Blog Marketing: Give Your Small Business a Boost with a Business Blog

The Ins and Outs of Business Blogging

Business blogs are yet another tool in the small business marketer’s informational cache. As is the case with any approach to internet marketing, blog marketing has a few ins and outs that must be addressed.

• The ins:

  • Easy to use. Business blogs are not unlike any other weblog. With the overwhelming abundance of blogging technologies available, all you need for a successful blog is a computer, a mouse, and a complete thought.

  • Easy to produce. Small business marketers generally do not have the available funds to contract with an internet designer or software developer to promote his or her business. Blogs are the most cost-efficient way to convey a copious amount of relevant information without the investment of advertising.

  • Easy to manage. All that is required for managing a business blog is regular updating. Because you do not have to learn the lingo found in the secret world of web designers, you can quickly and easily keep your customers informed through your blog.

• The outs:

  • Necessity of time. As is the case with any small business activity, there is a time factor involved with the maintenance of a business blog. The best way to manage your blogging time is to create a schedule of regular updates and follow it.

  • Necessity of material. What if you just do not have an update for your business blog? Try these tips when short on material:

    • Short of making something up, find relevant links and post a few comments on how they relate to what you are marketing.

    • Answer some Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs). If they are frequently asked, they deserve a reply.

    • Post a picture or video of the week and add your own caption or comment.

  • Necessity of self. Some small business marketers may find blogging too informal or “unbusiness-like.” Quite the contrary. Through your blog, your customers can get a glimpse into the brains behind the business, making you more real and your information more meaningful.

Me, The, and FREE: What Could Be Better than FREE?

As a first-timer, a “newbie”, to the business blogging world, it is best to seek out the most user-friendly weblog publishing site. There are many from which to choose, but some are more widely used than others, making them a more likely place for searches among those searching for specific business information.

• Great Google-y Moogly. Blogger is Google’s version of the free weblog. The greatest thing about Blogger is that it is automatically linked to other Google gadgets that you and your customers may subscribe to, such as Google Friend Connect or Google Reader.

• The Three Ws.

  • WordPress. WordPress may be found in two forms: WordPress.org and WordPress.com. WordPress.com is managed by the developers of WordPress created to make blogging as simple as possible without the drudgery of learning coding and other challenges of technology not embraced by the general user. WordPress.org is designed for the user planning to use a web host (perhaps your own domain) and has the luxury of time to invest in blog maintenance.

  • Wetpaint. Wetpaint is a source of opportunity for anyone wishing to join a broader community of information swapping. By creating your business blog through Wetpaint, you can join the mix of social networks and discussion forums and increase your web traffic and customer base.

  • Weebly. No, Weebly is not the internet product of Weebles. Weebly is a hosting service that is geared toward the simpler side of blog-and-forum sites rather than the social side. They offer the basics of design templates as well as the drag-and-drop feature for adding site content.

Business blogs are not brain surgery, but they are an essential component of the successful small business marketer. With user-friendly formats and blogger control of content, business blogs are a great low-cost alternative to expensive web site development and maintenance.

image credits to Leonie²

Pump Up Your Blogging with an Email Strategy

Blogging was founded on the principle of engaging in a conversation, yet one of the earliest and still most popular ways to have a conversation on the Internet is email. This makes blogging and email natural marketing partners. If you are looking for a way to boost your business blogging objectives you need to bring email to your small business blogging or corporate blogging marketing plan.

One of the earliest challenges of blogging was alerting readers to new posts. Unlike the typical website, blogs make web publishing a snap. The simplicity of blogging makes for a dynamic and high frequency of new and valuable content, but how do your readers know?

Using Email and Blogs Together

RSS and blog ping servers were designed to help solve this problem. They have arguably done a great job, but they still have not eclipsed the popularity of email. Email, in contrast to an RSS reader, is a multi-use communication tool. It is the foundation of most people's communication with friends, family, and work colleagues. I might read my RSS reader a few times a day. However, I will be in my email all day.

This is precisely why email is an important opportunity for any blogging initiative.
If you want a consumers attention--use email. If you want instant traffic--use email. If you want to stay top of mind--use email. Email marketing is the secret gem of online marketing. You need to plug it into your corporate blogging plan. It can raise your small business blogging efforts to a new level.

In addition to simple alerting your readers to new blog posts email can be a tool to engage your subscribers. Injecting unique content, email only tips, and special incentives can pave your way into the "sacred" marketing place--permission based email marketing.

Blogging Can Be a Sales Agent for Email

Email also gives you the opportunity to pre-qualify customers or drive them deeper into the buying cycle. An email can only hold so much content effectively and your audience may be overly broad. However, when you combine email with a business blog you can direct them to additional information or purchase. Likewise, using email you can test a variety of concepts and messages in email(s) and let the customers funnel themselves into appropriate sales channel(s).

Email + Blogging = Big Results

Combining these two powerhouses in Internet marketing can be the boost you need for your business. Never leave your business blogging to do all the heavy lifting. Blend in email marketing to drive traffic and engage readers. These blogging tips and email techniques will make monetizing your web publishing or building up your sales leads very easy to accomplish.

image credits to Joey Rozier