EndGame Public Relations Client News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:
Steve Mullen
(804) 382-0017
Steve@EndGamePR.com
www.EndGamePR.com

BLOGGING: IT’S NOT JUST FOR SELF-EXPRESSION ANYMORE
Trend Has Companies “Blogging For Dollars”

Richmond, Virginia, May 4, 2006 – It’s nothing new to find bloggers, whether intentionally or unintentionally, hogging the top of the rankings on search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and MSN. What is new, however, is that companies large and small are entering the blogosphere in droves, hoping to create that success for themselves.

The word blog is short for “web log”. Blog writers, also called “bloggers,” enter articles, columns, and personal musings into their websites on topics as varied as the Internet itself. For some, it’s simply an online diary. Others use their blog to push their own agenda. One estimate places the number of web logs on the Internet at more than 35-million, and growing at a rate of 70-thousand per day.

“One of the biggest reasons blogs are at the top of the search rankings is that they are rich in keywords,” said Laurie Baldwin, CEO of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) firm NetBaldwin. “Search engines create their rankings in part by looking at the words on a site and how often the words are repeated. They use those words to determine what the site is about, where it should be ranked, and what terms a search engine user must type in to find the site. A standard website's text can only include the basic keywords, but the longer form prose used in a blog will ensure that less obvious combinations are covered.”

It’s difficult to tell exactly how many corporate web logs there are because many of them blur the line between personal and business. However, Baldwin says she recommends to all of her clients that they start blogging. More and more are taking that advice and are having great search engine success.

Baldwin cautions that all of that blogging time is wasted if it’s not done properly. She has provided a number of tips on how to create a successful corporate blog,

Update, update, and update again
·Search engines rank frequently updated sites higher than stale ones. Baldwin suggests updating as much as twice a week or even more. Aside from the search engine ranking benefits, frequent updates can turn users into frequent visitors or even customers.

Stay on target
·Whether you write your own corporate blog or you have someone internally or externally do it for you, be sure that what is written relates to your business. An anecdote about Uncle Benny’s hernia operation might be interesting, but unless your business has to do with hernias or operations, it won’t help you with the search engines!

Offer real content
·The best content is articles about your industry or tips and tricks for novices. Don’t be concerned about people not coming to you for business if you give away too much information. By giving them usable information, you’ll be demonstrating that you’re an expert in your field.

Free isn’t necessarily a good deal
·Websites that offer blogging as a free service are great, but they’re not going to help your company’s search engine ranking very much. Baldwin recommends using a package such as MyST Blogsite™ that resides on the same web server as your website. Using this strategy, the search engines will consider your blog part of your site and rank it accordingly. If it resides elsewhere, it’s considered a separate site.

Examples of corporate blogs:

Middlecreek Valley Chalets
·Website address: http://www.mvchalets.com
·Blog address: http://pigeon-forge.mvchalets.com

Lumber Liquidators
·Website address: http://www.lumberliquidators.com
·Blog address: http://flooring.lumberliquidators.com

To view a white paper written by Jim Baldwin, NetBaldwin co-founder and CIO, on why blogging works for SEO, please visit http://www.netbaldwin.com/search-engine-reference/white-papers/long-tail.php.

About NetBaldwin, LLC
Based in Richmond, Virginia, NetBaldwin, LLC is one of the top Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) firms in the Mid-Atlantic region, and is among the fastest growing in the nation. NetBaldwin uses best-of-breed SEO/SEM tactics and technology to deliver measurable results to clients such as Children’s Wear Digest, Lumber Liquidators, and Christian Children’s Fund. Founded in 2003, NetBaldwin was a finalist for Richmond’s 2005 and 2006 Emerging Technology Company of the Year award. For more information, please visit http://www.NetSearchDirect.com.

###