Blogger and broadcaster Chuck Zimmerman, of AgWired, describes how talking press releases and the audio power of podcasts can boost your company's media coverage, as my internet radio show guest on Blog Business Success.

The show airs live on Thursday, December 7, at 8:00 pm Eastern Time.

Chuck Zimmerman discusses how you can take your media relations to the next level by putting a voice to your communications efforts. You will learn:

* How podcasts can expand your customer base

* How audio press releases can gain your business more media attention

* How to set up a podcast as a talking press release

* How to get the podcast press release picked up by the various news media



Chuck Zimmerman (photo left) is the President and co-owner, along with his wife, Cindy, of ZimmComm New Media, located in Holts Summit, MO.

ZimmComm specializes in blogging, podcasting, and using these tools for various types of internal and external marketing purposes like public relations and communications. The company currently publishes several blogs and podcasts of its own.

The company specializes in the production of news releases utilizing multi-media content like audio, video and images. They have a branded service called AgNewsWire which focuses on distributing releases to agricultural journalists. Recently the company has adapted their multi-media release service to create virtual press rooms for organizational events.

Chuck is a graduate of the University of Florida College of Journalism and has worked in public relations and broadcasting for over 20 years. He has primarily worked with clients involved in agribusiness and still specializes in agricultural communications.

Chuck is the editor of the only blog on agricultural marketing and communications, AgWired. He posts prolifically on the subject and from locations around the world. He also hosts a weekly podcast on agricultural marketing called the ZimmCast.

Chuck is a member of the National Agri-Marketing Association, National Association of Farm Broadcasters, American Agricultural Editors Association, Livestock Publications Council, International Federation of Agricultural Journalists and Jefferson City Chamber of Commerce.

Listen Live, Thursday at 8:00 pm Eastern time, by clicking the media player.



If you miss this very informative show, it will be available for download as a podcast for iPod, iTunes, and MP3 players; or play it right on your computer. To download this, or any other of my guest interviews, go to the Blog Business Success host page and click on Archived Segments. Once there, click on the podcast icon at the end of the episode description, to download the show free of charge for your listening enjoyment. You can also subscribe to the show feed.

Let's talk with Chuck Zimmerman about podcasting and talking press releases and how they can take your media relations to the next level, on Blog Business Success Radio.

Tags: Chuck Zimmerman, audio press releases, podcasting, Blog Business Success, Blog Talk Radio.

READ MORE - Chuck Zimmerman: Audio Press Releases - Blog Business Success Radio

This week sees a personal finance approach to the travelling business show, recognized by one and all as Carnival of the Capitalists arrives at Marshall Lebovits' business financing blog known as Show Me The Money.

This week's edition of Carnival of the Capitalists highlights some of the best bloggers writing on the internet today, as well as some of the best and most popular entries ever to the Carnival.

Blogging topics presented include entrepreneurship, management, market trading, internet commerce, marketing, the national economy and personal finance.



As you would expect from Marshall Lebovits (photo left) and Show Me The Money, there are many discussions of economics, marketing, business, and business finance.

It's always great to read and discover the many high quality blogs out there in the blogosphere.

We don't always get to them all, and this edition of Carnival of the Capitalists has introduced many of us to some brand new ones; as well as some long time contributors.








I have an entry in this week's Carnival of the Capitalists as well.

It is titled "Inside web pages: Beyond the home page" where I describe how many website owners don't spend much time thinking about where their visitors enter their site. They usually want to see their traffic arrive through the website’s home page. That is not the best policy to maximize sales. In many cases, the home page could be the least likely page to result in a sale.


If you wish to submit an entry to next week's, or any Carnival of the Capitalists edition, e-mail your entries to the new address:

cotcmail -at- gmail -dot- com

You can always use the handy entry form at Gongol.com where all you have to do is fill in the blanks. Talk about making it easy to be included!



If you are searching for new and exciting ways to expand your blog's readership, you should seriously consider sending an entry to Carnival of the Capitalists.

Merely being included in the company, of the first rate regular Carnival of the Capitalists contributors, will enhance the reputation of your blog.

The extra visitors sent to your blog won't hurt either!

The growth and staying power, of Carnival of the Capitalists, is beginning to catch the attention of people outside the blogging community. Each hosting, brings a fresh assortment of new readers, to the various blogs involved.

The visitors aren't only bloggers anymore.

Readership is expanding to include the mainstream media, various government and private organizations, many businesses, and other interested people from beyond the blogging community.

Many people are introduced to some tremendous blogs that they might otherwise have missed.

Next week's Carnival of the Capitalists will be at Rob Sama's highly eclectic blog known as Sama Blog.

In the meantime, click your mouse over to theShow Me The Money hosting of Carnival of the Capitalists.

If the great posted entries don't convince you to click, or the possibility of finding some brand new blogs to read doesn't do it, then visit Carnival of the Capitalists and be sure to have them show you the money. (groan)

Tags: carnivals, capitalism, business, marketing.

READ MORE - Carnival of the Capitalists at Show Me The Money

Conversations with Experts: How to Build Your Business On and Offline

Selling to Big Companies

Wednesday, December 6, 2006, 8:30 p.m. ET (no charge, registration required)

Guest Expert: Jill Konrath, of Selling to Big Companies

It's never been tougher to get into large companies. Corporate decision makers seldom answer the phone, roll all calls to voicemail, then never call you back.

In this Conversation, you'll learn:

* Why traditional strategies no longer work.
* How to develop an enticing value proposition
* How to increase your success rate in penetrating major accounts.
* Why an account entry campaign is necessary.
* How to deal with voicemail.
* How to craft a customer-enticing phone messages.
* and much more.

