Building a blog takes a lot of work, and when you’re blogging for business it requires even more effort. In addition to blogging, you also need to make sure your blogging is aligned with your business model and you have to come up with a solid content marketing plan.

The trouble is many things are in flux.  Your blogging and content marketing will change as you learn more about your audience.  And blogging requires a high level of investment that is not always easy for to sustain. Because quite simply: life happens.

This is why the blogging journey is often bumpy.

Break From Blogging

For the first time in two and a half years I was forced to take a break from blogging here on this blog.  It was not planned.  But more than one thing got in the way in different areas of my life.

• It all started with my trip to Toronto last June
• Then I unexpectedly decided to travel so much that I’ve barely been home the rest of the year
• And health became a priority as I adopted a diet with over 80% raw food. But this meant less energy while I learned about nutrition all over again
• During this time I’m happy to say that my work with Social Media Examiner increased.

As my day-to-day activities changed drastically I was forced to put aside blogging here on my personal blog.

Better Content Marketing Strategy

But there is some good news about being forced to stop blogging.  My content marketing strategy needed an overhaul in order to integrate the changes in social media over the past year, and to adjust to my business objectives which also changed this last year. This break gave me the opportunity to refine my own marketing strategy.

Now that I’m ready to get back into the blogging seat once again my new business blogging plan is better than before.

But a plan is not enough to ensure blogging success.  When you’ve never blogged before or haven’t been blogging for a while, the first few months are critical.  So I also needed an action plan to ensure blogging success.

Better Business Blogging

This is why I’ve got a few activities planned to make sure my transition back into regular business blogging goes smoothly.

I’ve already established a business blogging plan within a content marketing strategy that’s aligned with my business. That’s all on paper. What I need now is a few activities to make sure I blog consistently over the next few months. And why not improve my blogging skills at the same time?

Here are three blogging courses I’ve signed up for.

Blogging Success Summit: (Affiliate link) This is an online webinar that takes place in February with 23 excellent presenters.  Just like the previous Success Summits it takes place over a period of several weeks and they’re recorded so there’s no excuse: I’ll listen to all of them!

But the thing I like most about all of the Success Summits is the private LinkedIn group.  It’s great to meet up and chat with fellow business bloggers.  And the presenters usually participate there too.

Although it’s only just opened people are taking advantage of the early bird rate and signing up.  That’s great news because this means the Blogging Success Summit LinkedIn Group is already open. So discussions in the private LinkedIn Group have already started.  This is just the kind of interaction I need right now.

Join me on the Blogging Success Summit to learn about current business blogging best practices and hook up with a community of business bloggers.

Web Content Café: This is a lovely little hang out run by the web copywriter Nick Usborne. It’s a paid membership site where Nick gives you a short daily content ideas to keep the creative juices flowing and your web content fresh.

What can I say? I like it.  It’s just the right “everything” for me: right length, right writing style and lots of small actionable ideas. Just what I need to improve my blogging in small, easy steps.

Join me at the Web Content Café to find ideas and daily inspiration to improve your bloging.

Spectacular Post Bootcamp: This is a new program put on by Stanford Smith over at Pushing Social.  Although I only recently discovered Stan I was hooked immediately. He works with big clients during his day job and helps the small business bloggers on Pushing Social in his spare time. Somehow his expertise comes through with just the right tone for business bloggers.

The Spectacular Post Bootcamp is a video a month and it’ll get me to review blogging basics in a way that I find motivating.  I like Stan’s approach.

Join me at the Spectacular Post Bootcamp to review blogging basics.

UPDATE:

Blog Topics:  Chris Brogan has just come out with Blog Topics where he emails you 10 ideas to write blog posts each week.

Chris’ vocabulary and communication style resonate with me. He uses words that put the gears in my brain in motion. So I’m giving this a whirl too.

Join me with Chris Brogan’s Blog Topics to get more ideas to write blog posts.

Tools For Good Blogging

That’s what I’ve planned to help me get through the first few months of blogging.  If you’d like a more in-depth review on one of these please let me know.

I’ll also be attending SOBcon in the Spring and hope to find a good blogging partner to share the rest of the year’s journey as part of the next phase.

What do you do to improve your blogging? What has helped your blogging most? I’d love to hear your story, so please leave a comment below.

