Welcome back to the Silentblast Toronto Web Design News Blog. Today we are going to give some pointers in your blog development. Blogs for business purposes are gaining significant traction as a useful tool for web sites to gain popularity both in media circles and as an search optimization method within a given website. We have gleaned through many articles on this topic and have found some useful tips that one should keep in mind while developing their blog.

Logo and Branding

If you don’t have a logo, get one designed for you. It is part of your overall marketing strategy and creates brand awareness.

User Comments

To have or have not; is up to the creators of the blog and depending on the purposes of the blog overall as part of your marketing and awareness strategy; you can continue to use your blog without comments being allowed.

Show Consistency

Probably the hardest part of blogging overall. Write to the audience that is visiting your blog, while serving your own purposes in your marketing strategy. Try to set a goal as well to continually add to your blog. You don’t have to write 20-30 blog articles a day; but you should show you are contributing on a regular basis or your readership will fall off the map.

Proper Writing

Unless you’re backed up by an editorial department proper writing can be a coin toss. If you can’t write fairly decently, get someone to do it for you.

Simplicity

One topic per post if at all possible. Short paragraphs.

Categorize and Tag

When possible categorize and tag your posts. Great for SEO and great for your users to find specific categorized topics they may be looking for on your website.

Social Media

Use social media such as Facebook, Twitter and other mediums to promote your blog and allow others to promote your blog and articles.

Silentblast Interactive - Toronto Web Design

Canadian owned and operated, Silentblast is a professional web design and development company in Toronto serving small and mid-sized companies in the GTA, Brampton, Vaughan, North York, Markham, Mississauga, Oakville, Richmond Hill, Scarborough and Barrie, Ontario, Canada. Silentblast also develops mobile web site design and development and mobile applications for the iPhone and other mobile phone platforms.

Website – www.silentblast.com

Silentblast Blog - www.silentblast.com/blog

Twitter - http://twitter.com/silentblast

Welcome back readers to the Silentblast blog. In this blog entry we are going to discuss the more introductory basics of search engine optimization or SEO. We will also add more blog articles specific to search engine optimization over the next while, as the realm of SEO is quite extensive.

At Silentblast we receive a lot of requests from potential clients regarding SEO but normally it is phrased as “getting found on the internet.�

A lot of times when our potential clients come to us, there is no strategy for the website they currently have or wish to have. All they know in layman’s terms is the site is not doing much if anything and the belief that if like a house; they throw up a fresh coat of paint, it will cure their websites issues. Not so.

Like the website itself, there has to be a strategy behind the search engine optimization plan. If you have not planned or discussed this with your web design and development company your website strategy; than your search engine optimization hopes will not really come to light. You can of course PPC (Pay Per Click) but if the basis again of your search engine optimization strategy or plan is not well thought out, even PPC can have mixed results.

Remember that the ultimate goal of both your web design and development and search engine optimization strategy is to bring potential clients to your website. What they do once they have arrived on your website will be based upon the goals of the website based on the strategy behind the goals of the website itself. Will your site be informational based, provide leads, act as a service and support mechanism to your current service and products verticals. Will it be some elements of that or all? Is there physical support mechanisms in place to support the goals of the website?

A good search engine optimization plan needs to address many factors. What are your products and services? Who is your current competition? Do they market the same brands or products as you do? Is their geographical area they market to the same as yours? What is good about their online presence; what is not so likeable about their website. Are they present on social media networks such as Twitter and Facebook? Do they contribute to their continued search engine optimization efforts with such media as News and Events, Blogs, Video or Photo galleries on a regular basis. What are the keyword phrases your competition is currently being found on the search engines with? Are they the same potentially as you wish to use?

A lot of factors to consider. Search Engine Optimization is not as simple as a check-box that you want to throw into the web design and development of your website. Like the website; you have to have some form of strategy or business case for search engine optimization as there is going to be a cost in doing so.

At Silentblast Interactive we meet our clients to discuss their Internet business strategy from all elements. A website and elements such as search engine optimization is a business strategy that requires thoughtful planning.

