Spark Your Readers' Interest Through Valuable Information And Then Lead Them To Your Site To Make The Sale!

What is a Blog?

A blog is a type of online journal or diary, typically containing personal stories arranged in chronological order along with images and web links. Many people use blogs as a means to express themselves and to share news with friends and family, but they can also be used to market your business. Blogs are increasing in popularity and can prove to be an effective and inexpensive way to reach more customers.

 

There are millions of blogs currently on the internet, with topics ranging from technology and product reviews to political commentary to recipes for Mom's apple pie. The number of people reading blogs is continuing to grow as people seek information and don't always trust corporate advertising.

Blogging expert Robert Scoble identifies 6 differences between blogs and any other communication channel.

 

Blogs are:

Publishable - easy to publish and directly available worldwide.

Findable - they can be found through search engines. The more content you post on your blog, the more likely you will be found.

Social - blogging is one big social interaction. Blogs enable people with shared interests to engage into conversations on different issues related to the topic.

Viral - " Information often spreads faster through blogs than via a news service. No form of viral marketing matches the speed and efficiency of a blog."

Syndicatable - through RSS you can enable blogs being linked to your email software. This way you'll be notified the minute a blog gets updated.

Linkable - every single blog can link to all the other blogs out there. That's why a blog can tap into the huge resource of the 'blogosphere.'

Why Your Business Should Have a Blog

Blogs are powerful marketing tools that can help you reach more customers, establish credibility, increase sales, and share company news without having a huge advertising budget. Blogs have a number of advantages that make them highly effective in promoting your business:

1. You don't have to be a tech geek to start a blog. Anyone can do it, and sites like network.myinterop.net & Blogge r can help you create and publish your blog in less than 5 minutes.

2. Blogs can boost your search engine ranking. The content of your blog is ripe for the search engines and encourages other bloggers who write on similar topics to link to you. Regularly updated, keyword-rich content (not spam) and linking will help boost your site's visibility and in turn attract more customers.

3. Blogs offer multiple ways to deliver your message. If you're not the best writer, you can start an audio or video blog and can therefore still reach your customers in a personal way.

4. Blog posts encourage immediate responses from your customers. Questions, comments and feedback from your customers can help you better address their needs, adjust your campaigns, and react to the market's changing demands.

5. Blogs help you expand your reach online. By pinging search engines and using RSS feeds you can syndicate your content online, boost your reach and influence, and allow customers to control their communications with your company.

6. Blogs increase transparency and help you establish credibility. Blogs are much more personal than a corporate website and because they are regularly updated, customers can remain informed about your business and feel more connected to you.

Your blog can be your selling point and can sway prospective customers to choose you and your services over the competition.

How to Efficiently Market Your Business using a Blog

When you start writing a blog, don't push for the sale upfront. Too many people use their blog as a sales letter and end up turning readers off. People are not stupid. They know when they're being sold.

 

Blogs are about communicating and building relationships with your readers. Use your blog for branding your business, building your reputation and communicating with your audience - not just for making a sale.

 

There are a variety of ways you can use your blog to communicate with your readers and promote your business, while unobtrusively going after the sale. You can use your blog to:

Write product reviews and link to product pages
(consider signing up to be an affiliate)

Write insightful articles or tips relevant to your audience

Recommend products and services (yours or someone else's)

Post and archive company newsletters

Share company news and product updates

Offer special incentives and promotions

Ask customers to complete surveys and provide feedback

Generating new content for your blog does not have to be a daunting task. You don't have to worry about writing it all yourself. Instead, you can directly post your company newsletters as well as relevant third-party articles, reviews, and links found using sites like BlinkList and Google News. Remember to include links where appropriate to your own website and product pages.

 

 

Having a blog also allows you to make regular updates quickly and without needing a webmaster. As you find new content online you can publish it to your blog in a matter of minutes which makes maintaining your blog a breeze.

Hosting Your Blog - Whose Job Is It?

Should you host your blog or let someone else do it?

In most instances, having a third-party host your blog is best. This frees up your time to focus on other tasks, and keeps your blog online in the event your server crashes. Free hosting is available on sites such as or Network.MyInterop.net Blogger , TongueWag , and Xanga .

However, in some situations it might be better to host yourself. For example:

If your content or functional needs go beyond the scope of normal blogging and require features not offered or supported by existing blog services. You may need to perform testing in an offline mirror site.

If you have doubts that the third-party hosting service will go out of business before you do, or if you want to change hosting software.

If you plan to post complicated HTML (tables, formatting) that requires the use of an online editor.

If you do decide to host your own blog, we recommend creating it through WordPress , a customizable personal publishing platform.

How to Promote your Blog

Once you've established your blog, how do you get people to go there and read it?

The best way to promote your blog is to become THE expert in your subject area. Establish yourself as the authority on the topic through valuable information.

Let's look at the sites of three hugely successful bloggers that are quickly becoming 'the voice' for their respective domains that people listen to.