Copyright Cindy King 2006-2010 - International Business Blog

Better Business Blogging

Events

Well, you might be wondering what’s the buzz about Social Media Success Summit 2010 — the web’s largest online social media conference.

Note: The links in this article are affiliate links.

This online webinar is almost like a live event

Before I tell you how this virtual summit will help you speed your path to social media marketing success, let me share a story with you.

Proof Social Media Marketing Works…

A few months ago, Michael Stelzner (the guy who wrote the book on white papers) founded a site called Social Media Examiner.  And I was lucky he asked me to be the Managing Editor of Social Media Examiner, so I’ve been part of the adventure and seen this success story unfold up close.

How did it happen? Social Media Examiner relied 100% on social media tactics to drive traffic to his site.  There were no advertising and almost none of the traffic is coming from search engines.  Nearly overnight, Social Media Examiner has become a top destination for businesses.

In less than 5 months, Social Media Examiner was declared the #1 small business blog in the world by Technorati, added more than 13,000 email subscribers, brought nearly 100,000 people a month to the site and is ranked as one of the top 4700 websites in all of America by Alexa.

This all took place via social media.  Social Media Examiner simply leveraged the power of sites like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn to deliver the kind of results that would’ve cost a fortune in the past.  Social Media Examiner didn’t spend a dime on marketing, it was just an investment of our time.

Now the connection…

Social media is the new marketing frontier because it bypasses all the costly middlemen and allows you to rapidly connect with your customers and prospects!  AND this presents an enormous opportunity for you.

So What’s This About?

The Social Media Examiner team has been working for months to bring the best minds in social media marketing together in an event called Social Media Success Summit 2010.

Last year, nearly 1000 marketers and small business owners from around the world attended the summit.  It was a smash hit.  Businesses were transformed.  In fact, 97% of attendees said they’d attend again.

This year’s focus is to empower you to build social media marketing plans, track your social media results and learn from other successful businesses.  You’ll also discover how to use Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Foursquare and Groupon to attract high-caliber customers and grow your business during this economic slump.

Not only can you gain amazing exposure for your business with social media marketing, you’ll also generate traffic, increase sales, gain qualified leads and build new partnerships.

Twenty-four of the world’s leading social media superstars will be summit instructors.

Join Guy Kawasaki (author, Art of the Start), Chris Brogan (author, Social Media 101), Darren Rowse (co-author, ProBlogger), Mari Smith (author, Facebook Marketing), experts from Best Buy, Home Depot, Whole Foods, Foursquare, Groupon; Steve Rubel (Edelman), Ann Handley (MarketingProfs), Brian Clark (Copyblogger), Greg Jarboe (author, YouTube and Video Marketing), Kim Dushinski (author, Mobile Marketing Handbook), Jason Falls (Social Media Explorer), Jay Baer (Convince & Convert), Chris Garrett (co-author, ProBlogger) and Ramon De Leon (Chicago Domino’s Pizza)—just to mention a few.  Together this team of “who’s who” in social media will help you succeed using practical tactics.

This is the world’s biggest online event designed to empower marketers and small business owners to master social media marketing.  And the great news is it’s a live online conference you can attend from your home or office.

Visit the site now

What’s In It For You

First, you don’t need to be a techno-geek or twenty-something to use and benefit from social media.  You might be surprised to learn that most social media marketers are aged 30 to 60 and have only been using social media for a few months.

In fact, even traditional businesses like Ford Motor Company, Clorox and State Farm Insurance are heavily focused on social media.  This is not some “young kids” phenomenon.

Social Media Success Summit 2010 will help you discover the best ways to market your business using social media.  You’ll also learn how successful social media campaigns were executed and how you can achieve similar results.

This summit is fully dedicated to empowering you.  You’ll discover how to grow your business using no-cost social media tactics.

Yes, attending this online event (and applying the techniques) will grow your business.  But there’s much more.  You’ll also join a community of like-minded women and men who’ll share their experiences and wisdom.

And There’s More

You can get 50% off if you act now.  Go here to see how this works

Plus… As a way of saying “thanks” for checking out the summit, there’s a gift just for marketers called “How to Grow and Engage an Audience on Twitter” (valued at $42) waiting for you here.  Go get it!

