21 Benefits of Blogging and 22 Blogging Tips

Combine “web” with “log” and you get “blog.” It’s a funny word, but serious business.This post is about blogging for business – with a purpose. We have a lot to cover, so we’ll knock it out as efficiently as possible with a series of lists.We’ll get right to it.Who should read this post? Non – blogger – You’ve never had a blog and you need to fix that now.
Unfulfilled blogger – You blogged for a bit. Magic never struck.
Beginning blogger – You blog, but don’t really know what you’re doing.
Regular blogger – You’ll pick up tips from a fellow blogger.
Expert blogger – You could steal the good stuff for your blog.
None of the above – You have nothing better to do, but to read about blogging.21 benefits of blogging with purpose. Connect with customers – A blog is a practical and powerful way to share useful, relevant information with customers.
Connect with partners – Blogging allows you to connect and team up with influencers and leaders who can be instrumental in building your business.
Generate traffic – A strategically planned blog, with carefully chosen keywords in play, will show up in search and drive traffic to your landing pages.
Establish authority – Your business blog is the hub of your content marketing efforts where you share your expertise.
Win business – 60% of businesses who blog acquire more customers, says HubSpot.
Inspire your social media – If you’re using social media effectively, you’re sharing your blog posts regularly and taking advantage of the magical amplification of social networks.
Increase reach – Your blog will be shared and find new eyeballs daily.
Grow your email database – Your blog should inspire people to opt into your email newsletter list. Also, your email feeds traffic to your blog.
Give your company a voice – A blog is your pulpit, your publication, your journal – the place where you talk about whatever you choose, however you choose.
Humanize your company – That voice needs personality. Great bloggers are genuine. Your personality comes into play, that is, if you aim to make real connections.
Exchange ideas – Blogs obliterate the wall that once stood between a company and its customers. You encourage interaction, comments and feedback. You create a conversation.
Get (and stay) customer focused – By blogging, you’ll learn how to speak in your customers’ terms, perpetually improve this vital skill and grow more in touch with your audience’s wants and needs.
Inspires content and productivity – Blogging is hard work. You need processes. Commitment. Consistency. You’ll need to step up – and you’ll be rewarded for doing so.
Increase focus – A subtle addendum to the point above, blogging consistently forces you to define who you are trying to reach and why.
Generate publicity – As I mentioned, business bloggers establish authority. Stick with it and demonstrate you know your niche and you’ll get asked for interviews frequently.
Invite outsiders in – While business blogger should refrain from being relentlessly promotional, the blog is an appropriate forum for delivering insight into your company, its values, and people.
Get strategic – You’ll get in the habit of closely examining the site’s analytics and gather all kinds of insights about what does and doesn’t appeal to your audience. Your marketing will get more strategic by day.
Learn – We’ll get a bit warm and fuzzy now, but there’s no denying you are going to learn a lot about yourself and the world around you. It comes with being a writer.
Get inspired – The research, the conversation, the experience… it’s inspiring. Trust me on this: a switch gets turned on and it’s impossible to turn off.
Have fun – Perhaps not everyone will agree blogging is fun, but I believe every great blogger gets into it and enjoys the ride.
Make millions – Maybe, maybe not. However, business blogging with purpose works. Every post is a long – term asset. Learn how to blog and you’ll lower your marketing costs and increase sales.Let’s look at how to do it.22 tips for blogging with purpose.I have to give a shout out here to my man, mentor, friend, Marcus Sheridan, a.k.a. The Sales Lion. No one understands and teaches the practice of blogging quite like Marcus. I won’t be replicating his great post, “50 Qualities of the Best Business Blogs in the World” here, but I did draw these ideas from it (and encourage you to check it out). Answer questions – Listen closely to questions prospects and customers ask and answer every one of them in your posts.
Teach, don’t preach – Avoid making your blog a heavy handed attempt to advertise your products. Adopt an educator’s mentality and you’ll win your reader’s trust.
Converse – Ask questions of your readers, encourage feedback, counterpoints and criticism. Respond to comments as promptly as possible in an effort to exchange ideas.
Create a blogging culture – Invite everyone in your company and its constituents to contribute ideas and participate in the blog.
Use images – Take advantage of the appeal of photos, illustrations, charts and infographics to increase your stopping power and make the posts more attractive.
Make it easy on the eyes – Use short paragraphs, line breaks, white space, subheads and lists to make your posts look inviting.
Be transparent – Write with uncompromising integrity and don’t be afraid to address real issues, problems, challenges, and yes, prices. Don’t avoid the tough questions. Tackle them.
Remove internal barriers – There’s no place in blogging for corporate red tape. Get permission in advance to write openly and honestly.
Don’t back down – Some readers (or co – workers) don’t love what you have to say? Say it anyway. It’s not a popularity contest.
Be consistent – The number one reasons blogs fail is they are neglected. Set a schedule and stick to it. Make the time to post often. No excuses.
Nix the fluff – Your posts can be short or long. Just don’t babble your way through them. Serve meat and go easy on the gravy.
Recognize others – Congratulate, write about and recognize customers, employees, partners, industry influencers and even competitors. Being generous will only help. You’ll enjoy reciprocity.
Optimize – Research and use the keyword phrases that will increase your search engine rankings. Install plugins to assist you with SEO.
Write passionately – Make your passion pulse through your prose. Tap into your reader’s emotions.
Tell stories – Learn how to become a master storyteller. Observe how the best bloggers unravel plots and develop characters.
Include customers – Drop the secrecy and anonymity. Cite real customers, real challenges and real solutions.
Invest seriously – Blogging only burns time and money when it’s a low priority. Invest in the tools you need and put the best writers and designers on your blog.
Market and sell – Don’t write ads and press releases disguised as blog posts, but do include a call to action and guide your readers along the path to discovering your solutions.
Stay tuned – Follow your industry daily and stay on top of what your peers are saying.
Encourage sharing – Don’t forget to offer social media buttons to make it easy for readers to share and email your content.
Promote your blog – Promoting a post can (and probably should) take more time than writing it. Write teasers for your content and promote it across social networks and all potential touch points.
Have fun – Never be stiff, formal, or jam useless jargon into your posts. You have the stage. Relax. Be entertaining. Allow yourself to have fun with the writingBusiness blogs are a major challenge.Blogs are the hardest channel for business to keep updated – and to really nail.Passle, makers of a blogging shortcut service of sorts, recently studied 525 businesses and reviewed their performance across blogs, company news pages, Twitter and Facebook. Their study, “The State of Business Blogging 2013,” reported: 75% of companies don’t update their websites in any way.
Only 20% have a blog and over one – third of them are inactive.
1 in 8 companies have an active blog.Ouch. Please understand…Business blogs should/can/will grow your business. 57% of companies with a blog have acquired a customer from their blog.
61% of U.S. online consumers have made a purchase based on recommendations from a blog.
Blogs attract repeat visitors who continue to come back to the website for fresh content.
­Blogging allows you to team up with people who already have an audience, which is an instantaneous way to attract readers.The figures above are conservative. Blogging gets more important everyday. Start now.Visit http://feldmancreative.com/

