The word “blog” is one of the most popular words to look up on the web because so few people really understand what a blog is. Simply put, a blog is a weblog with the “we” dropped. Whether it’s a personal or business blog, it’s an online log maintained to inform an audience. The best part about blogs is that anyone can make one.
As a marketing tool, blogs have some unique characteristics. First, blogs are easy – easier than a newsletter for example. They can be added to and updated at any time from anywhere. Second blogs have a long shelf-life. They stay on the web until you take them off. This contrasts to a newsletter which has a very short life – you send it out, it might get read, and then it’s gone. Unless you’re just posting “deglossed” marketing materials, blogs have credibility. Whether for personal or business blogs, viewers expect to see in a blog, and most blogging provides, a frank, often personal, perspective on some topic. Maintain Viewers respect this. a good blog and your credibility goes up! Blogs are also a good source of fresh content for your site and search engines love them. Lastly, blogs can be easily syndicated. This means that blog content can be siphoned into RSS “feeds” that viewers subscribe to in order to stay current with a blog’s content.
If don’t have a blog associated with your web site, now might be a good time to start blogging. Don’t think that just because you do email promotions that a blog is unnecessary. Blogs and email have completely different dynamics – there’s no confusion about blogs being SPAM (by definition, they’re ‘opt-in’), they have a long shelf-life, and actually, blogs AND email work quite well together.
