Marketing With Blogs - Part 2
by Priya Shah
Published on this site: May 19th, 2005 - See
more articles from this month...
In part 1 of this article series on marketing with blogs, I discussed
the reasons why blogs are excellent tools for marketing.
In this article I outline some tips on using your blog as a good
vehicle for your marketing communications.
Tip 1: Choose The Topic Of Your Blog Well
Make sure you are targeting the right audience for your products.
You might love golf, but you can’t use it to sell your products
unless they’re meant for golfers.
You generally wouldn’t write about something like golf on
a marketing blog, unless you’re using it as a metaphor.
Pick the topic that will attract the right audience – people
who are looking for your products, but more importantly, people
who are willing to actually spend money on them.
If you’re not an expert on your topic, but are learning about
it, blog about your learning process. There’s no shame in being
a learner, in admitting that you don’t know everything.
In fact your journey could even teach others who are learning and
help them relate to your experiences. Products you recommend would
then be easy to sell to this group because you’ve established
the emotional connection that makes selling easier.
Tip 2: Spend Some Time Learning The Basics Of Blogging
You need to learn how to use your blogging software, and which
blog engine or service will give you the results you need. Decide
how much time you want to spend on your blog.
Hire a blogging coach or buy a blogging tutorial. Spend some time
learning about trackbacks, pingbacks, keywords and how to use them,
linking, blogging etiquette.
When you know how to use the tools that are available to you, it
becomes that much easier to focus on your goals and save time in
the actual process of blogging.
Tip 3: Don’t Sell
When you start writing a blog, forget about selling. Too many people
use their blog like a sales letter. Those people just don’t
“get it.” That’s not what a blog is about at all.
Blogs are about communicating – connecting with your audience.
Use your blog to build relationships with your audience. State your
opinions whether they are popular or not. Politically-correct or
not.
A while ago I wrote an article on this titled “It’s a
Blog, Not a Sales Letter” in which I recommend using your blog
for branding yourself, building your reputation and communicating
with your audience - and not just for making a sale. http://www.blog-maniac.com/blog-sales-letter.htm
As marketers we aim to sell. But when you blog, you have to forget
about selling and focus on sharing.
That doesn’t mean you give away all your secrets on your blog.
But it does mean that you should not use your blog for in-your-face
marketing.
Your readers will be very put off if all they read on your blog
is one sales pitch after another. People are not stupid. They know
when they’re being sold.
The most unobtrusive way to sell is to write reviews about products
and link to them, mention products in passing, write articles or
tips and recommend products (yours or other people’s) and services
on your blog.
Part 3 of this article series discusses more tips on using your
blog to market your products and services online.
http://www.blog-maniac.com/marketing-with-blogs3.htm
Priya Shah is the CEO of eBrand360 http://www.ebrand360.com
She writes the Marketing Slave blog http://marketingslave.com
and publishes an internet marketing newsletter http://www.ebizwhiz.biz.
Subscribe to her free Business Blogging eCourse. http://www.blog-maniac.com
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