In this series of 'plain-English' articles, I'd like to share 5 powerful tools and techniques to really boost your business blogging strategy.

Part 1 - Feedburner

When you create a blog, you will almost certainly have created a 'feed' which means that each time you post, subscribers to your feed will automatically receive your new content. Feedburner is a 'feed management service' and there are several reasons why you should set yourself up with one of their free accounts.

One reason is that Feedburner makes subscribing to your feed a whole lot easier - particularly important if your target market is not especially blog savvy. If you've ever clicked on a 'subscribe to this blog' link and been given either a download prompt or been served a page of unintelligble text, then you will understand just how confusing and bewildering this (in reality) simple request can be.

Feedburner works by rerouting your feed through their servers. Why does that make a difference? Because when readers click on your Feedburner-managed 'subscribe' link, they are taken to a page which clearly explains what to do next, making the process a whole lot less scary and thus far more likely that they'll complete the process.

Additionally Feedburner allows you to monitor your subscriber numbers and lets you add something called 'FeedFlare'. This means you can add a 'subscribe' link to the end of every post you ever write. It also adds an 'email this to a friend' link so readers who find the post of interest can equally easily promote your blog to their friends and colleagues - the ultimate Word of Mouth marketing tool.

Once you've got your account set up, you might want to place a 'feed icon' on your blog instead of just a plain text link. This little orange and white square is a universally recognised feed icon which means that people can quickly see where to click to grab your feed. Feel free to use the unique 'subscribe' icon I've created for my blog on your blog. Just 'right click' on the image and save it to your computer ready to place it on your blog. Exactly how you do this will depend on what platform you use; Typepad users simply need to create a new Typelist to display the image link in. This post might help you to do this.

It's also a good idea to provide your visitors with an explanation of their options for reading (receiving) your feed via some kind of feed reader or aggregator. You can do this by either creating your own post and linking to it or finding an explanation elsewhere and linking to that. You could even provide a link to your favourite feed reader - in other words, you should be doing everything in your power to demystify blogging, for yourself and your potential clients and Feedburner will help you do that.

Copyright 2006 Claire Raikes. All rights reserved.

Discover more business-boosting blogging tips like these on the BusinessBlogAngel's Advanced Blogging Teleclass training series where consultant and coach Claire Raikes breaks down the theory and leads you 'step-by-step' through the practice too.

Via her blogsite, podcast and speaking engagements, BlogAngel Claire trains and advises 'people in business' on all aspects of blogging and blog marketing. Visit http://www.BusinessBlogAngel.com where it's all there waiting for you.

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