Last week we discussed the importance of having a blog for your small business. Communication was mentioned as an attractive way to interact with customers and potential customers through your blog. But, how do you communicate with your readers if there aren’t any?

photo by taygete05

First, it’s important to market your business blog as a whole. Get the word out. Add a link to your website so that visitors can easily click through. Send out an email to your customer database. Offer a deal on products or services as simple as 10 to 20% off for those that subscribe or leave a comment. Drop a flyer in boxes or envelopes that leave your office that includes a blurb about the blog and highlights from current posts. Essentially, you want to market your blog as you would a product or service offered by your company.

A granular level to marketing your blog is to market each post individually. Submit them to social content sharing sites, such as Digg, Reddit, and Kirtsy. Also submit your posts to social bookmarking sites like StumbleUpon and Delicious. These sites will gain you extra exposure. Also, link your blog to your Facebook profile or fan page so that your fans are updated each time a new post hits your blog. You can also do the same with Twitter.

If you want to gain readers that are thought leaders in your industry, find them on your social networks and start reading their blogs. Connect with them by responding to their tweets and engaging in discussions on their blogs. Although this may seem time-consuming, putting yourself in front of such influencers with likely grab their attention and steer them to read more of your ideas via your blog.

These are just a few simple ideas to get the word out about your blog. Before jumping into all of these suggestions, create a simple strategy to determine who you want to target and where you’ll be likely to find them. No sense in wasting time preaching to the wrong choir!

What are some tactics you use when promoting your blog? Do you have other ideas? Share them in the comments!

Have you considered attending an internet marketing seminar this year? The benefits of attending such a seminar can be limitless – as you will typically hear from internet marketing thought leaders, discuss the latest trends in internet marketing and have the opportunity to interact with other professionals. The goal of most internet marketing seminars is to improve  competency levels by providing its guests with theories and tools that can ultimately make an impact on their organization’s bottom line. Typical attendees of internet marketing seminars are search marketing professionals, webmasters, IT professionals, small business owners and other marketing managers seeking best practices tips, professional networking and even career advice .

Now once you factor in the cost of attendance, travel and living expenses for a few days – expenses add up rather quickly. It is important to identify what it is you hope to accomplish from attending an internet marketing seminar because it can get costly once you factor in the cost of attendance, travel and living expenses. That said we took some time to highlight a few of the upcoming 2010 internet marketing seminars and what you can expect if you choose to attend. Please note that prices are subject to change and for most internet marketing seminars, prices vary depending on registration date.

Follow our Internet Marketing Seminars Twitter list to receive updates from twenty-three of the world’s best seminars!

SES New York 2010 – http://www.searchenginestrategies.com/newyork/
When – March 23, 24, 25
Location – New York City, NY
What – Expo (featuring 100+ vendors), paid search / SEO training workshops, 70+ internet marketing sessions lead by respected web professionals from around the world.
How Much – Free to attend expo ($25 on-site); up to $2,000 for 3-day full access. Check the site for details as prices fluctuate by date of registration, so sign-up early!
Keynote Speakers – David Meerman Scott, author of World Wide Rave;  Avinash Kaushik, author of Web Analytics: An Hour A Day; and Yusuf Mehdi, VP of Online Audience Business at Bing.

ad:tech San Francisco 2010 – http://www.ad-tech.com/sf/
When – April 19, 20, 21
Location – San Francisco, CA
What – hosted networking mixers and attendee party, Expo (200+ vendors), Marketing Masters Series (covering social media, e-mail marketing, mobile marketing & search), Digital Demographics Series (how to market to a particular demographic online), Bruce Clay SEO training session.
How Much - Conference Pass ($1,195 – $1,595); Exhibit Hall Pass ($50 or $100 depending on date of purchase); SEO training ($1,295), Conference Pass + SEO training ($2,060). Check the site for details as prices fluctuate by date of registration, so sign-up early!
Keynote Speakers – Jaime Cohen Szulc, CMO of Levi Strauss & Co.; Geoff Ramsey, CEO and co-founder of eMarketer; Kristi VandenBosch, CEO of Publicis & Hal Riney.