Copyright Cindy King 2006-2010 - International Business Blog

Social Media Success Summit 2010

Events

Your online success is always centered on the content you publish on the web. Business blogging has the advantage of publishing relevant content on a consistent basis. This is why so many professionals start blogging. But it’s not always easy to continue blogging while running a business.

This is why it’s great to get involved in social business networks. These are the online communities where you pick up good tips and learn from each other. And these social networks also help you to become a better business blogger.

Sugartone: Sweet Business Blogging Contest

Two of these social business networks, BizSugar the social bookmarking site for business articles & Bloggertone the business bloggers community, are partnering up to put on Sugartone, the Sweet Business Blogging Contest, with prizes specifically targeting professionals who publish articles online.

I wrote about Sugartone last week. Well, it starts now, Monday March 15th at 9am EST, 4pm GMT and that 5pm my time here in Paris.

How To Participate In Sugartone

There are 2 ways to win the prizes. All you need to participate in the Sugartone Sweet Business Blogging Contest is either:

• Write an original business article writer with a great title
• Vote and comment on the business articles submitted for the contest

Aiming for a Top 10 Titles prize? You can submit your articles between Monday March 15th at 9am EST which is 4pm GMT and Wednesday March 17th at 9am EST which is 4pm GMT to submit your articles.

Aiming for a Top 10 Commenters prize? You can vote and comment between Monday March 15th at 9am EST which is 4pm GMT and Friday March 19th at 9am EST which is 4pm GMT.

$6921 In  Sugartone Prizes

Prizes include:

• Lead Page Machine – a software to automatically generate squeeze pages so that you can use this to tailor your squeeze pages to specific audiences, to build your email subscribers and increase your sales conversions. Valued at: $5200
• Animoto – a year’s membership to this easy tool which creates videos from photos.  Valued at: $249
• Traction Call – a 45 minute call with the Traction Coach Gary Barnes to help you to quickly get some “sand under your wheels” so you can move forward toward the life you want to live. Valued at $175
• ClickMillionaires – 2 x 6-month membership to Scott Fox’s social network helping business owners upgrade their marketing to make more money online. Valued at $174
• · 5 Critical Tactics for Business Blog Success – this CD and report by Denise Wakeman reveals how you can easily make your blog a winner. Valued at $97
• Start.Grow.Run – 8 x a software package with 45 essential tools and services for the 3 different phases of your business. Valued at $49.95 each

Plus there are 2 books for both the winners of the Top 10 Titles and the Top 10 Commenters. And the books include:

• Wordtracker Masterclass: Blogging For Business – 50 Steps to Building Traffic and Sales by Chris Garrett. 5 books valued at $39 each
• Sociable by Shane Gibson & Stephan Jagger. 5 books valued at $25 each
• New Community Rules by Tamar Weinberg. 5 books valued at $16.49 each
• Guest Posting by Chris Garrett. 5 ebooks valued at $10 each

Find Out More

Do you want to find out how you can win these prizes?  Then read more about the Sugartone Sweet Business Blogging Contest.

Copyright Cindy King 2006-2010 - International Business Blog

Business Blogging Contest With $6921 In Prizes

Events

You’ll probably notice quite a few tweets and Facebook chatter about an event called Sugartone, the Sweet Business Blogging contest.

The Sugartone Sweet Business Blogging Contest is organized by BizSugar, the social bookmarking site for business articles, and Bloggertone the business bloggers community and it starts Monday March 15th.

Before telling you more about Sugartone, let me share with you why I’m involved.

BizSugar

My blog readers know that I’m always business focused.

Even when I talk about the soft people skills involved in developing strong cross-cultural skills, it’s always with a business focus in mind.

And even though I do a lot of social networking, all of my online presence is business related. I don’t have anything embarrassing online to hide.

This is why I appreciate BizSugar which is a social bookmarking site for business articles.  It’s a refreshing change compared to the rudeness or “snarky” comments encountered on other social bookmarking platforms.

The community on BizSugar is filled with like-minded professionals.  I even use it to develop my business network. And I enjoy the community there so much that I use it as a news reader and write a weekly review of the articles I find inspiring there for international business.

Bloggertone

I enjoy networking with the Irish social media community because so many of the Irish businesses are passionate about developing internationally.  Unfortunately most Irish companies need to generate international business to survive.  And as I’m also passionate about international business, and I enjoy their energy.  So I network with a number of Irish business folk online.

