PR Newswire did a research on content (for them is press release). The more multimedia you put in your content, the more views or more traffic you will get. This is so true. Previously when I started this blog, I put more text than images, videos, etc. I got a response from my readers said that I should put more images and videos and I do. My blog traffic does increase because it.

As you can see the infographic from PR Newswire below, 77% increase if you put photos, videos, documents, powerpoint, excel, PDF, etc.

Click the image to enlarge

So, put more multimedia in your blog, especially your readers are Malaysians.

Source: Enrich Your Content with Multimedia to Attract More Traffic

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Don't get me wrong, I'm not against blog advertising or paid advertorials. In fact, working with bloggers to get the news out can be a great way to boost visibility and exposure for your new product or service among the consumers. However, it recently came to my attention that more and more businesses or brands are turning away from blog advertising with a simple reason: "It does not work anymore".

How true is that? Does that signify the end of blog advertising in Malaysia? Is blog advertising really losing its power or is there a problem with the advertiser?

I would suggest the latter.

4 Reasons Why Businesses Today Are Killing Blog Advertising

#1: Businesses Are Blinded
And you're not alone! Many businesses fall into the numbers trap – the number of unique visitors, impressions, click-throughs and etc. Remember the quality over quantity rule of social media. Forget the numbers for a second; eliminate those (blogs) that are irrelevant to your business or industry. Put together a list of bloggers that can bring value to you – because their readers are your prospects.

#2: Businesses Don't Care
Let's be real – you don't really care for the bloggers, let alone know them personally. You probably see them as journalists and channels to disseminate your news to the consumers.. and that's where you're wrong. Take some time to understand them, talk to them and perhaps even hang out with them. Even simple gestures such as greeting them by name and remembering their blog can go a long, long way. Personalization still matters.

#3: Businesses Dictate
Sad, but true. I can't help but to notice how businesses actually prepare a script to 'assist' bloggers in writing a post. I understand the need for keywords, but a what-should-you-write list is a big no-no. Sure, the end product looks good but today's consumers aren't as naïve as before especially if they are loyal readers. They are able to tell whether those are the words of the blogger by just reading.

#4: Businesses Are Busy
Blogs are usually just one of the many promotional channels businesses invest in which also means that they are unlikely to keep track of the individual performance of each channel. Having that said, they go by the mass message approach – put up an announcement / advertisement and point readers to an external site. Imagine what the impact would be if they were to use the opportunity to communicate individually to the readers of each blog by having a targeted message. It definitely takes more time but the ROI may just be worth the trouble.

So, are you thinking of hiring bloggers to promote your business? Don't kill blog advertising any longer. Start looking beyond the numbers, build relationships, provide guidelines but not answers and personalize your message whenever possible. These 4 simple areas may just revolutionize your future blog advertising campaigns.

My name is Jan Wong, 24, an online strategist, youth advocate and entrepreneur with a master's degree in technology management. I am also a consultant specializing in online marketing, writes at www.janwong.my, and the founder and director of 3 growing businesses since 2006 that has spent zero on advertising since their inception. Twitter: @jwongjk

On 17th May 2011, I posted an article "Where to Get How-to Article Ideas for Your Blog". In the article, I mentioned about doing keyword analysis, reading other people's blogs, joining forums and social networking sites and reading books to get ideas for generating your how-to articles. But there is another powerful tool from Worldtracker can save your time and help you to list all the how-to questions that people search on search engines. That is Wordtracker Keyword Questions Tool.

As you can see the screen shot below, I used keyword "search engine optimization", the Wordtracker Keyword Questions Tool generated 18 most asked questions with keyword "search engine optimization" for me less than 5 seconds. Use those questions as your blog content, it helps in your search engine ranking.



You can sign up for Wordtracker Free Tool account. Once you have signed up, you can use the tool for 20 times. After that you have to pay Wordtracker to continue using it.

For your information, I don't work for Wordtracker, I just thought it is valuable tool to help you to save your time and help your blogs. :)

How to articles are one of the most read articles on blogs. So, where can we get ideas to generate how to articles that readers really want to read? Here is the list of sources you can go for.

Keyword Analysis
In today's world, when people have questions on how to, they search online, e.g search on Google. When they search, Google will capture their data and store in their servers. In order to produce how to article, we need to know what people search online. We can use Google Keywords Tool to do our keywords research on what exactly people search.

Other People's Blogs
Read other people's blogs is a must in order for you to produce how to articles. For our case, we read Bruceclay Blog, Search Engine Watch Blog, Search Engine Land Blog, etc. The more we read, the more ideas we have on how to articles. And when you read and comment other people's blogs, you build links to your websites (which is very important to search engine optimization) and you build relationship with the authors.

Forums
Forums are another great soruce to get ideas for your how to articles. People go to forums because they have questions. For our case, we read search engine optimization related forums. For example SEO Forum, SEO Chat, etc. Forums are another great source to build your links to your blogs or websites as well.

Social Networking Sites
I have to say twitter and linkedin help me the most in producing how to articles of all social networking sites. It is especially true for twitter. Twitter is highly targeted websites compared to Facebook and Linkedin. If you want to produce high quality how to articles for your blog, just follow experts in your industry, they always have something to share.

Books
I love to read books. Books changed my life and changed the way I do my business. There are thousands of books in bookstores about how to. But make sure you check ratings and reviews before you buy any books because not all books provide correct ways in how to do somethig.

Hope this blog post help you! :)

Some people ask me where I get content to blog because they have difficulties to get good content for their blogs. My answer is - read and read it consistently.

A good blogger is a good reader as well. I read at least 6 books per month, 30 blogs and 5 forums per day. If you keep doing this, I am 100% sure that you won't run out of content.