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Using your Blog to Market your
Business
A blog can be a powerful tool to use for promoting your business online, but only if you use it properly.
One of the reasons blogging is so popular is because it doesn't require a high degree of technical expertise. If you can use a word processing program, then you can blog. However, contrary to popular belief, just launching a blog won't automatically send your profits soaring.
Read more about
the Seven Blog Blocks below.
BLOG BLOCK #1
You must blog consistently.
Far too many business owners launch a blog
expecting traffic and profits to pour in. They post a few
times, don't see any immediate response and quit blogging all
together.
The search engines ADORE blogs as do human
visitors Blogs contain up to the minute information. However,
one thing about blogging is the time and day you blog are
stamped right there on your post. If you've ignored your blog
for even a few weeks, it's there for all to see.
The problem most business owners have with
blogging is they just don’t have time to do it!
Blogging is a HABIT and it’s a LOT like the exercise habit. At
first, it’s hard. My daughter always says the hardest part
about exercising is putting your shoes on to do it. Once you
tie your shoes and get down to doing it, it’s not that awful.
The same is true for blogging.
Schedule time for it…just as you would an exercise program.
BLOG BLOCK #2
Readers don't always comment
One of the great features of most blog
software programs is the ability for readers to leave comments
on your blog. However, keep in mind that MOST READERS WON'T
LEAVE COMMENTS!
It can be downright discouraging when
readers don't comment on your posts, but keep posting anyhow!
One company launched a blog and asked their employees to
commit to blogging. After six weeks and relatively few
comments, most of the staffers quit blogging because they were
discouraged by the lack of comments. However, a log analysis
of the server showed that blog readers were 6 times more
likely to buy than other visitors to the site. Suddenly, with
that information in hand, the staffers' enthusiasm for
blogging was renewed.
BLOG BLOCK #3
Share your views, not the news.
Readers love to get insight they can't get
anywhere else. Don't just report the news, comment upon it.
Your point of view is what makes your blog different from all
the others on the internet. Injecting your unique views
on current events is what will bring human visitors back to
your blog for more information, time and time again.
BLOG BLOCK #4
Keyword Optimize Your Posts.
Keywords are what drives the internet.
Search engines will find your blog by the words used in your
posts. For example, if your area of expertise is career
counseling, you should know that by now that the keyword
"career" is much better for your business than the word "job."
Believe it or not, "job" searches frequently have nothing to
do with (legally) earning a paycheck.
BLOG BLOCK #5
Blog about what you know and love.
Pick a topic that interests you. If you pick
a topic that you think you “should” blog about, you’ll find
blogging is a chore. Picking a topic that interests you means
you’ll find it less difficult to sit down and actually begin
to type or blog.
BLOG BLOCK #6
Organize, optimize and archive
If you're using Typepad or Wordpress to
power your blog, then you'll find this part easy. Just be
careful when you name your topics. Keep keywords in mind as
you name your categories. The category names are how the
search engines and social blog lists will find your blog.
BLOG BLOCK #7
Promoting your blog
One of the easiest ways to promote your blog
is to include your blog’s URL to the sig of your email.
Another ways to promote your blog is to link to other blogs.
Bloggers pay attention to who links to them. Include
links to popular blogs in your post. Blogging etiquette
means that those popular blogs will give you a return link,
thereby increasing your blog's visibility.
Read More About Blogging at:
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Kathy Hendershot-Hurd is a Small Business Internet and Blog Consultant. She is the founder of