Blog marketing

Blog marketing has taken the internet world by storm. It seems like practically everyone has a blog where they can share information with anyone else. Businesses particularly like blogs because they are a powerful marketing tool. Without spending a dollar, you can advertise your company by providing information to your customers. If you are new to the blog marketing world, here are some simple ways to get started and make your blog stand out.

First, define what type of blog you want to have. Blogs are useful for just about everything, but it is a good idea to define what you want the blog to be. Do you want it to teach your customers something? Would you like it to simply be an advertising tool? There are several different types of blogs to choose from so it's a good idea to look around at some of your competitor's blogs. Find out what information they are putting out there and look for ways to improve upon it. Some companies simply do not know how to get started so they hire a blog consultant to handle it for them. A blog consultant can be helpful, but it is pretty easy to internalize the blog.

Second, one you know what type of blog you want to create, decide if you want to create the blog as a stand alone web page or as a directory of your existing web site. A stand alone page would look something like this www.blog.com and a directory would look like this www.company.com/blog. Try to get your own domain name when you create your blog, it makes it easier for your customers to find you.

Third, create a design for your blog. There are thousands of downloadable templates you can use to customize your blog. You should also install some blog software like WordPress to help you update and organize your blog.

Fourth, once the blog is up and running and you like the look of it, you are ready to start adding information to it. Do a search for the common keywords people use when they are searching for your products or company. You can easily find this information if you participate in pay-per-click marketing. Once you have a list of all the relative keywords, start writing blog posts that pertain to them. Make sure you use unique title tags so the search engines will be able to find your site. Try to create categories that pertain to your keywords. If you want, you can even have each keyword be its own separate category.

Fifth, to start getting traffic on the blog, you need to market it. Try to get a lot of inbound links to your blog. Use Twitter, Facebook, and other social networking sites to promote your blog and encourage readers to add it to their list. Don't forget to enable Google Analytics to track your site traffic. This also helps you find out which outside pages are linking to yours and you can start targeting this market.

Sixth, add videos and podcasting to your web site. This is a great way to build up more outside links and it can help increase your site traffic. Podcasting is a wonderful tool for businesses because it provides the customer with a direct connection to the company.

Seventh, you need to add new posts to your blog often. The more you post, the higher your value will be. If you have a news oriented blog, you should try and post at least 3-5 times a day. If you have an authoritative blog, try to post about 3-5 times a week. Don't just post just for information, make sure everything you are saying has high value and builds your credibility.