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Turning your blog into a marketing tool

Guest post by: Bonnie Harris

Article Overview: Here’s how you turn blogging into marketing a powerful marketing tool.

Turning your blog into a marketing tool

Marketers understand blogging is one of the best ways to reach out to their target audience. It has become an efficient way to share updates, news and other information to your customers and prospects. It is also a great way to share thoughts on issues as well. Although it will never replace the power of the telephone for one-on-one communication, blogging wins hands down for communicating to the masses in a cost effective manner.

A blog site sitting along side your main website lets you as a business owner boost your online presence. It’s an opportunity to share your company’s latest news, events and what’s happening in the industry. The problem is, many set out and never seem to get the readership required for it to really be of benefit to the business.

Now, let’s just say that you already have set up your blog and have even started posting content. What are you doing to let your target audience know about it? What have you done to increase your blog readership? Nothing? Sadly, that’s the answer most people give.

Here are a few pointers to help you turn your blog into a powerful marketing strategy:



Leverage the online ‘real estate’ you already own.

Make use of your existing corporate website if you have one and promote your blog. Promote your blog, everywhere you can for example your email footers, Facebook page and Twitter page.

Keep your blog posting consistent.

The logic behind this is straightforward. The people who follow your blog will learn about the topics covered and know when to come back for more fresh content they are interested in. The more blog articles you post, the higher the chances of your readers coming back for more. Search engines will also love it and send more traffic your way. Search engines are hungry for fresh content, thus increasing your page rank.

Look for opportunities to provide guest blog posts.

Look for blog sites that complement your business. Ask the owners of these sites if you could provide guest posts for them. If you are given the permission to do so, offer information that is relevant and useful for the readers. This will help establish your presence as an authority in your niche.



Make sure your RSS Feed link is easy to find.

Customers or prospects who find your blog interesting may want to subscribe to it through an RSS feed or through email. Make sure they can do this easily. It is best if you can position your RSS feed button near the top of your website.

Link your most recent post to past posts.

If you have captured the interest of your target audience with a post, they may be interested to read other articles you have posted. If you supply them with links to these previous posts right there on the page, they will be more likely to click through and read more of your content.

These are just a few of the many things you can do to promote your blog site for increased readership. There are other tools you can use such as social networks, social bookmarking sites and even your print based material. Just keep in mind that in blogging, the most important thing is to provide what your target market is looking for. Fill their need, listen to what they have to say and share what is on your mind. In time, you will build a strong readership of people who are interested in what you do and possibly share your information with others, turning your blog into a powerful marketing tool.

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Article Tags: blog as a marketing tool, blog as marketing, Blogging, blogging for small business, easy ways to blog



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