Web logs, or blogs as they’re commonly known, began mostly as online personal journals, or celebrity or cause type sites. Blogs have now become mainstream and more and more businesses are using them to create buzz and help to get their own message out.
In fact, if you start looking around online for blogs, you’ll soon feel like everyone and their dog is blogging! The reason is that there are many benefits of creating your own blog:
- Build a community around a topic
- Allow for feedback from visitors
- Increase your credibility
- Highlight your personality
- Develop friendships
Building a blog is a cost effective way to market your business even if you have a tight budget. Your blog will allow you to start a conversation with potential customers and others in your field. The open ended aspect of a blog that allows for readers comments engenders trust and promotes credibility.
Many people find it difficult to trust online businesses and advertising, but they do build trust with strangers and even make friends online with those who they feel have credibility. For this reason, blogging can be as effective as word of mouth marketing.
Be sure to ask your visitors for their comments. Don’t block negative comments, politely respond to them instead and use them to help clarify any potential issues. Visit other blogs in your field and comment on them. Build relationships with these other bloggers, respect their time and their blogs – don’t overtly advertise your products and links in your posts.
If you don’t already have a blog, it is both cheap and easy to get one started. TypePad and Moveable Type are two of the most popular, with TypePad starting at $4.95 and Moveable Type designed for larger enterprises. We use QuickBlogCast by GoDaddy for this blog and we highly recommend their service, which starts at as little as $3.99 per month.
Using a blog to increase awareness of and market your business is fast, flexible, inexpensive and fun!
Leave a Reply