How to create award winning blog content from a small business 'Top mover'

WSM4B is one of the world's top small business blogs!

Recently, Technorati started sending more and more traffic to my business blog. Increased referral traffic from any source is an important indicator that more traffic can potentially be leveraged, or new connections made.

In fact, my blog "Websites, SEO & Marketing for Business" has jumped to number 40 in the global 'Small business blogs' rankings, and is currently number 2 on the list of "Top movers" in that category.

I thought I would share the reasons why my blog has, and will hopefully continue, to climb the rankings. Of course, everything here applies equally to any other site or award, not just Technorati.

How to win blog awards and get recognition

There is no secret to success here. Spend as much time as possible creating high quality content that interests and engages your target audience. Talk about other people and become involved in your niche. Then, tell as many people as possible about it.

1. Create award winning blog content that drives traffic

Focus effort and energy on your content. Write content for humans.

If bloggers and businesses spent half as much time and resources creating quality content as they did trying to dodge Google's Panda and Penguin updates, they would ultimately drive more traffic and revenue - without the fear of disappearing from the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages).

I recommend you read "How to double your search traffic using SEO, Webmaster tools and Google analytics" that outlines my process for creating content that drives traffic.

2. Share great content on high quality sites

Sometimes you have to bite the bullet and expend precious resources writing great content for someone else's blog or website. It's worth it. Guest blogging is one of the best ways to drive interest and engagement in your own blog.

Read "Guest blogging is critical to marketing and business" to learn more about how to guest blog effectively.

Guest blogging is not the only way to share great content. There are many blog curation sites that have plenty of traffic and readers who are potential customers. For example, since my blog focuses on business strategies online, two great blog curation sites that I use regularly are:

• Social Media Today
• Business2Community

By exposing your content to as many people as possible, you not only help to drive traffic, you also help to drive recognition. And recognition, after all, is the staple diet of awards.

3. Talk about other people and their businesses

One of the most powerful weapons a blogger or marketer has to drive engagement and interest in their content, is the ability to talk about other people.

A photo showing only scenery is nice, but a photo with you and all your friends in front of the scenery is far more interesting. Great content is like that too. It is made interesting by putting people in it.

By talking about other people, you make it beneficial for them to share your content. Read the following articles to learn how to do this effectively:

• Talking about other people is the most powerful way to get more traffic
• Top reasons why your content is not driving traffic and how to fix it
• The magic ingredient: What to change about your blog and social in order to succeed

Benefits of blog awards and recognition

Awards and recognition play an important role in business. An award is a business tool - that's also nice to receive.

One of the most important factors in getting visitors to convert in some way or another (i.e. signing up to your newsletter, making a purchase, clicking on an affiliate link, etc) is credibility. By getting to the point where your blog or content is recognized in some way, it means that you have achieved a certain level of credibility.

Here are the primary reasons that blogging and content awards and recognition are important:

• Trust
• Authority
• Credibility
• Recognition
• Visibility

All of these factors play an important role in how much traffic your content drives, and the rate at which you convert it. Effectively, you can improve your ROI (Return on Investment) by receiving accolades, awards and recognition for your content.

Top small business movers and shakers

My blog is not the only one starting to make some waves and impact in the small business market. Here's a list of other small business bloggers that Technorati thinks you should watch out for:

• Adotas - Internet advertising and media news
• Official Google enterprise blog
• Danny Brown
• Komarketing associates blog
• Econsultancy digital marketing blog
• Melissa Agnes - social media crisis

Remember that part of creating great blog content is learning from other people. As a matter of practice, always ensure that you follow anyone who has provided great content on Twitter, or sign up to their newsletter, etc.

You never know what you will learn, and be inspired to write about.