Hi All,

Bear and I have been working hard to improve the look and feel of the website.  We are still getting tens of thousands of hits each week and search engine visibility for all linked sites in your articles are gaining valuable links.

We are looking for a couple more featured columnists.  If you have a topic you would like to take on, then please visit the Columnists page and complete the form.

Be sure to visit your Profile page and update your biography.  We now have that information listed as part of your posts.

Since this site is meant to help you run your business better, we have put articles on “Management” top and center!  The scrolling articles at the top are automatically created from the management category.  Please make sure your article is covering a management related topic!

directly below the rotating section on the home page are articles written about the economy.  This section will change from time to time based on local happenings.

The elevator speech feature is still alive and well.  Use the Elevator Speech category to get your company message listed.

As usual, if you feel we should add a new category, drop me or Bear a note.

Thank you all for your continued support and Happy Business Blogging!

Ed Bejarana

Good Morning All,

The Submit A Link feature is working again.  Please feel free to submit a link to your company website and add a description.  Your link will then show in a categorized format and you’ll gain a valuable inbound link to your company website.  For the effect to be maximized, you should add a link back to PortlandBusinessCommunity.com to a links page on your website.

ALSO

You can submit your company elevator speech (or position statement).  Your elevator speech (unlike a blog article) can be sale pitchy.

1. Click on “Create Article”
2. Choose the “Elevator Speech” category
3. Type your presentation as if it were a blog article, make sure to include a link to your company website
4. Publish

That’s it!

Why should you add a link and elevator speech to this web site?

Two good reasons:

1. This website has over 2,000 unique visitors per month clicking on an average of 4.4 page per visit.
2. This site has gained good importance by the search engines and the robots crawl this site several times per day.

Both reasons translate into more visitors and search engine visibility for your company website.  On average, I receive 600+ visits per month from web folks who originated on PortlandBusinessCommunity.com.  People read my articles here on PortlandBusinessCommunity.com and click over to visit ZenithExhibits.com and BusinessBlogging.net websites.  PLUS I have several first page google listings, in part, because I have relevant information here on this website.

Bear and I created this site to help you, the small business owner, reach more customers and gain more search engine visibility–plus you’ll learn stuff great stuff!

Happy Blogging

Ed Bejarana

Good Morning All,

I am writing with an update on the link feature.  Due to a recent upgrade in software, the link tool we were going to use has a conflict with the site software.  We are working to resolve the issue and will have a link directory system online as soon as possible.

In the mean time, please create and post your elevator speech with links to your website.  Use the “Elevator Speech” category when creating your article and your article will be listed with everyone else’s along the right side menu.

Thanks,

Ed

Your friends have told you starting a business blog can help you find new clients, but they tell you to use Twitter, Facebook, Ning and a dozen other sites as well. Does any of this stuff really work?

Over on BusinessBlogging.net I have written about social networking and how it compares to face-to-face marketing, in this article we will dive deeper into business blogging so you can understand how it works.

If social networking is the short elevator speech, then business blogging is the conversation. Because so many of us attend, or have attended, a chamber meeting; I use chamber business meetings as a parallel for internet marketing via social networking.

Success is always defined by new business. Unless your site is an eCommerce site, then I assume business can only be concluded over the phone or face-to-face. The process of internet marketing filtering through the hundreds of millions of prospects until the right “future” customer finds you.

Why not just advertise? Sure, it works for Nike, Dell and Burger King. The obvious answer is you don’t have the same marketing budget as the big companies in the market place.

Just like the chamber meeting, there are several important parts to your internet marketing effort. Your website contains the features and benefits statements and/or the sales pitch; your social networking sites contain the elevator speech and the information tease; that leaves only the social interaction with the audience and advertising.

Business blogging is the process of conversing with other people. Unlike your website, your blog site talks with, not at, your intended audience. Comparing to the chamber meeting, your business blog articles on the conversations you have with your chamber friends, not the first time guest who asked what you do.

When business blogging you should include your personality. On my BusinessBlogging.net website I describe the concept of personality based marketing, so I will not go into it here: Rather, when blogging for business, you are dropping hooks in the MASSIVE sea of internet commerce.

