Tony Baker |
President and founder of Xeal Inc., Tony D. Baker is Oklahoma’s leading Internet marketing expert with more than 10 years of Internet marketing experience. You can catch Tony on the Xeal Radio Show on Sunday nights on 1170 KFAQ Tulsa. Sign up for a free 20-point website evaluation and pick up crucial tips at Xeal's free Thursday webinar. |
Tony Baker
has written 12 articles for SB Informer. |
View all articles by Tony Baker... |
Why Your Business Should Be BloggingWhy aren't you doing it already? Tony Baker
September 10, 2007
|
|
| 4.7/5.0 (3 votes total) |
|
|
When you hear the word "blog," you might think of a teenager with dyed
hair and raccoon eye makeup, hunched over the keyboard and typing about
how her parents are so unfair because they're mad that she ran up a
$500 cell phone bill.
Although there's no doubt there are some bloggers like this, by and
large blogs are an established mode of publication on the Internet.
Bloggers work in just about every niche you could think of. TV show
crew members blog to give fans a glimpse behind the scenes. Many
companies have blogs where employees can give thoughts, opinion, tips
and advice on industry news.
Like anything else in business, blogs require a clear strategy. They
need to be updated on a regular basis, daily at best, a few times a
week at the least. You'll need to make sure you have timely information
that is interesting to your target audience. That means that you'll
need somebody at your company, or a few different somebodies, who have
time to research, write and post blogs, as well as respond to any
comments.
However, don't let that put you off. Blogs can be an extremely useful
tool, and they should be a part of every business model. If you're on
the fence about it, here's a few reasons why they're worth the trouble.
Generate traffic to your website
Once search engines figure out what your blog is about, you'd be
surprised at how fast your ranking shoots up. With fresh content,
keywords and links in every post, blogs are a magnet for search
engines. You should not blog for the sole purpose of SEO, but higher
rankings are a great side benefit.
Instant communication and instant feedback
People who are passionate about your company will let you know it.
Blogs are not for the faint of heart. Giving feedback to an article is
as simple as clicking a "comment" button. So people are more likely to
post with their most immediate, uncensored thoughts, be they positive
or negative.
However, with your blog, you also have a forum to respond to those
comments. If several people are making similar complaints and negative
comments, you can address those issues in a blog post or comment. If
people are making positive comments, you can thank them, carry on a
dialogue, and cultivate relationships.
Make more sales
Even better, a blog helps establish your name as a brand. If readers
rely on you for trustworthy information, then if you've got a new
product or service coming out, chances are they'll turn to you for
that, too. This is especially true if your business involves service or
consulting, where credibility relates directly to your bottom line.
Easy marketing
Got a new product coming out? Announce it in your blog. Want to give
people a behind-the-scenes tour in the making of a new product? Put it
in your blog. Writing a book on issues in your industry? Give the
people a blog post about it. Since blogs are updated so often, they're
usually the best place to put timely company announcements and industry
news. If you've got an established readership, then blogs can be the
best marketing tool you have.
It takes time to get a good blog going and time to earn an established
readership. However, if you put the effort into it, you can reap
rewards in site visits, networking, marketing and sales, just to name a
few areas. Don't let the blogosphere remain a scary unknown any longer.
Go on and jump in!
|