This is a guest blog post from Annette Yen.
Last week I had some fun doing a brief blog critique for a fellow direct sales rep who has just jumped into the fun of blogging for her business. She has a beautiful blog and is definitely on her way to making that blog into an asset to her business. I’m excited to see what she does with it.
As I was looking over her blog I thought about some of the essentials that every direct seller should consider as she starts a blog to introduce people to her business.
There were several things that I noted on her blog that are pretty generic to creating a successful direct sales blog but today let’s look at the most obvious and probably the most important one: First Impressions.
Bottom line – make sure your blog is clean and attractive.
I know this sounds like a no brainer but ladies (and gents if you’re reading), there are some downright ugly blogs out there with owners claiming they are for business.
I’m going to pick on those of you choosing MySpace as your platform of choice for a business blog. Quite simply – DON’T DO IT! I cringe any time I see a post from a direct seller with a MySpace link on it to promote her business. Although I don’t spend a lot of time on MySpace, I can confidently say that I’ve never seen a business MySpace page that really “works.”
Most of the time they take way too long to load, they’re filled with clutter and it’s nearly impossible to find your real content. If you really feel you must use myspace, create a basic page about your business and leave it at that, but don’t make it your “home”.
Although my first choice for blogging would be your own domain and hosting and using Wordpress as your blog platform, there are plenty of nice free blog options out there that you can start with that can look very professional. Try Blogger.com, Wordpress.com or even Tumblr.com.
All three make it very easy to get started with a clean, professional looking blog that will invite your direct sales customers to come back over and over again!
Sometimes it’s good to have an objective person take a look at your blog to see if it’s really doing what you want it to be doing. Are you interested in having your own blog critiqued by Annette? Then hop on over to Direct Sellers University now to request a free critique.
A note from Kelly: I got the chance to connect Annette with the gal she did a blog critique for. The direct seller was so appreciative and excited about her critique! Don’t hesitate to ask for one for your direct sales blog – I know you’ll be glad you did!
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Leslie Truex is the pajama-clad work-at-home mom dedicated to helping other moms live and work comfortably. She's the author of The Work-At-Home Success Bible and owner of 
Laurie Ayers is a WAHM from Michigan and a Star Director with 
I think myspace will work well in some cases too… but only if you are a singer or an actor trying to establish a fan base.
Kelvin Kaos last blog post..Ugly Muppet Toy Pageant 2008
How much of a worry is the fact that you don’t “own” the site when you use blogger and wordpress dot com. I am not technically inclined so I would like to use blogger with my own domain, but could they shut me down and keep my content?
Thx
Kel
They can shut you down if they think you’re spamming and you’ll lose access to everything. (That’s rare – but it happens)
I always recommend using a blog on your own hosting. You don’t have to be techie – it doesn’t cost a lot to have someone help you with Wordpress when you need it