This is how I came to know Bloggertone which only launched a few months ago. And their growth has been fantastic. I really appreciate the strong community feeling in this blogging community. It’s a pleasure to network with them because they understand how to be social.

Bringing Both Business Communities Together

On the one hand you have a great community of professionals sharing their expertise by publishing articles on Bloggertone, and on the other hand you have another great community of professionals providing social recognition for business articles.

It was only a question of time before these two communities decided to do something together to help business professionals marketing their expertise online.

Sugartone

So, what is Sugartone?

Sugartone is the Sweet Business Blogging Contest for busy professionals to win $6921 in prizes to help them improve their marketing and generate more business.

It’s free to enter, easy for everyone to participate and there are lots of chances to win prizes.

Here are the 2 different ways you can participate in the Sugartone Sweet Business Blogging Contest:

• Write an original business article writer with a great title
• Vote and comment on the business articles submitted for the contest

There are 10 winners for the Top 10 Titles and 10 winners for the Top 10 Commenters

It’s that easy to enter the Sugartone Sweet Business Blogging Contest, so go check it out here

Copyright Cindy King 2006-2010 - International Business Blog

Sugartone: The Sweet Business Blogging Contest

Business Article Reviews

I‘ve started a new weekly article post over on Bloggertone. Each week I’ll share the business articles from the previous week that inspired me the most as a cross-cultural marketer and international sales specialist.

And there is also one other particularity. I’ve decided to only share articles I find on bizSugar.  This may seem a bit odd – there are many great business articles out there.  But the truth is, bizSugar has become my daily business “news reader”.

Bloggertone and bizSugar are simply 2 business networks I enjoy. There is no other connection whatsoever between us.

Have a look at the first weekly business article review:

• Cindy King’s Weekly Business Article Review

Articles To Inspire International Action

Remember, this weekly article review is based on articles I find inspiring as a cross-cultural marketer and from an international business development perspective. BizSugar runs their own top articles of the week… and there are other great business articles submitted each week on bizSugar.

As a person interested in cross-cultural marketing and international business some business articles inspire me more than others. And I hope these also ignite little sparks to give you ideas in how to approach different aspects of international business development.

Connecting 2 Business Communities

I decided to write this weekly review to network between 2 different online business communities.

• These are both business communities, but they are different activities.
• Both of these business communities are fairly small. And I like this.  It is easier to feel at home in small communities.

BizSugar Business Community

BizSugar is a social bookmarking platform.  This is the place to

• Find interesting news related to business
• Submit either your own business content or content from other sources
• Vote on business articles
• Network with other business professionals

BizSugar is tiny compared to Digg and Reddit.  But there is also a huge difference in the quality of interaction you get on BizSugar. It is easy to network with the other bizSugar members and the interactions are meaningful. Most bizSugar members come with similar expectations. This is why I like the bizSugar business community.

Bloggertone Business Community

Bloggertone is a new platform for business professionals to use as a blog and to post their articles.  It started barely 2 months ago.

What I like most about Bloggertone is their International Business section and the energy behind it.

The Bloggertone team is located in Ireland and all Irish companies need to be international to survive. The size of the Irish market is not big enough to sustain their business otherwise. So there is also a fair bit of knowledge and experience within the community about international business development.

This explains why this community has so much energy.  And this energy and direction in seeking international business opportunities and solutions is refreshing.  It stands out amidst the usual barriers I encounter:

• Overwhelm of everything foreign
• Apprehension of risk
• Action without any understanding of what business means in other countries

Bloggertone is also very lucky to have a very strong community in Ireland and I’m looking forward to networking within their international business community.

Bloggertone is actively looking for more bloggers to publish content on the Bloggertone website and is keen to get people from all over the world.  And although my interests are in their International Business section, they also have all of the other categories related to business. So if you would like to start business blogging, have click through and have a look.

What do you think?

• Do you have any suggestions on how to improve this networking exercise?
• What kind of business articles inspire you to take action to develop your international business?
• Did I miss any other business article last week on bizSugar relevant to international business?

Copyright Cindy King 2006-2010 - International Business Blog

Weekly Business Article Review On Bloggertone

Social Media In International Web Marketing

I have a new website – International Social Media. This is where I will publish detailed articles on how to do different aspects of international social media.

