Many businesses choose to create a blog that keeps track of current news or events; others allow authors from within the company to maintain a blog as a ‘journal’ and update visitors on what they think about current events or simply providing commentary. Other blogs are set up to highlight a product launch or specific advertising campaign. While creativity can help to generate fresh traffic, you will need to set the tone and overall goal of your blog before you even begin publishing.
Blogs offer a conversational style and tone in their delivery, and the type of presentation you adopt will largely depend on your business and who you are trying to reach. You may position yourself as an expert in the industry, and start to share content with insights, articles, or recommendations. Your business may hire a professional blogger or writer to update the public on current events or news, and this can be an extension of your website that contains press releases.
Understanding the potential and flexibility of a blog can help you carve out exactly what your business may need. There are a few significant benefits of blogging for your business including:
“ A low-cost solution to communicating with your customers in ‘real-time’ without having to reorganize or redesign your current website
“ An inexpensive way to launch a new brand campaign or product
“ A simple way to update your subscribers and readers with news
“ The ability to join feed networks and distribute your content, information, and articles to a larger target market
“ The ability to share your individual expertise or knowledge with thousands of people
“ An easy way to start publishing immediately, with limited software required.
Making your blog stand out amongst the 9 million + blogs on the internet today will take some time, and gaining a good search engine presence is critical to your blog’s success. In addition to the significant benefits of blogging, even the most basic blog can be a tool for marketing, promotion, advertising, and public relations.
Blogs allow businesses to reach out to customers directly with news and contests, and the ‘real-time’ insight can be the very reason why customers stay in touch.
A blog can help your business:
“ Answer frequently asked questions
“ Launch contests
“ Start a promotion or offer promotional coupons online
“ Share new information on product releases
“ Start a photo showcase
“ Send out newsbytes or commentary
“ Provide feedback on customer suggestions
“ Share media files, audio, and video content
A blog may also be a valuable resource of employees. It may be set up on a company intranet or server to share a newsletter, set up weekly posts on a particular topic, or provide employees with resources and tools they need as part of the company. Blogs are an informal and easy-to-navigate platform on the web, and any department may even construct one on their own. With the onset of embedded videos, pod casts, and audio files, visiting a blog can be a complete multimedia experience.
Blogs can help you create a strong community and build traffic; the cost of generating traffic from search engine marketing and traditional direct mail can lead to thousands of dollars in marketing expenses.
A business blog can help you build a community of strong readers and in turn, make your blog and domain much more credible.
In turn, search engine placement becomes easier and helps you capture market share simply based on your ranking. This is possibly the biggest benefit of blogging, helping you grow your customer base and capturing the attention of interested prospects in an innovative way.
Many blog readers subscribe to feeds and newsletters on their own your business can eliminate at least some of the cost of trying to solicit customers, the ‘old-fashioned way.’
Additional chapters in this e-Book will help you learn how to make use of each of these areas to your advantage, but you can start understanding the potential of a blog and your efforts to market it, after just a few weeks.
Product to check out >> Blogging Your Way To Business Success
Creating a blog is relatively simply. However, maintaining a successful blog is a far more difficult process. This is because there are so many different factors which can contribute to the success of a blog. Some of these factors include the subject of the blog, the popularity of the blog and even the aesthetic layout of the blog. Additionally, the ability to properly promote the blog and reach a large audience of interested Internet users will also have a profound impact on the success of a blog. Although there is no one simple formula for creating and maintaining a successful blog, there are some basic tips which can help to ensure a blogger will enjoy success with his blog. This article will outline some of these basic tips including posting new entries regularly, writing for a specific audience and properly evaluating changes made to the blog.
Posting New Blog Entries Regularly
The importance of posting new blog entries on a regular basis cannot be underestimated. This is so important because regular postings offer dedicated blog visitors an incentive to keep returning to the blog. Readers may visit a blog originally by chance but become committed to returning to the blog regularly based on the content which is provided on a regular basis. If the blogger allows the blog to become stagnant, the readers do not have motivation to keep coming back to the blog. However, if there are new posts on a regular basis, visitors are likely to return to the blog often in anticipation of new postings.
The length as well as the depth of a blog post can vary considerably based on the subject of the blog and the expectations of the target audience. However, in many cases even a relatively short blog entry offering only a small amount of information may be enough to keep readers interested. This can be useful when the blogger is unable to provide in depth posts but in the long run, blog readers are looking for a certain degree of sustenance and will likely expect the blog to be updated with new posts regularly. Furthermore they will come to expect a certain voice and quality to the blog posts so bloggers who enlist the use of guest bloggers should carefully screen guest bloggers to ensure they are capable of posting blogs the audience will appreciate.
Understanding the Blog Audience
Successful bloggers should also be adept at understanding the blog audience. Most successful blogs focus on a rather exclusive niche which draws a unique set of visitors. By keeping the information posted in the blog related to this niche, the blogger helps to ensure the audience will remain interested in the blog. However, the subject matter is not the only important aspect related to understanding the target audience.
