Blogs have become the IN thing to have for your business. They
can be hip, fun, sassy, factual and matter-of-fact --- anything
you want them to be. You can twist them around to suit your
purposes; these can be reliable proof of your market appeal and
industry stature. But what are they, really?
Blogs, a shortcut for 'Web logs,’ are usually 300-800 words
long essays that center on a single idea supported by facts,
opinions, or even links to other articles from which a viewer
can get more information. These are easily the hottest items on
the Web nowadays, and many people from all walks of life caught
on. Blogs started out as some sort of 'online diary' where an
anxious teen can pour out her angst about appearance,
insecurities about attracting boys, marks in school, relations
with parents and/or family. It can be about midlife anxiety,
self-worth, career dead ends, relationships with one's
superiors, chronic disease. It can be about anything under the
sun, so long as it catches someone else's attention. Bloggers
usually pour their hearts out -- sometimes meandering along,
sometimes passionate, sometimes seemingly catatonic. But it is
all a personal sharing. Powerful stuff.
It didn't take long before somebody thought of harnessing the
power of blogs to try to sell almost anything. Accordingly,
blogs transcended the ‘online confessional’ type to become the
more focused business blogs. Market-savvy individuals quickly
realized that blogging is a virtual powerhouse for sales.
It helps a lot that a blog is inexpensive (even free) and easy
to set up as compared to your run-of-the-mill web site, thanks
to such services like TypePad or Blogger. A blog is virtually
foolproof to use, maintain, update/change, and promote. You can
attract customers because blogs have nifty powerful methods,
resources, features and tools that make it easy for researchers
or even just the plain curious to look for you. So now, you have
an entirely new way to market your products.
Since you’ve already caught people’s attention, you can inform
prospective customers about your product or service in a manner
that does not come across as aggressive ‘hard-sell ’ (which
frankly is such a turn-off!) Remember those ‘snake oil
salesmen’ in the vintage films? Or those insurance or credit
card agents that hound you as you go about the mall? More often
than not, people avoided, became irritated at, or were even
downright rude to these poor souls. Blogging is a more
dignified way of informing people about you or your company. It
appears to be, and most of the time, really is, simply talking
‘man-to-man,’ straight from the heart,’ an honest-to-goodness
sharing of actual, personal experiences or opinions. This now
makes the prospect feel that he/she is really getting to know
you, and ergo, he/she can take your word for it because he/she
now TRUSTS you. Now you can reel them in. With your great blog,
you had them at ‘Hello.’ This takes time, but it often is well
worth the effort.
Blogging is a great customer service tool. It is an inexpensive
and quicker way to reach out to potential customers as well as
maintaining current ones. Through postings, the blogger gets
instant feedback. This is something that marketing firms often
spend a lot of money on. (“Survey says…!”) Blog visitors get to
post their reactions to whatever catches their fancy, and be
heard. In turn, this feedback helps you, the ‘seller,’ come up
with more effective strategies to either counter the negative
feedback or follow through with the more positive ones. You can
even use your blog as a sort of Q&A forum wherein customers post
all their queries and you readily come up with the answers and
information they need. When customers need to make crucial
decisions (such as finally purchasing bulk amounts of your
products, perhaps?), it is vital to have all the information on
hand.
Aside from the potential income that you can get for your
products and services, don’t forget that you can even earn some
money through affiliate marketing. If you belong to several
affiliate programs, you can place corresponding ads together
with the products that you offer in your blog. Your faithful
followers instantly get to know about these timely updates
thanks to another useful resource – the RSS feed – even without
logging in to their email accounts and checking their In boxes!
Convenient.
With all these positive aspects of blogging as a radical means
of internet marketing, it seems foolhardy, even suicidal for
business owners to NOT go ahead and create their own blog.
Refusing to go with the tide is risking being left wa-a-a-ay
behind the competition, eating dust.
Copyright © 2006, Mr. Bloggy
About The Author: This article is brought to you by the Bloggy
Network. To visit us, please go to-: www.Bloggy-Network.com.
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