Here’s The Scoop

As you probably know I started a business 2 years ago helping businesses develop their international markets. And my primary clients are not in France where I live.  So I use international web marketing and, in particular social media, to identify and engage potential business partners abroad.

When I started I didn’t realize how my cross-cultural skills and international business development expertise would help me in finding the best way to use social media to develop my own business. But it did, and it does makes lots of sense.  There are many similarities between establishing best practices in a new culture whether it is in a new country or on social media platforms.

The thing is, as I went about my own business, other people noticed my success in using social media to build my business. And I keep getting requests to share my knowledge and help other businesses use social media.

So I recently decided to combine the copywriting & social media skills I use in developing my own business with my cross-cultural skills and expertise in international marketing, sales & business development. And I now help businesses in effective business development with social media content marketing.

In A Nutshell, Here’s What I Do

I use my business development expertise to create content for business focused social media marketing. And that’s not all.  I spend the next 6 to 12 months adapting this content marketing until I get the right web marketing and social media tactics for specific business goals.

This is similar to what I do for international business development in new foreign markets.  I only work at market entry and leave as soon as I have a Sales Guide established specific for each client and each new market. Although it depends on the business and the market, this usually takes between 6-12 months.

Of course, this means I get involved and:

• Create content
• Tweak strategies to get them to work
• Manage business content, blogs, tweet plans and social media marketing
• And I also proactively move these content marketing plans forward towards the specific business goals in collaboration with top management.

Now Taking On A Client Or Two

This is why I am now offering the same services I used to develop my own business… with one hitch.

• I only have the time to work with a 1 or 2 clients at a time and they have to sign up with me for at least 6 months.

Although I enjoy working towards developing international business this is not my only area of action. Most web marketing involves working with culturally diverse communities where my cross-cultural business skills are particularly useful.

Businesses get the most value out of my skills to jump into unknown markets with different rules and customs, and figure out how to get things to work for their business objectives when things look complicated.  Those are the skills I picked up in international business development: flexibility, adaptability and risk management.  And they are also needed for social media marketing.

This is how I landed the position as Managing Editor of the new online magazine, Social Media Examiner, where I work alongside several of the best social media experts today.

If you have a moment, take a quick look at my new website which describes my social media marketing services in more detail.

Let me know what you think. And, if you happen to know anyone in your network who may be interested in the kind of help I provide, please pass this link along. I’d really appreciate it.  My email is cindy@cindyking.biz

I’d love some feedback from you…

• What are your biggest web marketing challenges?
• How do you think your social media tactics are working for your business?
• What do you expect social media to add to your business?

Please share your comments below.

More on Social Media In International Web Marketing

• How Do You Use Social Media For Business?
• The Cultural Divide In The Social Media Evolution
• How Cultural Differences Impact International Social Media
• How To Sort Through The Social Media Hype
• It Is Business-To-People In Social Media Marketing
• How Do You Use Social Media For Small Business?
• 12 Social Media Tactics In My Marketing Plan
• 7 Cross-Cultural Skills For Businesses To Master Social Media
• Content Marketing To Reach International Markets
• Links And International Social Networking
• Choice Of Social Media For International Markets
• Connecting With People On Twitter
• Cultural Differences In Social Media Marketing
• Guerrilla Marketing With Social Media To Enter New International Markets
• Is Social Media Changing Business Networking?
• Likability For International And Social Media Communication
• New Marketing Taints Old Networking Tactics
• Social Media Marketing Across Cultures
• Understanding Social Media For Stronger International Web Marketing

More in the Get International Clients Business Guides

• Build Your International Marketing Strategy
• Connect With Your International Markets
• International Market Research
• International Web Marketing

Copyright Cindy King 2006-2010 - International Business Blog

International Social Media

How To Create An International Business Blog

Is there an ideal international blog promotion formula? Well, I have been hunting for a good for a while and I’m now finally happy with what I have come up with for my own international business.  I’d like to share it with you.

With my background as a cross-cultural marketer I know how to reach international audiences. That was not my challenge. The missing ingredient for a strong international blog promotion strategy was elsewhere. You see, although it is easy to understand what you need to do to promote your blog online, it is not always easy to figure out how to put this into practice.

