You might be missing out—big time! If you’re not blogging, you are letting a great opportunity pass you by.
The word “blog” is short for “Web log,” and it is in essence a website or part of a website that you can add to and edit easily and that, usually, readers can respond to. Here’s how Wikipedia defines blogs:
“Most blogs are interactive, allowing visitors to leave comments and even message each other via widgets on the blogs and it is this interactivity that distinguishes them from other static websites. Many blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, Web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability of readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs. Most blogs are primarily textual, although some focus on art (art blog), photographs (photoblog), videos (video blogging), music (MP3 blog), and audio (podcasting). Microblogging is another type of blogging, featuring very short posts.”
Getting started is relatively easy. According to marketing expert Michael Fleischner, in his blog article Internet Marketing Secrets, “There are a number of free services available that offer free blog services. Sites like Blogger and WordPress only require a brief registration and set up. Once you determine a theme for your blog and a template, you’re ready to begin posting. Posts are entries you make on your blog that are published instantly.”
Some bloggers post comments to their blog each and every day, others once a week. Regardless of how frequently you post to your blog, content can be focused on a specific theme or random topics. The most popular blogs focus on a specific niche and provide valuable information, content, and commentary that encourage interaction with blog followers. I would encourage you to start small and be consistent. Use as much original content as possible.
A few of the benefits of blogs to your business include:
• Well-written blogs establish their writers as experts in their fields, without giving the impression that they are selling. Ads don’t have this kind of power.
• Your blog can be integrated with your facebook and other social media, making them much more appealing and substantial.
• Your blog can improve your search engine rankings. Include specific keywords in your entries that you seek to optimize for. Externally hosting your blog on a site other than your company website establishes a link that can help with your search engine optimization.
• Your blog may be picked up by other sites/blogs and give you
more exposure.
• It’s not the purpose of this article to go into how, but you can make money directly from your blog (There are lots of blogs and articles out there to tell you how. Just Google: “How to make money from your blog.”)
If you are not a writer, hire a good one to ghost write your blogs for you. Poorly-written blogs will do your business more harm than good. Make sure that you are consistently putting new content on your blog and responding to posts others put on your blog.
Kelly Walker at Incyte Marketing 541-419-9976 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 541-419-9976. Kelly@incytemarketing.com,www. incytemarketing.com
