Designing and creating an attractive, professional web site is only the first step to establishing a successful web presence. Search engine optimization can only take a web site so far. Once the web site has been launched and submitted to all of the major search engines, business owners that are serious about their web site’s success must market their web site. There is no better way to do this than with a regular blog. Many business owners think of blogs as something that teenagers keep or as political soap boxes for fanatics, but many businesses have made successful use of blogs.
One of the most effective ways that a business can use a blog to promote itself is by using blog postings to announce upcoming promotions or new products. Blog postings that advertise upcoming promotions and products can create excitement in the business customer base and can create a demand before the product hits the shelves. This can create a successful product launch with very little upfront money spent on advertising.
Another way a blog can be an effective marketing tool is by allowing comments to blog posts. Customers will be able to leave feedback about their experiences with the business. If the comments are responded to, the business will gain a reputation as being responsive to customer needs. This will give customers a sense of ownership in the brand.
A blog can also help a business owner share information with customers instead of keeping an protecting information. This may take a radical shift in corporate philosophy, but it is worth it when the blog helps the business succeed. Blogging provides the ultimate in word of mouth advertising. Because blogs are available to anyone with an Internet connection, a blog can help expand the scope of a local business. Businesses that are little more than a store front in a small town can sell products all over the world.
Like websites, blogs also need to be promoted in order to be a successful complement to a preexisting web site. Blogs can be promoted by being listed in Technorati, the blog search engine. Blogs can also be promoted by receiving links and ping backs from other highly rated blogs on the Internet. Keywords should also be used for each post in order to drive Internet traffic to each post.
A successful blog can be hosted on one of the many free blog hosting sites, but professional blogs should be hosted on a paid web hosting account. There are many free blog platforms that are available for most web hosting platforms. Many web hosts offer free installation of multiple blog platforms for customers. The different blog platforms offer different options, including easy skin changes and multiple page layout options.
Blogging is easy to do, but it must be done on a regular basis or it will lose any audience that it has built up. For the open minded and forward thinking business owner, a blog offers the opportunity to use the web 2.0 an social networking craze to build business visibility and increase revenue with little to know expense.
Tags: blog posting, blogging, marketing, technorati, web presencse
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March 3rd, 2008 at 5:46 pm
I have been considering a blog to help advertise my site for a while and despite the above have to say that I’m still in two minds about it.
It’s great for sharing news and interacting with people but as the above says it also needs to be promoted and you have to have regular and worthwhile content.
March 3rd, 2008 at 9:47 pm
This is a very good article about marketing your business with blogs. I’ve been blogging for some time and I’ve seen moderate results. One thing that you should share with your readers is that is does take some time to see tangible results from a blog. Also potential bloggers should not quit blogging just because they don’t get the instant sales or readers they expect to get. Great post. Keep up the good work.
March 4th, 2008 at 3:20 pm
Yeah, I would imagine there is alot of hard work involved with finding fresh content daily for your blog, and keeping your readers coming back.
March 4th, 2008 at 4:45 pm
Great post. It would take some time to build up a big blog, but it will also get a business a lot more attraction because people can stay up to date with all of their news and updates.
March 5th, 2008 at 11:50 pm
I think blogs can create trust between a consumer and a business. If a potential customer can read up-to-date news and details about the business in question, then they’ll much more in contact with it and will probably favour it over a competitor which doesn’t offer the same kind of thing.
April 26th, 2008 at 6:51 am
Blogs become popular because of websites that need their services. I remember a time when blogging was not considered a business but rather a hobby. Today, there are lots of paid blogging site where you can get some blog reviews to promote your business. A review will help your site to be more known on the internet.
May 2nd, 2008 at 12:41 am
Blogging is definitely considered as one of the best marketing tools of many business firms these days. I’m sure it will still grow in the future. I read somewhere on the net that more people are now shifting from watching TV to browsing the web and blogs. This will definitely help a lot of people find the information they need on products and services.
May 2nd, 2008 at 7:41 pm
There are more and more businesses and government agencies setting up blogs, but some of them still don’t quite get the idea that a blog ideally would be a way to interact with the customer, not just be a way to post notice.
I used to work in one place that got all excited about having a blog, but they couldn’t stand the idea that they would allow anyone to make comments. Basically they were afraid somebody would say something bad about them…