The day you decide to add a blog to your website may be the day you realize how much content you will need to write. Having a blog on your site is great for your users. You can keep them up to date on your company and also inform them on different information within your industry. Starting a blog means you will need to write content and that is not always easy. We are here to provide a few tips on how to create content your users will want to read!

1. Brainstorm your content: Do not try to sit down and immediately start writing. Brainstorming will help organize ideas you want to post about. This is great if you are updating your users with company information. If you are updating on industry information this is a great time to do research. Find out what is new.
2. What is the most meaningful?: It is extremely important to make sure your content is easy to understand. Keep out any useless information. It is better to keep a shorter informative post then a lengthy post that is filled with unnecessary information. Also, make sure you have a proper title that makes sense to the post. Try to choose a heading that will grab the reader’s attention. A dull heading will not make a user want to click on your post.
3. Keep it short: Following up on #2, it is important to keep your reader engaged. No one enjoys reading a very lengthy post. You may be surprised how much information you can share in a short post.
4. Make sure your content is accurate: The great thing about the Internet is having so many sources to read on different topics. But, be careful, not all of it is true! So, check a couple sources before putting information in your post that you are not sure about.
5. Find other blogs to be inspired by: Typically, blogs are the most current information. People are posting frequently, so it is a great idea to review other blogs for fresh, up to date information. Once you are inspired, spin it to your own style of writing.
6. Keep clear and concise: After writing your content, check, re-check, and check again. Make sure the content reflects on your typical user and that it is easy for them to understand.
7. Follow up on comments: If someone has input and insight on your blog post, this is your opportunity to engage and write back. This can create great customer service and later, customer satisfaction.

These are just a few tips that we wanted to share in order to help you and your business create great content on your blog. Comment and let us know if you have any other great tips to share!

If anyone was following the Bing Developer blog today, then you have also found out that Bing will be bringing you product ads! Bing has announced that in Q3 of 2013 they will be rolling out product ads to the U.S. This will be a new search ad format that allows retail advertisers to include more details to their products. The details within the ad would include a thumbnail image, price, description, and merchant information. The purpose is for the user to see the most important details of a product in order to make the decision to click on the retail advertiser’s site or not.
Currently, Bing has been testing the new product ads with a limited group of retail advertisers. Most users most likely have not even seen one of the product ads. Those that have seen some are searching items such as home goods through Internet Explorer. But, even then, they won’t always show. Bing has provided a screenshot of what the product ads will look like and plan to have them up and running by early summer. Bing will continue to release more information on their product ads as the time gets closer. But, until then, how do you feel about Bing’s product ads?

Have you ever tried setting up your own Google local listings? If so, is your listing’s status “active” or “needs action”? Becoming active on Google’s local listings can be quite a process. After filling in all information for your business, Google typically gives the option to send a postcard for verification. In some cases businesses are offered a phone or email verification. In the event one of those options are given you should always choose one of those before a postcard, solely because postcards take the longest to receive. But, even if you receive a pin and put it in your listing to be verified it goes through a pending review phase. This can take a few days or longer depending on Google. Once the review phase is over then your listing should become active.

There are times that listings do not go active and are declined because Google looks through the listing to make sure all information is accurate. If Google feels the listing is not valid it will decline the local listing. There are a few things that Google will penalize you for, those include:

For addresses:

• Using a P.O. box for a street address
• Moving your address to the city when you are located a little bit outside of it
• Adding directions within the street address (ex: across from the Starbucks)
• Adding locations that do not exist
• Having the map pinpoint not in the correct location

For phone numbers:

• Using an 800 number as a primary phone number
• Using a call tracking phone number

For Categories:

• Using location-based keywords
• Using brand name keywords

For Reviews:

• Using fake local reviews (having employees write them or writing negative one’s about your competition)

There may be something valid about your company that Google sees as an issue and declines your listing; that is if your business does not have a storefront location. If you do not have a storefront and put in an address, then your local listing will most likely be declined. What you need to do is specify that you serve at the customer’s location and check the option that says do not display my address on the map listing. Then, there should be no problem.

We recommend when setting up your local listing to avoid any of the above bullets that can cause it to be declined. If you have any questions about local listings or need help with set up, please contact us.