Marketing With Blogs - Part 1

Marketers have found that blogs are excellent tools for communicating with their audience. Anyone who has something to sell or an idea to promote can benefit from using blogs.

Corporates like Nike are using blogs to build branding. Microsoft and Sun are using them to communicate with the developer community.

Blogs have a number of advantages that make them excellent tools for communication.

They are cheap to install and require little or no technical expertise. So the entry point for blogging is very low when compared to the expense of hiring a website designer.

While building a website is often out of the reach of most solo entrepreneurs, anyone can start a blog. If you can't write or hate to write, you can start an audio or video blog. The possibilities are endless.

Blogs also help you create content that search engines love, and encourage linking from a number of other bloggers who write on similar topics. This makes them excellent tools for getting high search engine rankings and boosting your visibility.

They also encourage immediate responses from your readers and customers, so you can get feedback, tweak your campaigns and respond better to the market's demands.

Blogs, and the RSS feeds they come with, help you syndicate your content online, boost your reach and influence and allow readers to control their communications with your company.

Your blog can be your selling point and help your prospects opt for you and your services over those of others.

Whether you're an individual, entrepreneur, small business, consultant, coach, book author, independent filmmaker, actor, model, travel guide, work-at-home mom - someone who wants to promote their individual skills and talents or interests ? there is immense potential in using blogs to promote your business.

In part 2 of this article series I cover some tips that will help you ensure your blog is a good marketing vehicle. http://www.blog-maniac.com/marketing-wit h-blogs2.htm

Priya Shah is the CEO of eBrand360 and writes the Marketing Slave blog.

This article may be reprinted as long as the resource box is left intact and all links are hyperlinked.

In The News:

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd width=80 align=center valign=topfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifa href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://mashable.com/2008/10/10/onsugar/cid=0ei=okPxSO3xHo3W6gOS1dmyBwusg=AFQjCNFeDOrtaK8M6O3GRSEsnAVVcV-dTAimg src=http://news.google.com/news?imgefp=8uRUTP-XtQEJimgurl=mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/choices.jpg width=62 height=80 alt= border=1brfont size=-2Mashable/font/a/font/tdtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://mashable.com/2008/10/10/onsugar/cid=0ei=okPxSO3xHo3W6gOS1dmyBwusg=AFQjCNFeDOrtaK8M6O3GRSEsnAVVcV-dTAPublish Sweet Looking bBlogs/b OnSugar (Video)/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fMashable,nbsp;CAnbsp;-/font nobrOct 10, 2008/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1The Start Following link appears on all bblogs/b and acts like the subscribe to bRSS/b feed option that we see on all bblogs/b these days. When you create a new post b.../b/font/div/font/td/tr/table
table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://newmediamarketing.entrepreneur.com/2008/10/09/wrong-link-strategy-kills-profits-on-your-business-blog/cid=0ei=okPxSO3xHo3W6gOS1dmyBwusg=AFQjCNHRqsFW_9QGJ4_R-PaoxB4VFLvO8QCaptivating minds with bblogs/b,/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fEntrepreneurnbsp;-/font nobrOct 10, 2008/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1Your main goal is to build a prospect list with names and contact info, not just generate traffic or show off how many bRSS/b subscribers you have. b.../b/font/div/font/td/tr/table
table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.feministe.us/blog/archives/2007/10/11/any-place-any-time/cid=1256337357ei=okPxSO3xHo3W6gOS1dmyBwusg=AFQjCNEq5TeX8jk7S2BEXSDdZMiL3lQovQAny Place, Any Time/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fFeministenbsp;-/font nobr20 hours ago/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1b.../b October 11th, 2007 at 7:35 pm and is filed under bBlogging/b, Health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the bRSS/b 2.0 feed. b.../b/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.feministe.us/blog/archives/2008/10/10/new-digs/cid=1256337357ei=okPxSO3xHo3W6gOS1dmyBwusg=AFQjCNFtwwjdfWzTrHZyaZMPG-tIb1KRfANew Digs/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrFeministe/nobr/font/fontbrfont class=p size=-1a class=p href=http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclientie=ISO-8859-1rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-22,GGLG:enncl=1256337357hl=ennobrall 2 news articles/nobr/a/font/div/font/td/tr/table
table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.battlecreekenquirer.com/article/20081010/NEIGHBORHOODS01/810100328cid=0ei=okPxSO3xHo3W6gOS1dmyBwusg=AFQjCNHFemG031dNrafsn1uGjF9j6x0zJgUpcoming non-profit workshops/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fBattle Creek Enquirer,nbsp;MInbsp;-/font nobrOct 10, 2008/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1So, you#39;ve read a bit about bblogs/b, bRSS/b feeds, wikis, SMS, and social networking sites, but you#39;re not sure exactly what any of these tools can do your b.../b/font/div/font/td/tr/table
table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.econtentmag.com/Articles/News/News-Feature/Scholarly-Blogging-and-Profiting-From-Publishing-Today-51090.htmcid=0ei=okPxSO3xHo3W6gOS1dmyBwusg=AFQjCNHkUGNdP5bB3zEZLLnsBmxrBIS20gScholarly bBlogging/b and Profiting From Publishing Today/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fEContent (press release),nbsp;CTnbsp;-/font nobrOct 10, 2008/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1Eric Olson from Draper Fisher Jurveston Portage spoke about using bRSS/b feeds and sites such as Feedburner to syndicate and monetize bblogs/b. b.../b/font/div/font/td/tr/table
table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://gadgetress.freedomblogging.com/its-blizzcon-day/4167cid=0ei=okPxSO3xHo3W6gOS1dmyBwusg=AFQjCNEibSAgo_dbLweIlebSsTTSAxoK_gIt’s BlizzCon day!/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fOCRegister,nbsp;CAnbsp;-/font nobrOct 10, 2008/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1I’ve been bblogging/b over at our new Blizzard bBlog/b, which covers the Irvine game developer known for the World of Warcraft. Today is the first day of the b.../b/font/div/font/td/tr/table
table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/how_much_do_top_tier_bloggers_make.phpcid=1256040057ei=okPxSO3xHo3W6gOS1dmyBwusg=AFQjCNH3Ea8yVW-PeWzjwweuBRuJ-9dODgHow Much Do Top Tier Bloggers and Social Media Consultants Get b.../b/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fReadWriteWeb,nbsp;CAnbsp;-/font nobrOct 9, 2008/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1b.../b on how to set up and run bblogs/b, how to reach out to and relate to bloggers, how to use Twitter (seriously) and how to make advanced use of bRSS/b. b.../b/font/div/font/td/tr/table
table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.marketingvox.com/blogging-hits-mainstream-integral-to-media-ecosystem-041373/cid=1255622511ei=okPxSO3xHo3W6gOS1dmyBwusg=AFQjCNEglf0K1LVZ6BcYK-klqTB9XscEmQbBlogging/b Hits Mainstream, Integral to Media Ecosystem/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fMarketing Vox Newsnbsp;-/font nobrOct 8, 2008/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1Top audience-building strategies include listing a bblog/b on Technorati and Google, commenting or linking to other bblogs/b, tagging bblog/b posts using bRSS/b feeds b.../b/font/div/font/td/tr/table
table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://globalvoicesonline.org/2007/04/11/blogging-business-west-african-bloggers-inc/cid=0ei=okPxSO3xHo3W6gOS1dmyBwusg=AFQjCNGgu7YmIcP5SI7TQoU2x6advHbaRgbBlogging/b Business: West African Bloggers, Inc./abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fGlobal Voices Online,nbsp;MAnbsp;-/font nobrOct 9, 2008/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1by Benin Mwangi This week, while perusing the Africa business bloggers section of my bRSS/b reader, I noticed a peculiar thing, or maybe this is not so b.../b/font/div/font/td/tr/table
table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://politicalblogs.startribune.com/bigquestionblog/%3Fp%3D1160cid=1256242010ei=okPxSO3xHo3W6gOS1dmyBwusg=AFQjCNEX5i4juIxfX7-mayapos_d1CuCwgLive bblogging/b from Lakeville: McCain arrives/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fMinneapolis Star Tribune,nbsp;MNnbsp;-/font nobrOct 10, 2008/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1You can follow any responses to this entry through the bRSS/b 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed. b.../b/font/div/font/td/tr/table
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