Kathy Hendershot-Hurd

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Blogs as Marketing Tools Expert

Kathy Hendershot-Hurd Quick Facts

Main Areas: Blogs as Marketing Tools for Small Businesses
Best Sellers: Beyond the Niche
Career Focus: Author, Speaker, Business Owner

In 1994, after the birth of my third child, I taught myself to program in HTML, the then brand new language of the brand new world wide web. Four years later, I quit my job as an advertising sales manager for a mid-sized radio group and became their full time webmaster.

In the years that followed, I created literally hundreds of HTML websites for small business owners, many of whom were coaches and consultants.

I've been told I have a real gift for translating "geek" into easy to understand English.

I'm also grateful for the 15 years I spent working with small and medium sized businesses on their marketing and advertising. I began as an Account Executive with a regional advertising agency and then once the kids came along, moved onto the "Mommy Track" by moving into selling first newspaper advertising and then radio advertising. I must admit, I learned more about marketing and advertising working one on one with those local business owners than I did in 4 years of college. That is probably the reason why I've never gone back to get my MBA.

Then, in 2006, I was totally bogged down in the writing of my first book. I hired one of my clients to help me "clear" the emotional clutter that was keeping me from finishing my first book. My coach suggested that I create a blog to generate "buzz" for my book before it was published.

"UGH!" I thought, "Blogs are for people who don't know HTML! I know how to create search engine friendly websites in HTML. I don't NEED a blog. I've already GOT an HTML site ready and waiting to promote my book!"

But, since I was paying him a princely sum for his guidance, I followed his advice and launched my first blog. That blog spent the first 8 months in the Google Sandbox, but when it emerged, I was ranked #9 on the term Niche Marketing Guru. Not only was it ranking well on keywords people were using to find my book, but the blog was getting a LOT more traffic than the HTML website was. A year later, the blog was getting 20X the traffic of the static website. Today, the blog gets about 40X the number of unique visitors vs the html website that I was so sure would be the flagship website for my book's promotion.

That's why I get JAZZED about blogs for typical small business owners. I was doing EVERYTHING right for my html website. I wrote articles, I published articles but it was like trying to swim through jello. I worked very hard to make very little progress.

Then, when I began blogging, I discovered a whole new world... where everything was SO much easier. From publishing content to getting inbound links and reciprocal links, everything was easier with the blog.

I eventually converted my original business website to a blog. I have kept the original html website I created for the book intact just as a comparison. My blog has not only helped me to connect with new clients, it's helped me to stay connected with current clients who refer their colleagues.

However, what excites me even more is when my CURRENT blog clients contact me and tell me that thanks to their blog, they've

made an important business changing connection
filled their practice
been found by a television producer to be featured on a nationally televised program

Those are the emails and phone calls that literally make my day!

Recent Articles

Intelligent Internet Marketing

Building Credibility With Blogs

Blogs vs HTML Websites

Articles published on SelfGrowth.com

Intelligent Internet Marketing

Favorite Quotes & Thoughts from Kathy Hendershot-Hurd

An expert is a person who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field.

Niels Bohr (1885 - 1962)

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My definition of an expert in any field is a person who knows enough about what's really going on to be scared.

P. J. Plauger, Computer Language, March 1983

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Getting Started With Kathy Hendershot-Hurd

In case you hadn't heard already, blogs are the hot topic all over the web right now. Blogs have been touted as THE CURE for marketing ills.

One of the many reasons why blogs (and blogging) are so popular these days can be summed up in one word: Blogging is EASY! Successful blogging doesn't require a high degree of technical expertise. If you can use a word processing program, then you can blog.

However, contrary to popular belief, just launching a blog won't automatically send your profits soaring. Just as installing word processing software doesn't make you a successful published novelist, launching a blog won't magically inflate your profit margins.

However, when used correctly, blogs can be magnificent marketing tools, especially for coaches and consultants. You too might join in with the many voices who are proclaiming that having a self hosted Wordpress blog is probably the closest thing to marketing magic for the less than techno savvy.

Over the past 18 months, I've helped over 100 clients launch their own self hosted Wordpress.com blogs.

One client's brand new blog reached #4 on Google on her targeted keyword in less than 6 weeks. She's thrilled because five years ago, she was struggling to create basic 1 page sales sites with Microsoft Front Page that rarely reached the 10th page of Google.

That's the power of blogging. What can a blog do for you?