Fishing, like chamber meetings, is also a good comparison for internet marketing. There are thousands of different types of fish, some better than others. Picture your blog article as a specific type of bait designed to catch a specific type of fish. Maybe a married liberal female fish with a college education, two children, and a busy life style.

Ed Bejarana
Zenith Exhibits, Inc.
BusinessBlogging.net is the internet marketing division for Zenith Exhibits, Inc.

Because this subject is so BIG, I have broken it into three parts and published it on three blog sites.

This site covers the business blogging and using community blog sites.

Over on BusinessBlogging.net you can read more about social marketing part of the discussion.

Finally, on ZenithExhibits.com I cover changes to your face-to-face, trade show marketing efforts and how to use internet marketing to improve your ROI.

Good Morning All,

Over the last two month, PortlandBusinessCommunity.com has increased in size and activity by an exponential amount.  For that reason, we have been working to improve the layout, login, article publication and business promotion opportunities.

The Stats

Unique Visitors:  1,785
# of Visits:  5,170 (2.89 visits per visitor)
Pages Viewed:  27,487 (5.31 pages per visit)
97,655 Hits
(note: the 27,487 and 97,655 does NOT include robots — only Human Users)

Robots read 34,404 pages and generated and additional 39,096 hits.  That means your articles published on this website ARE index by every search engine.

Layout

We have changed themes to make it easier for you to navigate the site, learn about new business opportunities, gain insight into how to build your business and network with other community members.

Login

No longer are you redirected to a secondary screen.  You can now login from the home page.  This will help you keep track of where you are on the site.

Article Publication

Rather than having to go to the dashboard, you can click on “Create Article” and jump right to the editor.  We have also added a new, easier to navigate “Help” section where you can learn more about business blogging.

Business Promotion Opportunities

You can now publish your company Elevator Speech ONLINE!  Provide links back to your website and build your customer base.

This site is FREE to use, will remain FREE to use forever!  Our monetary support to pay for site operations come via the sponsors (listed on the left), who pay $25 per month to have their ad listed.  We ask that you please visit the sponsors and if you are in need of their typs of business, please give them your business.  This site is helping ALL of us by improving our:

• Search Engine Visibility!
• Connection to the local business community, and
• Ideas for improving business operations

Thank you for your participation!

Happy Blogging

Ed Bejarana
PortlandBusinessCommunity.com LLC

Are you getting what you need from the local chamber of commerce?  Do you wish your words spoken at the chamber could also serve to improve your company website’s search engine visibility?  You are NOT alone!

Bear and I created PortlandBusinessCommunity.com to be a FREE supplement to your chamber of commerce experience.  If you attend a chamber for any of these reasons:

1. Find new customers
2. Improve business operations
3. Build a stronger tie to the community

Then you should ALSO publish on PortlandBusinessCommunity.com

How does it work?

Simple, when you gain insight from a chamber meeting and wish to share it with Google, Yahoo or MSN; then sign on to PortlandBusinessCommunity.com, Create an Article, and write about your new idea.

If you wish to give kudos to someone from the chamber who has helped you AND you would also like Google, Yahoo, and MSN to take note of your words; then sign-on, create an article, and write your kudos (providing links to your friend’s/customer’s website as well as your web site.

If you want to expand your recognition as a “helpful” industry expert on Google, Yahoo and MSN; then sign-on, create an article, and teach the more than 80,000 readers what you know.

If you are like me, then you’ve already paid your annual chamber membership dues.  It is time for your words at the chamber to help you be found on Google, Yahoo and MSN.  Join PortlandBusinessCommunity.com (IT IS FREE!!!), write you elevator speech, comment on other articles, and publish your own words.  Now THAT is business networking.

Ed Bejarana
BusinessBlogging.net
a division of Zenith Exhibits, Inc.

Co-founder of PortlandBusinessCommunity.com

Many medium and large companies are members of Business associations, which hire political lobbyists to promote their particular industry. But what about the small business owner, they certainly can’t afford a lobbyist. Who will help them?

