Blogging is hard. I get that. It’s not easy to consistently create new content and make the time to tweak and publish it. However, blogging is one of the best ways to build deeper relationships with your constituents and reach deeper into their networks as well.

Often when I talk about blogging with others, I hear all sorts of excuses:

• I’m not a good writer
• I don’t have time
• I don’t like to write
• I don’t know what to write about
• I wouldn’t be able to keep up with it
• No one would read what I wrote

The list goes on and on. However, like most difficult-but-worthwhile things, a process and a system can make it easier.

When I blog, I don’t usually just sit down and pick a topic out of thin air. Instead, I continuously capture ideas and keep them in a list. Often, blog ideas come from conversations I have, articles I read, or problems I’m solving. When this happens, I capture the idea either by placing it on my list of blog ideas or use Jott if I’m on the go. Then, when I do have some downtime or I’m in a creative mood, I can go to my list and pull out blog topics to write about. By separating the conceptualizing from the execution, I’ve made it much easier to produce content.

Blogging is a great marketing tool for your business because it strengthens your authority in the market. People want to do business with people they like and trust, and they can get to know you and trust you by reading your blog.

Don’t blog like a commercial. Blog with sincerity. Blog about things you know a lot about. Blog about your opinions about your profession. Blog about controversial topics. Blog to teach others something that will help them. Blog about your passions.

Schedule time to blog. Capture ideas throughout the week but maybe you block off an hour every Friday morning to choose a topic and write.

If you want to automate the writing part of it, hire a ghost blogger to take your ideas and turn them into polished articles. This will cost a little bit of money but will be well worth the investment.

Distribute your blogs on social networks. Respond to comments. Use your best blog articles in your email newsletter.

Blogging is a great way to cut through the noise of traditional marketing and give your constituents something of value. They will respect your transparency. They will learn to trust you. They will be much more likely to become your customer. Blogging builds relationships.

Capture your ideas and start blogging. No more excuses.

At SpinWeb, we create professional websites and online marketing initiatives. We’ve been doing it since 1996 and have gotten very good at it. We’ve gotten so good at it that it amazes me how fast and how well we deploy new websites on time, on budget, and with amazing design quality.

Sometimes, however, I think we get so caught up in the mechanics of our systems and processes at the “runway” level that we can lose sight of why we are doing what we do. How does our work make a difference? How does it change the world? How does it change lives?

I think it’s important to stay focused on these questions and the answers that go with them. So what does our work really mean?

One very exciting part of our work is seeing how a beautiful new website can inspire confidence, pride, and brand strength in the organizations that we work with. Often, we work with businesses that are looking for that extra push to help take them to the next level and reach new markets and when we create a website that helps them look like an industry leader, it has direct application to business growth and especially company morale.

We also love to empower individuals within the organization to do their jobs well. When we help the marketing director launch her online campaigns in a fraction of the time it used to take, she now has more time to work on other activities or spend time with her family. This improves her quality of life.

It brings a smile to my face when we can help a non-profit modernize the online donation, fund raising, and volunteer recruiting process so that they are able to help more people in need and bring positive change to the world.

When we can provide online tools that help event planners promote and manage successful conferences, we are helping bring together professionals who learn from each other and grow in their professions.

When we provide businesses with a website that helps them reach their customers and deliver solutions in a more efficient way, we are giving them the ability to grow faster and create jobs.

There are so many ways that online marketing and technology can improve the quality of life for those who embrace it. I love being a part of it and creating the solutions and tools that change lives.

No matter what you do, make sure you understand why you are doing it and how it makes a difference, no matter how small. At SpinWeb, we create professional websites and online marketing initiatives that change lives.

Have you heard of Foursquare? Chances are, you've most likely seen it in action on Twitter or Facebook. With all the new social media add-ons and apps, it's tough to decide what is going to be useful and actually fun to use. Foursquare is a location based social networking game where you get points for "checking in" at different spots. I find that most people, including myself, use Foursquare for dining and retail, but you can also use it to check into banks, parks, offices, theatres, and even the moon, if you had the necessary mode of transportation to get there.

By accumulating points, you unlock certain badges over time like "newbie" for your first check in, and the "adventurer" for checking in at over ten different locations. Not only do you receive badges, but if you "check in" the most at a certain location, you are crowned the Mayor of that spot. Therein lies the fun of competition. Recently, I ousted someone as the Mayor of Kona Grill, and I am also the Mayor of Cardinal Fitness and Mudsocks Grill (I work nights and weekends at Mudsocks, and no, it's not cheating).

