Bloggers R Us

Every business, regardless of its size, needs a blog. I know what you’re thinking: “But I have a professional image to uphold. How can a blog possibly attract new customers and how can it provide them with the information they need?” The answer is simple: A blog can be one of the most decisive public relations tools in your marketing and branding tool kit. Read on and I’ll educate you on the basics of blogs.What is a blog?The term “blog” is slang for “web log.” Wikipedia defines a blog as “a web site where entries are written in chronological order and are commonly displayed in reverse chronological order.” The word can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog. To get a feel for the wide use of blogs, consider the following: In September 2007, blog search engine Technology tracked more than 106 million blogs. Some notable corporations that use blogs are HP, Google, Microsoft and ImageWork Studio.Myths and FactsNo doubt the last thing you need is a lecture on the latest Web 2.0 strategies. However, I should correct a few common misconceptions about blogs, as well as why web design companies use them as an effective method for reaching out to their audience.MythsBlogs are used only by teenagers. You need to spend many hours every day to maintain a blog. The word can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog. To get a feel for the wide use of blogs, consider the following: In September 2007, blog search engine Technology tracked more than 106 million blogs. Some notable corporations that use blogs are HP, Google, Microsoft and ImageWork Studio. You need to know HTML and have other coding skills to blog.FactsBlogs allow a company to control the editorial content of the web site while restricting/blocking users’ comments. Blogs can be updated as often as you wish. But to make them more effective and valuable to your audience, update them often. Blogs require no knowledge of HTML or special coding. There are numerous blogging software packages on the market that are free. Blogs allow companies to quickly get information out to customers, unlike traditional communication methods. Blogs are an inexpensive way to effectively communicate and share information with your audience. Blogs comprise text and external links, making them search engine-friendly.Benefits of Corporate BloggingIn January 2007, Forrester released a research study centered on “The ROI of Blogging – The ‘Why’ and ‘How’ Of External Blogging Accountability” by Charlene Li and Chloe Stromberg.According to the study, some of the benefits of corporate blogging are: Greater brand visibility in mainstream media on the Web Word-of-mouth advertising Improved brand perception Instantaneous consumer feedback Increased sales efficiency Fewer customer service-driven PR blowupsThe OutcomeConsumers are better educated today because of the vast amounts of information available on the Internet. Not only will a blog convey information to your target demographic faster and cheaper than traditional means, but when coupled with search engine benefits, brand visibility, and a value-based proposition, a blog should be an essential part of your marketing platform.

Posting on blogs is easy. Getting blog traffic is not. There are a lot of blogs out there and only so many blog readers to go around. If you are thinking about posting on blogs or if you are already posting on blogs but not getting the kind of blog traffic you want, there are a few things you can do to make your blogs more interesting than some of the other blogs you are competing with.
Research Prior to Posting on Blogs
Blogs that get a lot of blog traffic have one thing in common: they cover topics that people are interested in reading about. To make sure your topics will be of interest to the general public it is a good idea to research various topics before posting on blogs. You can perform general searches on the Internet to see what’s popular and what’s not. You can also read other blogs that are similar to yours. If they have high blog traffic and lots of comments, they are probably hitting on good topics.
Consider Your Tone before Posting on Blogs
Blogs are different than news stories. People read blogs because they want to hear opinions along with facts. And as crazy as it might sound, people want to hear YOUR thoughts. Don’t be afraid to state your case or add commentary when posting to blogs. Personal opinions, tone, and writing style all help to draw in regular blog traffic. So, consider these things carefully before posting on blogs. They will have a huge impact on your success.
You Can Get More Blog Traffic with Short Posts
Posting on blogs is slightly different than posting on other types of web pages. Blog readers like short posts–really short posts. Short blogs are fun and easy to read. Long blogs, on the other hand, look intimidating and time consuming. If you want people to actually read what you are posting on blogs or if you’d like to see repeat blog traffic, it is a good idea to present as much information as you can in a limited number of words. A good rule of thumb when posting on blogs is to keep each post under 250 words.
Think About Blog Traffic Posting On Blogs
Quality doesn’t always equal success when posting on blogs. There are lots of good blogs out there that don’t get a lot of blog traffic. The reason is because nobody knows they exist. You can avoid this pitfall by thinking about blog traffic before you begin posting on blogs. Things to consider specifically include keywords and keyword phrases. If you can use natural keyword placement in the blog’s title and throughout the body of the text, your posts stand a better chance of making it into search engine rankings and a better chance of drawing more blog traffic.
Always Think About Your Readers When Posting On Blogs
When posting on blogs nothing is more important than your blog traffic (a.k.a. your audience.) Some of the things readers like to see on blogs include: snappy headlines, bulleted or formatted lists, links, and information that is easy to scan.