Small business owners tend to look to Chambers of Commerce and Networking groups. But do they work? Some will say absolutely, while other come and go.

Most small business need more then just a lead on a potential customer. They are also in need of valuable information on bookkeeping, marketing and management of assets. Sad to say, that information has been missing from Chambers and Networking associations.

That is why the Free Service of Portland Business Community.com was formed. It is a group of small to medium business people, who are willing to share information and ideas, without a sales pitch.

We want to do so, utilizing 21st century technology, which will make all of the information searchable on the Internet. Your information is also able to be linked to your website, which will increase your visibility on search engines. You can also add photos and links to supporting articles. Check out my “Elevator Speech” on the site.

Can’t write? I doubt that, but I understand if you prefer to start slowly. The site has a new category called “Elevator Speeches.” I am sure you are familiar with the term. It’s that 90 second commercial you use at your Chamber of Commerce and Networking events. Well now you can post it on Portland Business Community.com and the world can view it. Remember to add a link back to your site, along with a photo or logo.

You can also use Facebook and Twitter to spread the word about your goods and services. Find a good URL shortening service and you are on your way to driving quality traffic to your website.

I am sure that some of you have even more good ideas of how to build credibility and traffic to your website. Please share some with me in the comments section of the article.

Ken Bear Cole
Fishing with Bear LLC

Hi All,

You may notice on the right side bar we now have an Elevator Speech grouping.  It is our goal to provide YOU, the local Portland Business Owner / Operator, a valuable resource you can use to:

1. Reach more customers
2. Build more search engine visibility
3. Develop new relationships
4. Improve your business

This site is FREE for you to use and now you can add you Elevator speech for ALL to read.  At this point we will show the last ten elevator speeches in the site bar.  Clicking on “Archive for Elevator Speech” will take you to a list of all elevator speeches.  Soon we will add a “Most Popular Elevator Speech”.  These presentations can be of a more direct selling presentation, since they will only appear in the blog space “if” a visitor clicks on the title.

To add your elevator speech, first you must register an account on this site.  Complete your user profile with a real name and working eMail address.  Once your account is approved, then you simply create a “New Post” and select the “Elevator Speech” category for your article.

Any Elevator Speech published in a category OTHER than “Elevator Speech” will be unpublished.

If you need help learning how to use WordPress, please call Ed Bejarana at (503) 709-1454.

Bear and I are developing a WordPress / Business networking meeting.  Look for more information to be forthcoming in July.

Thank you for your participation.  With your help, this site has reached the 70,000+ hits mark.  We now have over 450 unique visitors per week, clicking on almost 5 pages per visit.  Please continue to support our sponsors, for it is their modest $25 per month ad that pays for the operation of this site.  If you are interested in purchasing an ad space on this site, please contact Ed Bejarana at (503) 709-1454.

Ed Bejarana
BusinessBlogging.net
a division of Zenith Exhibits, Inc.

Success by association is the idea that two heads are better than one, three are better than two, etc. Used by small business owners, success by association can propel each business further than if working alone. Networking on Portland Business Community can help you grow your business, meet more people and save time and money in the process.

As business owners, we are constantly seeking new market opportunities, but often the established crowd presents a less than friendly environment. Still, attending a chamber of commerce becomes our preferred method to meeting new people.

Business blogging (i.e. networking online) seems difficult, but using success by association as a starting point, business blogging can become fun and effective. Start by engaging in conversation with another member here on Portland Business Community. Become a mentor OR request contact by a mentor.

Another way to take advantage of business blogging is to add comments to another article. When you add a comment, your name and web address become a point of connection between you and every person who reads that message.

Business blogging gives your company elevator speech more height (pardon the pun). At a chamber meeting, your words echo for but a brief moment—online, your writing remain on Google forever. Search engine optimization starts by building keyword related connections back to your website. While our policy states no direct selling, linking reader over to your website IS encouraged and that builds a connection to your primary sales channel.

Networking online, allows you more time to work your craft – plus this site a FREE . The best part to all this is networking on Portland Business Community is FREE!

If you need more information or would like some help getting started, drop me or Bear a line.