FROM: Yvonne A Jones

Re: Business Blogging

Most internet marketers agree that blogging is an important part of their marketing strategy.  The difference in the approach lies between those who are in favor of promoting Article Marketing as the premium method and those who regard blogging as the foremost method.  Personally, I regard them as very important, if not equally important, aspects of my marketing strategy.

I created my first blog in December 2008 and started posting to it on a regular basis.  Initially my posts were directed to home-based and small business owners as well as clients interested in skin care and cosmetics.  One of the first training classes I attended quickly made me realize that I would better serve my readers by separating the topics as, for example, a male business owner would not want to have to sift through articles dealing with skin care and make-up to find posts with business topics.

I’ve found that blogging allows you to interact with your target audience and allows you to build credibility.  I’ve had many comments that readers like my style of writing and through my writing I am able to build up that know, like and trust factor.  While article marketing is an essential strategy, because blogging is done on a more informal basis, I am able to connect more with my readers.  In addition, while I still find writing short posts a challenge, this is an advantage of blogging, you can write short, concise posts. The great thing is that with small changes I can turn my posts into articles for submission to Ezinearticles.com.

Like any other strategy there is a purpose to my blogging.  One of the key purposes is to build my targeted list and so I created an Opt-in Box on my blog and would encourage anyone who has a blog to do this.  In exchange for your readers’ name and e-mail address you must give something, and I currently give away an MP3 recording of a short teleseminar and a Report.

Through online live trainings I’ve learned of the value of doing keyword search before deciding on the exact title, adding keywords and keyword phrases within the each post and the importance of relevancy and consistency.  Personal strategies I implement for more visibility include commenting on other well-known bloggers website, having my posts automatically tweeted on Twitter and fed to Facebook.  I’m also a member of different Forums and I post my blogs there as well.  All of these help to position me as an expert, but also help to develop relationships.

Another goal of blogging is to make money.  As you build your list, connect with them, and continue to provide valuable content, when you have a product to sell they are more likely to purchase from you because they would already know who you are and that they can trust you to recommend something of value to them.

I do not pretend to be a total expert on blogging, because there are well-known marketers whom I’m mentored by and whom I consider to be experts in blogging, but I make learning a constant part of my activities and work on keeping abreast of the steps that can made your blog become more visible and almost viral, like RSS feeds, social bookmarketing strategies like Digg, Stumble Upon, etc. There are also Blog Directories that blogs can be submitted to for more visibility.