Today I’m only going to talk about businesses targeting international English speaking, or “English-reading”, audiences online – we’ll look into international blogs in other languages in another post.

Let’s have a look at the easy part before I share my secret with you.

Blog Promotion Tactics

Luckily, if your international blog is in English, you have many resources outlining blog promotion tactics. The trouble for foreign businesses is:

• These resources are in English
• The best blog practices in one country may feel a bit “foreign” to someone from another country
• It takes time to get used to blogs and blogging practices and even more time when you add in the cultural differences

There is some good news for foreign language blogs: ICANN is now moving forward with URLs for countries with alphabets in non-latin characters. This means there will be more culturally diverse web activity and resources available… and possibly more foreign blogging opportunities.

But at least you can find a multitude of blogging resources in English online. After spending a few weeks reading through the wealth of information on blog promotion it is easy to come up with a long list of things to do.  Here the the main ones:

Personal messages to the people who comment on your blog – to create community.

Regular search monitoring – to engage with people linking to your blog or talking about you and your blog online.

Regular social bookmarking & networking activities – to both promote your own blog posts and integrate the communities on a few strategic platforms.  For my business these are currently: Posterous, BizSugar, FriendFeed, Delicious, StumbleUpon and Reddit.

Comment on other blogs and forums - to be seen, engage in discussions and create relationships with peers and potential clients.

These tactics work well for blogs in English.

A word of caution: Don’t assume the exact same tactics are ideal for all blogs in other cultures. Cultural differences effect all forms of communication, including blogging. More about this in a future post.

This list looks easy enough.  But what happens when you actually sit down to do the work. The truth is, this is the most difficult part of creating your blog promotion.

How Do You Manage Your Blog Promotion

Managing your time investment in promoting your blog is the hard part.  You see, if you are not careful you can spend the whole day promoting your blog. Sure, this will get you results.  But at what price?  This is why I listened attentively and went hunting for formulas on how to include blog promotion into my social media strategy.

• How much blog promotion do I need to do for my business?

And finally these are the 3 bits of advice I used to come up with my own plan:

• Spend the same amount of time promoting your blog as writing your blog posts
• Spend 5 hours promoting your blog for every hour you spend writing your blog post
• Do a long list of social media actions every day

Blog Promotion For An International Audience

After looking closely at this advice, I decided to follow and adapt these three rules for my business:

Blog Promotion Rule #1 - When my schedule gets busy I still blog.  Blogging is now firmly part of my daily routine. And I always spend at least the same amount of time for blog promotion as for blog writing.  No exceptions.  This is usually about an hour for each task.

Blog Promotion Rule #2 - As I want to reach international audiences and rely heavily on social media, 5 hours of blog promotion a day is probably a very good thing for my business.  So I try to fit in 5 hours worth on as many days of the week as I can.  Did you notice how I said  ”5 hours worth”?  This means I am always looking for ways to increase the value and the reach of the time I spend promoting my blog.  So, in practice:

• I include a little blog promotion wherever and whenever I can.  It has become part of me.
• I’ve become a student of productivity and processes, and at the same time paying close attention to what works for me and what doesn’t.
• I nurture friendships with people who are both fun to be with and willing to help me out in promoting my blog, even if it’s a tiny bit.

Sure, sometimes I do spend 2 or 3 hours a day solely on blog promotion.  But not everyday and sometimes not for a couple of weeks.  In addition, it is only when my schedule is free.  These long blog promotion sessions are a pleasure because there is often a good deal of networking and connecting with my blog readers.  For an international business this is vital.

Blog Promotion Rule #3 -  I use a checklist to keep me focused.  This allows me to immediately jump into the tasks at hand… and jump out when I’ve finished.  My checklist is similar to the ones I found online, except I’ve adapted it a little to fit my business goals.  It does not matter if I do not manage to do everything on the list every day.  What I’ve found is that it is good to tweak it from time to time to be sure it fits into an hour and stays relevant to my business goals and the new things that pop up in social media.

How has this experience been?  Well, although I do spend an hour promoting my blog every day, I started doing this first thing in the morning.  This worked wonderfully for me.  Then I decided to try to get more “billable” hours into the mornings and moved this to late afternoons.

