WHAT IS A BLOG?

Blogs started life as simple personal online diaries known as ‘web logs’ which became abbreviated to ‘blogs’. For the past few years blogging has now become an integral part of any business online marketing mix and in the process become a very useful business marketing tool.

BLOGS versus WEBSITES

More companies are now considering using WordPress and other blog software to develop their company website. This raises both positive and negative issues. Positive as blogs publish ‘posts’ by using “push technology” that sends your website updates to the search engines for immediate online publication. But using WordPress, or any ‘off-the-shelf’ solution for that matter can be troublesome if you are looking for advance bespoke functionality.

A blog can therefore be a website but a website cannot easily act like a blog, without development time running so high that it is unproductive to do so. The current Buzzin Fly website is an example of how you can make use of WordPress blog technology to power a company website.

WHAT DOES A BLOG INCLUDE?

Generally speaking, blogs tend to have a few things in common:

• Content written about a specific subject

• Specific content = relevant keyword rich pages

• Each ‘POST’ indexed as an individual pages with its own keywords

• Blog posts include in-context ‘textlinks’ which is the most powerful way of advertising your business

• A list of “useful links” known as a ‘blogroll’

• Allow readers to publish their comments to your site, making it truly interactive – in the process updating the content

• Allow other sites to use content via an RSS Feed (Good content will be promoted by others similarly to viral marketing)

• Regularly updated relevant, well-written content

IMPORTANT POINT

All the above mean that Google loves blogs more than websites & accredit them accordingly!

CORPORATE BLOGGING

When writing for a blog about your business be careful not to oversell your products & services. Be transparent and open, & do not attempt to overly censor negative comments. By answering comments you are engaging with potential customers.

SETTING UP YOUR OWN BLOG

When setting up your own blog consider the following points:

• How interesting is the subject?

• How many readers will you attract?

• How much material can you write?

• How much time can you spend on not only writing for, but managing a blog?

• What shall I blog about?

• Offer good free advice

• Be opinionated

• Engage your readers & invite comments by ending on a question

Alternatively, if you don’t think you have enough content or time….

Be a guest blogger for popular blogs with a good Google ranking such as Buzzin Media or pay for others to write articles with backlinks to your company website.

HOW USING BLOGS IS A GOOD WAY TO PROMOTE YOUR BUSINESS

• Advertising Opportunities - banner advertising, textlinks, advertorials

• One Way Links from highly relevant sources

• Increased traffic = more potential customers

• Increased visibility

• Higher ranking in Google and other search engines

So, considering all the ways in which a blog can help promote your business & how blogs work so well with Google you now need to consider how much potential business you are missing.