If you're tired of fruitless attempts to get into big companies, this session is for you.



Jill Konrath (photo left), author of Selling to Big Companies, is a recognized sales strategist in the highly competitive business-to-business market. A popular speaker at sales meetings, she helps her clients crack into corporate accounts, speed up their sales cycle and generate demand for their offering.

Jill publishes an industry-leading online newsletter and blog:

Selling to Big Companies

Register now for this conversation with Jill Konrath:

http://www.ConversationsWithExperts.com

If you missed any Conversations With Experts, you can become a monthly member of a private blog. As a member, you gain access to the entire Conversation With Experts audio series of guest experts, past and present. You can also pre-register to purchase a copy of the show, should you be unable to listen.

Conversations with Experts is sponsored by Build a Better Blog System and by the All In One Ezine Publishing System from The Blog Squad.

Tags: teleseminars, Jill Konrath, Selling to Big Companies, sales techniques.

READ MORE - Conversations with experts: Jill Konrath - Free teleseminar

Blog posting ideas present an ongoing challenge for even the most experienced and creative bloggers. For blog owners who post on at least a daily basis, the need to generate new blog posting topics is endless. At times, the blogger is faced with nothing at all about which to write. The dream is a post that presents itself on a regular ongoing basis.

Enter the blog link roundup post.

For one posting day a week, a blogger can devote the blog space to linking to some interesting and perhaps overlooked posts. The link roundup provides a mini-carnival type post that offers some real value to the blog's readership. By selecting and commenting upon some posts the writer found interesting and informative, two needs are satisfied. The blogger has a post idea, and the readers have a pre-selected group of theme related posts to read.

Blog link roundups often appear on Friday. Bloggers who have made the link extravaganza part of their weekly routine appear to place it later in the week. Earlier in the week marks the arrival of blog carnivals. Later in the week, link sharing offers readers something to fill up their weekend blog reading activities. The avoidance of theme related blog carnivals is important to the success of the link roundup posting concept.

When writing a link roundup, try to limit the number of links provided in the post. Five to ten links seems an appropriate number, offering variety, while preventing link overload. Each post presented should include at least one or two lines of comment and introduction. Bare links with no other information are rarely clicked. As a result, the link roundup offers the reader little value. Think of helping your readers find information, and that's way in which the post works best.



Regular visitors to your blog will appreciate your finding and selecting posts that might be of interest to them. The time saving aspect of your post, for your readership, shouldn't be overlooked. You invested your time, so they can save their blog reading moments. That has value for everyone.

Bloggers receiving your roundup link will appreciate the gesture, and the extra SEO value resulting from the additional inbound link. Along with the SEO benefit for the linked blogger, there is some evidence that linking out to theme relevant blogs and websites will provide a search engine rankings boost to your own blog as well. Linking out to other blogs often results in links being returned to your blog, sending SEO power back to you. At the same time, everyone receives a larger shared visitor count, creating another win win situation for everyone.

Should you ever become bogged down with no idea as to what to post. Don't neglect the possibility of devoting one day per week to a link roundup. Simply select a group of your favourite posts from the week, and send your readers to them for information. Your efforts on your visitors' behalf will not go unnoticed.

It might be link roundup time at your blog this week.

Tags: posting ideas, blogging, blog SEO, links.

READ MORE - Link roundups: Posts that share with others

Does your blog provide link bait?

You may have heard the term link bait discussed in search engine optimization circles. In SEO speak, link bait is content that attracts natural incoming links from other blogs and websites. Link bait is content that people want to link to, and share with their own readers.

It all starts with your blog content. If you are serious about getting more links to your blog to gain more visitor traffic, and higher search engine rankings, it takes great posts. There is no other alternative as powerful for receiving inbound links than interesting and informative original content. Simply put, if no one finds your posts of value, no one is going to link to them. Of course, that's not you.

The question then becomes one of developing and writing great posts to attract those one way incoming links. The best course of action on your part is to stick to your main blogging niche. If your blog theme is crochet, then write about crochet topics for the vast majority of your postings. As a result, other craft blogs and sites in general, and crochet themed blogs and sites in particular, will link to many of your posts. Write material that no other bloggers provide, and your blog becomes an important information source.

Sidebar: I mention crochet blogs in the example because they are my Mom's favourite craft blog. She is a life long crochet practitioner. The house is filled with her handmade crochet items.



Another powerful link bait tool is to offer something for free to your readership. A website tool, an ebook, pdf whitepaper, or a contest with prizes are all well known link attractors. Bloggers are generous and heavy linkers. As a result, your free items are very likely to receive, at the very least, a few inbound links. More likely, the amount of new links added will be quite high. For both traffic building, and for blog SEO, the added links are extremely poweful.

Targeting your blog to the desired reading audience is the best course of action if you want to develop link bait. Along with the links to individual posts, your blog stands a very good chance of also being added to the blogger's blogroll, providing a permanent link to your blog. For SEO rankings, long term links from theme related are especially good value, as the search engines consider web pages receiving permanent links to be important sites for that theme. Staying power has its advantages.

If you are serious about receiving some linky love in the form of incoming links, it's essential that you create great posts. This is especially important if you are a new blogger who lacks a long term network of blogging friends and associates. The way to establish your reputation, as a good blogger within your blogging niche, is through your writing. Natural one way links to your blog won't happen any other way.

Great posts are link bait for other bloggers to find and follow.

Write a great post today, offering information of items of value to your readers, and some linky love is sure to follow.

Tags: SEO, niche blogging, link bait, posting.

READ MORE - Blog SEO: Link bait option