» Copywriting Is One The Most Important Things Search Engine Optimization Journal - SEO and Search Engine Marketing Blog

» Copywriting Is One The Most Important Things Search Engine Optimization Journal - SEO and Search Engine Marketing Blog

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It takes more than just any old content to succeed in have a fully optimized website. It's worth it to hire a professional writer, and not just not any old writer, but one who has proven experience getting results on the Internet. Oh, I don't know...someone like...me?

Read the above and don't just take my word for it!

It's Official: I Have Low Standards

The process of positioning myself as an "expert" has begun, but I can't say that it's taking off quite as planned.

Those media mentions I was expecting from the big name magazines for women - "Bitch" and "Parenting" - haven't happened. Whether the stories were "killed," haven't appeared yet, or I just didn't make the cut, I don't know.

I did, however, manage to be included by name with a reference to one of my businesses in an article about succeeding in the work-life balance as a mother working from home. The article, entitled, "How She Does It: 75 Multitasking Moms Weigh In," was apparently posted in July at Stay at Home Mom Answers, an online community to support stay-at-home moms.

Here's the mention:

After email threads and discussions with these 75 women, one recurrent piece of
advice rings through repeatedly:“Lower your Standards.” For some, like Tara
Bloom, a divorced mom of an 11-year-old daughter who manages online maternity
and baby business Maternitique.com, those “standards” apply to the definition of
“clean home.”

To read the full article, click here.

Okay then. I'll point out that I offered advice in the interview, too, but apparently the most newsworthy thing that I have to contribute to the discussion of how to balance work and life is that I can't do it and maintain a clean house at the same time.

Which is true...and why my writing clients are never invited to meet me at my office.

Tune in next time when I'm quoted in Entrepreneur magazine admitting to working for days on end in my pajamas without bathing.

Learn Everyday: Buy More Books

As I mentioned in "How Do You Define Success?", I learn everyday.

Building two companies requires me to improve my skills, challenge my assumptions and keep abreast of new developments in the worlds of technology, business and marketing. In personal development terms, I'm learning how to negotiate better, manage money better, compensate for my weaknesses, achieve work-life balance as an entrepreneur and mother, capitalize on my strengths, and ask for help.

In practical terms, I'm learning systems, software, invoicing, setting rates, managing cash flow, trademark registration requirements and processes, tax laws, the legal duties of an S-corp, and more.

While I read LOTS of articles online, subscribe to Entrepreneur, read The Portland Business Journal and Oregon Business, pick up the occasional issue of Fast Company, receive e-mail newsletters from The New York Times and The Financial Post (Canadian) as well as others, I also find books—and increasingly, ebooks—to be an invaluable source for the information I need.

If an entrepreneur I admire recommends a book to me, I go get it. No questions asked.

Because if there's anything I've learned so far, it's that other entrepreneurs and business owners have all encountered the same questions, problems and anxieties that I have. If they tell me of a resource that can make my life better, easier or help me solve an issue that they struggled with, too, then I get it.

So far, they've always been right.

And that, my friends, is why I started my own online Dusty Widget Bookshelf at Powell's Bookstore.

The books that have helped me can help you, too.

And, the books that help me to help you help me even more when you buy them from here. Yes, I do make a generous commission on the sale of each and every book (even the latest by Stephenie Meyer), CD, DVD, ebook, magazine and journal that you buy from Powell's when you link to the online store from "Ditch the Dusty Widget."

It's my favorite kind of relationship: a win-win-win. You benefit with knowledge, the best bookstore on Earth gets a sale, and I get a commission.

So, please do us all a favor and grab yourself some summer reading material here.

Where's Blogger?

I now understand what is meant by "blogger burnout."

Bear with me, dear readers. I will be back. My apologies for the thin updates over the last few weeks. I've been quite happily busy working with the world's most fantastic copywriting clients and shipping tons of orders to the world's most beautiful pregnant moms.

Does that mean there is no food for business thought? Au contraire. There's lots. But I just haven't had a moment to share.

Coming soon, I promise.

A Drop in the Ocean of the Blogosphere

Did you know there are several million marketing websites on the Internet?

Search for "marketing advice" on Google and there are more than 8,000,000 pages of results.

Thanks for reading mine.

Maternitique, Tara Bloom Feature on PortlandSmallBusiness.com

Many thanks to Kevin at PortlandSmallBusiness.com for featuring me and Maternitique this month! The interactive website is a one-stop resource for small business owners in the Portland, Oregon metro area.

Membership is free and enables you to blog, post questions, post answers and generally learn from and network with other business owners in our community.

Read the feature about Tara and Maternitique here.

I’m Linkedin. Are you?

A few weeks ago, one of my Seattle colleagues invited me to join her Linkedin network and I figured, what the heck. I’m online with Blogger, Maternitique, a small business magazine on Zimbio, my own bookshelf at Powells.com and Tara M. Bloom Communications. This is hardly the time to be shy.

So I became a member of Linkedin and immediately sent out my own invitation to friends, colleagues and family (just in case friends and colleagues wouldn’t add me to their network, I knew my mom, aunt and cousins would).

What Is Linkedin?

It’s an online professional networking tool with your choice of free or paid membership. Its unique value is in how it enables you to leverage relationships you already have to create new relationships with people you may not have known you could access.

Linkedin is a great place to create your own professional profile. With space to add your photo, bio, personal summary, work history (a virtual resume), links to your website, blog, RSS feeds for your articles, awards and recognitions, educational history, organizational memberships and more, your Linkedin profile is your customizable CV online in a very searchable, very public, forum.

In addition to the profile feature, it has an active recruiting and job seeking tool and provides a dynamic service provider referral resource.

Why Should I Be Linkedin?

