Blogging has become the most innovative marketing strategy since the creation of the Internet and the print sales letter. Blogs are great for online marketing campaigns because they are interactive communities for business owners and their audiences.
Blogs, mostly have been used as substitutes or supplements to websites because they are user-friendly, easy to manage and update, and more cost effective than traditional websites. Most blogs are free, while customized websites can cost thousands of dollars to create and manage. If a business owner has limited funds, she should visit www.wordpress.com, www.livejournal.com or www.blogger.com. I prefer www.wordpress.com because the interface is simple to use. Users also have the option to use a free sub-domain name (www.yourdomain.wordpress.com), select a new domain name through www.wordpress.com (www.yourdomain.com) for $15.00 per year, or map and update the name servers for an existing domain name for $10.00 per year that was purchased through a company such as www.godaddy.com.
Monetizing and Growing your Business:
- Add Google’s famous Adsense program is one of the most common ways to monetize a blog. Revenue is generated on either per click or per impression basis. Advertisements are content relevant and often times geographically specific.
- Sell e-books, courses, reports, or tele-seminars is another way many businesses generate revenue.
- Ask for donations to help support and maintain the site.
- Create an electronic newsletter. Publish it as frequently as you like – one to seven times per week.
- Add affiliate products in the newsletter. www.clickbank.com offers a wide variety
- Large companies offer affiliate programs such as 5% or 10% commission on everything sold through the site. In fact, if you publish a blog on fashion, affiliate with www.bluefly.com or www.bloomingdales.com for extra revenue. To find affiliate programs, visit www.hydranetwork.com, www.commissionjunction.com and www.linkshare.com or contact the company directly.
If you need help building you brand and blog, contact Kristin Marquet at km@marquet-communications.com
