I recently had the great experience of visiting Supa Centa Moore Park and writing a piece for the Supa Centa blog about my top 3 picks for living rooms. I visited most stores in the complex, taking photos and choosing my favourite products, before styling a number of them in my own home. I'd love for you to head over and take a look.
I was thrilled to be a finalist again in this year's Kidspot.com.au Voices of 2014 award program - top 40 beauty and lifestyle bloggers.
The 6-month program included an excellent Masterclass, spending a day with fellow bloggers learning about the the latest in SEO, community, online marketing and social media from industry experts. Here's a sneaky pic of me with kids' blogging colleague Angela from KidStyleFile.
I was again selected to review a Ford vehicle and wrote a series of posts about the EcoSport that you can find here on Bondville.
Thanks Kidspot for the opportunity to participate again this year; looking forward to next year's activities.
I'm hosting my next Blogging For Business workshop (beginners level) at my studio in Beecroft, NSW next week. If you have a small business and have wanted to use your website effectively to drive sales, this workshop is for you! Join four other small business owners and learn the basics of using a blog/news/update section and the basics of social media. (I have another social media workshop which goes into more depth).
Leave the workshop with an action plan! If you are interested in attending this session, or a future workshop, sign up to the Bondville Media Workshops mailing list to be notified of dates, new learning topics, and my tips and tricks from time to time.
This is a great quote from the Sensis Yellow Social Media Report, May 2013: "29% of small businesses and 24% of medium business that use social media have no strategy to drive traffic to their social media accounts."
With my experience in coaching small businesses in digital marketing and blogging, and my own blogging experience, I have put together a 2-hour workshop to help small and medium businesses understand the basics of blogging for business, whether it's for them, and how to get started.
Workshops are held in Beecroft, NSW where we break down the tech-speak into accessible information about using blogging to build your business. Groups are maximum five people.
A recent workshop included a jewellery designer, photographer, arborist, interior designer and patisserie owner, all with varying levels of knowledge and experience.
Some of the participants kindly shared their experience:
"There are so many online sessions and articles or ebooks I get spammed with lately for similar topics but I'm a bit old school - I love the warm and personalised sessions Steph gives, with lots of group discussion, and am relieved she speaks my kind of language rather than incomprehensible tech talk. Very valuable, definitely some things I can start using straight away to help my rankings and get more traffic to my new website!"
Carmen Platt, Another Love Story: Love is equal, photography is tailored, Sept 2013.
"Thank you Steph for such an enjoyable and informative workshop. I found your approach to technology truly refreshing and accessible." Vanessa, Creative Millieu, Sept 2013
Please contact me at steph@stephbond.com if you are interested in attending our next workshop.
Once you have built your website and/or blog, have spent time marketing it on social media platforms, and are writing content like there's no tomorrow, you may start to notice your visitor traffic increase. Are they staying to read more and connect with your brand, or are they bouncing straight away?
Here are 5 techniques that I share over at eBay's Mum's Business website for keeping visitors on your website and blog, and engaging them with your content and your brand. Read the full article here.
I am truly passionate about blogger etiquette and how to find your way around the blogging community by using respect for others' ideas, words and images. It's not just about being polite; it's about giving credit where credit is due, and helping to build an online world that celebrates originality and where plagerism fails to find a foothold.
Read about blog etiquette and whether you are towing the line in my article for eBay's Mum's Business website right here.
Image: PublicDomainPictures via pixabay.com
Navigating the boundary between personal, private and public on your business's blog can be tricky to say the least. Do you share completely? Or not at all? Or somewhere in between? And if so, where's the dividing line between effective and ineffective? I write about blog privacy and more over at the eBay Mum's Business website.
You probably started off with a blog, and then once everyone told you how much website traffic they were generating with each new social media platform, you might have set up a Facebook business page, a Twitter account, an Instagram account, a Pinterest account and maybe even a Google+ account. So now you've got social media overload and the poor old blog is suffering as a result. Which tool should you focus on to drive sales on your website? Head over to eBay's Mum's Business to read my article "Why Blogs still matter in the age of Facebook", on maintaining your blog in the face of Web 2.0.
Most of us have hosted a giveaway at some stage on our blogs - it's a great way to create interest, possibly increase your readers, and it's fun! But did you know that most giveaways are not run legally, according to the Office of Gaming in your State in Australia? I've written an article for eBay's Mum's Business to help guide you to create a blog giveaway that is above board and won't land you in trouble.
