1. business and industrial

How to Start a Blog
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: What is Blogging and Why Should I Care?
Chapter 2: Starting a Blog
Chapter 3: Perfecting Your Posts
Chapter 4: From Hobby to Business
Chapter 5: How to Legalize Your Blog and Minimize Liability
How to Start a Blog
Chapter 1: What is Blogging and Why
Should I Care?
These days, everyone and their dog has a blog. There are literally
millions of blogs on all manner of topics. Some are personal in
nature, while others cater to business topics. Are you wondering
“How to Start a Blog? We’ll show you how!
A blog is simply a website with regularly updated content on a subject. There might be a blog about
Pomeranians, pickles or Pinterest.
Businesses of all sizes are now blogging as a way to reach their target audience. As a small business
owner, your brand should be blogging. It’s a fantastic--not to mention cost-effective--way to display
your industry expertise and help people find you online.
Let’s say you are a lawyer. You help people file bankruptcy. If someone is searching online for
information about bankruptcy, they’ll find dozens of blog posts in their search results. If one of those
posts happens to be yours, you’ve effectively guided people to your blog simply by writing content
that helps them solve a problem or educates them on a topic they want to know more about.
Once that searcher becomes a regular reader of your blog, you start to build trust with him. He begins
to consider you the go-to source on all topics relating to bankruptcy. And when he’s ready to file, you’ll
be at the top of his list of lawyers to hire, simply because he connected with you by reading your blog.
Benefits of Blogging
As in the bankruptcy example above, blogging gives you credibility in your industry. You’ve got tons of
competitors, all probably equally well-versed on your field. You can stand out by creating a blog that
demonstrates your knowledge on your topic.
Here’s a great example: Marcus Sheridan runs a pool company in Virginia. He took a unique
approach to marketing his company: he set up a blog, aimed at being “The Most Educational Pool
Blog in the Country.” He absolutely succeeded in his mission. No other pool company was blogging
about types of pools, sizes, and shapes, and his blog got a phenomenal number of hits, many beyond
the geographical area he was aiming for! His blog now ranks among the top search results for “pool
blog.”
Your job, should you choose to accept it, is to become the leader in your own industry. You do this by
providing great content through your new blog. More on that later.
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Another benefit of blogging is the search engine optimization boost you get. If you use keywords
throughout your blog posts, people will find your posts when they search those keywords on search
engines like Google. The more people that click the link to your blog, the higher up Google will move
you in search results for that keyword.
But What Do I Write About?
Many small businesses don’t ever start blogs because they can’t imagine what their little company
would possibly have to say to the blogosphere. That’s a shame, because there are actually an
unlimited number of topics you can write about, regardless of what industry you’re in.
You don’t have to come up with all your topics right now; we’ve got a section to help you with that. But
start thinking about your customers and the kinds of content they care about. Read other blogs (even
those written by your competitors).
You’re likely already providing the kind of information you’d share in your blog when you talk to
customers. Think back to recent conversations where you answered questions a customer had. Don’t
you think there are other people with the same questions online?
Getting Started - How to Start a Blog
Ready to start blogging? We’ll start you off with a little technical expertise (nothing you can’t handle),
then provide you some guidance on what to write about and how to share your blog content online.
Then, after you’ve had success with your blog, you can go on to read about turning your blog into a
business and legalizing it to protect your personal assets. Let’s begin!
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Chapter 2: Starting a Blog
Now that you’re convinced you need a blog, let’s get down to the
nitty gritty technical details. But don’t be scared off! Setting up a
blog is actually very simple, and if you don’t have the time or
interest in setting it up, you can hire a web or blog designer to do it
for you.
Choosing a Platform
There are a few key blog platforms you’ll want to consider. One isn’t better than another; it’s simply a
matter of choosing the platform that has the features you’re looking for. Since you’re just starting out
with your blog, you’ll probably want a free platform:
• WordPress
• Blogger
Later you may want a platform that delivers a little more power, such as:
• TypePad
• SquareSpace
And if you’re looking for a nontraditional approach to blogging, check out these “mini-blogging” sites.
Rather than your content being the only content on the site, these are more of a community of folks
sharing anything from blog posts to photos and videos. You can even launch a blog on these sites in
addition to your company’s standalone blog.
• Tumblr
• Posterous
Why You Want Your Own URL
When you’re setting up your blog, you’ll likely be asked if you have a domain name chosen and
purchased already or if you want to use something generic, like myblog.wordpress.com. You definitely
want the first option.