S&P 500 Rallies As U.S. Dollar Pulls Back Towards Weekly Lows

Key Insights
The strong pullback in the U.S. dollar provided significant support to stocks.
Treasury yields have pulled back after touching new highs, which served as an additional positive catalyst for S&P 500.
A move above 3730 will push S&P 500 towards the resistance level at 3760.
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Pfizer Rallies After Announcing A Huge Price Hike For Its COVID-19 Vaccines
S&P 500 is currently trying to settle above 3730 as traders’ appetite for risk is growing. The U.S. dollar has recently gained strong downside momentum as the BoJ intervened to stop the rally in USD/JPY. Weaker U.S. dollar is bullish for stocks as it increases profits of multinational companies and makes U.S. equities cheaper for foreign investors.

The leading oil services company Schlumberger is up by 9% after beating analyst estimates on both earnings and revenue. Schlumberger’s peers Baker Hughes and Halliburton have also enjoyed strong support today.

Vaccine makers Pfizer and Moderna gained strong upside momentum after Pfizer announced that it will raise the price of its coronavirus vaccine to $110 – $130 per shot.

Biggest losers today include Verizon and Twitter. Verizon is down by 5% despite beating analyst estimates on both earnings and revenue. Subscriber numbers missed estimates, and traders pushed the stock to multi-year lows.

Twitter stock moved towards the $50 level as the U.S. may conduct a security review of Musk’s purchase of the company.

From a big picture point of view, today’s rebound is broad, and most market segments are moving higher. Treasury yields have started to move lower after testing new highs, providing additional support to S&P 500. It looks that some traders are ready to bet that Fed will be less hawkish than previously expected.

S&P 500 Tests Resistance At 3730

S&P 500 has recently managed to get above the 20 EMA and is trying to settle above the resistance at 3730. RSI is in the moderate territory, and there is plenty of room to gain additional upside momentum in case the right catalysts emerge.

If S&P 500 manages to settle above 3730, it will head towards the next resistance level at 3760. A successful test of this level will push S&P 500 towards the next resistance at October highs at 3805. The 50 EMA is located in the nearby, so S&P 500 will likely face strong resistance above the 3800 level.

On the support side, the previous resistance at 3700 will likely serve as the first support level for S&P 500. In case S&P 500 declines below this level, it will move towards the next support level at 3675. A move below 3675 will push S&P 500 towards the support at 3640.

Alternative Financing Vs. Venture Capital: Which Option Is Best for Boosting Working Capital?