Silentblast Interactive - Toronto Web Design and Development

Canadian owned and operated, Silentblast is a professional web design and development company in Toronto serving small and mid-sized companies in the GTA, Brampton, Vaughan, North York, Markham, Mississauga, Oakville, Richmond Hill, Scarborough and Barrie, Ontario, Canada. Silentblast also develops mobile web site design and development and mobile applications for the iPhone and other mobile phone platforms.

Website – www.silentblast.com

Silentblast Blog - www.silentblast.com/blog

Twitter - http://twitter.com/silentblast

Silentblast Interactive - Video Content Management System

Amateur YouTube publishers upload their videos for a wide variety of reasons. Some do it for fun, others do it as a potential to become famous within the YouTube community. Professional publishers use these videos to drive traffic to their web sites, sell services, advertise products, attract new customers and make sales. When you browse the videos of amateurs and professionals on YouTube, you are viewing with millions of other users. Many companies are taking advantage of the high YouTube traffic for the sake of their own marketing campaigns and long term strategies to leverage social media for their businesses.

YouTube is ultimately a hosting website that allows free uploads of short clips and videos. YouTube has functions that allow you to measure the number of times your video was viewed, how many clickthroughs were generated that pushed to your website. YouTube traffic from your videos leads the viewers to your web site and thus allowing them to check out your products or services.

As simplified as this may sound, you need to understand the environment where your videos are distributed. While you can count on YouTube traffic to divert visitors to your web site, only a small percentage of viewers will find your video. As such, it is best that you follow certain optimization techniques for your videos so that tens of millions of people can find your video within YouTube. There are certain SEO techniques that can be utilized to increase the awareness of your videos. Remember that YouTube in itself is a search engine, in fact the second most popular search engine on the planet; next to it Google, which also owns YouTube.

YouTube traffic, with optimization of your videos, increases the chances of your videos to be visible within the YouTube website and being found easily through the search engines of other online communities. As YouTube is a community-oriented website, it allows viewers to vote, share, rate and distribute videos they like the most. Meaning, the larger your video’s audience becomes, the more traffic your website receives.

So at this juncture you should understand by now that YouTube can bring awareness to your business and potentially lead to increased sales and services you offer. So how do you do it?

At Silentblast we recommend several approaches to implementing video on your website. One is by leveraging YouTube by you creating an account on YouTube where the videos will be uploaded to. This will place essentially your content on the second most popular search engine on the internet.

If you don’t have the ability to shoot video, Silentblast has web video professionals that can shoot the video for you. It will be professionally done at your offices, or work sites. If you are not comfortable with being in front of the camera; you can hire a person to represent the company in your videos. Silentblast has clients that have hired a professional spokesperson to speak on your behalf; such as For Sale Direct as an example. There is nothing wrong with doing it; companies have been doing it for your years on television, radio and print magazines.

You will also want to have built in, a Content Management System on your website to handle videos; it provides content for your existing website as well as mitigates the bandwidth issues as the CMS is designed to pull the video from YouTube. You have the benefit of videos but integrated into your website with the same look and feel that your website currently has.

If you consider the cost of a 30 second television spot or have done that form of media advertising before you will soon realize that the potential for long term media market awareness is available for a fraction of the cost of the development and distribution of a commercial television spot.

Consider the benefits:

• Showcase your products and services
• Provide demonstrations of your products and services
• Educate potential clients and customers on your company, products and services
• Increase your companies awareness to the general public
• Increase Sales
  

Silentblast Interactive - Toronto Web Design and Development

Canadian owned and operated, Silentblast is a professional web design and development company in Toronto serving small and mid-sized companies in the GTA, Brampton, Vaughan, North York, Markham, Mississauga, Oakville, Richmond Hill, Scarborough and Barrie, Ontario, Canada. Silentblast also develops mobile web site design and development and mobile applications for the iPhone and other mobile phone platforms.

Website – www.silentblast.com

Silentblast Blog - www.silentblast.com/blog

Twitter - http://twitter.com/silentblast

Silentblast Interative - Toronto Web Design and Development

I have been reading some interesting articles on web trends for 2010 and have found them to be an interesting read. I however, just find the approach in noting web trends really wide and all encompassing. So I will focus on the business aspects of web trends I believe that will continue to flow in from web trends in 2009 towards 2010. If your business has ignored or not considered some of the major trends and changes of the internet in 2009; 2010 is the year you should consider doing so.

