Blog Marketing
Blogging has been all the rage since the last few years. But except a few handful of people, no one has cracked the code of using blogs to promote websites. Here you will learn how to use the power of blogging to become famous and generate sales.
How to Start a Blog
Here are the 3 steps I use to start and run a blog:
- Go open a blog account at Blogger or TypePad.
(Blogger is free while TypePad costs money. But TypePad is easier to use, better for search engines and has an inbuilt "trackback feature." If you know HTML and designing, then go with Blogger, as you'll need to know HTML to update the blog template there. (If you do choose Blogger, make sure that you host the blog on your own webservers and not on Blogger's servers. There have been horror stories of entire blogs getting deleted when they are hosted on Blogger servers.) If you don't want to spend a lot of time and effort in managing your blog, go with TypePad.)
- Both Blogger and TypePad offer "RSS feeds." These are special URLs that end with .xml or .rss or .atom. These RSS feeds are used for syndication. People can input your blog RSS feed into their RSS softwares and they will then be notified whenever you post something new on your blog. (Read more about RSS feeds here.)
Once you have your RSS feed url in hand, then go to FeedBurner and use your feed to open a new account. FeedBurner will then give you a HTML code. Paste this code in your blog template. People will now be able to click on your RSS feed button and start getting notified immediately - whenever you post something new.
- This third step is optional. Go to FeedBlitz and use your RSS feed to create a new optin form. FeedBlitz will then create a form for you. Paste this form code on your blog template. Now your readers can subscribe to your blog with their email ids. Whenever something new is posted on your website, they'll receive an email notification.
You could skip this step and send blog notifications manually to your entire autoresponse newsletter list too.
Once your blog has a neat template design and the RSS feeds on them, then its time to think about what to write in your blogs.
What to Write in your Blog
You should have two distinct strategies for writing for your newsletter and your blog.
- Your newsletter should be about facts
- Your blog can be about your opinions
You can use a lot of "I think..." in your blogs. While in your newsletters, its better to have "This research shows..." kind of stuff. This is no hard and fast rule. But it helps to keep your newsletter and blog from being similar. Because if your blog and newsletter both look similar and have similar content, then there is no need for one of them, is there?
How often should you post on your blog? If you have the time, you can post daily too. But try to post once a week minimum.
You could also use a lot of pictures on your blog. In fact, my experience shows that people will stay on your blog for a longer duration if there are pictures on it. One cool place to get royalty free pictures for $1 is: iStockPhoto.
Oh, and it goes without saying: promote your autoresponse newsletter through your blog. Add a link to the index page of your website where the autoresponse form lies. Or directly add the autoresponse newsletter form in your blog template.
How to Promote your Blog
Here is one observation for you: it is very very hard to get people to link to your website from theirs. But it is extremely easy to get people to link to your blog from their blogs!
On most blogs, people will add a list of all their favourite blogs too. If you get your blog into those lists, you'll have a steady dribble of people visiting your blog. And from their, subscribing to your autoresponse newsletter and buying your products.
Here is how you get into these blog lists. You post high quality posts on your blog. And then you create your own "favourite blog list." Link to all the blogs that you like in your hot market through your blog. And then contact these people and let them know how much you appreciate their blogs and you've linked to them from your blog. If your blog is good, they'll post a link to it too.
Blog Pinging
One easy way to promote your blog is to ping your RSS feed every time after you've just published a new post. Go to Pingomatic and ping your RSS feed. This will add your blog posts t all the major blog search engines online!
Advanced Blog Marketing Techniques
Here are a few advanced blog marketing techniques. They are not suitable for everyone.
- Create controversies with your blog. "The entire village gathers to see 2 drunks fight." All you have to do is pick a fight. Chose a side on any current affairs topic in your hot market. And you'll automatically create a controversy.
- Convert your blog posts into articles and use the tricks shown in the Article Submission section to promote your blog.
- Start a trend with your blog. Swap posts from other bloggers in return for them publishing your post on their blogs. Go on blog tours. Critique other blogs. Interview other bloggers. Do things on your blog that discuss other blogs, so that these other blogs will link to you.
Lets take a look at another powerful and free marketing technique:
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