Read www.BloggingMix.com for more Blogging Tips to help you improve your blogging!Apart from the chat rooms, instant messengers and electronic mails created for communication and dialogue beyond turf are the emerging innovations that help man build opportunities for interaction. The need for a personalized and human face aspect of building online communities is slowly changing the technological landscape of the Internet.Blogs / “weblogs” or blogging are the newest gift of Internet technology to people all over the world. These are updated posts, crop up entries or personalized life snippets, of mundane or bizarre in nature. For most, a “blog” is a personal, unedited, and authentic journal meant to be shared in an online community. Blog site is a place where bloggers can publish anything; his thoughts, feelings, photos, special events, experiences, comments on issues and so on. It is more of an online diary with videos, links, documents, newsletters and opinions on just about any topics you are interested.Blogs are made to welcome the insights and opinions of all and therefore, should not be written to sound intimidating and too formal. This kind of blog is a sure way to put off the readers. In the basics of blogging, conversational tone would be more appropriate to reach the desired audience.Blogging is all about individuals reaching out to other individuals. Having a blog has its own set of advantages:- Freedom of Expression. If you want people to hear you out and give their own opinion, this is the best way to create a line of communication.- Networking is at its best. Having a blog is a good platform for exchanging genuine ideas from consumers to you as marketer of a certain product. Sound opinion and point of view is better than just showing the price quote.- Excellent advertising platform. Blogging is a new way to advertise products, a refreshing change from the traditional advertising outlets and it is cost-effective.- Gauging public opinion on products and services. The key is nice and catchy titles with new ideas presented in your content. This is an assurance of quick and repeated responses from your readers. Blogs is an excellent spot for the exchange of ideas between the seller and the consumer. Good for measuring public opinion regarding services and products, even political and business matters alike.- Useful tool for internal communication. This will help your company to build a knowledge-based community of employees. Also good for harnessing employee relations and identifying human resource issues in advance.- Other benefits like search engine optimization (SEO) will help your blogs to be seen often by as many people as you wish. This is very good exposure for your products and services.Many blog hosting services are available on the Internet. But the basic question is which one of the services will be the best to start off your business blog program- Business people are usually clueless to recent technological innovations which would help them maximize their marketing potentials. For these beginners, it is best to study first the services offered by blog hosts. An ineffective business blogging program may damage marketing opportunities instead of enriching them.A company may decide to do the following depending on its capacity and needs: 1) Host their own blog service, 2) Pay someone else to host the service, or 3) Setup a “blog aggregator page” and ask the employees to select their blog hosting services individually. There are paid and free services available for individuals.For business blogs, they are required to have the latest blogging features; if not, this will prevent them from maximizing their marketing, public relations and SEO potentials.Keep in mind that blogs should have the following basic essentials:COMMENTS. Welcoming comments provide opportunity for dialogue. In business blogs, they are a good customer feedback mechanism. This helps develop better customer relations based from loyalty and trust. Blogging is an innovative way to converse with your customers.TRACKBACK. This helps in maximizing company and product exposure. Through this service, consumers can get back to you for more posts and updates without the difficulty of locating you. If your blog is popular in a specific online community chances are links going back to your blog site are everywhere online, other blog sites or even websites.CATEGORIES AND TAGS. These both help in classifying blog searches for ease of navigation and on site search. Categories act as libraries because it classifies posts by subject matter such as business, distance learning, e-commerce, online auctions, etc. Tags, help in the classification, especially in the blog search engine Technorati. Possible customers and new clients locate blogs about certain topics of interest by just clicking the tags.RSS FEED. Really Simple Syndication is the feed from your blog that is sent out over the internet, and collected through the various newsreaders and aggregators.If your company is to establish a business blogging program, considerable options should be made available by the hosting companies shortlisted for the services. Free blog hosting services are popular but they are much appropriate for individual online journals. Paid blog hosting services offer unlimited packages best for your company’s needs. You may want to suggest checking out some blogs that use the host first, read and examine their layout and design. Another important thing to consider is a reliable technical support the host has.After, choosing the blog host, a team should be ready to plan the design and structure of the blog: The team should:- create a style that meets the needs of the audience;- establish an open, credible tone;- schedule weekly updating of blog – ideally, a few times a week;- include weblinks of other website and blogs;- blog post should be in the “first person;”- focus on the business blog objective; and,- maintain an honest, engaging conversational quality.Remember, whatever the look, style and content found on your blog is a reflection of you and your company.MORE BLOGGING TIPSRound I – 50 Directories Where You Can Submit Your Blog For Free With NO RECIPROCAL LINK REQUIRED!Round II – 50 Directories Where You Can Submit Your Blog For Free With NO RECIPROCAL LINK REQUIRED!