Web Video

With YouTube in itself being one of the top search related engines and growing; web video done by “do it yourselfer’s� is going to continue its monumental growth. A lot of companies are currently using YouTube as the means of delivering uploaded video content to showcase their company’s products and services. For a company it may be one thing to show a product on their website with a graphic and some literature but showing a product doing what it is advertised to do with video demonstrations is another unique level that if not done already, can easily be done.

Cloud Computing

Movement towards working within the clouds; more or less off your desktop; while showed positive signs of growth in 2009 will emerge stronger in 2010. The ability to work anywhere, but able to get to a computer and an internet connection is an area both employers and employees are eying closely. With Microsoft Office having web apps; Live Mail services plus Google Apps and the Google OS on the horizon there is not a lot of reasons to not work anywhere specific such as an office. The world as long as you have a computer and an internet connection will in essence be your office. Other services for collaboration on work projects such as Basecamp will also continue their momentum in their growth.

Social Media

With Facebook just announcing over 350 million users worldwide and Twitter continuing its popular growth; they represent two of the highest impact social media sites that are both hard to ignore and can’t be ignored by business. Being in business means being social; and while the trend of Facebook and Twitter are not new by any means; if you’re business does not have some form of presence on it; you should.

Apps, Apps, and More Apps

Out in front is Apple Inc. with their iPhone and iPod Touch. Business is catching on that if you want to deliver content such as news, products or services in real time to a society that is very mobile it has to be delivered by a mobile application. Major news networks and big business are leaders of the pack in terms of stepping up to the plate and offering applications for mobile devices.

Mobile Device Friendly Websites

As more people are using hand-held mobile devices; this will have to be eventually addressed by the business community at large. What your website displays as on a computer screen and what it displays as on a mobile device can be entirely two different things.

Websites That Deliver Content

Always a trend and will continue to be. If you have a website that is nothing more than a poster board on a pole it is not doing a lot for your web presence nor your company. Give your visitors a reason to come back or to even consider using your products or services. Use web development tools such as content management systems (CMS) to deliver product catalog information, services offered and news about your company and its products and services.

Consider a blog for your company as well. It is written not in the same manner as the deliverables of a CMS system but rather more personal. It puts the human behind the website and the company the blog is representing. The search engines, which Google is the undisputed leader; literally loves blogs and of course content on your website.

Silentblast Interactive - Toronto Web Design and Development

Canadian owned and operated, Silentblast is a professional web design and development company in Toronto serving small and mid-sized companies in the GTA, Brampton, Vaughan, North York, Markham, Mississauga, Oakville, Richmond Hill, Scarborough and Barrie, Ontario, Canada. Silentblast also develops mobile web site design and development and mobile applications for the iPhone and other mobile phone platforms.

Website – www.silentblast.com

Silentblast Blog - www.silentblast.com/blog

Twitter - http://twitter.com/silentblast

Patrick Ogilvie CPP, PSP presents Antonio of Silentblast an Appreciation Award

On October 15th, 2009; the ASIS Toronto Chapter recognized Silentblast during the ASIS Toronto Chapter Annual Law Enforcement and Security Practitioner Awards Dinner at the Panemonte Centre. The award is the same as awards given to ASIS Toronto Chapter Sponsors who contribute both financially to the Chapter and with members who volunteer towards ASIS Toronto Chapter programs and initiatives.

Silentblast; the website design and development firm for the ASIS Toronto Chapter was given the award in recognition of the superlative efforts put forth since 2008 on the Chapter’s website. The ASIS Toronto website has changed in many ways how both the visiting public and its members and guests view ASIS International, ASIS Toronto Chapter and the security industry and profession as a whole. Compliments for the website have come from many including ASIS International members from other countries.

Presenting the ASIS Toronto Chapter Appreciation Award to Antonio of Silentblast is Patrick Ogilvie CPP, PSP; Chair of the ASIS Toronto Chapter.

