Marketing With Blogs - Part 3
Copyright © 2005 Priya Florence Shah
In part
1 and part 2 of
this article series on marketing with blogs, I discussed the
reasons why blogs are excellent tools for marketing, and provided
some tips for using your blog to sell your products and services
online.
This article continues with more tips on using
your blog to brand yourself and boost your reputation online.
Tip #4: Use Your Blog To Inform, Share and Entertain
The reasons why people read your blog is because
they want three things.
1. They want information
2. They want to be entertained
3. They want to get to know you better
Blogs allow us to combine all these possibilities
in a single medium.
Use your personality, opinions, expressions
as a way of drawing readers to your content, and create good
information to keep them coming back.
Multimedia blogs are especially good for this
purpose – because they entertain and that adds a viral
component to your marketing.
Remember to always be yourself. Don’t
put on a fake persona. If you hire someone to blog for you be
upfront about it.
#5: Become A Source Of News In Your Industry
Blogging culture thrives on linking to other
blogs or news sources.
If you want to be part of that culture, benefit
from it and grow with it, you need to listen to what others
are saying, form your own opinions and comment on that.
Your readers will start looking at you as a
resource of news and opinions about the industry you represent
and that will build your brand equity.
But always remember to give proper attribution
to your sources and be clear when you are quoting from someone
or you could get into trouble.
#6: Use Your Blog To Network
Networking helps you build up a list of people
who know and trust you enough to refer business to you.
By linking with others, whether A-list bloggers
or your own peers, you can build your own influence and reputation
in your blogosphere.
In part
4 of this article series, I provide tips on using your blog
help you boost your marketing ROI and visibility online.
Priya Florence Shah is a former journalist, editor and online publisher and content marketing consultant. She runs a business blog consulting firm that offers blogging services to help you brand yourself and your business online.
