But, what do you do when you are all blogged out?

Sure, you can skip a day or two, but as attention spans grow shorter each day, you run the risk of your blog eventually being forgotten. Each day, the pressure increases to either create, or find, the most interesting topic and broadcast it to your audience.

Here’s a few tips on how to overcome your writer’s block.  If you’re new to blogging, bookmark the links below, you’re going to find them extremely helpful in the near future.

Make use of Google Reader

Reader allows you to subscribe to a RSS feed for a particular blog, or website.  You can search for blogs by keywords, or subscribe to a couple of your favorites.  Reader also allows you to keep up with the most popular news stories and also keeps track of what you’ve read so you are always looking at fresh content.  The more you subscribe to, the more ideas you’ll have.

Set up Google Alerts

Alerts are email updates of topics you choose to follow. You can set up an alerts to monitor a developing story, keep an eye on the competition, keep up with your favorite celebrity, etc.  You don’t have to wait on an email to check your alerts. Alerts can be checked, modified, or deleted at any time.

Browse your LinkedIn Groups

You joined the group for a reason, now is the time to use participate.  Whether it’s the discussions or the submitted news articles, LinkedIn Groups are filled with content.  Make sure you are a member of active groups.  No one benefits from the group if there’s no activity.

Look to  Twitter Search for guidance

People talk about everything from needing a 9V battery to their favorite type of jelly on Twitter.  It’s a given that you’ll find something interesting to blog about relative to your audience.

Search for a guest blogger

Don’t let your blog ego get the best of you. Ironically, a blogger enjoys writing for other blogs more than writing for their own.  All you have to do is ask.  It’s amazing how quick a guest blogger will send you a post.

For Twitter, @Anywhere is nothing new.  @Anywhere has been a registered username since 2007 and if Twitter has had this in the works for over two years, it’s bound to be a success.

@Anywhere allows Twitter users to broadcast tweets all over the web.  It allows you to not only send tweets, but also follow other users without having to log onto Twitter.

For example, if you were reading this blog, you could see our Twitter handle, @SmileyHanchulak, click to follow us, and tweet about the blog post all without going to Twitter.com.

How will @Anywhere impact your business?  Here’s a few possibilities:

Your follower count will increase

Currently, if you do not have a hyperlink to your Twitter account on your blog, a fancy “follow me” graphic or a handy dandy widget, your readers may not know you exist on Twitter.  With @Anywhere, your readers will know you have a presence on Twitter and will have the ability to follow your right from your blog or website.

Your traffic will increase

Naturally, an increase in followers will result in an increase in traffic. @Anywhere allows readers to tweet directly from your blog/website.  Most likely, they will tweet a link to their followers, which will result in some extra visits to your site.

Greater lead potential

As your followers and traffic increase, so does the chance for converting visitors into customers.  Now is the time to monitor your web analytics closely.  A repeat visitor can turn into a valuable client.

Keep in mind @Anywhere is still new.  It’s going to be tested out on 13 sites and rolled out to more in the future.  Pay close attention to how it works.  Twitter hasn’t been building this for years to release a mediocre product.

When polling if Twitter was going to be around forever, 45% of the respondents felt it would be around another two or three years, 23% felt either it will be around for another year, or outlast Facebook, and only 10% of poll respondents felt it will be around forever. With the multiple social media networks available to use, and as countless networks are being developed as I type, will social media be a means of communication forever?

Two-way communication fuels social media.  Twitter and Facebook have completely changed how consumers receive information.  We want real-time updates and the social media networks of today provide just that.

Individuals and businesses have included social media use in their daily routines, and some companies have made their Facebook page their main website or use social media as a part of their customer service department.

One key factor of social media’s immortality is the unlimitied opportunity for constant innovation since brand loyalty doesn’t exist.

Millions of MySpace users switched to Facebook due to increasing popularity and the itch to try something new.  Music artists held onto using MySpace as long they could but their fan base had moved onto something new. In less than two years, MySpace had been dethroned by Facebook as the top social media network in the U.S. and had to lay off 30% of their workforce.

Will social media last forever? It’s possible.

The only threat to social media’s existence is the FCC.  As of right now, the only guidelines on social media are the terms and conditions of each network. Realistically, social media is in an extensive beta phase.  What happens next is still up in the air.

But, how does social media work in business-to-business marketing?

LinkedIn may be a forgotten network, but it can drive traffic to your site or blog, help qualify leads, or expand your customer base outside of your normal demographic.  LinkedIn is a very powerful social media network.  If you are not using LinkedIn, here’s five reasons why you should:

1. Networking Potential

Twenty years ago, businesses used dictionary size directories, called phonebooks, to locate a company that may benefit from their services.  You dialed the number listed in the phonebook and you either talked to the secretary, who transferred you to a voicemail, or you were lucky enough to get through to the individual you wanted to talk to, but were quickly told that your weren’t interested. There was no chance to build a relationship with that person, or someone else in that company. LinkedIn allows you to network, share interests and helpful hints with professionals all over the world.  Whether it be over the phone, in a discussion, or simply messaging back and forth, LinkedIn can help make that initial interaction go smoothly.  Not to mention, your new LinkedIn connection can potentially be your new follower on Twitter or Facebook friend.

2. Validates Your Expertise

Many people have “guru” or “expert” in their Twitter or LinkedIn bio, and few live up to the name.  Group discussions and the Q&A forum give you the opportunity to share your expertise or past experiences that are relevant to the discussion topic or the question being asked.  Small business owners who are just starting their business frequent the Q&A forum with questions from branding to inventory management to public relations.  Taking time to answer a question may help you reel in a new client.

3. Displays Leadership

Being a follower only counts on Twitter.  Creating a group on LinkedIn allows your leadership skills to shine.  Groups are a great way to build an internal social network.  Target individuals who have a common interest and invite them to join your group. If you can’t dedicate the time to starting a group and moderating the activity, join a group and spark some interesting discussions and debates.  People want to interact with others and offer their two cents to the discussion at hand. Once people see that you are an active contributor to group discussions or news links, they are apt to view your profile to learn more about you.  If the company you work for has a company profile on LinkedIn, they’ll view that profile as well.  A little group participation can go a long way.

4. Qualified Lead Generation

Why pay for a lead list when you have a tool such as LinkedIn to assist your new business development.  I’ve had a few free trials of contact list databases and while they provide some insight to past marketing activity for a particular company, I have found LinkedIn to be more beneficial.  While you can’t view someone’s profile and know right off the bat what they are looking for, you can see who they are connected with, what events they attended recently, what groups they are a part of and if they’ve asked any questions or participated in any group discussions.  Pay attention to who has recommended them and why.  You may even discover one of your contacts or friends knows the individual you are trying to contact.

5. Inbound Marketing

LinkedIn can make your phone ring.  The more you participate, the more people in your social network trust you.  If all you are doing is posting links to your website, your chances of attracting a new customer is slim.  Going back numbers 2 and 3 above, active participation (and correct answers) displays your expertise and leadership skills.  Let your LinkedIn activity and company profile do the talking for you.  Monitor your website and/or blog analytics.  Get an idea of where your traffic is coming from. Chances are LinkedIn is going to account for at least 10%, if not more, of your website’s traffic.  Convert those visitors into customers.

LinkedIn is a valuable social media network for business-to-business marketing. The results may not come as quickly as you want them to, but building a trustworthy business relationship takes time.

If you use Google Analytics to monitor your blog traffic, you have probably noticed traffic from iPhone, BlackBerry and Android phones are now recorded.  Google Analytics even records which cellular provider the visitor uses.

Not technical savvy, or paying a developer to build an iPhone app is not in your budget? Well, a simple Wordpress plugin will help you get your blog mobile ready.

Installing the WPTouch plugin turns your blog into a smartphone ready site.  iPhone users will be able to view the titles of your posts and select which ones they want to read.  Adding a “tweet this”, or a social bookmarking button, increases the chance of the link being shared by your visitors on their preferred social networks, which will draw even more traffic to your site.

Social media is changing the the way information is shared.  Ensuring your blog is smartphone ready keeps you in line with the changes.