6 Ways That Blogging Can Save You Money
Copyright 2005 Tinu AbayomiPaul
Even though I've had several personal blogs for
years, I've only been officially business blogging since 2003.
So in going back over expenses for the last quarter,
you can imagine my shock when I realized that my overall business
costs were down about 19%. What saved me so much money? Surprisingly,
blogging.
How can you save money with your blog? It's pretty
simple, so I'll be brief.
Attract search engine traffic without
paying the big bucks
If you want Google, Yahoo and MSN to pay attention
to you, blog.
It doesn't have to be a whole new site, just add
a directory to your existing site and start blogging. Most blog
software solutions are either cheap or free.
And you can find out most basic blog information
online for free (really, sometimes just typing your question into
Google will do it.) by people who've actually done it. For less
than $100, you can build a small library of blog tips and secrets,
written by successful business bloggers.
Instead of buying links, get one-way links from
blog search engines and directories, as well as getting your RSS
feed content displayed at other sites.
Linking is a great way to get search engine attention
and click traffic. Some people get links by trading; others by
including their links at the end of freely distributed articles.
Others pay to be listed, or to get linked.
In each of these scenarios, some type of trade
takes place, money, free content, or a link back.
When you blog, you'll find plenty of search engines
and directories that are willing to list you free of charge. For
the most part you won't need to link back - you'll get a one-way
link from site favored by search engines, often using text that
you select yourself.
If 90 or more of these free, legitimate links
back to your site is worth your time, then get you blog in motion.
Not only that, if you update frequently, other
sites may want to display your RSS feed content on their sites.
To encourage them to do so, put a link on your page with instructions
on how to do so. Ever since I put one on the front of my site,
various feeds from my main site have turned up in the most unexpected
places.
Cheaper way to study your audience.
As your blog gets more popular, you may start
to find that on any given day, you have a representative cross-section
of prospects and clients at your site. If you have a question
for them, you can just... ask.
True, you can post a link to a survey in your
newsletter or on your site, but these are not as interactive as
the ability for your audience to comment. They will comment, and
you can reply to ask them to expand, or clarify. Conversation
gets going and before you know it, a bond is formed, a much stronger
bond than occurs in a one-way conversation.
Cheaper (and faster) way to start a resource
or authority site.
Five years ago, if you wanted to start an authority
site, your best bet was to build a portal with a specialized directory
at its core. Three years ago, you were better off starting a forum
with a resource section attached to it. Last year, your top bet
was a feed-enabled content management system, especially as more
parts of content management systems began to have content feeds
related to them. (I have 12 feeds for each of my PHP-Nuke based
sites, though they don't work as well with Google Tap.)
Now, if you want to be the expert, you want to
start a blog.
If you're blogging consistently, you have a hub
of information collected that will inspire return traffic. You
have a collection of links to articles, sites, and tools. You
can constantly write up your own opinion editorials on each of
these items, as well as fact-based analysis of news and events
that can help your audience make better choices.
As blog software matures you can now categorize,
and alphabetize your links, and with the ability to ping multiple
sources as well as leave trackback links to other sites, you can
send your readers through a ring of related, freshly updated information
that ultimately leads back to you.
Spend less money on advertising as your
blog becomes more popular
I can't promise you that you'll never spend another
red cent on advertising costs. However, the amount of free advertising
you get from having your blog link or RSS feed listed in dozens
of search engines and directories, and popping up in feed readers
is not to be underestimated.
You'll probably still want to do some ezine advertising
when your new ebook or software release is debuted. But you may
not need to buy as much advertising or purchase as often.
Then there is the fact that many newsletters that
are also published to RSS feeds have wider reach. I've found that
it's worth the extra money to appear in both versions - ask your
favorite publisher for details. For publications that allow this,
it's normally only 20% extra
Save money by retaining visitors
You've probably heard a thousand times that it
is easier to sell repeatedly to an existing client than it is
to find a new one. So how do you get that visitor to come back,
and possibly buy again?
A constant stream of new information on a particular
topic work is enough to keep people buying a daily newspaper,
subscribing to a magazine or viewing a television series.
Frequent updates can work the same way for your
site.
With bloggers being named People of the Year by
Time magazine last year, if you're not blogging in 2005, you're
going to be left in the dust by other sites in your industry that
do. It doesn't have to take up a lot of extra time, and the time
it does takes is made up for in the money you can save.
About the Author: Read more about how a blog can
help you get spidered by search engines within 24 hours at http://www.freetraffictip.com/gbc
