From the desk (and BlackBerry) of Keith Parnell

Ever ask yourself why you should blog? Ask no longer.

Here are 8 great reasons why you should be blogging:

1. Blogging gives you a rockstar voice. Use it!
2. Blogging can work wonders in creating, managing, and molding your brand.
3. Blogging provides a way to create meaningful conversations.
4. Blogging can, and at times be a primay tool to, help with reputation management.
5. Blogging can help you be fundamentally successful with inbound marketing, link building, and lead generation.
6. Your competitors are already there!
7. Your potential customers are there.
8. A few influential statistics:
   1. 73.6% of North Americans are on the Internet*.
   2. 83% on Internet users watch videos online**.
   3. 49% of Internet users use a search engine (Google, Bing, Yahoo!, etc.) every day***.
   4. 73% of Internet users read blogs**.
   5. For companies that blog versus non-blogging companies****:
      1. 126% increase in monthly leads generated.
      2. 55% increase in visitors.
      3. 97% more inbound links.
      4. 434% more indexed pages in the search engines.

If these points, and especially the statistics, don’t convince you that you should be blogging, I give up. Let’s do it. Send me your blog address. If you do, I promise that I’ll put you in my Google Reader and keep up on your activities.

* source: Internet World Stats
** source: Universal McCann
*** source: Pew Research
**** source: Hubspot

Image credit: flickr.com/photos/crystaljingsr

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On Twitter? Follow me at @parnellk63.

Listening to In My Place by Coldplay.

Below is the video from today’s video blogging talk with the team at Realty Executives. Thanks Wes and Chris for hosting a great lunch event. And many thanks to my sponsor, Melissa and Tidewater Mortgage.

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On Twitter? Follow me at @parnellk63.

Listening to Along the Watchtower by Jimi Hendrix.

Below is the slidedeck from today’s video blogging talk with the team at Realty Executives. Thanks Wes and Chris for hosting a great lunch event. And many thanks to my sponsor, Melissa and Tidewater Mortgage.

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On Twitter? Follow me at @parnellk63.

Listening to Hey Joe by Jimi Hendrix.

Below is the slidedeck from my presentation to the Williamsburg Internet Marketing group yesterday. We had a great couple of hours discussing blogging for business on many different levels.

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Listening to Caldonia by Albert Collins.

Williamsburg/ Peninsula Internet Marketing Group

Wednesday, February 3, 2010 4:00 PM!

What: February IMG Session : Blogging for Business

When: Wednesday, February 3, 2010 4:00 PM

Who: 42 Yes / 1 Maybe

Where: Liz Moore & Associates Building in New Town, 5350 Discovery Park Blvd, Williamsburg VA 23188

Meetup Description
Keith Parnell, CEO of JASE Digital Media, CLO of NeedLocalHelp.com, and Co-Principal of New Media Conventions will be speaking at our next Meetup on Thursday Feb 3, 2010. Our Topic will be Blogging for Business - The How’s and Why’s.

Of the many topics we will cover, will be -

• Why you should blog.
• How and where to setup a new blog.
• How often to blog.
• When to blog - on a schedule?
• Who to blog to.
• Inbound marketing concepts.
• Lead generation.
• How to blog efficiently.
• How to tie your blog to other social media networks such as Twitter and Facebook.
• How to measure the results of blogging.
• How to encourage audience interaction on your blog.
• How to syndicate your blog.
• Is blogging all you need to do?

Please bring your laptops with you to enjoy the hands-on portion of the session.

About Keith Parnell
Keith is the Founder & CEO of JASE Digital Media, a marketing and new media agency based in Norfolk, VA.

Keith is Co-Founder & CLO of NeedLocalHelp.com, an Internet start-up that specializes in local business services, local small business advertising, and providing the most comprehensive local search directories across the United States.

Keith is also Co-Founder and Co-Principal of New Media Conventions.

Keith is a speaker, writer and blogger at keithparnell.com. He frequently performs interactive talks and how-to sessions for companies, non-profit organizations, conferences and seminars. He is a knowledgeable and passionate speaker on a variety of topics including new media, online marketing, social media, inbound marketing strategies, brand management solutions, and successful advertising techniques.

Technology, marketing and social media are among Keith’s daily passions. He has a vast presence and personal network in the social media world with c. 25,000 followers and subscribers from his blogs, Twitter, JASEzone, Facebook, LinkedIn and FriendFeed networks.

Keith is a member of the Entrepreneurs Forum of Hampton Roads, the Hampton Roads Internet Marketing & Technology Group, the Williamsburg / Peninsula Internet Marketing Group, and the Virginia Opera Guild. Keith video blogs at CoffeeWithTheCEO.com.