Silentblast Interactive - Toronto Website Design and Development

Canadian owned and operated, Silentblast is a professional web design and development company in Toronto serving small and mid-sized companies in the GTA, Brampton, Vaughan, North York, Markham, Mississauga, Oakville, Richmond Hill, Scarborough and Barrie, Ontario, Canada. Silentblast also develops mobile web site design and development and mobile applications for the iPhone and other mobile phone platforms.

Website – www.silentblast.com

Silentblast Blog - www.silentblast.com/blog

Twitter - http://twitter.com/silentblast

Twitter - Silentblast Interactive - Social Media Consultants

Twitter is without a doubt one the largest social media sites on the planet. On average depending on which research avenue you search on the internet; Twitter gains roughly anywhere between 12000 and 20000 new unique users a day. We have a Twitter account at Silentblast and use it somewhat sparingly to promote some changes done within Silentblast such as revisions to the website, new client portfolios, and promotion of blog articles. Feel free to check it out here; http://twitter.com/silentblast

While we don’t Twitter as maybe as much as we really should, nonetheless we do have an account and are re – visioning as it were our social networking strategy to go beyond just the website and blog.

A Twitter account named similar to your company can help in getting your brand or organization out there. Again, with a short URL it is not hard to advertise your current web presence, blog and company to a wide audience and gain a following.

I am personally relatively new to the Twitter phenomena so I have not a lot to say on the subject at this juncture other than I recognize absolutely the potential for marketing is there. I have however found this excellent article on Copyblogger on How to Use Twitter to Grow You’re Business. A very interesting read I must say.

Silentblast Interactive - Toronto Web Design and Development

Canadian owned and operated, Silentblast is a professional web design and development company in Toronto serving small and mid-sized companies in the GTA, Brampton, Vaughan, North York, Markham, Mississauga, Oakville, Richmond Hill, Scarborough and Barrie, Ontario, Canada. Silentblast also develops mobile web site design and development and mobile applications for the iPhone and other mobile phone platforms.

Website – www.silentblast.com

Silentblast Blog - www.silentblast.com/blog

Twitter - http://twitter.com/silentblast

Silentblast Interactive - Toronto Web Design and Development

Hello readers and welcome back to the Silentblast Blog. This article is more or less a follow up to the blog article I did on Blogs– To Allow or Not Allow Comments but more specifically to the issue of responding to commentary on your own blog posts should you have made the decision to allow comments on your blog.

What most of you should and will have to understand about commentary on blogs is like all things in life there will be good and there will be bad. There is a saying so to speak that is more or less an equation; Internet + Anonymity = ***hole. There is a lot of truth actually in that equation. I have been across various blogs and forums and you will be sure to read commentary to an article or forum post that has been hijacked in some shape or form by an individual or group of individuals who post way off the topic in usually the most vulgar form of way to their commentary.

With a blog, you can set the commentary permissions so that you have to go into the “Dashboard� using Wordpress as your blogging engine as an example and approve the commentary. Free speech purists view this more or less as censorship and while there is no argument to the context of the meaning of the word censorship as they apply it; I think they fail in understanding sometimes that speech or the written word comes with responsibility.

So where is the line in a commentary you may receive on your blog that will determine whether you approve it or not; let alone as well you have the ability to edit them? The line so to speak is up to the individual or business that is operating the blog in my view. For example I control the blog for Silentblast and decide what commentary is approved or not. I have been pretty transparent in my approving in that I have allowed comments that were not entirely favorable; mainly to me or what I have written about. As long as they didn’t cross over into outright attacks or vulgarity; I have allowed them and then commented on them.

In my responses I have endeavored to not attack back because it is not professional from a business perspective. This I would highly recommend because all that is going to happen is a back and forth match that just makes your blog look bad, your business and the person writing the articles. Now if you answer with some tongue and cheek type humor to me that is fair game as long as you’re generally nice. In my view, nothing is wrong with a bid of a scolding because at the end of the day everyone should play nice in the sandbox.

