Have you figured out blogs yet? Don’t know exactly what a blog is and how it can help your business? Would you like to figure out where your target market is hanging out on the internet, and attract free traffic by joining in the conversation appropriately through blogging, especially if you have no blog of your own?
To quote Business Week: “Social Media Will Change Your Business. Look past the yakkers, hobbyists, and political mobs. Your customers and rivals are figuring blogs out. Our advice: Catch up… or catch you later.” Feb 20, 2008.
If you’re wanting to develop your own internet marketing presence for your business, you may have heard that social marketing is a good place to start, even an essential component of your marketing arsenal. However there are lots of misconceptions surrounding blogs and social marketing, suggesting the only way to attract your target audience is to have your own blog.
Discover in this article however, how to use blogging to your advantage without breaking the bank and participate in the conversation to attract your target audience for FREE!
Don’t know what a blog is?
A blog is simply a journal filled with articles on a specific topic like network marketing, cars, health products and almost anything else you can imagine to which anyone can contribute. Whilst some of the blog articles are written by companies, many of them are written by individuals who have a passion for their topic and can provide lots of valuable content.
Whether you decide to comment on other people’s blogs or create your own, consider always that a blog is essentially an online discussion which offers its participants the ability to comment on what they’ve read thus creating a dynamic online conversation.
Consider that we humans are social creatures and love to contribute and be part of a conversation – especially someone else’s! It also gives us a sense of value when we contribute something which benefits someone else.
Topics which create and encourage conversation are more likely to engage readers and make them re-visit a blog in future. Bloggers love for you to comment on what they’ve written as we said earlier, so it’s a win-win situation. The more people who participate, the more interesting the blog, the more you get in front of a new audience!
A good idea is to email people a link to a blog because blogs are seen as unbiased information. Bloggers love it when you borrow their content and will often reward you by linking to your website or even featuring you in a future blog post or article.
But what if you don’t know how to set up your own blog or even know what to say in a blog post?
Keep in mind that most blogs are set up so that a moderator needs to approve your comments or post BEFORE it’s viewable to other readers. Be careful about how you bring up your business name or website. If you appear to be blatantly marketing yourself, your comment won’t be added and you may be blocked from posting their in future.
Bear in mind that blogging can be hard work – around 60 percent of blogs haven’t been updated in the last 2 months! One of the biggest reasons is because people realise they are essentially talking to themselves. Writing the blog is the easy part; the hard part is getting people to read them. Blogs have to be marketed just as you would a website or newsletter.
Why Not Tap Into The Audiences of Other Blogs
This is where it’s a good idea to find blogs which relate to your target audience and business where you can comment without actually having your own blog. In order to get in front of your target audience, you have to think like them so ask yourself:
- Where does my target market hang out on the internet?
- What are their major challenges?
- What are their most burning questions?
- How can I help?
- What stories in the media are affecting their industry right now?
- What do they care about?
Once you’ve answered these questions you’ll probably start thinking of many more: keep writing! Once you’re satisfied with your list, start searching the blog directories.
For starters, go to Google and type in “blog: insert your topic here” and see what comes up.
You may want to visit the Open Directory Project, the largest human-edited directory online which has a comprehensive list of blog directories. In addition, some of the other major blog directories are Technorati, BlogCatalog and Blogarama.
Realise This:
The average time spent on social networking sites grew from 3 to 5.5 hours per month in the last year alone. Do you think your target audience may be among them? Learn their language. Find out what their problems are and become part of the conversation. As we highlighted earlier, catch up, or catch you later.
And just in case this all seems a little overwhelming and you’re unsure how to add ‘your say’, consider this:
You are, at this moment, more valuable than you can ever imagine. Believe it or not, the odds are that you already possess specific knowledge and ideas people want.
Write about your niche in a helpful, conversational manner. Give away tips and strategies others can implement. Don’t worry if you think you don’t know much about your niche. The more you learn, the more you can help. Provided you are committed to your own development and success, you will always know more than someone else!
Best of all, sharing your knowledge will demonstrate your expertise and establish your credibility. What more could you want?
