If you are new to blogging chances are you may be unsure of what the
best and most effective approach to gaining maximum benefit from time
and effort invested. A primary goal for blogging should be to gain
visibility, credibility and market reach for your efforts.
The following are some easy to apply strategies that will get you well
on your way to becoming a competent blogger.
Determine Your Purpose
The first thing you need to do is determine what is the purpose of your
blog. Are you blogging for fun or is this a viable part of your overall
branding and marketing strategy?
Here are some common reasons for having a blog:
Establish expert status
Keep in touch with clients
Reach a global market
Blow off some steam
Create your online personality
Blog Consistently
To be effective you need to blog on a fairly regular basis. Your
postings can be short, but need to be relative to your purpose. Many
bloggers post information from other sites as a way to keep their
readers informed on a particular topic. Doing this makes your
job pretty easy. Other than doing a few google searches for information
and posting the information, there is not a lot for you to do.
The advantage to this is it's fast and relatively easy. The
disadvantage is you are not establishing your own expertise if this is
the only type of posting you do.
Why not offer a bit of both?
Driving Visitors
There are a number of effective ways to get people to view your blog.
One is to use key words relative to your market and industry. Whenever
you post something you want to include those key words.
Next you can announce to your opt-in subscribers you have a blog and
give them the blog address.
You can add your blog address to your sig (signature) file that you use
at the end of your email messages.
Write articles specific to your market and industry. Add a resource box
at the end of your article with a link back to your blog. If you
article is of value there is a very good chance readers will visit your
blog.
Subscribers to Your Blog
Make it easy for people to sign up for your blog.
Utilize the power of RSS feeds. People can subscribe to the feed and
receive updates as you add new content to your blog.
Keywords
Keywords are a way to improve your search engine ranking. Choosing the
right words is extremely important. Keywords are what lead search
engines to your blog.
Before you begin blogging think of the keywords you need to include
specific to your market and industry. The more targeted your list the
more effective your postings.
Analyze your business and your market. Think of any words that your
readers might search on to find you that relate to your
company, industry, product or service.
For example my market uses words like:
Making money on the Internet
Internet marketing for authors
Internet marketing for speakers
Internet marketing for consultants
Self Publishing
Writing
Authorship
This is only a partial list. However, it is a very broad and general
list. The more targeted I can be the more my ideal client will find me
in a search.
The way to narrow your target words down is to use a keyword selector
tool. A reliable selector tool will help you to narrow the search by
indicating how often people search on specific word combinations.
Two resources you can check are WordTracker and Overture. To learn more
go to:
WordTracker offers a free trial product. This is a great first step.
Become familiar with the product before you decide to purchase it.
In Conclusion
Blogging can be a fun experience and it can create great opportunities
when done correctly, consistently and conscientiously.
Kathleen Gage is an Internet Marketing Advisor for Speakers, Trainers,
Authors, Consultants and Entrepreneurs. Access her eBook The Truth
about Making Money on the Internet at StreetSmartsMarketing.com