PubCon 2010 – http://www.pubcon.com/dallas2010/
When - April 13, 14, 15
Location – Dallas, TX
What – Expo (50+ exhibitors), 60+ sessions covering SEO, SEM, Social Media, PPC / Internet Advertising, and Interactive Site Reviews; PubCon Search Training (1-day crash course on SEO or PPC),
How Much – Full Access Conference Pass ($499 – $799); Professional Search Training ($399 – $599); Training + Full Access Pass ($799 – $999). Check the site for details as prices fluctuate by date of registration, so sign-up early!
Keynote Speakers – TBD

Web 2.0 Expo – http://www.web2expo.com/webexsf2010
When – May 3, 4, 5, 6
Location – San Francisco, CA
What – Expo; Sessions (Cloud Computing, Design, Social Media Marketing, Business Models & Strategy, Analytics, Enterprise, Mobile, Real-Time); Workshops (Designing Social Interfaces, Hands on HTML-5, Laws for User Experience, Data Visualization); Web2Open (open panel discussion lead by expo attendees).
How Much – Expo Hall Only ($100); Expo Hall Plus ($350); Workshops Only ($595 – $1045); Conferences Only ($1095 – $1645); Conferences + Workshops ($1395 – $1945). Check the site for details as prices fluctuate by date of registration, so sign-up early!
Keynote Speakers  – Kevin Lynch of Adobe Systems, June Coehn of TED.com, Josh Silverman of Skype, Hilary Mason of bit.ly, Danny Sullivan of Search Engine Land, Paul Buccheit of Facebook and a few others!

Search Exchange - http://www.searchexchange.org/
When – May 17, 18, 19
Location – Charlotte, NC
What - 30 Sessions covering: (Link building, How social interacts with search, Getting links through social media, latest SEO tools, Building SEO dashboards for accountability, Optimizing WordPress for SEO, Digital asset optimization, In-house SEM, Using Analytics for Landing Page Optimization, Measuring PPC campaigns, Location based marketing, Creating viral traffic and more!
How Much - Single Day Pass ($395); Conference & Expo ($695 or $895). Check the site for details as prices fluctuate by date of registration, so sign-up early!
Keynote Speakers – David Szetela of Clix Marketing; Chris Brogan author; Chris Winfield of 10e20; Lee Odden of TopRank Online Marketing; Rhea Drysdale of Outspoken Media; and Rae Hoffman of Outspoken Media.

Search Marketing Expo – SMX Advanced 2010 – http://searchmarketingexpo.com/advanced
When – June 8, 9
Location – Seattle, WA
What -Expo, Bruce Clay SEO training, In-House SEM training
How Much – Expo (free); in-house SEM training workshop ($695 – $895); all-access pass ($1,195 – $1,595); all-access pass + workshop ($1,795 – $2,195). Check the site for details as prices fluctuate by date of registration, so sign-up early!
Keynote Speakers – Matt Cutts, Google Software Engineer and search marketing guru.

Internet Retailer Conference & Expo - http://www.internetretailer.com/IRCE2010/
When - June 8, 9, 10, 11
Location – Chicago, IL
What – Expo (375+ exhibitors); Sessions lead by 175+ E-retailing experts (tracks for: e-commerce executives, global selling, advanced e-marketing strategies, small e-retailers, sourcing products, e-commerce technology, customer service, search marketing, e-mail marketing, social media, taxation, merchandising & design and corporate management) ; 5 Intensive Workshops (e-commerce technology, beginning search marketing, advanced search marketing, social media & e-retailing, and mobile commerce).
How Much – Expo ($165 – $210); Day Long Workshops (per workshop cost – $295 – $495); Main Conference Only ($595 – $795); Main Conference & Day Long Workshops ($845 – $1395). Check the site for details as prices fluctuate by date of registration, so sign-up early!
Keynote Speakers - Imran Jooma, Senior VP and General Manager of E-Commerce for Sears Holding Corp.

SES San Francisco 2010 – http://www.searchenginestrategies.com/sanfrancisco/
When – August 16, 17, 18, 19, 20
Location – San Francisco, CA
What – Expo (featuring internet marketing vendors), sessions to reach each audience: internet marketing for beginners (introduction to SEO / SEM, search advertising basics) , intermediate internet marketing sessions (social media optimization, blended & universal search), and advanced internet marketing sessions (b2b marketing, duplicate content, black hat seo).
How Much – Varies. Free to attend expo ($25 on-site); up to $2,000 for 3-day full access. Check the site for details as prices fluctuate by date of registration, so sign-up early!
Keynote Speakers – Jeffrey Hayzlett, Vice President of the Eastman Kodak Company.

Lexmark Prestige Pro805 Business Class Wireless All-In-One Printer

Printing, scanning, and copying has never been easier… Or Cheaper! The new Lexmark Prestige Pro805 Business Class Wireless All-In-One Print / Copy / Scan Color Printer blows away other printers in the home / small office  inkjet class. At a LIMITED TIME price of $199 for the printer and Lexmark Prestige Pro805 ink cartridges starting at $4.85, you simply can’t go wrong.

Here is a high level view of what the Lexmark Prestige Pro805 offers:

- Multifunction (All In One) Capabilities – Print / Copy / Scan

- Print Black at 1 cent per page!

