you decide to change this format at a later date, it is technically easy to do but any links back to your pages will no longer work so this is not recommended.

All sorts of plugins are available, most for free, that add different functions to your blog.  For example, you can add plugins that will check your traffic, add contact forms, pull in YouTube videos, follow tweets on Twitter and much, much more.  There are plugins that will display your eBay listings  or Etsy listings in the sidebar, and some that will work with PayPal and other payment processors to add a shopping cart directly to your blog.

5)  Start Blogging

You should post on your blog regularly – this can be daily, weekly, monthly, whatever you decide – just be sure to keep up pretty much the same schedule so your readers will know what to expect from you.  Start out with a welcome post that thanks your readers for visiting with you, then just keep it going with other news and information about your business, your products, any press or media attention, and don’t forget to announce your sales and specials as well as any charitable events or causes that you might participate in.  If you plan to blog daily then consider writing up an editorial calendar that lists your planned topics for each day of the week so you don’t find yourself scrounging for topics.  For example, you might decide to announce new weekly specials on Mondays, list some tips on Tuesday, on Wednesdays answer reader questions, link to tutorials on Thursdays, and so forth. 

6)  Let the world know!

Now all you need to do is get the word out!  Start by putting the web address to your blog on your business cards or in any ads or print materials you produce for your business.  Visit forums and other blogs or websites in your industry where you have something to offer to the conversation and start joining in, making sure to leave a link to your blog in your comments of course.  Use a signature file in all of your outgoing emails that includes a link to your blog.  By using these methods and providing valuable content, you’ll be able to build links, traffic AND more sales for your business!

1)  Build Your Reputation

This is especially important for small businesses - you likely can’t afford big splashy television ads or radio announcements, so what better way to get your message out to the masses than through the creation of a blog.  Post your success stories, talk about charitable causes you support, and demonstrate how your products will solve problems for your customers, all of these will help to build your brand image and reputation.

2)  Create Relationships

Do you know who your customers really are?  The more you know about them and their likes and dislikes, the easier it will be for you to find more customers like them.  A business blog is a wonderful opportunity to learn from and interact with your customers and potential customers and can be an invaluable market research tool.

3)  Customer Loyalty

The closer your customers feel to you and the more they know about you, the more loyal they will become.  When your customers feel like they’re being heard and appreciated they will keep coming back to you.

4)  Customer Service

As a small business owner myself I have probably struggled the most with customer service.  It is one of the easiest things to let slide when a business is taking off and your attention is demanded elsewhere.  A blog provides you with an easy way to both give and receive customer feedback.

5)  Increase Traffic

If you already have a website for your business, adding a blog that is updated regularly (weekly, bi-weekly, or whatever, it doesn’t have to be updated daily) will increase both traffic and page rank for your site.  Because websites tend to stay the same for long periods of time they’re not spidered by search engines as often as blogs are and since your blog will provide keyword rich content about your business to the search engines, your site will benefit in more ways than one!

6)  Cheap Marketing Tool

You can start a business blog for as little as $5 a month, where else can you get the opportunity for exposure and a wide open stage for your products and services for only $5 a month?  The possibilities to display your products and increase visibility for your business through news, announcements, giveaways and other promotional activities are endless.

7)  It’s Easy (and Fun!)

You don’t have to be a computer geek or a technical wizard to run a blog!  Your blog can be up and running overnight even if you don’t have a clue about how to setup or design a website, and updating a blog is easy to do from any place you’ve got web access – just login to the blog, type up your post, add a hyperlink or an image by hitting those buttons then click publish. 

Check back Thursday for a post on “How to Setup and Run a Blog for Your Business” that will describe all the steps needed to get your blog started!

This Sewing Business blog was started on a different platform and later switched over to WordPress. Although the transition was a bit of a pain, it was a great business decision and now we wonder why we didn’t make the move sooner! WordPress is one of the most robust and customizable blog platforms available and now there is a terrific new book out called Digging Into WordPress that shows you how to tap all of the potential of WordPress and take your blog to a whole new level.

This 400+ page PDF book is written for both beginners and experienced WordPress users and focuses on teaching you how to improve your site using many different techniques, tips, and tricks. Each technique is fully self-contained and provides complete instructions and clear explanations to make implementation a breeze.  As you learn how to maximize, optimize and streamline your site, you’ll also get tons of bonus information including “pop-out” boxes and side notes with insider information, and many more awesome techniques to improve your WordPress-powered site.

