Blogs permit you to quickly and easily communicate with your market at very low cost. A blog is a low cost tool that permits you to add, remove, and u…
Blogs permit you to quickly and easily communicate with your market at very low cost. A blog is a low cost tool that permits you to add, remove, and update online content without knowing anything about web programming or html.
Blogs complement, rather than replace, your website, e-mail, and One-Page Newsletter. You can use your blog to promote your other communications, and vice-versa.
Easy, fast, and cheap
Blogs are easy to update because you enter information in forms. These are automatically formatted as you upload them, saving time and effort. Since blogs are easy to update and new information immediately appears, you don’t have to wait until your next e-mail or newsletter to update information or announce new website content.
Hosting for blogs is often free, or you can pay less than $15.00 a month for multiple blogs from a top provider.
Characteristics
A blog consists of numerous, short posts—or mini-articles—each containing as few as two or three sentences. Each post focuses on a single idea.
Links are an important part of blogs. Links permit readers to quickly access other locations for more information.
Blogs are interactive; most encourage readers to submit comments or alternate viewpoints on each post.
Readers can subscribe to RSS—Real Simple Syndication—which notifies them each time you post new information.
Tips for developing content
Blogs permit you to promote your expertise by relating it to current events and trends. This provides you with an opportunity to promote your knowledge of your field without “bragging.”
Other ways to profit from blogs include:
Drive web site traffic. Use blogs to point to updated web content. Otherwise, new content might only be seen by first-time visitors attracted by search engine marketing and optimization.
Promote existing content. Blogs permit you to comment on current events from the perspective of previous books, newsletters, or website content. This breathes new life into existing content.
Promote upcoming events. Blogs make it easy for those who don’t know html to easily update their event calender.
Frequent, non-intrusive updates. Blogs avoid many of the problems associated with e-mail, such as filled in-boxes and spam filters. Blogs make it possible to keep in touch without wearing out your welcome.
Learn from your market. Blogs invite reader comments. These permit you to “test-market” new products or find out what your market thinks about current products and services.
Getting started
The easiest way to get started is to visit www.blogger.com or www.typepad.com. Both contain a simple “3 steps to success” process that helps you publish your first blog within five or ten minutes after you arrive at either site.
Costs are surprisingly inexpensive. Blogger, a part of www.google.com, is a free service. Typepad is free for the first 30 days, less than $15.00 a month thereafter. Best of all, you usually don’t have to pay a penny for design or production costs. Both Blogger and Typepad offer dozens of templates, which you can customize by changing colors, layout, or type.
What about content?
Start by taking an inventory of currently available newsletters, special reports, and web site content. Look for content you can use to create an information archive blog.Can you extract tips from previous content, so you can create a tips blog. If you often speak at events, conduct workshops, or host teleseminars, create a calendar blog.
Why not create a commentary blog focusing on an single aspect of your expertise, or a book review blog? Because they are so easy and inexpensive, you may want to consider multiple blogs for different markets you serve or want to serve.
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