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• www.seobook.co m - the SEO expert
• www.mi cropersuasion.com - the public relations specialist
• www. divamarketingblog.com - expert in blog marketing

Let's first take a look at the example of www.seobook.co m .

 

As you can see they have a very simple site on which they provide information on search engine optimization and the products available. Although this site hardly looks very professional, they have a Google PageRank of 6! This is a much higher number than most e-tailers will ever reach.

 

As explained in our search engine optimization tactic, such a high PageRank will do wonders for your search engine ranking.

 

Look at how they added the little post-it on the left on which they ask for questions from readers. This simple method stimulates an open dialogue through which a relationship with the reader can be built. The blogger Aaron Wall also interacts with readers by allowing them to leave comments on the posting by clicking on the link 'Your Thoughts?'

 

Did you notice the date on the left of the text? Adding the date conveys to the reader that the content of the website is updated daily. This is a clever way to tell your reader to keep coming back for more!

 

Another example of a successful blogger in a completely different subject domain is Steve Rubel on www.mi cropersuasion.com .

 

As you can see, he focuses less on writing a story, but points people to valuable resources within his domain through short daily postings. Copy writing probably isn't Steve Rubel's strongest point. Did you see how every posting offers the opportunity to interact with the readers through comments?

 

The PageRank of this website is even higher than that of seobook.com, an astonishing 7!

 

Finally, let's look at www. divamarketingblog.com .This is once again a completely different blog from the two examples discussed earlier.

 

This blog captivates the reader through short quirky postings in which the blogger Toby cleverly integrates links with different websites and resources. As on both of the previous blogs, Toby communicates with his readers through the possibility to leave comments on each short message posted. This third site once again has a very high PageRank of 6.

So how did these bloggers succeed?

All these bloggers have a couple of things in common. The most important element being that they posted great informational content! Did you notice the absence of salesy language?

 

Furthermore, you could see a couple of other similarities:

• Blogs are updated on a daily basis
• There's ample opportunity for interaction

A great book on the art of blogging that we strongly recommend is 'Naked Conversations' by Robert Scoble.

 

The book identifies very valuable tips on how to blog, with nice sections on how to:

1. Get found easily
2. Read and comment on blogs before starting your own
3. Keep it simple and focused
4. Show passion
5. Demonstrate authority
6. Allow comments
7. Be accessible
8. Tell a compelling personal story
9. "Be linky"
10. Build real world relationships
11. Use your referrer log

Blogs and Search Engine Rankings

Blogs like those methioned above tend to get high rankings in search engines. Why? Because of content and linking.

 

Search engines like Google love regularly updated, content-rich sites - which is exactly what blogs are! Most blogs are updated with new articles and information on a daily basis; over time the search engines recognize them for their wealth of information and boost their ranking.

 

Blogs also contain a rich supply of links. Since bloggers are always looking for ways to keep their blogs fresh, they are likely to use links rather than create all the content themselves. Links to quality sites, including blog search engines and directories, can lead to high search engine rankings.

In our tactic on search engine optimization we'll spend some more time on how a blog can boost your search engine ranking.

Pinging - Notify The Search Engines That You Updated Your Content

Once you have posted a new entry to your blog, you can "ping" search engines and blog directories and have your blog re-assessed and indexed in as little as 48 hours.

Pinging alerts the search engines and directories that you have updated your content and gets them to scan your site again and use the new information in their placement algorithm. More on this in the tactic on search engine optimization.

Be sure to submit your blog to Google as well as to the following blog search engines and directories:

1. DayPop
2. BlogS earchEngine
3. BlogHop
4. Blogarama
5. BlogWise
6. Technorati

Blogs and Tags

Many bloggers add tags at the end of their posts. A tag is like a subject or category associated with a blog post. For example, if your latest post was a product review for XYZ product, you may associate the tags "XYZ," "review," and "product reviews" with your post.

Using tags can help readers find your blog in the directories and search engines. For example, people searching for specific blog content on Technorati can find your blog if you use tags with your post.

 

Social bookmarking sites, such as Digg , BlinkList and Reddit , rely on users to tag their favorite sites, and as more users save and tag your blog, you can experience a boost in your search engine ranking. The tags associated with your blog can also give you an idea about how your readers use and classify your information.

Summary

Having a blog to market your business is a great way to win over customers, build relationships, and extend your reach online. Simple and quick to create, a blog will get you in touch with your customers and can be a powerful tool to beat your competitors.

 

The key characteristic of a good blog is that it focuses on offering great content. Furthermore, it's important to interact with your readers through allowing them the possibility to leave comments or ask questions.

 

Because blogs tend to have great search engine rankings they will attract a lot of traffic. If you can capture these readers and interest them through the information that you provide, you will be only a small step away from leading them to your site and boosting your sales.

 

About the Author

Anthony "The Biz Opp Mentor" is a Best Home Based Business Ideas and Opportunities Specialist. www.pluginprofitsite.com/main-1836 5