The PDF version of the book is only $27, however you can also pre-order the print version and get the PDF too for $67.  Frankly, I prefer the PDF version since you can easily search for what you need and you’re able to copy and paste any code you might like to use.  Click here for more information and a preview of what’s inside the book.

All information published on the Sewing Business Blog is provided “as is” without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement and warranties of merchantability. Offers and prices are correct according to the best of our knowledge when posted but may change without notice. All pictures, banners, logos, and trademarks belong to their respective owners. The views in comments on Sewing Business Blog are not necessarily the views of this blog and Sewing Business Blog is not responsible for those types of comments/statements. For content-related questions, including reporting inappropriate or questionable material, as well as merchant requests for inclusion on this blog, please email support@sewingbusiness.com.

This policy is valid from 04 December 2009

This blog is a collaborative blog written by a group of individuals. For questions about this blog, please contact  support@sewingbusiness.com.

This blog accepts forms of cash advertising, sponsorship, paid insertions or other forms of compensation.  This blog abides by word of mouth marketing standards. We believe in honesty of relationship, opinion and identity. The compensation received may influence the advertising content, topics or posts made in this blog. That content, advertising space or post will be clearly identified as paid or sponsored content.

The owner(s) of this blog is compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. Even though the owner(s) of this blog receives compensation for our posts or advertisements, we always give our honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences on those topics or products. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the bloggers’ own. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider or party in question.

The owner(s) of this blog would like to disclose the following existing relationships. These are companies, organizations or individuals that may have a significant impact on the content of this blog. We are employed by or consult with: SewWithSarah.com, PatternsThatFitYou.com, Patterns2Go.com, SewMachineRepair.com, SewingWithLeather.com and other sites affiliated with SpecterWeb.com LLC.

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Jill is a full-time mom and a part-time crafter who generously shares her sewing and craft projects and tips through her blog.  Recent projects include this gorgeous ruffled pillow, which is a refashioned shirt that Jill has now recycled for the second time, a recovered office chair, and my favorite, artwork for her new apartment that she made from blank canvases and tissue paper.

Jill Green of Homemade by Jill

The blog earns Jill enough extra cash through advertising to cover her craft expenses and even enough to save a bit for a rainy day.  She’s happy with that, and with being able to create “whatever is striking my fancy at the moment”, but she’s looking forward to being able to devote more time to sewing and turning her hobby into a business when the time is right.

Visit Jill’s blog for all sorts of sewing projects, home decor, paper crafts, decoupage and crazy crocheted animal hats.

1.  Increase Traffic

2.  Build Customer Loyalty

3.  Build Your Reputation

4.  Improve Communications

Blogs offer a unique way to keep a dialogue with your customers, unlike typical one-way marketing messages.  Keeping the lines of communication open with a blog allows you the flexibility to communicate with both existing and potential customers, while promoting your business.  This gives you the opportunity to give and receive feeback in an open manner that fosters a positive image of your business.

A couple of years ago many people didn’t even know what a blog was, now their popularity has exploded because they are free or cheap to setup and easy to maintain.  Don’t overlook this low cost method of marketing your business online!

• Build a community around a topic
  
• Allow for feedback from visitors
  
• Increase your credibility
  
• Highlight your personality
  
• Develop friendships

Building a blog is a cost effective way to market your business even if you have a tight budget.  Your blog will allow you to start a conversation with potential customers and others in your field.  The open ended aspect of a blog that allows for readers comments engenders trust and promotes credibility. 

Many people find it difficult to trust online businesses and advertising, but they do build trust with strangers and even make friends online with those who they feel have credibility.  For this reason, blogging can be as effective as word of mouth marketing.

Be sure to ask your visitors for their comments.  Don’t block negative comments, politely respond to them instead and use them to help clarify any potential issues.  Visit other blogs in your field and comment on them.  Build relationships with these other bloggers, respect their time and their blogs – don’t overtly advertise your products and links in your posts.

If you don’t already have a blog, it is both cheap and easy to get one started.  TypePad and Moveable Type are two of the most popular, with TypePad starting at $4.95 and Moveable Type designed for larger enterprises.  We use QuickBlogCast by GoDaddy for this blog and we highly recommend their service, which starts at as little as $3.99 per month. 

Using a blog to increase awareness of and market your business is fast, flexible, inexpensive and fun!