Marketers have found that blogs are excellent tools
for communicating with their audience. Anyone who has
something to sell or an idea to promote can benefit
from using blogs.
Corporates like Nike are using blogs to build
branding. Microsoft and Sun are using them to
communicate with the developer community.
Blogs have a number of advantages that make them
excellent tools for communication.
They are cheap to install and require little or no
technical expertise. So the entry point for blogging
is very low when compared to the expense of hiring a
website designer.
While building a website is often out of the reach of
most solo entrepreneurs, anyone can start a blog. If
you can’t write or hate to write, you can start an
audio or video blog. The possibilities are endless.
Blogs also help you create content that search engines
love, and encourage linking from a number of other
bloggers who write on similar topics. This makes them
excellent tools for getting high search engine
rankings and boosting your visibility.
They also encourage immediate responses from your
readers and customers, so you can get feedback, tweak
your campaigns and respond better to the market’s
demands.
Blogs, and the RSS feeds they come with, help you
syndicate your content online, boost your reach and
influence and allow readers to control their
communications with your company.
Your blog can be your selling point and help your
prospects opt for you and your services over those of
others.
Whether you’re an individual, entrepreneur, small
business, consultant, coach, book author, independent
filmmaker, actor, model, travel guide, work-at-home
mom - someone who wants to promote their individual
skills and talents or interests – there is immense
potential in using blogs to promote your business.
In part 2 of this article series I cover some tips
that will help you ensure your blog is a good
marketing vehicle.
Priya Shah is the CEO of eBrand360. She writes the
Marketing Slave blog and publishes an internet
marketing newsletter. Subscribe to her free Business
Blogging eCourse.
This article may be reprinted as long as the resource
box is left intact and all links are hyperlinked.