Using the domain name the blog platform gives you appears a bit unprofessional, as if you didn’t care
enough about your blog to pay the $10 a year to get your own URL. People notice these things! And
given the fact that you’re trying to brand your small business, why wouldn’t you spend the nominal
amount to get a URL that points to your brand’s name or keyword?
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If you fold your blog into your primary website, this won’t be an issue, as you will host it at
www.yourwebsiteurl.com/blog.
Lions and Plugins and Widgets. Oh My!
Once you get into your blog platform, you’ll notice a section on the site for plugins and widgets. These
are cool little tools that help you do more with your blog. There are plugins and widgets to help you
get better SEO, block spam from your comments, and make your blog load faster, just to name a few.
Here are the must-have plugins you should install for your website:
• All in One SEO: Easily lets you create a title for your post page as well as a description and
keywords to help search engines find your content.
• Share Buttons: These icons are placed at the bottom of each post and allow readers to share
your content on different social media sites.
Thank Me Later: Automatically send an email to first-time commenters on your blog. You can
invite them to sign up for your RSS.
•
And widgets, which are typically installed on your blog’s sidebar, also have great features that
enhance your blog:
• Feedburner: Lets readers subscribe to your blog updates via email or through a blog reader.
• Text Widget: Customize the text with HTML for promotions, news, or updates.
• Facebook Badges: Share your business’ Facebook page on the sidebar of your blog.
Ready to Write?
Creating your first blog post is simple. Just click “Create New,” and you’ll see what kind of looks like a
Word document. Just start typing! You can bold or italicize words, just like in a traditional document,
as well as add photos or videos.
Play around with the different icons above the text box to learn what others do.
Choosing the Blogger(s) for Your Blog
As the owner, CEO, or President of your business, you’re the natural choice for blogging for your
company. You’re passionate about the business, and you have a unique perspective that readers will
be interested in.
However, it’s not realistic to expect that every business owner is interested or able to write the content
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for his blog. In that case, look to your staff to find a writer or two. Someone in your marketing
department would be a good fit, and should have the communications skills required to write great
content. You might also choose someone from another department to provide additional content and
a different perspective.
You can also look outside your company to find a blogger. Marketing and communications firms and
freelance writers often blog for companies, and can be cost-effective ways to market your brand. You
typically pay per post they write, or a flat fee for a set number of blog posts each month.
You may elect to have more than one voice on your blog. Having different people write can provide
more than one perspective, which will keep your blog content interesting. For example, you as the
owner might blog about the company’s vision, while someone in marketing could write how-to tips,
and someone outside the company could contribute industry news for your readers.
How Frequently Should You Blog?
One of the big questions newbies to blogging have is how frequently they should update their blogs.
There’s no set answer to this question; it will depend on your availability and willingness to regularly
deliver content. Keep in mind that the more frequently you do blog, the more Google will like it.
Search engines like fresh content, and providing a steady stream of it (using targeted keywords; more
on that later) will keep you moving up search results.
The key is being honest with yourself. If you decide to blog every day, but there’s no way you can fit
that much writing in your schedule, you’re setting yourself up for failure. Be realistic about how often
you or your other contributors will be able to write, and make that your goal.
Some bloggers publish posts multiple times a day! Go easy on yourself and start with two or three
posts a week, then see how well you can keep up with that schedule.
CorpNet Nellie’s Blogging Tip
Make it easy on yourself by blogging ahead. Simply write your posts and schedule them to be
published in the future. Try to stay at least a week or two ahead of schedule; this will free you
up in the event your calendar gets too busy and you are unable to blog!
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You may find it useful to create an editorial schedule for your blog. This outlines what topics you’ll
write about and when you’ll write it. It can help everyone stay organized to know what’s coming
down the writing pipeline. More on editorial calendars in a bit.
Figuring Out What to Write About
Another problem that paralyzes people is figuring out what to write about. How on earth can you
consistently come up with dazzling content for your readers??
Right now, get out a pen and paper, or start a fresh document on your computer. Write out topics
that you think your readers (or customers) would be interested in reading. Consider: what do
customers constantly ask you about? What topics do you cover on your Frequently Asked
Questions page?
Look at your competitors’ blogs to get even more topic ideas. You don’t want to plagiarize, but
getting general ideas for your own blog is fine.