Big mistake.  Although I network on the phone almost every late afternoon and speak to people from all around the world, I was not good at keeping up with the blog promotion tasks in the evenings.  My brain was too tired to network across cultures in writing in late afternoons.  Speaking was fine.  Just not the writing.

So international blog promotion is now back to mornings for me.  This is fine.  The very first task I do every morning is review my keyword search results to read the latest news of interest to me.  And this flows well into the blog promotion tasks.

An International Hub

Blogs are not miracle international sales machines.  But with a little thought about your international promotion tactics, your blog can become the hub from which you connect with audiences in different areas of the world. What happens next depends on what you do from there.

As you can see from above, for my international business I allow a large amount of time for networking and almost always include blog promotion while networking.  Even if different businesses, with different goals, use different blog promotion tactics to reach their international audiences, networking will probably play a role too.  A blog as an international hub makes networking with international audiences a natural choice.

Have you guessed what my secret for effective international blog promotion is?  Yes, it is to include active networking as part of my blog promotion.  This creates a truly international business hub from a simple blog.

Now it’s your turn…

• What international blog promotion formula do you use?
• What are your goals when connecting with your international audience?
• How do you promote your blog to international audiences?

Please share your comments below.

More on International Social Media

• An International Business Blog To Discover New Markets

More on How To Create An International Business Blog:

• 3 Different Communication Challenges Of An International Blog
• Investment In An International Business Blog
• Business Blogs For Sales Conversion
• Business Blogs To Get International Clients
• Business Blogs To Open Foreign Markets

More in these Get International Clients Business Guides

• Build Your International Marketing Strategy
• International Web Marketing
• Connect With Your International Markets
• International Market Research

Copyright Cindy King 2006-2010 - International Business Blog

My International Blog Promotion Secret

How To Create An International Business Blog

Now, when most people first think of an international blog, they start by focusing on the language issues.  And this usually brings up the notion of “heavy investment”.  By solely focusing on languages a few bad things usually happen, this:

• Paralyzes action through fear of the unknown and related procrastination
• Creates bigger mountains than there actually are
• Stops people from taking the other investments vital for success into consideration

So before I approach the question of language, let’s look at the other areas where you need to invest in a successful international blog.

1 – Strategy Is Key

The most important time investment in an international blog is in the strategy.  I believe this is the same for all business blogs.  For international blogs it is even more critical.  A good strategy helps you to get something out of your international blog marketing.

Strategy Before Starting Your Business Blog

Just like any other business blog, an international blog requires some preparation before you begin blogging. It is best to carry out:

• Research on the other blogs in the area
• General web user research for the countries you want to reach.
• A brief review of the differences in cross-cultural dimensions.  This will help you find the tone for your blog, and also to identify who should write the blog.

But there is probably one big difference between a typical business blog and blog actively seeking to connect with international markets: If this is your first blog targeting these markets, your initial strategy will probably be off target.

• You will need feedback before you can get your international blog strategy right
• Your international blog strategy will probably go through several changes until you find the right way to establish a connection with audience

So…

Do not expect to have all of the answers before you start blogging.

• Be an active listener
• Plan for flexibility
• And get ready to connect with people

Creating The Best Strategy

Many business executives get involved in the strategy to prepare and set up the business blog and then delegate the ongoing blogging to someone else.  This is a real mistake for an international business blog… and it is a mistake where small businesses can jump in and have a distinct advantage.

You see, a blog is like a living thing.  A successful blog creates a real relationship within an area when all the market players are present: prospects, clients, suppliers, partners and competitors.

For a business blog, business strategy is important.  With a “living” communication platform, you need to be ready to adapt tactics while maintaining the your business strategy at the same time.

The reality for many businesses is that:

1. Social media can help businesses improve their knowledge of their market
2. With this extra knowledge some businesses may discover business opportunities
3. These businesses may then realize that their business strategy needs some tweaking

For businesses using blogs to reach international markets this is almost always true.  Blogs give you a tool to get to know your international market potential.

As a new small business this is exactly what happened to me.  After blogging for 3 months, I discovered a new business opportunity that I had never imagined. After blogging for 6 months I also discovered 2 different ways to exploit this new opportunity.

International Strategy

When blogging for international markets, you will need to invest more time into your blogging strategies.  You simply need  to work harder to adapt them and create the best connection you can with foreign markets.  With cultural differences there is no way to get around this extra effort.

