Just came across this video on YouTube where Reachd.com interviews Matt Cutts from Google.

There’s some really interesting stuff about WordPress, SEO, sitemaps and what small businesses can achieve for free with things like Google Maps or Google Webmaster Central. For estate agents / realtors you might like to hear about Google Base.

A great piece of advice is that if you’re adding video or audio to your site, for extra SEO cred, make sure you add a transcript! Anyway, watch the video, take some notes and enjoy.

In the past year or two there’s been plenty of talk about the value of blogging for business, with plenty of positive and negative sentiment. My own opinion, not biased at all by the fact that I write a couple of blogs, is that they’re fantastic for businesses.

Why do I think this, well a couple of reasons off the top of my head:

• blogs open up a manageable two way dialogue with customers, creating an open relationship and possibly even community,

• blogs are quick and easy to setup and present a cheap way for small businesses to develop a web presence,

• blogs are great for search engine optimisation i.e. improving your search rankings and attracting traffic,

• blogs provide a creative outlet for your employees to show the human side of your business,

• blogs are great public relations tools where you get to control the message.

But it seems I’m not the only one who thinks this. A recent article on Startups.co.uk also supports the value of blogs, referencing case studies like Stormhoek Wines - check out their guide to blogging - and a handful of others.

I had intended to post the link up here but for the life of me I can’t find it, but why not check out www.startups.co.uk anyway, it’s full of very useful advice for entrepreneurs.

If you’re new to blogging or want to find out more, why not come along to the London Bloggers Meetup for some inspiration! Or instead just get started with a blog at www.wordpress.org.

We all know about the issue of spamming. Every single email address in the world is spammed at some stage, whether it’s with adverts for Viagra, or for a bigger phallus, or to buy a Harvard MBA. They’re nothing new. But it seems there’s a new kid in town, a slightly less irritating email, not quite spam, but not quite regular email either. If it hasn’t already hit your inbox, it soon will. It’s bacn!

So what is this I hear you say? The best way to explain is to watch this video below from the founders of the bacn community.

If you don’t have the time to watch the clip, then essentially it’s all those emails you receive that aren’t spam, but that you simply don’t have the time to read anyway. For example Facebook or Twitter notifications, e-newsletters, or even blog feed subscriptions. These emails can basically clog up your inbox but, unlike spam, you’re responsible for requesting these emails.

As an internet marketer or blogger then, what can you do to stop bacning people?

First of all make sure you don’t email your list too frequently. This is not only important for getting your message across, but also for reducing unsubscribes and spam complaints. The ideal frequency will vary depending on your niche and the best way to measure this is to test some different frequencies and measure the impact on your results and subscriber numbers.

Secondly, manage your RSS feeds better. I don’t know if this is possible with Feedburner but set it up for weekly updates rather than daily. This way subscribers will receive more stories/posts in one email, rather than an email for every post.

A third idea is to check out the bacn community forum for more ideas.

Feel free to share your bacning experiences in the comments.

This is a message for Jay from Watford, who called me on Sunday afternoon expecting help with his web marketing projects. I should point out, I do not know Jay, have never spoken to him before and did not invite him to call me. Let’s just say it was a strange telephone call.

So first of all Jay, no I don’t think you should quit your day job just yet. If after three years of trying to make money online you haven’t succeeded, then it’s a pretty good sign that you don’t have a very good strategy or even a good idea. Secondly, I expect there are very few internet marketers making $10,000+ per month just from Adsense - I certainly do not.

It’s a shame you turned down my offer of help by email. As strange as it may sound, I actually don’t tend to work on Sundays. I’d also like to point out that I did not decline to help you because of your ethnic background, it was just my day off. IF you’d decided to take me up on my offer of help by email, then I might have a better understanding of what you want to achieve and how I can help. Without more information it’s very hard to offer you any useful advice.

Well anyway, here are the answers to some of the questions you asked:

Q. How are you making more than $10,000 a month with Adsense

A. I don’t and I do not claim to do so. I have a marketing plan in place for my online business that incorporates revenue from Adsense, but it will not be my primary source of income. I am building revenue streams from a number of sources, including ebooks, PLR, joint ventures, affiliate marketing, paid blogging and a few others.

I suggest you consider a multi level marketing approach - unless you have a truly fantastic website with tens of thousands of targeted visitors, then you are never going to get rich from Adsense.

Q. Can you get rich from blogging?

A. It is possible to make money from blogging, there are lots of very successful people doing this. However, it’s not an overnight, instant road to success. The best bloggers take an awful lot of time to research and write quality content and it’s most likely a full time job for them. As I said, you either need to know your subject very well, or have a real passion for it. I doubt if you have either an in-depth knowledge or a passion for the areas you mentioned - I have a feeling it was mortgage advice or something financial.

Also, the best blogs are written for a specific niche and I’ afraid the area of financial advice already has very many excellent resources. I fear you would find it hard to compete. And yes, from my point of view, WordPress is the best blog platform if you want to build an online business.

Q. Should I use 1and1 for my web hosting?

A. In my experience they provide an excellent service and I often recommend my clients use their services. That said, there are also many excellent other hosting companies you could consider.

Q. How much money do I make from Adsense each month?

A. I’m sorry but that’s my own personal information and is not for public consumption. Do you really expect people to reveal their income to a complete stranger who tracked them down via the internet?

Q. Can I pay you to help me make money online?

A. I am a professional marketing consultant working with companies both online and offline. I am lucky enough to be able to choose the clients I work with - unlucky Jay, I will always choose not to work with you. My offer of free advice by email was genuine, shame you decided to throw it in my face.

Q. I’m considering starting another online company selling my own products, like Watfordcouriers.co.uk as I used to be a courier delivery driver, what do you think?

A. Good idea but don’t do it without seeking professional advice. You will need to write a careful business and marketing plan and get your finances straight. DO NOT quit your day job until you have sought professional advice. Based on the conversation I had with you, I’d suggest you get back in the delivery truck.

I hope that helps Jay. Best of luck with your future endeavours, I’m sure they will be interesting.