Bloggers should also be well aware of the type of information the blog readers are seeking and the way in which they prefer to have the information provided. This is important because some blog readers may enjoy lengthy pieces while others may prefer posts which are brief and to the point. Still other blog visitors may prefer to have posts provided as bulleted points in an easy to read manner. Providing the information in a way in which the visitors can process the information easily is as important as providing quality information.
Evaluating Changes to the Blog
Finally, all successful bloggers know how to make changes to the blog carefully and evaluate the effects these changes have on blog traffic. This is critical because a blog which is already successful can be doomed to failure if the blogger makes a chance which is not appreciated by the dedicated visitors and does not address the concerns of the readers. To avoid this potential problem bloggers should be careful to only make one change at a time and to allow ample time to evaluate the effect the change has on website traffic as well as the comments from readers before deciding whether to reverse the change or make additional changes.
Similarly a blog which is looking to increase website traffic can run into problems if they make too many changes and do not evaluate how these changes are affecting the blog’s traffic. A better strategy would be to make small changes one at a time and evaluate the effect of the change carefully before making more changes. This will help guide the blogger to produce a successful blog.
So Blogging Espionage has just launched and there’s uproar in the industry already…
What Is This Secret New Method?
Well, I was lucky enough to secure an early copy of the system so I could review it for Rob (the creator) and it I must say it’s unlike anything else on the market.
The site, although it seems like hype is honest and true… This isn’t about any of the usual methods like Adwords, PPC, SEO, Media Buying, CPA, Ebay, Article marketing or the likes.
No… This is something I hadn’t heard about and I’d happily join Rob and bet you haven’t heard of this strategy for making money before.
http://www.feiyie.com/likes/BloggingEspionage
Now I got access to just 3 days before the launch and one of Rob’s team told me that if I do this right away I’d actually make money before the launch.
Yeah right?
I wanted to give it a go so I’ve spent 3 hours per day working on this and this is now the 4th day… Blogging Espionage launched yesterday.
The Results…
Well it’s a pleasent surprize… I’ve actually made $803 and I could easily turn this into $5,000 by the 7 day mark using the further steps in the system.
I didn’t expect this but I can honestly say this is the one product I’d recommend 100% if you need money fast and don’t want to wait months for results.
Now, there are only a limited number so it may have sold out by now but if not then grab a copy while you can.
Just click below:
http://www.feiyie.com/likes/BloggingEspionage
Blogging has been around for a few years now. Most people use blogs to record their thoughts and lives, while the select few use them as a free way to make a fortune.
One guy who uses this to his advantage is Rob Benwell. In 2006 he dished the dirt on the tips and tricks to making a fortune using blogging. But as time passes the old systems become obsolete and new techniques are required. This is where his brand new, fresh off the press Blogging to the Bank 2010 system comes into play.
For those who know who Rob Benwell is like me, you’ve probably made a killing using blogs.
For those who don’t, he’s the story:
Back in 2005 he was struggling to make any profit online, had dropped out of college and was getting deep into debt. He was trying all the techniques the gurus tell you and wasn’t getting anywhere fast. All of that went in the bin and he started using his own techniques and started making more and more money using simple blogs. In early 2006 he shared this with the world and had a great ebook called blogging to the bank. Tons of people got rich from using these techniques (including me). He then spoke at Online Marketing Legend Yanik Silver’s underground Seminar where he revealed even more of his underground strategies. Then July 2007 he released Blogging to the Bank 2.0 which showed users his new methods to creating online wealth using blogs. In total both versions have been read by over 50,000 people across the world.
But as I said earlier, the techniques used in these ebooks are now showing there age. Some of them are not even working in the slightest! This is where blogging to the bank 2010 comes into play.
It’s full of great new techniques that work online right now! Everything’s explained in plain English with all the fluff cut out. I got hold of an advanced copy of the book for a much higher price than what it actually sells for and it has been worth every single cent! I got it in the afternoon and by the evening I was creating new profitable blogs. Within a couple of hours of them being active I had made a nice little profit.
Blogging To The Bank 2010 teaches you Robs new step by step blueprint to creating highly profitable long term niche blogs using the newest optimization techniques. There’s even a section on advanced Search Engine Optimization. Most people think SEO is difficult but Rob explains this nice and simply so even the blogging newbie will understand it.
Blogging To The Bank 2010 is a breath of fresh air and I highly recommend it to anyone wanting to make easy money online.
There are basically two types of bloggers in the world - reporters and experts - and some people perform both roles (usually the experts, it's hard for reporters to become experts, but it's easy for experts to report).
If you have ever taken an Internet marketing course or attended a seminar specifically for beginners, you have probably heard about the two different methodologies. Whenever the business model is based on content, and if you blog for money then the model is based on content, people are taught to either start as reporters, or if possible step up as experts.
