A 2010 study conducted by Harris Interactive has shown that, just like most industries worldwide, investment has moved online. The Harris Interactive study surveyed over 1,000 investors, spanning the ages of 21 to 65. In the study, both age groups indicated that financial websites and blogs were their first choice for financial advice. This study shows that industry trends are moving towards self-directed investors, meaning that investors are conducting their own research and investing directly with online brokerage firms, as opposed to working with a financial advisor. Investors are increasingly using financial blogs to gather information about the companies in which they are investing. One of the best ways that a publicly traded company can attract new investors, build a following, and communicate with existing shareholders is to start a blog. Why is establishing a Corporate blog important for Small and Micro Cap Publicly traded companies who want to attract investors seeking new stock picks ? Corporate blogs give insight on the Company from within the Company itself. These blogs help to form relationships with investors by providing commentary on a particular aspect of the Company and or its management, and crystallizing the information for investors. Corporate blogs are a communication medium the Company can use to broadcast its message, and provide investors with otherwise unknown facts and information. This helps to solidify why the Company is an attractive investment. Corporate blogs also open communication with investors. They enable free exchange of feedback, questions, and commentary that the Company would not usually have access to. Therefore, corporate blogs are great two-way communication tools that help to form relationships establish an even higher degree of trust with investors. It is imperative that Companies self-publish blogs if they are interested in attracting investors seeking new stock ideas. Corporate blogs will attract traffic from investors who are seeking undiscovered companies with potential to appreciate. If you are an undiscovered Company looking to attract a following online, a Company blog is an urgent need. WordPress is an open source application designed for blog publishing and content management. It is written using PHP and backed by a MySQL database, making it ideal for producing dynamic web pages featuring content that tends to be edited frequently. WordPress was originally designed as a weblog (blog) application that enabled the creation, editing, and publishing of blogs and photos. WordpPress has many attractive features, which include image management, web syndication, and post and comment moderation. With these additional plugins and applications, WordPress has evolved into a popular content management system. In fact, it is a top choice for the creation and hosting of many top Company websites. In numbers, WordPress is utilized by over 2% of the 10,000 biggest websites, making it one of the most popular types of blog software used today. Benefits of Using WordPress.com for Corporate and Financial Blogging Easy to Use â€. oWordPress’s blog editing tool functions very similarly to a standard word processing program. You can update your blog from anywhere; there is no software that must be downloaded to a specific computer. Custom Designs to Incorporate Branding†oWordPress allows you to upload a custom designed blog theme that reflects your Company branding. 21st Century Investor Relations has a professional design team who can design a theme using your Company’s logos and colors so that it corresponds with the look of your Company website. This will help keep the two sites connected in the mind of the consumer and further solidify your brand. Encourage Investor Conversation†oWordPress contains functionality for comments so that investors can interact with your blog, ask questions, and give feedback. Additional plugins are available so that you can monitor the most commented on posts, and identify those who are doing the most commenting. Not only does this feature help you build relationships with your investors, but it also adds to the content on your page, which has major search engine optimization (SEO) benefits. SEO Friendly†oThere are a variety of plugins available that help WordPress sites become optimized for SEO. Google Sitemap Generator will build site maps for your blog, which will help your site be found by Google, Yahoo!, Bing, and other search engines. SEO will help more investors find your blog and create an increased investor following, which will ultimately result in an increased shareholder base for your Company over time. Promotes Social Networking†oWordPress sites can also be easily set up for Social Networking by adding a Share This button on your website. This button is a small toolbar that allows readers to share your content via Twitter, Facebook, Digg, StumbleUpon, and other social media sites. Social networking aids in the process of finding investors, who may find your blog through these social media outlets. Social networking will help your blog have a viral, widespread impact, which will lead to an exponential increase in acquiring new investors that follow your Company. Versatile Share Options†oEasily add share options so that investors can subscribe to your content through RSS feeds and email lists. Investors can even subscribe to comments so that they can stay up to date with other investors. Share options make it effortless for investors to follow your blog, allowing it to quickly become a point of reference for them. Encourage Interaction and Continuous Improvement†oThe key to Investor Relations 2.0 is two-sided conversation and interaction, as well as relationships with investors and potential investors, shareholders and potential shareholders, customers, and clients. Add widgets that encourage investors to interact on the site and create polls to get readers’ opinions. Establish a rating system to help you improve the site and customize it to the needs of your investors. Finally, build a community and engage your users in a conversation. Using WordPress to host your blog is a must when it comes to Investor Relations 2.0. Investors will be looking for an online source for updated content, and you must keep up. WordPress provides the tools to make the process easy. Contact 21st Century Investor Relations for more information or help in building a winning WordPress blog:
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