Do you have to respond to each and every comment? I don’t thinks so. But if for example you receive 6 comments on a particular blog posting and they are all generally commenting in the same fashion or asking possibly the same line of questions; you should respond at least once in that thread of comments and absolutely answer the questions.
If the substance of the questions are significant enough you should create another blog post specific to the questions as a follow up blog article. It is positive to your blog obviously but it also shows you are actively responding to those who do comment on your blog. You should as part of your business blogging strategy set aside time to review comments to your blog and answer the questions or comments that other leave.

Doing so will begin slowly a culture or commentary on your blog which is good in the development of your blog. It takes time to get responses to articles. I will be the first to readily admit that I love seeing comments to articles I have written. I don’t think there is a blogger on the planet that doesn’t like some type of positive commentary obviously. Bloggers just understand that sometimes the comments will not be nice and you just have to deal with it professionally.

Silentblast Interactive - Toronto Web Design and Development

Canadian owned and operated, Silentblast is a professional web design and development company in Toronto serving small and mid-sized companies in the GTA, Brampton, Vaughan, North York, Markham, Mississauga, Oakville, Richmond Hill, Scarborough and Barrie, Ontario, Canada. Silentblast also develops mobile web site design and development and mobile applications for the iPhone and other mobile phone platforms.

Website – www.silentblast.com

Silentblast Blog - www.silentblast.com/blog

Twitter - http://twitter.com/silentblast

Silentblast Interactive - Toronto Web Design and Development

Hello readers and welcome back to the Silentblast Blog. Today I am going to speak generally about business blogging. I know I have talked about blogs and blogging in general and why businesses should consider having a blog but I never really discussed business blogs from the perspective as part of a business plan.

As everyone should be generally aware a “business plan� is essentially a formal statement of planned business goals. The web design and development of a web presence for example can be included in a business plan. Even more important if the business tends to derive most of its revenue and deliverables from the internet; than the business plan will certainly have significant areas of the overall business plan where there is focus on internet, website development, search engine optimization or SEO as it’s commonly referred to and content development.

Somewhere definitely in the mix of will be most likely as well social media sites such as Twitter, FaceBook or LinkedIn and of course blogs. One of the things that have to be clear for business decision makers will be what is the focus, direction, goals and objectives for the business blog. What are the expectations of the blog as it pertains to the focus, direction, goals and objectives and then of course how the message is delivered and who delivers it?

From a business standpoint unless your business is comedy per say, the blog will tend to be more of an informative, editorial, press release sort of tone. While there are blogs that are satirical in nature or adult themed in both content and language that tends to not be the approach of business if they wish to incorporate a blog.
So for business the focus, direction, goals and objectives for a business blog can be some of the following if not more:

• Public Relations – mission statement, company vision, new developments

• Education and Product Information – giving your customers information on your products and services and even information on how to use them

• Development and Research – garnering feedback and suggestions from your clientele

• Community Development – developing a client community around your products and services, charitable efforts of your company

• Marketing and Sales – announcing new products and services to your customers

Blogging for business ultimately will take time and if there is no inherent commitment to invest time into the development of a business blog than it should not be high on the list of business priorities. All stakeholders within a business have to believe in the process. If you wish to establish yourself or are already established as a professional business, your blog has to reflect that.

Silentblast Interactive - Toronto Web Design and Development

Canadian owned and operated, Silentblast is a professional web design and development company in Toronto serving small and mid-sized companies in the GTA, Brampton, Vaughan, North York, Markham, Mississauga, Oakville, Richmond Hill, Scarborough and Barrie, Ontario, Canada. Silentblast also develops mobile web site design and development and mobile applications for the iPhone and other mobile phone platforms.

Website – www.silentblast.com

Silentblast Blog - www.silentblast.com/blog

Twitter - http://twitter.com/silentblast

Hello readers and welcome to the Silentblast Blog. One of the questions I get asked from time to time is whether blogging is for the person, or the right thing to do as part of a business’s web development, content management system or web design.

Well there are some easy and difficult answers coupled with some easy and difficult choices. From a web development perspective implementing a blog as part of a strategy to increase web traffic and awareness should be one of the features you should consider.