Here are a few general ideas to get the wheels churning for your business’ blog:
• How to posts (how to fix something, how to create something)
• Frequently asked questions
• Your opinion on industry trends
• Company news
• Tie-in to national news (maybe use the latest news from the White House)
• Top 10 tips
• Response to a blog post on another blog
• Video blog
CorpNet Nellie’s Word on Content
A really well-written post will be shared by others, so focus on quality over quantity. It’s better
to have one fantastic post published a week than five mediocre posts.
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Remember that your audience consists of potential customers and existing customers. What sort
of information do they want? What are your customers constantly asking you about? These
subjects make great blog topics.
What you don’t want to do, however, is constantly blog about your brand. Self-promotion doesn’t
really have a home on a blog. A blog is designed to provide useful information to readers. They’ll
learn to trust your brand if you deliver that, and then they’ll buy from you. But start posting about
how great your company is over and over, and they’ll run for the hills!
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Chapter 3: Perfecting Your Posts
You’ve got the basics you need to start blogging, so now let’s
focus on making your posts even better and sharing them to
increase your readership.
Using Keywords
Keywords are a necessary component for your blog, and one you’ll need to spend a little time
developing. Using targeted keywords (those your ideal client is searching for on Google) will help
you appear higher in search results, and they’ll help those people find your blog.
Research what keywords you should use on your blog. Start by determining what your blog is
about. Let’s say it’s about starting a business. Now, who is your audience? In this example, it’s
people interested in starting a business and entrepreneurs. What words are these people
searching for to find content like yours?
Use a keyword tool like Google’s Keyword Tool to find out which keywords are the most popular
and which fit in best with your content. Do this when you first launch your blog to get general
keywords, then do it for individual blog posts to zero in on the topic you’re covering.
Use your keywords naturally throughout the blog post. Don’t overstuff them! (That means don’t
use them in every single sentence, or even every few sentences) Aim for three to five keywords
per post, then also use them in your All in One SEO plugin for the title, description, and keywords
fields.
Creating an Editorial Calendar
As we mentioned a few paragraphs ago: scheduling your posts in advance can save you time and
make you more efficient at blogging. You might write one post at a time, or you might sit down for
a few hours and knock out all your posts for the next month.
Using an editorial calendar can help you see the bigger picture in your blogging strategy, and can
help you stay organized in terms of which blogger is writing about what topic. Take into
considerations seasons and holidays, and schedule posts that relate to them as appropriate.
Certainly you don’t have to preschedule every post; instead, leave room for breaking news or
other more timely blog content. You can tie in your posts to local news for higher visibility on your
blog. For these, you can shift other content down the schedule so it gets out in a timely manner.
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This year, the Olympics have been mentioned on thousands of blogs worldwide. This provided a
great opportunity for bloggers to tie in the global event to their own content. So a small business
blogger might write about small business strategies we can learn from the Olympians. Because there
has been so much coverage of the Olympics, and because it’s a topic of interest to many people, this
post will be more likely to be read by more people.
Your editorial calendar can be on a spreadsheet or digital calendar. You might even schedule different
days of the week for different topics. For example, you could have an editorial calendar that had:
• Marketing Mondays
• Wishlist Wednesdays
• Franchise Fridays
CorpNet Nellie’s Blogging Calendar
On CorpNet’s blog, we strive to provide different types of posts each day:
• Marketing Monday
• Social Tuesday
• Wordy Wednesday
• Small Biz Thursday
• Friday Roundup
Sharing Your Content
Once you’ve started regularly posting to your company blog, you’ll want to share what you write in
several different places. Start with your social media channels.
There are tools that automatically post any new content from your blog to your Facebook and Twitter
profiles. There are apps built into Facebook for this purpose, so just find one and install it to your
business’ page. And Twitterfeed does the same for Twitter, as well as Facebook and LinkedIn. Using
tools like these save you a huge amount of time in manually sharing each of your blog posts.
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You should, though, from time to time, share links to your blog manually so that you can change the
message, ask a question or find another way to engage your social media followers and get them on
your blog.
CorpNet Nellie’sTips on Shortened URLs
Because long blog URLs can take up a lot of precious space on Twitter, opt for a shortened
URL to condense it and leave you room to comment. These sites let you shorten URLs for
free:
• Google
• Bitly
• TinyURL
You can also share your blog content in your company newsletter each month. Here’s a great trick:
post only half of the article in your newsletter, then link to the original blog post to drive traffic to your
blog!
Use bookmarking tools like Digg and BizSugar to get your blog posts in front of an even larger
audience. Everyone who likes your article can vote for it, moving it toward the top of the list of the
content on these sites.