International business requires action with adaptability and flexibility. It is a learning process of getting to know your international clients and markets.

2 – Strategic Content

How much time you invest in writing and creating the content on your blog depends on many factors. There are many different ways to approach content and your choice will be influenced by your international market and the culture you want to reach as well as your own culture.

No matter what you choose, you will want to test your content by actively engaging in conversations and monitoring the results.

One international blog strategy might be to write one article a week and add weekly social media presence in local markets.

Strategic content is important for all business blogs… international ones too.

3 – Social Bookmarking & Social Networking

Social bookmarking is an important part of getting visibility and traffic to your blog.

The first time I heard a French person refer to social bookmarking as “digg-like” I did not understand him.  Social bookmarking exists in other countries, but they may call it something else and it might not be developed in the exact same way.

Social networking is how you connect with people across the different social media platforms.  This usually involves:

• Leaving comments on other blogs
• Showing others what you like online
• Building relationships within the circle of your online presence – not only in your customer base

You Might Need To Spend A Lot Of Time

For international markets, you will need to spend more time researching the best social bookmarking tools and alternative social networking ways to reach the people you want to reach.

You Might Need To Start From Scratch

You probably will not know how to go about starting this at first.  And the only real advice is to jump in and start someplace.  If you feel awkward, persist and slowly build your people skills in this new environment.

4 – International Business Networking

I have separated this from the social networking, because the activities are different.  International business networking is why you have an international business blog in the first place.  This is where you build the relationships you need to develop your international business.  It requires :

• A fair amount of additional research
• Personal one-on-one contact which usually involves phone calls
• Persistence

5 – The Right Language For Your Objectives

Many businesses automatically assume they need a blog in the native language of the country they are targeting.  And most businesses need to have all of their sales and marketing materials in the native language of their international clients.

But before you start thinking about languages, sit back and think about the objectives of your international blog.  I talked about strategy, strategic content, social bookmarking & social networking and international business networking first for a reason.

I hope to show you that you could have an international blog to learn more about your international markets… first.

• Before thinking of sales
• Before investing in foreign language sales and marketing materials

An international blog combined with international social media gives us an opportunity to do international market research on a different level.

• A good strategy will help you get the information you need before taking any decisions
• Strategic content ensures that you are targeting the right people to get the feedback you need
• Social bookmarking and social networking can promote interaction
• International business networking may uncover new or better opportunities

I hope you take the time to think about this carefully.  Because it takes the big stress with foreign languages and puts it into another perspective.

Do You Need A Foreign Language Blog?

For some businesses, the need to communicate in a foreign language will be obvious.  They may have foreign markets where no one speaks English.  But there are also many businesses who may be able to consider using an English language blog to reach international audiences.

Would you prefer to operate in two steps. The first step could be:

• Blog in English targeting an international audience
• Run occasional foreign language campaigns in the foreign language
• Learn how to engage conversations with your foreign markets
• Find out more about your international market opportunities
• Adapt your sales and marketing

And your second step would be a more targeted approach to a foreign market with more knowledge and less risk.

What About A Language Mix?

Many global websites with multiple languages use templates.  English is used for the bulk of the information and only the first few pages are translated in the foreign language.  There is nothing stopping you from doing something similar with a blog.

You could have a general outline of what you blog about and who you want to connect with translated into a foreign language and then have regular blog posts in English.

There are markets where this would be enough to show your eagerness to connect with people, and facilitate conversation to get valuable foreign market feedback.

Evaluate Your Options

Now I am not saying that this would work for all types of markets.  I am only trying to show you that there are options. There is no reason to stay paralyzed at the thought of communicating with people from different cultures who speak different languages.

Social media is about connecting with people.  If you try to connect with a group of people you will eventually learn how to get into the inner circle.

What about you?

• Is there anything stopping your from creating a blog to reach your  international markets?
• What would you be willing to do to connect with your international markets?
• Is an international blog an option for your business?

Please share your comments below.

More on How To Create An International Business Blog:

• 3 Different Communication Challenges Of An International Blog
• My International Blog Promotion Secret
• Business Blogs For Sales Conversion
• Business Blogs To Get International Clients
• Business Blogs To Open Foreign Markets

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• An International Business Blog To Discover New Markets

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