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As a business owner or professional, blogging can be confusing. Mix in the multiple platforms, terms and tools and blogging can become downright scary.

I want to demystify some of the pain points for you so you can get your business up and running with a blog. Here is a quick sketch overview of the four platform tools in online blog publishing.

Blogger.com

Blogger is the best starting point for most people. It is owned by Google and you can be set up  and publishing in a matter of minutes. To use a camera analogy – Blogger is like a point and click fixed lens camera.

But unlike a point and click, Blogger does have the option to manually override the entire template and customize it for your business.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Blogger is a good starting point – but your business may want something a little more robust…

Enter Wordpress

This platform is fast becoming a standard in online publishing. It is open source (meaning it is free) and has multiple add-on features and plugins. We use Wordpress to power the FolkMedia.org site and our other client sites.

Unlike Blogger, if you want to get the full benefits of wordpress, you will need to host it on your own site. If you are tech savy, you could read the install instructions and follow the step-by-step setup. Of course we here at Folk Media would be happy to help you install and host. (How’s that for a shameless plug?)

Movable Type

Movable Type is your choice if your business wants a good solid publishing platform that is backed by a great customer service team. They charge for the blogging software – but you get support.

Some of the largest online publishers and media companies use Movable Type to power their blogs and content. The folks over at Six Apart (makers of Movable Type) have built a very useful CMS.

Ning

Want a custom MySpace/Facebook type platform for you clients or customers? Ning may be a great solution.

Ning is free. It is easy to set up and easy to publish. The templates and styles are customizable. If your organization or business lends itself to high customer feedback and involvement – then Ning may be the solution you need.

These are four of the top players in the online publishing and blogging space. Personally, I am blog platform agnostic. The important thing to remember is to create compelling content that people want to read – see – listen to – or watch. The platform is only a tool to amplify your unique business voice.
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Joel Mark Witt is a producer, speaker, and new media leader who writes about social media and its impact in the business world. He is also the Founding Director of Folk Media. Send him an eMail: joelmarkwitt (at) folkmedia.org or follow him on Twitter.

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Subscribe to the Folk Media Insider eNewsletter. It’s a free monthly newsletter packed with tips, tools, strategies and resources to take your business to the next level online.

.An RSS feed is simply a data format used for providing users with frequently updated content. RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication.

What it does is help you get your content into the hands of the people who want it online.

You can see ours in the upper right hand corner of our website. It looks like this:

By clicking on that rss icon or by copying this URL: http://feeds2.feedburner.com/FolkMedia you can add this blog to your feed reader.

Confused?

Don’t worry – this stumps even the brightest minds. The following video will break the concept down and help you understand why RSS is so important:

*Unedited Source Image By photopia / HiMY SYeD

So exactly what is Twitter?

Wikipedia describes Twitter as “a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows its users to send and read other users’ updates (otherwise known as tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length.”

That’s a pretty good way to explain it. I think I would also add that it is more like a text based telephone than a micro-blog. Of course it is a telephone conversation that anyone can listen to. But I think this is the power of Twitter. And Twitter for business can be very powerful.

Twitter gives you an opportunity to be transparent as a business allowing you to build a case for yourself or your company through dialogue.

My friend Lee from Common Craft made this short video explaining Twitter in everyday language.  This is ” Twitter In Plain English. ”

My experience with Twitter

I thought Twitter was really stupid until I gave it a try. And then I still thought it was stupid.

My problem was misunderstanding how it can be used as a tool for business and communications. But I’ve really changed my mind on this. And now Twitter has become indispensable to me and our business.

The tipping point personally came when I was recently speaking at a conference in Las Vegas. If you’ve ever been to the Las Vegas Convention Center, you’ll appreciate the fact that even a smart guy like me was able to get lost. The building is a small city and navigation can at times be very difficult. In order to find my way around I pulled up Twitter on my cell phone and tweeted out a quick message asking for directions. Within moments I had an answer from a stranger who was following me and was able to easily find my way to the conference hall.

The tipping point for my business came when clients began contacting me from seeing Tweets. I decided right then and there to begin taking this Twitter thing seriously and have developed some strategies for how we are using Twitter in our own company.

Things your company can do with Twitter

Twitter for business?

Yes.