On Twitter? Follow Keith at @parnellk63.

Kim Tahey with Atlantic Bay Mortgage has graciously offered to provide refreshments for afterwards.

Please RSVP here. If this gets much large we may have to change venues.

Share this with others you know who might benefit. There are powers in numbers. Our hope is to develop this into a learning/ sharing experience ,where all can learn/ share and become proficient!

It seems like each time I go out in public, I learn something new. Each time I attend a social networking event, I learn something new. Each time I speak at an event, I learn something new. Most times that I log into my online social media space, I learn something new.

Why does this happen? Because I listen. I want to listen. I want to be a sponge when I’m around smart people - you!

I think we must think that way to progress positively in our lives. I know we must think that way to progress in our business lives.

I tell you all this to get you to speak up. Blog about your thoughts. Blog about your business. Blog about mindmapping or brainstorming.

Technology has created this massive platform for you to be a rockstar. Use it. Let others see how freakin’ smart and innovative you are. Let me see how freakin’ smart and innovative you are. I want to read what you have to say.

photo credit: flickr.com/photos/phoebelina

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On Twitter? Follow me at @parnellk63.

Listening to One Headlight by The Wallflowers.

Okay, maybe blogging won’t change the world as in solving world peace. But blogging can play a major role in influencing the opinions of many people.

Blogging can work wonders in creating, managing, and molding your brand.
Blogging can provide a way to share your thoughts.
Blogging can provide a way to begin meaningful conversations.

Stowe believes that blogging provides a medium to change the world one mind at a time.

Euan believes blogging provides an outlet for your ideas.

What about you? Why do you blog?

image credit: flickr.com/photos/barnett

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On Twitter? Follow me at @parnellk63.

Listening to Let It Grow by Eric Clapton.

This week I sat down with several business professionals in Virginia Beach and talked social media, blogging, holiday shopping online, business strategies, marketing concepts, advertising traditions, SEO, return on investment (ROI) measurement methods and economic spending.

Coffee with the CEO attendees: Mike Key, Jeremy Bailey, Anne Bailey, Gerald Briscoe, Bill Boyer, Jaime Krapf, Chris Faircloth, Scott Janney, Cedrick Harris, Anthony Gartner, Rose Thornton, Alison Creamer, Naoma Doriguzzi, Sonya Schweitzer, Keith Parnell

RSS and Facebook readers: click here to watch the video.

Related information:
http://alisoncreamer.com
http://call1234.com
http://ceofocustidewater.com
http://chrisfaircloth.com
http://coffeewiththeceo.com
http://computer-netsolutions.com
http://gbriscoe.ordermygift.com
http://jasegroup.com
http://jsk-interiors.com
http://keithparnell.com
http://mikekey.com
http://needlocalhelp.com
http://skytelecom.acnrep.com
http://uglywomansguide.com
http://virginiamortgageinformation.com
http://wavemarketing.biz

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On Twitter? Follow me at @parnellk63.

Listening to Sunday Morning by Maroon 5.

photo credit: flickr.com/photos/madebygirl

I agree with Chris. Don’t take the holidays off from creating content for your blog.

Many companies do scale back on a lot of tasks during the Thanksgiving-to-Christmas-to-New Year holiday period. This is our opportunity to shine.

I equate this time period to the efforts we have preached about during this tough economic downturn in our country. While advertising dollars are scarce, be creative, come up with cool inbound marketing tactics to generate leads. Be smart and build your online marketing presence while your competitors are doing nothing.

What do you think? Have you increased your internet marketing activities? Have you increased your blogging?

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On Twitter? Follow me at @parnellk63.

Listening to Boys of Summer by Don Henley.

photo credit: thundersquee.com

I’ve been working through several major topics the last few months with the goal of publishing them as eBooks on the web. A couple of the topics, including personal and corporate branding strategies, inbound marketing techniques, yes’s and no’s of blogging, and social media business strategies that work, have emerged at the forefront and should be published soon.

With the publication dates drawing near, I’m finding myself at another crossroads, or will be soon. Should I publish the eBooks as free downloads? I’m talking totally free - as in, don’t even collect email addresses prior to download.

I’m thinking in my minds eye that I should, if for no other reason than to increase the posibilities of viral distribution via email, Twitter, Facebook, blogs, LinkedIn, etc.

But being of a marketing frame of mind, I’m also hearing from the other shoulder that I should think lead generation and at least collect contact info at the time of download.

What do you think? Would a contact info gate before the eBook download prevent you from stepping further?

Research from the field:

• David Meerman Scott seems to say no to collecting info in this post and this post.
• Ann Handley lays out both points of view nicely in this post.
• Susan Gunelius agrees with removing the registration gate in this post.

Did any of these change your mind?

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