Blogging can be a fantastic marketing process if done properly. It can help build trust, demonstrate experience, build a relationship with one's visitors and strengthen a website's standing in search engines. One common question for businesses is whether they should self-host their blog or rely on a hosted blogging software. Ultimately, we generally recommend hosting the blog yourself so that you have more control over your investment.

Here are more reasons from the NYC Business Network about the disadvantages of a hosted blogging platform

Google has launched the +1 buttons that can be placed on any web page using a simple code snippet.

The activity from +1 will only show up on English language search results on Google.com, although the code snippet is supported by 44 languages. There are plans to expand the tool worldwide.

Google has also launched a self-service code generator to help with the construction of the button. This is Google's attempt to complete with Facebook's ubiquitous “Like” button.

Many small businesses use Pay Per Click advertising to reach millions of prospective customers every day. Google is by far the most notorious and successful PPC advertising channel for small and large businesses alike, because the search giant successful allows for long tail distributions in advertising online, which places a premium on quality. Google did not invent PPC, but their refinements to the method has allowed for advertisers of all sizes to compete equally and necessarily for a huge customer market based on search and content interests.

Quick and easy ways to save money on ad campaigns:

• Use negative keywords to filter out unwanted searches. If you are selling custom, advanced web design for example, you may not want to attract uses looking for cheap web design, because they are not the right fit for your approach. Instead, you can remove your ads from searches that contain specific keywords, which you can define at the AD level or at the CAMPAIGN level. In the ad editor, simply add a minus sign before any keyword in your keyword list. One example from the above scenario  would be to list "-cheap" or "low budget" in your keyword list to exclude such searches and reduce the cost of your campaign by making your campaign more relevant to searchers.
• Try to build a better Quality Score for your PPC campaigns, by listing your product keywords within the ad title and on the ad landing page. Remember, your ecommerce or content landing web page is critical to the success of your marketing campaign.
• Remove or modifying poorly performing ads.
• Test your ads using A/B tests to better understand the needs of your users. Using an A/B test, you can create subtle landing page differences that may influence a user's behavior. You can have your web designer create new landing pages for your A/B tests as well to better understand how different approaches to design influence the behavior of users or shoppers.