Once Foursquare users check in, they can leave tips and recommendations behind. Fellow user Lindsay Manfredi raves about the fish tacos at Zest. I hear that Hubbard & Cravens Coffee & Tea is the perfect pick-me-up for these cold winter days. A recommendation from a Foursquare user was all I needed to finally have lunch at Best Bet, a small and delightful diner in front of my apartment I've wanted to try for months. I've only been using Foursquare for just over a month, and I've already found at least ten spots in Indy I want to check out. And it's not just the Indy area where Foursquare can shine. I already have plans to use Foursquare for my vacation in March in Punta Gorda, Florida, where I've never been. I'm going to rely on the good people of Foursquare to check in and help me check out Florida's hot spots.

Currently, Foursquare does not offer anything for accumulating the most points or for earning badges except bragging rights among the community. However, some businesses are offering deals for being the Mayor, such as free appetizers or a free cup of coffee. Foursquare is a great tool for finding new things to do and try around Indy; but the best part about Foursquare is the connections made through using this app. Since my Foursquare account is linked to Twitter, it automatically updates my status, whether I've just checked in at Target, or I'm enjoying a hazelnut latte from Starbucks. 

If you're new to social media, Foursquare is a great way to get involved and meet people in your community. I've met three people in the past week who checked into Mudsocks Grill and I've added these people to my network. Foursquare has many other cool features, but I'll let you discover those for yourself.

I get a lot of email promotions. Some are newsletters I have asked for, while some are spam from Indy Chamber members who have decided to subscribe me to their mailing lists against my will. In any case, one thing I notice about many of these email campaigns is that no matter how well-designed or appealing they are, they frequently miss the boat on the call to action.

For example, I often get an email inviting me to an event. Let’s say I want to go – what do I have to do? Much of the time, the campaign invites me to call a number to register, fill out a paper form, or reply to the email. If it’s a paid event, sometimes I’m told that I should bring a check or cash to pay at the door. Really? All I should have to do is click a link and register online. Anything more complicated than that is guaranteed to encourage people to ignore your message.

What about a spa offering 20% off selected services this week? The email should contain a prominent link that allows the recipient to book services online immediately.

Here’s the thing. When people are scanning emails, they are in a certain context. That context is clicking on things and getting information as a result of that clicking. Trying to make the user change contexts to make a call or print a form is working against the momentum that is already in place. The path of least resistance to the user is to remain in that context of clicking and processing. This is why you should allow your customers to get what they need or perform a transaction with a few clicks.

Don’t make it difficult for your customers to do business with you. Make sure your call to action is a click.

Social media is everywhere. It's new and shiny and everyone is trying to figure out how to use it, talk about it, and make money from it. However, once we put aside the hype, it becomes clear that social media is simply an evolution in how we communicate. It does not replace traditional marketing and communication, but rather augments it and breathes new life into what we do.

One great way to blend social media into your existing framework is to extend your website and make it more "socially aware". Your company website is your information hub and should be a high-quality, interactive source for constituent engagement. However, many websites need to be upgraded to extend the organization's reach into the social space, as well.

Here are some ways your next website can utilize connections to social media:

1. Include a company blog on your website. Your company blog should be integrated into your website, not hosted somewhere else or worse, on a free blogging service. It needs to be hosted under your domain name to maximize your search engine visibility and needs to follow your organization's branding. A blog also gives you a platform of content to publish on other networks. Publish high-value articles that educate and position your company as an industry leader.

2. Add a Twitter feed to your home page. By placing your Twitter activity on your website, you are allowing others to see real-time updates on your events, news, and announcements that you can update externally from other sources, like your mobile device. This also allows visitors to subscribe to your communication channel via Twitter.

3. Use Ping.fm to distribute content. By connecting your website content to Ping.fm, you can automatically push out news, events, blogs, and other content to social networks. This ensures that your content comes from a single, central location and is then distributed across many networks.

4. Include RSS options for all dynamic content. Make sure that your blog, events, news, and other dynamic content can be syndicated via RSS to make it easy for visitors to stay in your communication channel or publish your content on other sites.

5. Show the faces of real people in your organization. Many corporate websites shy away from displaying information about employees. However, today's customers are interested in real people. Create a directory of key employees and provide links to email addresses, LinkedIn profiles, Facebook profiles, and Twitter accounts. Make it easy for customers and prospects to engage in conversations with your team. This builds trust.

6. Make sure your blogs, articles, and other landing pages publish correctly on social networks. This means that your code should be structured so that the proper image or logo appears when the content is shared on Facebook, and the right content blurb appears so that the preview is informative. This may involve an upgrade to your website structure.

7. Link back to your website from all other social profiles. This should be obvious but it is often overlooked. Be sure that your website link appears everywhere you have a social presence so that all traffic is driven back to your information hub. Also, make sure your social profiles are designed to match the branding on your website.

When creating your next website, be sure to make it socially aware so that you extend your points of capture into social networks and maximize your permission-based followers.