- Accepts “XL” ink cartridges which produce 3X the prints

- Uses Vizix print technology which provides sharp text and vibrant images

- Wireless connection or Ethernet Connection

- 2 sided printing (duplexing)

- 5 year warranty and LIFETIME Phone Support!!

The Lexmark Prestige Pro805 can also act as a business card scanner. Their advanced technology allows you to easily scan and save information from business cards – you can scan up to 8 cards at a time and sync it with your address book software.

Additionally, the Lexmark Prestige Pro805 has a 4.3″ LCD touchscreen that is web-enabled… This means can view and print web content or create 1-touch apps to simplify routine tasks, such as scan to email. Also, get the news, view your favorite photo sharing sites, and discover the weather – directly from your printer.

Printer Details:

Don’t miss this opportunity to get an option rich, high end Lexmark color printer for only $199. This is a LIMITED TIME offer and will not last! CLICK HERE for more info or call one of our printer specialists toll free at 1.888.722.0390.

How a Fuser Unit Works

Today I wanted to review the HP fuser unit and how to keep an HP laser printer functioning properly by periodically maintaining and replacing the printer fuser. First it is important to review just what a fuser unit’s main purpose is.  Have you ever wondered why or how the paper is warm when comes out of the a printer?

Well you can thank your HP fuser unit for that! The fuser unit is responsible for “fusing” or “embedding” the toner onto the paper using the combination of heat and pressure. The heat is generated from a heat lamp and the pressure from two rollers.  Hence the warm paper. The diagram to the right does a nice job of showing how the fuser unit works.

It is common for HP fuser units to come in two strengths: a 120v fuser unit and a 110v fuser unit, so it is extremely important to order the fuser unit that is compatible with your printer. Using a fuser unit of incorrect strength can cause serious damage to a printer and may even lead to fire hazard.  So when it comes time to order a replacement for the HP fuser unit remember to shop for a replacement either by the manufacturer code or printer model. Let’s say you own an HP LaserJet 5550 printer. It would be wise to perform one of the following searches when shopping for this particular HP printer’s fuser unit; “HP LaserJet 5550 fuser unit,” or “Q3984A.”

HP LaserJet Fuser Maintenance

After learning  that the HP fuser unit is responsible for getting a printer’s toner onto the paper, it should be clear why it is so important to constantly monitor and troubleshoot fuser unit maintenance issues. Think of the HP fuser unit as a car’s tires. The tires keep a car on the road and operating properly, similarly a fuser unit enables the laser printer to perform it’s primary function of printing. So just as it is important to keep tires in impeccable condition, equal attention should be paid to keeping the HP fuser unit in working condition in order to prevent printer damage.  You may be asking yourself, how can the fuser unit damage a printer? Well were you aware that your fuser unit takes up to 90% of a printer’s power usage? If the fuser unit is not working properly then the heat produced can damage the surrounding parts, resulting in expensive and potentially life-ending damage to a printer.

To maximize the life of the HP fuser unit we recommend to refrain from printing on non-standard media from the paper tray and to perform the following monthly tasks: vacuuming or dusting of the assemblies and rollers as well as applying cleaning solutions to remove toner build up. Remember to always wear repair gloves (latex gloves will work fine) when handling your HP fuser unit and assembly rollers as this practice will help reduce contaminating your HP fuser unit with skin oil and other debris.

Replacing your HP Fuser Unit

It is important to keep track of your HP fuser unit’s shelf life, that way you will know when a replacement is necessary. This information can be discovered by referencing the laser printer’s manual (look for the life expectancy chart) and find the fuser unit’s “expected page production life,” better known as the page yield. For instance the HP LaserJet 2200 fuser unit has a page yield of 100,000. This means one could expect their HP LaserJet 2200 fuser unit to function properly for approximately (depending on how the print quality settings are configured) 100,000 printed pages. After the thresehold of 100,000 has surpassed, it is important to monitor the fuser unit’s performance more closely and look to replace the fuser unit shortly thereafter.

If there is no way of keeping track of printed page count (most models will track this automatically), then it is necessary to pro-actively look for other warning signs or red flags including; an increase in paper feed errors or problems, and a decrease in print quality.  Neglecting to replace your HP fuser unit will inevitably lead to printer defects including; damage to printer sensors,  drive gears breaking from over use, heat lamp malfunctions, film sleeve tears, pressure rollers can become worn and scratched, and most commonly toner buildup will develop on the heating and pressure rollers.  Purchasing a replacement HP fuser unit is a small investment that will prevent these printer defects and significantly improve the overall life of your HP printer.