After you’ve brought your website into the 21^st century and gotten your social media game under control, ask yourself: what’s the next step to building my garden business? 

Now, it’s time to start a blog. 

Why?  81% of U.S. online consumers’ value information and advice found on blogs, and a whopping 61% of those consumers have a made a purchase based solely on that advice.  If you haven’t already, it’s time for you and your garden business to get on board with blogging!

What is a blog, exactly? A web log (blog for short) is a website made up of short, information packed entries.  

Below are the top 4 reasons blogging affects the bottom line of your garden business.

The short, snappy title you type off right before you post your blog, tweet, or story is the reason for your downfall.

Even though headlines seem like the last step in publishing, they're the most important by far.

If you have a ho-hum headline, no one will click on it to discover the golden editorial waiting for them.

Instead, you need to really focus on crafting headlines that inspire and intrigue your audience enough to click through!

Below are the top 4 ways to write headlines that your readers can't help but click!

Content marketing, brand journalism, inbound marketing, blogging. Call it what you will, but the concept is all the same. Creating content by your garden business about relevant topics for your target audience.

No longer are you reliant on traditional media sources to tell your garden brand's story. With content marketing, the power is in your hands.

Creating your own content is one of the best ways to connect with your audience, increase engagement, and improve SEO.

When investing your time in your content marketing plan, make sure you're doing it as best as you can. Creating killer content takes time, so be smart about your execution and promotion.

Read on to discover 5 ways to improve your content marketing in less than 10 minutes.

In order for your garden company to really be using digital communications to the fullest, you’ve simply got to have a garden industry blog. Your company blog is your chance to have your voice heard! Here, you have no character limit, no restrictions as to what you can talk about. Your company blog is totally in your control—and how sweet it is.

Blogging allows your garden company to establish itself as an expert in the field. At Garden Media Group, we have two areas of expertise: public relations/marketing and gardening. To have our voice heard in each niche industry, we have two blogs, which allows us to double our audience, SEO keywords, and content. Ah, the beauty of the internet.

But, what if your horticulture blog is stellar, but no one’s reading it? The whole purpose of a company blog is to reach your key audience, and if that’s not happening, your garden company has got to make a few changes.

One easy way to up your page views is using Twitter. Below are three, quick tips to tweet your way to more page views on your blog!

I usually start off Saturday mornings by catching up on some of my favorite blogs... from design, fashion and of course, those from the garden industry, I get my fill of information for the week! But this weekend, I read a particularly different post about social media etiquette.

Etiquette.  Ahhh... society has gotten so far from the writings in the very first Emily Post Blue book.  And as the rules of social media evolve, how does etiquette evolve with it? 

No, I'm not saying change is bad.  Change is good!  It's just that there are some basic principals of etiquette that should never change, on or offline:

Be kind.  Treat others with respect.  Show your appreciation.

This post will offer tips on how we can continue to follow these basic principals for these social media platforms: Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. 

Otherwise, we all will have Miss Post rolling in her grave. 

Blogging is a must for all businesses anymore. Social media platforms only allow you to say so much, which is exactly why we link every single one of our social media accounts back to our blog. We have two blogs in fact since our business is two-fold: gardening and public relations/marketing.

Our blogs are a chance for us to really hash out important issues in our industry. We're able to show that we are an expert at what we do; plus we can connect back to our main website. Blogs can also link back to your e-commerce website.

For us, the most important aspect of blogging is connecting. We've connected with new clients, fellow industry leaders, and even print media moguls.

Moral of the story: you and your garden business should be blogging! But, if you need a bit more convincing, read our ode to blogging here.

Can your CEO blog? was the question posed on the front page of USA Today.

And the answer according to an article written by Del Jones, is "Maybe. Maybe not."

The USA story notes that while CEOs of smaller tech companies and PR firms are blogging, so far no Fortune 1000 CEO or chairman has launched a blog.

Here's the inside skinny from author and corporate blogging consultant Debbie Weil who was interviewed for this USA Today article.

This week we've been discussing content marketing, how it works and ways to increase your brands reputation in the lawn and garden industry. 

But the one question we keep getting asked is, what kind of content works best?

There are dozens of forms of engaging content, but here are 12 types of content to focus on and how they can be used as part of any content marketing plan.

By the end of 2011, there were over 181 million blogs all around the world! Blogging does not get talked about nearly as much as social media, but boy, it should!

Blogging leads to new business, expands brand awareness, increases organic serach traffic, provides a foundation for all social media, and allows you to become a credible, reliable, and creative business in the eye of your consumers.

But, how can you compete with 181 million blogs? To put it simply, your garden business cannot get blogged down.

Blogging with a purpose is key, but promoting your blog is the other half the battle. It isn’t about blogging more, but instead, blogging better.

Below our ways to successfully blog with a purpose and get your blog seen.