Blogs, Books, & Podcasts – Week 3
December 22nd, 2008 by Leo WurschmidtI have a couple of recommendations for some good blog advice and web marketing reading for this week’s BB&P post. This week we are giving a shout-out to John’s (a.k.a. human3rror’s) blog over at ChurchCrunch. We also point out a good discussion on how you can use different criteria for Google’s AdWords to become a better PPC advertiser.
Whether he has notoriety or not, John is one of the best bloggers you will find. (If you want a list of reasons why I believe this call me, email me, or ask in the comments.) Therefore, if John provides a list with best practices for creating an effective blog I would listen. That is the reason I am including his post on this week’s recommendations.
As you read his post, you should ask yourself the following questions.
- Does your blog have a voice?
- Is your (and your company’s) personality coming through the posts? Hint: if you have a blog that is Big-Blue-stiff then the answer is probably no (think IBM of the 80′s and early 90′s).
- If someone is reading your blog posts, can they immediately identify your business passions and obsessions?
- Are your posts well thought out and (mostly) grammatically correct (hint: avoid stream of consciousness writing)?
- Are you trying to create a successful blog? Honestly?
Read on for more his valuable good-blogging advice. The original article came from 43Folders.
Google Adwords – Gaining more precise control over your keywords
I usually do not advise most people to use Google Adwords. With that said, Google created a great program to try and increase traffic from search engine results for those that are willing to pay a little money. The PPC option has allowed businesses to target specific groups of people, thus making advertising slightly more effective. My advice; however, usually directs businesses to put their efforts into creating stronger organic search engine result first. I could go on, but this is not the point of my post today.
A forum topic I recently found provided advice on how to make Google Adwords even more effective: include negative keywords with your keyword matches. If you currently use Google AdWords or are thinking about it then I would recommend checking this out. You can also view Google’s AdWords support for more detailed information on this topic.
A quick example from Google’s AdWords support:
Say you bought the keyword “blue mercedes car” on broad match. Here’s how the different versions of the negative keyword “fast blue” would affect this ad.
1) -fast blue (Negative)
POSSIBLE SEARCHES:
blue mercedes car – WOULD SHOW
blue fast mercedes car – WOULD NOT SHOW
mercedes fast car – WOULD SHOW
car blue mercedes fast – WOULD NOT SHOW
fast blue – WOULD NOT SHOW
blue fast – WOULD NOT SHOW
fast blue mercedes car – WOULD NOT SHOW
Read more from the web marketing forum.
Read more from Google Adwords support.
Your two cents
What did you think about John’s post concerning good blogging? What would you add to the list of effective blogging techniques? Do you think your passion shines through in your blog posts? Do you ever use negative keywords during your Google searches? Do you use Google AdWords? Let me know in the comments below. I would love to hear your thoughts.
Tags: blogging, Blogs, recommendations, web marketing