Ask your peers to share your content, Like it on Facebook, and vote for it on social bookmarking
sites. You’d be surprised how much exposure you can get, just by asking for a little help.
You can also share your posts on forums that appeal to your audience. Just make sure your post is
relevant to the thread you share it on.
Guest Posting
Writing guest posts on other blogs is a great way to reach even more potential customers. By writing
for a site or blog that gets high traffic, you’re effectively getting introduced to that site’s readers. And
because you get to include a link to your site in your author bio, you’ll get even more links back to
your site or blog.
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Ready to start guest posting? Start by reading blogs that appeal to your audience. Some blogs are
written by a single blogger, while others include a network of contributors. You’ll have more success
with the latter, but don’t be afraid to reach out to a single blogger about contributing to her site.
Write a well-crafted letter saying why you like the blog, and propose writing a guest post or two.
Provide a few bullet points of ideas for content to make it easy for the blogger to make the decision.
Some blogs will have a page outlining guest post submission requirements, which makes your work
even easier. Make sure to read this thoroughly before sending an email with unnecessary questions.
CorpNet Nellie’s Guest Post Warning
PLEASE read through a blog before pitching it as a guest blogger. There’s nothing more
offensive to a blogger than having someone propose to write about something completely
off-topic for the blog! And search to see if they already have content on the topics you’d like to
write about.
Make sure to share your posts (as well as others on that site) to help amp up traffic to the site. If a
blogger sees you taking the initiative, she just might invite you to write another post down the road.
Understanding Content Syndication
There’s some buzz around content syndication these days, which simply refers to whether or not a
blog permits other blogs or sites to redistribute and publish its content. On the plus side, syndicating
your content gets your name on more sites, and more eyeballs for your content. On the minus,
Google tends to not rate content that’s duplicated on other sites as highly in search results, so it could
dilute the SEO for your own blog.
Not every blogger republishes content correctly. Anywhere your content appears, you should have a
link to the original source (your blog) and an attribution. Like this:
From the original post, “Embracing Your Small Business Obstacles” on The Startup Starting Line.
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If your content isn’t attributed in this way, it’s just plain stealing. Contact the blogger of a site that
doesn’t attribute your content (or who republishes it without your permission) and ask that she use
this format to link back to your site. We’ll cover more about legalizing your blog in a few chapters.
You can syndicate your own content by republishing it on other channels, such as Tumblr, or Amazon,
if you’re an author.
If you absolutely do not want other people reposting your content, put a copyright footer on your blog,
or take other measures to retain the rights to your content.
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Chapter 4: From Hobby to Business
While you started your blog as a way to market your brand, you
might find yourself in the situation where your blog becomes its own
business entity. Or maybe you loved blogging for your small
business so much, you decided to create a separate blog on
something you’re passionate about, and it grew from there. In either
scenario, you’ve got to make a decision: will you keep your blog as a hobby, or will you turn it into its
own business?
How to Tell if Your Blog is a Business
• Is your blog making money, through ad revenue or other channels?
• Are you accounting for the income you’re making from your blog?
• Do you consider the income your blog makes separate from your existing business’
revenue?
Are you concerned about liability issues with your blog?
•
If you said yes to any of these, you should consider turning your blog into a full-fledged
business.
The Business of Blogging
For many people, blogging complements a business. But for others, blogging is the business.
Knowing when to make the transition to taking your blog more seriously is key. Here’s why you
should consider the conversion:
• You’re required to report any income you receive, including that from a blog
• Building it into a business means more opportunity for you
• You can earn money from advertising, rather than selling products
• It’s great passive income
• Becoming “official” means advertisers will want to work with you more than if it’s just a
hobby
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How to Make Money From Your Blog
If you’re reading this section and are considering converting your hobby blog into a business, you
probably already know how to make money on a blog, but you never know: you might find new
inspiration for more ways to add to your blog’s revenue.
• Pay-per-click ads, where you are paid each time someone clicks
• Pay-per-impression ads, where you are paid for each thousand impressions
• Visual ads; come in banners and squares
• Sponsored content; advertisers provide blog post content
• Reviews; you review a product or service in exchange for compensation
• Affiliate codes; when people click a link connected to your account and buy, you receive a
portion of the sales
Transforming to a Business
Much of the conversion to a business is in your mindset. Now that your blog is its own business, what
sort of processes and procedures will you include? You should have a plan for how frequently you’ll
post, what other writers will contribute, and what your policy on advertising is.