While Twitter can  be used for actual business communications, it is important to remember that this tool isn’t for everyone. It should be used wisely like any tool online. I would say that about 80% of businesses can use Twitter to:

• Listen to what people are talking about in your market or industry
• Break news related to your industry or customers
• Link to insightful articles that will help your clients
• Offer quick tips to help people with particular problems
• Conduct surveys to get instant feedback
• Spread knowledge by re-tweeting other’s posts
• Ask for customer service feedback and engage those folks

Twitter is one of the most interesting and fastest growing online applications for personal and business communications. Even if you decide Twitter isn’t for you,  at least give it a try and do some experimentation. There are a lot of opportunities to harness Twitter for your business.

Joel Mark Witt is a producer, speaker, and new media leader who writes about social media and its impact in the business world. He is also the Founding Director of Folk Media. Send him an email: joelmarkwitt (at) folkmedia.org or follow him on Twitter.

*Photo by seyDoggie

Written By: Joel Mark Witt

You may already have a blog that you’ve claimed in Technorati.

So you probably know the benefits of Technorati indexing the web within minutes and helping their users get up-to-date information. They are the authority on what is happening on the live web and enable you to track online conversations about you, your sites, your company, and your products.

So why not claim your Twitter feed and contribute to that “live web conversation?”

I think you should. Here’s how to do it:

1. Sign into your Technorati account. If you don’t have one sign up here for free.

2. Select claim your blog from the Blogger Central drop down menu.

3. Click “claim a new blog link at the bottom left of the page.

4. Enter the URL to your twitter profile. And click “begin claim”

5. You will be taken to this screen with a small piece of code.

6. Simply copy the code Technorati provides and make a Twitter post with it in your account.

7. Now head back over to Technorati and click “complete claim.” You should see a page where you can edit your blog settings. Fill out the keywords and other info you want to have associated with your Twitter stream and click save.

8. Be sure to go back to your Twitter account and delete the tweet you made with the Technorati code. Otherwise it will look shabby to others in your time line.

9. Congratulations you have now claimed your twitter feed in Technorati. Your twitter feed will have the same benefits of a Technorati claim as your other blogs.

Folk Media works with businesses, ad agencies, and professionals to skyrocket sales and marketing goals using online audio, video and social media content. You can follow us on Twitter or if you have an online video, audio or social media project consider requesting a proposal.

Here are 3 Reasons Why Your Business Should Have A Blog. Listen to them here:

1) Blogs create a feedback look for your business.
The internet allows two-way communication. So you can begin a discussion on your blog and ask your readers and customers to comment. This creates a great way to listen to your customers needs and wants.

2) Blogs are great for search engine optimization (SEO)
Basically this means that your content on the blog will be recognized by search engines. The key is to make the content valuable to a reader. Google, Yahoo, and others will then link to your online posts and articles exposing your business to new prospects and clients.

3) Blogs beg to be updated.
A blog is a platform that feeds off of new information. Search engines and web visitors in general love to see fresh, new content on your site. This will in turn help with your SEO.

Joel Mark Witt is a producer, speaker, and new media leader who writes about social media and its impact in the business world. He is also the Founding Director of Folk Media. Send him an email: joelmarkwitt (at) folkmedia.org or follow him on Twitter.

*Photo by Swampadswain

I have three quick tips to help you schedule your business blog posts. Listen to them here:

1) Post once per day.
Don’t try to be a super hero and post five times a day. One piece of content is good enough for a business blog.

2) Schedule your posts ahead of time.

No need to write each time you need to make a post. Block out large amount of time and use the auto posting feature in Wordpress, Blogger, or Typepad.

3) Spread the workload.
Get your entire company involved in creating blog content. It is a lot easier to have five people each post once per week than one person posting 5 times per week.

Joel Mark Witt is a producer, speaker, and new media leader who writes about social media and its impact in the business world. He is also the Founding Director of Folk Media. Send him an email: joelmarkwitt (at) folkmedia.org or follow him on Twitter.

*Photo by -Mandie-

At this point in time Folk Media is split into two main branches. This blog will keep you up to date on all of our production related news. Here you’ll find exclusive previews of upcoming podcasts, information on all of our shows, and special behind-the-scenes looks at what we do.

On the other hand, Folk Media Network will focus on building a community of new media creators and sharing resources. You’ll find training opportunities, tips, and helping hands. If you need someone to help you shoot next weekend, information on the latest HD Camcorders, or would like to pitch or discuss show ideas… this is the place to go.

We hope you take advantage of what both sites have to offer.