Blogging Strategy –
Strategies and Reasons for having a Blog
By Doc Pratt
Here’s something you need to remember: new blogs
are being created every second. You really want to have the name of your
expertise as part of the blog name, so you want move on that as quickly
as possible. A lot of blog companies offer free trials, so go through
the process of signing up for one in order to see if the name you want
is available. The longer you wait, the smaller your chances of getting
the name you want.
So the first part about the blog strategy is to tie
up the name, then work on your overall strategy of how you will use it.
There are almost as many strategies and reasons for
having a blog as there are bloggers in the world. This is by no means an
exhaustive list. As a matter of fact, it will probably be obsolete by
the time this is posted. Blogs for the most part are maintained by
individuals and generally fall into one of two categories: personal or
professional. Some examples of personal blogs are people who want to
rant and rave on a particular subject matter. Others may use their blog
to communicate to a specific audience. Blogs can be a great way for a
person or group of people to journal their activities on a trip or some
other venture. Church groups who go on a mission trip, as long as they
can access the Internet, can upload pictures and journal entries
documenting the trip. This also gives people back home a way to
experience the trip.
Blogs can and have been used to educate people and
to present or support a cause. They can be used as a place to exchange
ideas pertaining to like interests including hobbies. Since comments can
be added to articles, there can be interaction with other people. The
downside to comments is that sometimes the comment is basically spam and
an attempt to promote someone else’s blog.
From a CRM perspective, blogs are an excellent way
to communicate and deliver timely information to customers and clients.
You can use it to inform and educate them about any aspect of your
products or services, anything from how-to instructions to tips and
tricks. How you use it depends on your business and your industry. The
important thing is that you do use it in a way where you are providing a
better service.
Some people have blogs simply to make money. Google
has a program called Adsense where they will insert ads in your blog;
and if someone clicks on one of the ads, you get paid. The ads placed,
for the most part, will relate to the topic of the blog. There are
people who make quite a bit of money doing that. A word of warning about
this strategy is that Google will cut you off immediately if you click
on the ads yourself. Once you’re banned from the program, you are banned
for life.
Another strategy to use to make money is to have
affiliate links. When you go to web sites and see banner ads, like for
Target, they are affiliate links. The host of the link only gets paid if
the person who clicks on the banner actually makes a purchase. The way
this works is to have affiliate links that are relevant to your blog. If
your blog is about tropical fish, then you want to have an affiliate
link to products related to tropical fish. There are a number of sites
that specialize in affiliate programs; Linkshare is a place to start.
Don’t go overboard with affiliate links, use very sparingly, and they
should support your topic
Other strategies for effective blogging are to
promote yourself personally, professionally, or to support your business
and raise the visibility. If you’re an expert in any field this is an
excellent way to make yourself more visible and be able to interact with
other people. As time goes on and you continue to post more articles,
you can start to position yourself as an expert in the subject matter of
your blog. You need to know what you are talking about, this is
something you cannot fake; but on the other hand you do not need to be
the absolute expert at the beginning. Mike Litman, the modern day
Napoleon Hill, once said “you don’t have to get a right you just have to
get it going,” in order to achieve your greatness. Don’t be a
perfectionist, get it going and perfect it later.
Some businesses actually use their blog to support
information on their website. They can interact with their customers and
get feedback about every area of their business including products and
services. Blogs are an excellent tool that can be used as an extension
to the existing web site, and in some cases, a blog can actually serve
as a primary website.
If a blog is in any way related to your business,
make sure you have a link to your business website and a link from the
site back to the blog. This will help with search engine optimization.
OK, while we’re on the topic of SEO, make sure that you use keywords
relative to your topic in the Blog Title, Blog Description and the
articles posted.
One last note about your strategy is to make sure
you give visitors a good reason to return. If your goal is to educate,
make sure that you educate your visitors. If it is to inform, make sure
you provide an abundance of information. And also be prepared to post an
article at least every two to three weeks.
Stay tuned for more to come....
TheCRMdoctor blog
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