Five Ways a Blog Helps You to Market Your Business
by Michael Murray
Published on this site: July 15th, 2005 - See
more articles from this month...
Want to advertise online without spending a fortune? Get a
blog.
If you're an Internet marketer, you need a blog, because:
- a blog helps your site to rank higher in the search engines;
and
- a blog expands your customer base.
Blogs are often called social marketing tools, because they
let you interact with your readers via comments and permalinks
(see the glossary below.)
What's a blog? Get up to speed here:
Let's look at five ways a blog helps you to market your business.
One: A blog helps your site to rank higher in the
search engines
In 2003, when Google bought Pyra Labs, the company which
developed Blogger, the reaction was Huh? At the time, blogs
were seen by most as online journals, primarily maintained
by the demented and teenage girls.
How times change. In 2005, companies small and large are
using blogs to promote their businesses. This is because Google
and the other search engines love blogs because of their constantly
updated content.
Blog often, and you'll get more visitors and a good search
engine ranking.
Two: A blog expands your customer base - you'll reach
people you could reach in no other way
A blog helps you to reach people you can reach in no other
way because your frequent updates mean that you'll automatically
get niche visitors - those people who have no clue about you
or the product that you're selling, but who happened to type
in a search engine query that mentioned words you used in
a single post.
Those niche visitors can become buyers, and this means that
you don't need to struggle to get top listings in any search
engine. Write (or link to) quality content, and your visitors
will find you.
Three: A blog helps your site to differentiate itself
A blog is a form of stealth marketing. Therefore a blog doesn't
need to be about the products you're selling. A blog can be
about any topic that you're passionate about. Blog about your
passion, and mention - in passing - the products you're selling.
You can also link to them, but don't bother selling heavily
- that's not what a blog is about.
Four: Like a diamond, a blog is forever
Although the most-visited blogs update often, some of them
several times a day, that doesn't mean that you have post
more often than you can fit into your schedule. Your permalinks
(see below) mean that since your blog items are standalone
pages, they're indexed by search engines in the same way that
any HTML or other page is indexed - your blog items/ pages
will continue to bring traffic even if you don't update very
often.
Five: A blog attracts new opportunities
A blog makes your business visible. Your stealth marketing
efforts will attract the attention of people who may become
joint venture partners, or who will have other opportunities
for you.The time and energy that you invest in your blog can
bring results beyond your wildest expectations. Create a blog
- it's your hardest-working, and most cost-effective online
marketing option.
GLOSSARY:
Blog = Web log.
Permalink = permanent link, an URL for a single blog post.
Comment = blogs have a comments section, where readers can
interact with the blogger and others.
Michael Murray is a 22-year old full-time Internet
marketer with Cerebral Palsy who lives in sunny Orlando Florida.
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