There are many ways to use Linkedin. You can:
* search for a job
* manage your online reputation
* gain credentials as an expert in your field
* network; gain and share access to a variety of people
* recruit for a job
* reconnect with alums and old friends
* build visibility and credibility for your services

Like any tool, Linkedin membership will only be as useful as you make it.

The starting place is to define why you’re there.

For me, gaining “expert” status, both as a marketing strategist and as a maternity resource, is important. How does Linkedin advance those goals? I can earn an “expert” label on Linkedin by participating in its Q&A feature. By answering other people’s questions about my areas of expertise, I gain visibility. When the asker selects my answer as the best, I earn a “point” towards my “expertise” rating. Your status as an expert shows in your profile and appears each time your name comes up on Linkedin search results—a valuable thing for those of us who seek to be published, quoted and sought as a resource to the media.

Another reason I want to participate in Linkedin is to build endorsements for my products and services. Sure, on my websites I can add testimonials from previous clients and customers. I can provide a list of references to prospective writing clients and I can show my finest work in my online portfolio.

But with Linkedin’s Recommendations feature, people in my network can add “thumbs up” signs next to the description of what I do. Actual customer responses in this section are a much more powerful endorsement than anything I could put on my own website and are instantaneously visible in a profile. No phone call required for this type of reference check!

Getting Started

Once you’ve identified why you want to be Linkedin, your next step is to build your profile accordingly.

Because I’m not looking for a job or wanting to build my reputation in industries in which I’ve previously worked, I chose not to enter any past employment information to my profile. If your work history is more relevant to your current endeavors, however, you would want add detail here. The idea is that you want to be the editor of your own information. Don’t fabricate anything, for heaven’s sake, but there’s no need to clutter your profile with detail that doesn’t advance your goals.

Once you’ve created a profile, it’s time to invite people to join your Linkedin network. Linkedin makes this very easy by prompting you through the process and providing a pre-written invitation. Plus, Linkedin syncs with your Outlook address book to automatically generate a list of people you know. With a quick and easy press of a button, you’ll be on your way.

Time to Participate

Like any social networking tool online, you have to be engaged in order for it to work.

First make yourself visible. Make your profile public, choose the option to create a custom public profile link and customize your public profile settings. Next, begin by making recommendations for people you know, and invite people to recommend you.

Promote your Linkedin profile by adding your public link to your outgoing email signature, displaying Linkedin buttons on your blog and/or website, and even adding your public link URL to your business cards.

Then get involved! Since you know what your goals are for your Linkedin profile, work accordingly. My next steps are to make and invite recommendations and to participate in the Q&A.

To keep myself on track, I’ve pledged to devote only 30 minutes during the work-week to Linkedin, but put aside two hours on the weekend or after work hours. This way, keeping regularly engaged stays manageable and outside of normal business hours—so it really does feel more like networking.

View my Linkedin Profile and Invite Me to Your Network:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/tarabloom

Seminar Saturday in Portland: Increase Traffic to your Retail Store Using the Internet

If you own a retail store in the Pacific Northwest, have some time on Saturday, AND want to know what you can do to promote your store using simple Internet tools, join me at the Portland Gift & Accessories Show at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland.

My workshop program includes:

• Five critical reasons your store needs to have a Web site
• Three types of Web sites and their respective pro’s and con’s
• Simple guide to creating your own Web site
• Five easy ways to promote your store online--without a website
• Resource list

There’s no doubt anymore that the Internet is changing the shape of retail. Harness the power of the World Wide Web to increase traffic to your store. You'll learn how to take your store online, from listing in directories to building your own Web site.

WHAT: "Bricks & Mortar Belong in Cyberspace: Increase Traffic to your Retail Store Using the Internet"


WHEN: Saturday, January 5 11:30 am-1:00 pm


WHERE: Oregon Convention Center-D 135/136


COST: $15 in advance, $20 on-site



Note: this show is not open to the public. Open to TRADE ONLY. Individuals with no professional affiliation will not be admitted. Proof of business affiliation and credentials are required to gain entrance.

See you there!

I Win, I Win!

** For Immediate Release ** Contact: Tara M. Bloom Communications
503.233.1527
tara@bloomcopywriter.com

Local Writer Wins Honorable Mention in One of the World's Largest Writing Competitions

Portland, Or.--Portland essayist and professional copywriter Tara M. Bloom received an exciting letter in the mail last week from the editor of Writer's Digest, the world's most popular magazine for writers.

Her entry to the 76th Annual Writer's Digest Writing Competition was awarded Honorable Mention in the Memoirs/Personal Essay category.

Ms. Bloom's manuscript, Blues Dancers, was among more than 19,000 entries to the contest.

Her name will be listed in the December 2007 issue of Writer's Digest magazine, among the top 100 winners of the contest's 10 categories. Bloom will also receive mention in the competition collection book, published by Outskirts Press.

"It's ironic to admit that I don't have words to capture how proud I am,” says Bloom. “Receiving this acknowledgement from Writer's Digest is an amazing accomplishment. It's not only an honor from my peers, but it's also a nod to my work's market appeal. My next step is to submit the manuscript for publication."

Tara M. Bloom is a copywriter and marketing consultant who helps small businesses break through sales plateaus, turn around poor sales trends, and realize more profit from their marketing dollars. In 2003, she won First Place in the Non-Fiction category of Whidbey Island Writers Conference's Celestial Writing Contest for her manuscript, The Pill: Revolutionizing How We Feel.

About Writer’s Digest:
Writer's Digest is the world's leading magazine for writers, founded in 1920. Writer's Market, the bible for writers seeking to publish their work, was first published in 1921. Together, they form the foundation of a wide range of informational, instructional and inspirational offerings for writers.

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