Blogging for business is more or less a do it yourself public relations strategy. Every company or organization considering some form of public relations strategy should consider a blog. It is especially something to consider if your company cannot afford to implement specific content management modules that are often highly customized, but come at a greater cost than a blog.

Blogging can help your company in the following areas:

• promote your company and services to a wider audience
• place the human factor to your business
• help establish your company services, products and brand
• reaching out to potential customers or current customers
• increase your visibility on the search engines
• over time, increase your profit potential
  

As a company and the individuals charged with the responsibility of the blogging strategy and providing content to the blog you have to be committed to the blog and its ongoing development in order for it to be successful. In other words, if you implement a blog as part of your business strategy you have to treat it as part of your business processes. You have to set a pace or schedule for regular development; meaning articles added to the blog. In doing so, you have to thus maintain the blog by continually providing information.

I will be discussing more about blogging for business in articles in the future as part of the strategy of Silentblast in not only promoting the web design and content management systems we can implement for business; but also to assist our clients in developing their web development strategies.

Silentblast Interactive - Toronto Web Design and Development

Canadian owned and operated, Silentblast is a professional web design and development company in Toronto serving small and mid-sized companies in the GTA, Brampton, Vaughan, North York, Markham, Mississauga, Oakville, Richmond Hill, Scarborough and Barrie, Ontario, Canada. Silentblast also develops mobile web site design and development and mobile applications for the iPhone and other mobile phone platforms.

Website – www.silentblast.com

Silentblast Blog - www.silentblast.com/blog

Twitter - http://twitter.com/silentblast

Hello readers and welcome back to the Silentblast Blog. Today I am going to discuss your continual on-site web development for those that want simple steps to increasing their website content either through developing their own form of content with what they may already have in place on their website or with website development verticals that are relatively inexpensive yet can present significant long term ROI.

Content Management System

Today content managements systems are not as complex for the end user as they may have been in the past. The vast majority of content management systems are developed in a WYSIWYG input format. If your website is currently just static pages and beginning to look stale in terms of its time-line freshness; it might be time to greatly consider a Content Management System CMS to breathe new life into your website. Try something simple like adding a News and Events CMS module for example where you can add timely content as it happens in your company.

Graphics

Even art galleries move their pictures around and bring out different collections to freshen up their art display. Your website should be no different. Using royalty free graphics is a good idea to avoid copyright issues. Use graphics that speak to the topic and to the content if you are associating a graphic with a particular area. Build up a stable of graphics that you can do at least a switch out of graphics every 6 months to a year. Remember that your graphic selection can have an impact on your overall web design so it would probably be advisable to discuss this with your website development consultant.

Streaming Video

Did you know that YouTube is currently the 2^nd most popular search engine on the internet behind Google. Video is huge in today’s world. Case in point; everyone wants to know what companies are going to have those precious 30 second spots and what the message is going to be for the NFL Super Bowl games. A well planned, thought out, professionally done video can be greatly beneficial to your audience. But also, implementing a content management system module that handles video streaming can be done by you as well. The entrepreneurial video is highly popular; especially on YouTube where literally hundreds of thousands of people are just grabbing their video cameras or web-cams and making video.

Blogs

Firstly; the search engines love blogs. If you can write about a topic that speaks about your company, products and services; you can and should have a blog. Blogs are becoming very sophisticated. In fact some blogs are the primary website presence for a lot of people. You can add text, graphics, videos, links for example into a blog. It can be part of your website development and search engine optimization SEO strategy.

That is it for the time being Silentblast Blog readers. I will be back soon with more blog articles on how you can further enhance your website development process.

Silentblast Interactive - Toronto Web Design and Development

Canadian owned and operated, Silentblast is a professional web design and development company in Toronto serving small and mid-sized companies in the GTA, Brampton, Vaughan, North York, Markham, Mississauga, Oakville, Richmond Hill, Scarborough and Barrie, Ontario, Canada. Silentblast also develops mobile web site design and development and mobile applications for the iPhone and other mobile phone platforms.

Website – www.silentblast.com

Silentblast Blog - www.silentblast.com/blog

Twitter - http://twitter.com/silentblast