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No Business Left Behind: B2B eCommerce Part 1.

We have used the No child left behind tag line in the past from President Bush, and turned it in to no blogger left behind. We used it for our Community blogs, if you visit our main site.

That is what I am most excited about, the blogging community, social network. What started out as a way for us to help our clients, through SEO, blog templates and blogging, has turned in to quite an exciting business model for us. We use the tools to develop our social networking site for blogging. And, now as we are part of the Barter Network at ITEX, we are soon building Social networks for Massage therapists, Lawyers, Dentists, Car Repair, Accountants, Vacation Rentals, and yes Restaurants. Boy that was a handful, I am not just saying this to use the keywords for SEO, I am really excited about MyTypes.com becoming a social networking platform company. Why am I excited? Not just for us, but to help online businesses, and to enable b2b eCommerce through social interactions. SEO is key component of any online marketing, and B2B promotion, as mentioned in the last blog.

I wanted to write about B2b eCommerce, but most businesses only utilize the Internet for information exchange such as website or Info-mediaries. Lead generation, which we also wrote about a few days ago, is more complex and is the main activity within b2b ecommerce. Yes you SEO wanna be marketing people, you want to get to the bottom of how to best generate leads so you can keep your jobs. We know what drives you, well most of you blog a lot, and you should to promote your business. Our message today is simple, Social networking within businesses is eCommerce as you get your suppliers, customers, vendors(employees), all interacting.

Social networking components within your blogging and web presence should drive your b2b ecommerce strategy. And, yes as always blogs and community blogs will be part of the trends are key components of social networks as is the ability to make and invite friends. Here is an article our previous blogging coach wrote, you will probably enjoy reading it. It got a lot of raving reviews the time it was posted back in July 2007, enjoy:

Don’t Blog In A Vacuum

Blogging is essentially a social, conversational medium, so it only goes to follow that you can’t successfully blog in a vacuum. You have to read and respond to other bloggers, link to outside websites, and be aware of what others in niche are talking about by participating in the popular social media networks.

Basically, you have to read at least as much as you write. First of all, reading and absorbing the work of talented writers is one of the most important things you can do when it comes to developing your own writing voice. It only goes to follow that, if you want to get the most out of your blog, you have to read other blogs as well. Besides, being aware of the current popular topics in in the blogosphere is valuable, and you’ll never know where you’ll pick up a great tip or two.

You don’t even necessarily have to read tons of blogs about blogging (although as your Blogging Coach, I would say that you should definitely keep an eye on a few meta-blogs); useful, well-written advice and positive examples can be found on blogs in any niche. It’s also important to check out blogs that discuss similar topics to yours, so you can pick up on market trends and see if anyone has written, linked to, or created anything interesting.

One of the key differences between blogging and more traditional forms of media, marketing, and public relations is that it’s a two way street. Yes, your readers can and will respond to your posts in the comments, but other bloggers can write responses on their blogs too. Reacting and sharing opinions are a key part of participating in the blogosphere, so it’s not only useful, it’s imperative that you read at least a few other blogs.

Don’t think that you have the time to read? Try subscribing to your favorites and scanning them in a reader (I personally prefer Google Reader, but there are tons of options out there), or tagging posts that intrigue you with a “toread” tag in del.icio.us and coming back them when you have time to spare.

What other blogs do you read? Do you read them for news, education, inspiration, or entertainment (or a mix of all the above?).

**Since this blog is about business and b2b, I wanted to mention some great websites. TechCrunch.com, SocialRank.com (which owns a b2b news site), Adage.com, and of course Cnet.com.