Create advertising rates based on the number of visitors you get to your blog. And knowing your site’s
demographics and analytics is key in drawing in new advertisers, so keep those numbers up to date.
Taking Yourself More Seriously
Next, you’ll want to consider turning your sole proprietorship into a Limited Liability Company or a
Corporation. We’ll go more in-depth into the benefits of each type of business entity in the next
chapter, but suffice it to say: having a blog that’s growing in popularity increases your personal risk. If
someone were to sue you over something you say on your blog, your own personal assets could be
in danger unless you register as a separate business entity.
Invest in good accounting software and start tracking your expenses and income that stream in from
your blog. You’re required by the IRS to report this income, so track it all! When you file your taxes
under whatever type of business entity you decided on, you’ll need to have your records in order.
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CorpNet Nellie’s List of Blog Expenses
All of these are expenses you can write off for tax purposes for your blog.
• Website hosting
• URL registration
• Blog design services
• Freelance writers
• Purchasing stock photos
• Advertising your blog on other sites
• Attending conferences to promote your blog
Congratulations if your blog has grown to the point of becoming its own business entity! At this
point, it’s probably best if you keep it separate from your other business, in terms of expenses,
income, taxes and employees.
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Chapter 5: How to Legalize Your Blog and
Minimize Liability
It can be hard to imagine that your little old blog might cause any
legal issues, but you’d be surprised at what turns into a legal battle
these days. You might unintentionally plagiarize someone else’s
work, or be accused of slander. You might blog about a product
that hasn’t been released yet. Any of these situations could get you in hot water. Without taking
measures beforehand, these could mean big headaches for you.
Why Disclosing is a Must
Back in 2009, the FTC set up guidelines requiring blogs to disclose any advertisements or
sponsored blog content. This means that if you ever write a blog post that an advertiser paid for
(maybe a review of his product), you are required by law to disclose that it’s advertising so that your
readers know it’s not a typical post.
There are other areas, though there aren’t yet laws, where having a sense of etiquette on your blog
can keep you out of trouble. For example, when you use a photo in a blog post, you should only use
what’s called Creative Commons photos, meaning that you have permission to use the image on
your blog. You should also attribute the source of the photo, including the person who took the
photo and the link where you found it.
All About Cease and Desist Orders
If you take content that was not free to reproduce, you may be sent a cease and desist order. This is
a legal document requesting you to stop the illegal activity you’re doing (in this case, using content
you weren’t authorized to take from another blog or website). If you do not remove the content in
question, legal action may be taken against you and your company, and you may have to pay fines or
lose your blog altogether.
If you find content you’d like to share on your blog, the best thing to do is ask the blogger who owns
rights to the content. 98% of the time, you’ll find a blogger who would be happy to have his content
shared elsewhere, assuming you attribute it back to him and his website.
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CorpNet Nellie’s Sources for Creative Commons Photos
You can’t pull a photo from just anywhere for your blog! These sources provide images you
can use without paying. Just remember to attribute!
• Creative Commons (includes Flickr and Google Images)
• Stock.xchng
You also need to cite your sources for any statistics or quotes you pull from a book, website, blog,
magazine, or newspaper. You may not have been trained professionally as a journalist, but this is
just good journalistic integrity, and it applies to blogs too. Link to the site where you found the
information originally.
Why You Should Care
Let’s say you’re sued for slander by a competitor that feels you were badmouthing him on your
blog to the point of causing him to seek legal action. If you operate your business as a sole
proprietor, when he sues you, you’re personally being sued. Your personal assets, including your
house, are put at risk, and if he succeeds, you may lose your property and even your business.
But if you operate as an LLC or a Corporation, you remove your personal liability from the
equation.
You might wonder if you’re more at risk as a small business with a blog as opposed to one without
a blog. You are. Simply because your blog exposes your brand to so many more people (and not
all of them nice), your risk increases when you start writing one.
Take this into consideration when first starting a blog, and decide what you want to do to protect
yourself.
Your Recipe for Minimizing Your Liability When Blogging
Step 1: Add in 1 cup of disclosure
Any ‘material relationship’ you have with an advertiser or brand must be disclosed. A material
relationship can include:
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• Receiving cash, free samples, free products, or other compensation in exchange for writing a
product review or blog post.
Advertiser-sponsored content. An advertiser might give you copy to post in exchange for
compensation.
Other partnerships with brands you write about.
•
•
Here’s an example. Let’s say you have an office supply store, and your pen supplier has offered
to compensate you for a blog post about his new products. He gives you some free pens, and
maybe a nominal amount of money. You write the blog post talking about how great his pens are.