I’ll be frank; you want to be the expert.
Reporters leverage the content of the experts and in most cases people start off as reporters because they haven’t established expertise. Experts enjoy the perks of preeminence, higher conversion rates because of perceived value, it’s easier to get publicity, people are more likely to seek you out rather than you having to seek others out, joint ventures come easier, etc� experts in most cases simply make more money and attract more attention.
Most Bloggers Are Reporters
The thing with expertise is that it requires something – experience. No person becomes an expert without doing things and learning. Bloggers usually start out without expertise and as a result begin their blogging journey by talking about everything going on in their niche (reporting) and by interviewing and talking about other experts (reporting again).
There’s nothing wrong with reporting of course and for many people it’s a necessity at first until you build up some expertise. Unfortunately the ratios are pretty skewed when it comes to reporters and experts – there are a lot more reporters than there are experts, hence reporters tend to struggle to gain attention and when they do, they often just enhance the reputation of the expert they are reporting on.
Don’t Replicate Your Teacher
If you have ever spent some time browsing products in the learn Internet marketing niche you will notice a pattern. Many people first study Internet marketing from a �guru� (for lack of a better term). The guru teaches how he or she is able to make money online, and very often the view that the student gleams is that in order to make money online you have to teach others how to make money online.
The end result of this process is a huge army of amateurs attempting to replicate what their teacher does in the same industry – the Internet marketing industry – not realizing that without expert status based on a proven record and all the perks that come with it, it’s next to impossible to succeed.
Even people, who enjoy marginal success, say for example growing an email list of 1,000 people, then go out and launch a product about how to grow an email list of 1,000 people. Now I have no problems with that, I think it’s fine to teach beginners and leverage whatever achievements you have, the problem is that people gravitate to the same niche – Internet marketing – and rarely have any key points of differentiation.
How many products out there do you know of that all claim to teach the same things – email marketing, SEO, pay per click, affiliate marketing, and all the sub-niches that fall under the category of Internet marketing. It’s a saturated market, yet when you see your teachers and other gurus making money teaching others how to make money (and let’s face it – making money as a subject is one of the most compelling) – your natural inclination is to follow in their footsteps.
If the key is to become an expert and you haven’t spent the last 5-10 years making money online, I suggest you look for another niche to establish expertise in.
Report on Your Process, Not Others
The secret to progress from reporter to expert is not to focus on other experts and instead report on your own journey. When you are learning how to do something and implementing things day by day, or studying other people’s work, you need to take your process and what you do as a result of what you learn, and use it as content for your blog.
It’s okay to talk about experts when you learn something from them, but always relate it to what you are doing. If you learn a technique from an expert it’s fine to state you learned it from them (and affiliate link to their product too!) but you should then take that technique, apply it to what you are doing and then report back YOUR results, not there’s. Frame things using your opinion – your stories – and don’t regurgitate what the expert said. The key is differentiation and personality, not replication.
Expertise comes from doing things most people don’t do and then talking about it. If you do this often enough you wake up one day as an expert, possibly without even realizing how it happened, simply because you were so good at reporting what you did.
You Are Already An Expert
Most people fail to become experts (or perceived as experts) because they don’t leverage what they already know. Every person who lives a life learns things as they go, takes action every day and knows something about something. The reason why they never become an expert is because they choose not to (which is fine for some, not everyone wants to be an expert), but if your goal is to blog your way to expertise and leave the world of reporting behind you have to start teaching and doing so by leveraging real experience.
Experience can come from what you do today and what you have done previously; you just need to take enough steps to demonstrate what you already know and what you are presently learning along your journey. I know so many people in my life, who are experts simply by virtue of the life they have lived, yet they are so insecure about what they know, they never commit their knowledge to words for fear of�well fear.
Blogs and the Web in general, are amazing resources when you leverage them as a communication tool to spread your expertise because of the sheer scope of people they can reach. If all you ever do is talk to people in person and share your experience using limited communication mediums, you haven’t much hope of becoming an expert. Take what you know and show other people through blogging, and you might be surprised how people change their perception of you in time.
Reporting Is A Stepping Stone
If your previous experience and expertise is from an area you want to leave behind or you are starting from ‘scratch’, then reporting is the path you must walk, at least for the short term.
Reporting is a lot of fun. Interviewing experts, talking about what other people are doing and just being part of a community is not a bad way to blog. In many cases people make a career of reporting (journalism is about just that), but if you truly want success and exponential results, at some point you will have to stand up and proclaim yourself as someone unusually good at something and then proceed to demonstrate it over and over again.
Have patience and focus on what you do to learn and then translate that experience into lessons for others, and remember, it’s okay to be a big fish in a small pond, that’s all most experts really are.
This article was by Yaro Starak, a professional blogger and my blog mentor. He is the leader of the Blog Mastermind mentoring program designed to teach bloggers how to earn a full time income blogging part time.
To get more information about Blog Mastermind click this link: