B is for Blogging

Over the last few years, there have been lots of new ways to market and promote your business springing up. One of those ways is to create a blog for your business. A blog – short for web-log – is an on-line diary.

You can set one up for free at www.blogger.com or for those who are more technically minded, set one up at www.wordpress.org. When you’ve set one up you can use it in whichever way you choose. Here’s some examples:

Articlesr
If you write articles (which are a great way to promote your business in their own right), you can post them in your blog. Your articles should always contain a link back to your website and because search engines like Google like Blogs, your article will push your website higher up the search engines too.

Opinionsr
You can use your blog to express your opinion on a specific subject or in response to a news story that’s taking place. Remember not to be too controversial though – your blog can get negative publicity too!

Promoting your businessr
As the blog you set up is your own, you can write what you like on there. That means you can promote your business all you like. You can tell people about workshops that you run, networking events you’re going to or new products or services you’ve launched.

Once you’ve set up your blog, how do you get business from it? Well, blogs are extremely good for raising awareness of your business and showcasing your expertise.

But , in order to get business from your blog, you’re going to need to get your blog out there as much as possible. That means you’re going to need to promote your blog.

You can do this by:

• Putting a link to your blog from your website
• Putting a link to your blog on your email signature
• Finding and communicating on other people’s blog
• Telling people about your blog
• Putting a link to your blog on your business card
• Updating your blog on a regular basis – at least once a week
• Send out a newsletter with a link to your blog

The way to get business from your blog is to tell people about it in order to get them communicating and building a relationship with you. While I’ve not had business directly from my blog, people have told me that it’s helped them to make a decision about whether to use my products and services.

But, be warned starting a blog is a long term marketing strategy and requires commitment on your part. You’re not going to see instant results and you’re going to need to promote your blog as well as your business.

Writing a blog is not for the faint hearted, but if you like writing and want to increase your awareness and your expertise, it can be very effective.