There are several potential financing options available to cash-strapped businesses that need a healthy dose of working capital. A bank loan or line of credit is often the first option that owners think of – and for businesses that qualify, this may be the best option.

In today’s uncertain business, economic and regulatory environment, qualifying for a bank loan can be difficult – especially for start-up companies and those that have experienced any type of financial difficulty. Sometimes, owners of businesses that don’t qualify for a bank loan decide that seeking venture capital or bringing on equity investors are other viable options.

But are they really? While there are some potential benefits to bringing venture capital and so-called “angel” investors into your business, there are drawbacks as well. Unfortunately, owners sometimes don’t think about these drawbacks until the ink has dried on a contract with a venture capitalist or angel investor – and it’s too late to back out of the deal.

Different Types of Financing

One problem with bringing in equity investors to help provide a working capital boost is that working capital and equity are really two different types of financing.

Working capital – or the money that is used to pay business expenses incurred during the time lag until cash from sales (or accounts receivable) is collected – is short-term in nature, so it should be financed via a short-term financing tool. Equity, however, should generally be used to finance rapid growth, business expansion, acquisitions or the purchase of long-term assets, which are defined as assets that are repaid over more than one 12-month business cycle.

But the biggest drawback to bringing equity investors into your business is a potential loss of control. When you sell equity (or shares) in your business to venture capitalists or angels, you are giving up a percentage of ownership in your business, and you may be doing so at an inopportune time. With this dilution of ownership most often comes a loss of control over some or all of the most important business decisions that must be made.

Sometimes, owners are enticed to sell equity by the fact that there is little (if any) out-of-pocket expense. Unlike debt financing, you don’t usually pay interest with equity financing. The equity investor gains its return via the ownership stake gained in your business. But the long-term “cost” of selling equity is always much higher than the short-term cost of debt, in terms of both actual cash cost as well as soft costs like the loss of control and stewardship of your company and the potential future value of the ownership shares that are sold.

Alternative Financing Solutions

But what if your business needs working capital and you don’t qualify for a bank loan or line of credit? Alternative financing solutions are often appropriate for injecting working capital into businesses in this situation. Three of the most common types of alternative financing used by such businesses are:

1. Full-Service Factoring – Businesses sell outstanding accounts receivable on an ongoing basis to a commercial finance (or factoring) company at a discount. The factoring company then manages the receivable until it is paid. Factoring is a well-established and accepted method of temporary alternative finance that is especially well-suited for rapidly growing companies and those with customer concentrations.

2. Accounts Receivable (A/R) Financing – A/R financing is an ideal solution for companies that are not yet bankable but have a stable financial condition and a more diverse customer base. Here, the business provides details on all accounts receivable and pledges those assets as collateral. The proceeds of those receivables are sent to a lockbox while the finance company calculates a borrowing base to determine the amount the company can borrow. When the borrower needs money, it makes an advance request and the finance company advances money using a percentage of the accounts receivable.

3. Asset-Based Lending (ABL) – This is a credit facility secured by all of a company’s assets, which may include A/R, equipment and inventory. Unlike with factoring, the business continues to manage and collect its own receivables and submits collateral reports on an ongoing basis to the finance company, which will review and periodically audit the reports.

In addition to providing working capital and enabling owners to maintain business control, alternative financing may provide other benefits as well:

It’s easy to determine the exact cost of financing and obtain an increase.
Professional collateral management can be included depending on the facility type and the lender.
Real-time, online interactive reporting is often available.
It may provide the business with access to more capital.
It’s flexible – financing ebbs and flows with the business’ needs.
It’s important to note that there are some circumstances in which equity is a viable and attractive financing solution. This is especially true in cases of business expansion and acquisition and new product launches – these are capital needs that are not generally well suited to debt financing. However, equity is not usually the appropriate financing solution to solve a working capital problem or help plug a cash-flow gap.

A Precious Commodity

Remember that business equity is a precious commodity that should only be considered under the right circumstances and at the right time. When equity financing is sought, ideally this should be done at a time when the company has good growth prospects and a significant cash need for this growth. Ideally, majority ownership (and thus, absolute control) should remain with the company founder(s).

Alternative financing solutions like factoring, A/R financing and ABL can provide the working capital boost many cash-strapped businesses that don’t qualify for bank financing need – without diluting ownership and possibly giving up business control at an inopportune time for the owner. If and when these companies become bankable later, it’s often an easy transition to a traditional bank line of credit. Your banker may be able to refer you to a commercial finance company that can offer the right type of alternative financing solution for your particular situation.

Taking the time to understand all the different financing options available to your business, and the pros and cons of each, is the best way to make sure you choose the best option for your business. The use of alternative financing can help your company grow without diluting your ownership. After all, it’s your business – shouldn’t you keep as much of it as possible?