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Blogging for fun and profit

In this article we discuss a relatively new online pasttime – blogging – and the web tool that makes it possible – the Blog (but by the time you read this article, it will be old news).

A blog (originally known as a ‘web log’) is traditionally a systems of web pages where a person or ‘blogger’ logs thoughts, comments, articles, links to other sites, etc.- basically things he/she finds interesting.

In other words, it is a series of web pages that contain brief, chronologically arranged items of information.

Blogs are in many cases replacing web sites. This is due, in part, because many people want a web site to communicate with in this manner. They like the periodic updates and the ability to add their comments. Blogs are as 'live' as the Internet gets.

But back when blogs first started becoming popular, they were in add-ons or extras to web sites – and not considered replacements for them.

Actually, the current structure of how a blog works probably indicates that they won’t be replacing business web sites at all (or at least any time soon).

Most business web sites typically don’t communicate with their customers or clients on the level that a blog does - it is much more intimate and personalized than most web sites.

But the smarter businesses are coming around to that way of thinking.

In fact, for the really sharp businesses who continue to think out of the box, it’s a great opportunity to gain a competitive advantage by starting dialogs with their customers and clients and prospects. It's clearly a tool for developing and strengthening their relationships with those that might do business with them.

Often updated daily, blogs reflect the personality of the author (or the business identity of the company they represent). They are usually maintained by one person so as to keep the ‘flavor’ of the personality consistent.

Blogs can also provide a series of annotated links to items such as news stories, and often include personal rants, favorite links, audio and even video clips.

If there’s a downside to blogs, it’s pretty much the same for web pages, too. The biggest problem is when these tools are used to provide inaccurate info and lies, under the guise of ‘free speech’. It's extremely easy to hide behind the curtain of online anonymity and say things that we normally would say to someone's face.

So when emotions flare, egos get bruised, or there's an excessive build-up of unexpected hot air, some people take the 'freedom of speech' concept beyond common sense, social decency, and basic logic, and go into attack mode with their blog as a weapon.

It's the old, 'pen is mightier than the sword' thing.

Back in the day, the first bloggers were often people who were involved in information technologies, web design, or other tech-related fields. But the popularity of blogging has now become much more of a simple tool that a less technical person can confront and get quickly acclimated to.

In fact, in the hands of online marketers, blogging is a serious traffic generating tool. The average online surfer never notices what's really going on when they visit most business blogs - not that it's necessarily a bad thing. It's just that online traffic - visitors going to web sites - is what online marketing is trying to make happen. They want to control and guide this as much as possible.

For most, a personal blog is often a mixture of what is happening in a person's life and their interactions with others. It may include observations on certain types of web sites or topics of the blog owners personal interest, acting as a kind of hybrid diary.

Business blogs can be used to introduce products to potential customers, and update product or service info for existing customers – among many other things which I’ll get into in just a minute.

People have maintained blogs long before the official term was coined, and the trend seems to have gained momentum with the introduction of various automated publishing systems - most notably Blogger at blogger.com.

Thousands of people use services such as Blogger.com, Wordpress and others to simplify and accelerate their online blog publishing process.

Blogging as a marketing activity

Blogs offer a huge marketing potential for any businesses. They are highly strategic tools that can strengthen customer and client relationships, share knowledge, increase collaboration, and improve branding.

In addition, blogs can represent the real voice of the web site and put a face or personality to it.

Even for a business, a blog can take the form of a company diary, a news service, or summaries of and links to current news items on a topic

It can function as a collection of links to other web sites, a series of book or product reviews, reports on project activities, the progress of research and development efforts, and much more.

Smart businesses can use blogs as tools to more effectively advertise their products and services and do it in a much less conspicuous manner.

One of the most popular ways of utilizing a blog is by allowing it to function as an ongoing discussion forum for customers of your products and services.

In this case, the webmaster can give posting rights to other people – visitors and customers and allow them to make comments at will (although for the above-mentioned reasons of outspokenness, visitor's comments would probably need to be reviewed before being published to the web page.

Some blogs are set up in such a way that only the owner or the owner and certain other people have posting rights, but anyone else can add comments to the posts.

Blogs that are used in conjunction with newsletters present immense marketing possibilities:

- Articles placed in newsletters can be linked to a blog, which drives traffic, generates leads and creates an ongoing conversation.

- You can also offer a bidirectional forum to your customers, clients and prospects so that you can gather personal and end-user opinions of your products and services.

- Multiple blogs can serve different purposes. One blog can be for product or service feedback and ideas for improvement, while another might be for testimonials.

- Your company experts could start a blog and become the next industry experts, while helping your business edge out your competition.

- Through an interactive forum your blog could attract existing and prospective customers into an exchange of information and thoughts.

 

How do you create a blog?

Most blogs are now set up and operated by using software or services designed specifically for this purpose. There are a number of organizations that provide blog software and also provide free hosting space to serve up a blog making it publicly accessible on the Internet.

In some cases there are also commercial versions of the free blog software and these versions often provide more advanced features. Some blog software is available only as commercial software.

Another choice bloggers have is in being able to create and maintain their blog using free software or one of the free blog services, and then use FTP (File Transfer Protocol) to upload their blog to their own web site.

There are many blogging software programs available and easily found on the Internet. One of the most popular (and free) is one mentioned earlier - http://www.blogger.com.

Most blogging software simplifies the process of web site creation. However, they can require basic knowledge of FTP, web site page structures and a few technical terms and details. If you're going to create an advanced blog you may find you need at least a basic knowledge of HTML.

But with all the info available for getting a blog online, there’s really no excuse for not learning more about blogging and setting up one of your own – especially if you’re in a business that needs more leads, prospects and sales.

As with all marketing tools, determine your strategy before going to the trouble of setting it up. Your strategy should dictate how the blog will operate and interact with visitors AND how it will work to build your bottom line.

Without a real strategy in place, your blog could easily and very quickly become a hodgepodge of confusion that scares more people away than it does pull them closer to your business.

So start your own blog and get it working for your business. It can take a little time getting it set up, but once that's done it can work seamlessly with the rest of your web site or newsletter. Just don't use it to duplicate information you're using elsewhere.

Until next time…

Warmly,

Vince