Business Blogs

A "blog" is short for the term Weblog and stands for any frequent, sequential online presentation of personal thoughts and Web links. It's like a journal, a diary or a "captain's log." A business blog may include commentary about the latest technologies or marketing strategies, or share expertise, or post questions and answers. Blog writers and editors often invite readers to respond and post their own remarks.

Believe it or not, it IS possible to make money via blogs. It works like this: the blogger posts a blog and the audience reads it. Some folks even respond to the blogger's comments by posting their own comments. When they post a comment, they usually include their e-mail address or Web domain name.

And thus, a link opportunity occurs, connecting all the other readers of this blog with the person who posted the comment. Those other folks follow the link to a new Web site. Make sense?

Let's look at it from your own business perspective

Imagine that a business authority, who is somewhat relevant to your business, posts blogs on her site to discuss topics your target prospects are eager to read. If they are indeed eager, then this blogger has done a good job of reaching them and has perhaps even built a strong community of followers.

So this is your opportunity to join in. You could post a comment on this authority's blog and include a link to your site. The readers-your target prospects-might read your comment and click through to your site. Voila!

You've captured them.

There are some "good blogger" guidelines to follow so this can work for you.

First, your comment would have to be all about the blogger's topic and your reaction to it. It can NOT be about your business! That's a big jungle no-no. So, if the blogger says something like. "You can't find good customer service anymore in [your business category]...", you could say something like, "I agree with you. It sure is tough. We even heard about [some dreadful thing] happening last week. One way we found to overcome that in our business was by [something your business did or found that worked.] If you want to know about this, feel free to contact me at [your e-mail address, followed by your domain name]."

See how we purposely steered away from bragging about how clever you are or why all the readers should flock to your site? A blogging comment needs to be neutral as far as promoting your business is concerned. Just make it a natural part of the blogger's discussion.

By the way, as a bonus-all this new blog content is being picked up by search engines and could improve your organic search engine rankings as well.

In short, blogs are useful for two things: the human conversations (and business leads) they can generate, and the "indexing" they do in search engines.

For more information, our Book "9 Easy Steps to Planning a Profitable Web Site" is available for only $29.95. You can order it directly from the Neuland Business Campus Book Store.

Next week we will talk about the benefits of a Podcast. Until then have a fun week, C S Wurzberger