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5 Reasons Why Blogging is the New Internet Marketing Tool
by Patsi Krakoff and Denise Wakeman
Published on this site: March 31st, 2006 - See
more articles from this month
Blogging is a concept that started in late 1990s. It used
to be a way to comment on an existing webpage, an opportunity
for visitors and readers to react or voice one's opinion on
the page. What started as a single-sentence commentary has
evolved into pages of personal takes on anything and everything
under the sun. As it continues to move forward, online advertising
has tapped into a blog's potential.
Here are 5 reasons why you should use blogging as an Internet
marketing tool for your business.
- Blogging is simple. The simplest way to get on
the 'net is through blogging. No skills are necessary. an
average adult can read and type, or at least click a mouse.
It's like having a virtual piece of paper: you write about
your ideas, experiences, and new products, show your readers
you are credible and trustworthy, and entice your reader
to try your products or services. If you have a computer
and an Internet connection you can blog and market your
business and your products.
- Blogging is authentic. In this day and age where
advertising saturates our lives, we question the credibility
of promoters' claims. However, on blogs, real people share
real-life experiences. Transparency about your business
is encouraged to attract your blog readers to interact through
commenting and build your online community. As trust grows,
your readers often become clients or buyers of your products.
- Blogging is free or inexpensive. You can get a
blog account for as little as $5 a month from one of the
leading blog providers, Typepad.com. Other accounts are
offered free. Any opportunity for free web time is a bonus,
especially to businesses that are starting up. Needless
to say, fee-based blogging systems have more features that
can generate more traffic and income for seriously growing
your business.
- Blogging builds credibility. As you get more into
writing your experiences on a particular product or industry,
your readers come to realize they can depend on you and
your blog posts for their information needs. You become
an expert; as a consequence, more readers visit your site,
and more bloggers link to your blogs.
- Blogging builds your market. Unless you are a
Hollywood star, chances are, only your Mom reads your posts.
But you need more than Mom to increase your readership base.
As companies and professional organizations notice the growth
of your readership base, they will get in touch with you
for advertising on your blog, or make you an affiliate,
which pays for every referral generated from your blog site.
Often joint ventures and partnerships thrive among bloggers.
There are many ways to build your market through blogging:
- By using your e-mail. Let readers explore your site by
using a short e-mail message as teaser to your blog. Use
your e-mail signature to give a link to the blog.
- By using subscription. An easy way to get your readers'
e-mail addresses is to give them an opportunity to subscribe
to your blog, such as with a free Feedblitz subscription
account. Give some exclusive information for your subscribers
to entice readers to subscribe and give their e-mail address.
- By understanding your readers. Conduct a simple survey
for your readers to understand their profile and advertising
preferences. Ask consumers to give you feedback on a post,
an ad link, or a trial that you shared. In this way, it
is like interviewing your readers without the commitment
and intrusion of a face-to-face interview.
- By joining a blog network. A network of blogs may be
a collection of blogs that share the same industry, interest,
readership base, payment mode, etc. Consumers find credibility
and convenience in clicking one link to several bloggers
about a single subject.
- By using RSS. RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is the
fastest growing technology on the Internet today. As such,
having RSS feeds to your blog is definitely another means
of generating awareness for your readership base. Having
a variety of feeds can add interest to your blog..
Give your business a boost by effectively using blogging
as an Internet marketing tool.
As the The Blog Squad, Patsi Krakoff and Denise
Wakeman have teamed up to work with professionals to maximize
their marketing strategies by implementing blogs, ezines and
ecommerce tactics. They have co-authored "Build a Better
Blog: The Ultimate Guide for Boosting Your Business with a
Professional Blog", "Confessions of a Reluctant
Blogger: From Boring to Brilliant in 30 Days" and "Secrets
of Successful Ezines: A Guide to Writing and Publishing an
Ezine that Gets Results." Take The Blog Squad's free
assessment to find out if you're ready for a business blog:
http://snipurl.com/Blog_Assessment
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