If you don’t disclose the fact that the company is compensating you for the content, you risk being
in breach of the FTC’s requirements, and you risk substantial fines.
If you’re not sure what constitutes a material relationship, err on the side of caution and disclose
anyway. Beyond FTC penalties, disclosure is good practice, as it helps you continue to build trust
with your audience.
Step 2: Sprinkle reviews among your regular content
Because you’re blogging as a marketing tool for your brand, in no way should all your content be
product reviews or other sponsored posts. Make them the exception, not the norm, and you’ll
keep your readers happy.
Step 3: Eliminate outrageous claims
It’s sad that companies still make crazy claims like “I lost 50 pounds in 2 months.” Trust us: you
don’t want your blog associated with anything that can’t be proven to work. Focus instead on
results that consumers can generally expect, as there are also guidelines for these sorts of
claims. If a brand wants you to make these claims, walk away. It’s not worth putting your blog and
your brand in jeopardy.
Step 4: Form an LLC or corporation
Even if your business operated just fine as a sole proprietorship prior to blogging, now might be a
good time to consider changing to another type of business entity.
While you may think you should incorporate in order to lower your taxes, the main benefit of
incorporating or forming an LLC has to do with separating your personal and business finances
and minimizing your personal liability, which is more at risk now that you’re blogging.
With an LLC or Corporation (S Corp or C Corp), your personal assets, such as property or a
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savings account, are protected if your blog or brand is sued or fined. On the other hand, if you’re
sued as a sole proprietor, you’ll be sued personally. This means that your personal assets are all
at risk.
Here’s a breakdown of the two business entities.
Limited Liability Company (LLC). Your personal assets are shielded from business liabilities just
as they would be in a corporation. As an LLC, you would not file separate taxes from your
business; company profits and losses flow through to you as the owner, and are subject to your
individual tax rate. The LLC is great if you want liability protection, but minimal formality (no
exhaustive meeting minutes or paperwork). It’s also the perfect structure for a business with
foreign owners since anyone can be an owner of an LLC.
S Corporation. An S Corporation is great if you qualify: the IRS places limits on how many
owners an S Corp can have, as well as who can be an owner. All owners are taxed based on their
percentage of ownership. An S Corp is a separate legal entity from you, so the corporation is
responsible for debts and liabilities. Corporate tax rates are typically lower than individual tax
rates.
CorpNet Nellie’s Interesting Fact
Did you know that creditor judgments can actually last up to 22 years? This means that if you’re
sued today, your personal assets will still be vulnerable for up to 22 years.
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Conclusion
Now that you’ve read this guide, we hope you’re enthusiastic about starting a blog for your brand.
Blogging is a fantastic way to connect with existing customers and find new ones, so we wish you
luck in your blogging efforts!
If CorpNet.com can ever help you in starting a business, incorporating or forming an LLC, please
let us know. CorpNet.com has helped thousands of small businesses like yours form a business
structure.
And please follow us on social media!
Twitter: @CorpNet and @CorpNetNellie
Facebook
LinkedIn
YouTube
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About the Author
Nellie Akalp is an Internet entrepreneur, mother of 4, and CEO of
CorpNet.com, her second incorporation filing service based on the
simple philosophy of truth in business and her strong passion to assist
small business owners and entrepreneurs in starting and protecting their
business. Through the various “Do-It-Yourself” and “Business-Startup”
services she has founded since 1997, she has formed over 100,000
corporations and LLCs for small business owners.
Her last company, MyCorporation.com, was acquired by Intuit in 2005. Today, she and her husband,
Phil, operate CorpNet.com where they help small business owners incorporate a business, form an
LLC, or file a DBA, in any state, and in any county across the U.S.
As CEO of CorpNet.com, Nellie is a strong advocate in educating small business owners and
entrepreneurs about the importance of protecting their personal assets and enjoys discussing legal
and business issues concerning everything from business startup through (hopefully) acquisition.
She is also responsible for overseeing and managing the daily operations of the business. Nellie is
also a small business expert contributor at a variety of small business outlets, including: Small
Business Trends, The Business Insider, Mashable, and AMEX OPEN Small Business Forum.
To learn more about Nellie, view free guides starting a business, incorporating a business, or forming
an LLC, receive a special discount, or see how she can help your business get off the ground quickly
and affordably, visit her small business corner or follow her on Twitter @CorpNetNellie.
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