Blogs As Marketing Tools
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Tight on advertising dollars but want the public to know your company exists? Have a great advertising and marketing campaign in place but want to take advantage of the networking ties and search engine benefits of blogs?

What once started out as a way to share one’s personal thoughts with the world has now become a great public relations and marketing tool. And with the help of free software, called Word Press, businesses can set up low-cost blogs in a matter of days.

So what makes a great marketing blog?

1. The corporate lingo and legalese is left at the office.
   Blogging in a conversational style draws readers in and makes them feel like your company really cares about them and their needs, not just your bottom dollar. And if you do a good job, the blogging community will give you free publicity by talking about your posts, linking to your blog, and sharing your words of wisdom with their readers—free of charge!
   
   
2. The design is simple and uncluttered.
   The design resembles the company’s logo and color-scheme, but looks like other blogs; not like a traditional website or corporate ad campaign.
   
   
3. Photos are included with every post.
   Photos (graphics or images) bring the point home and make the blog feel more personable.
   
   
4. Advertising is minimal and non-intrusive.
   While a company’s bottom line is to earn another buck, bloggers frown on blogs that read like commercials. The goal of your blog should be to make friends. Remember, people like to buy from companies they feel they know!
   
   
5. Links are relevant and shared without apprehension.
   Links to other bloggers, websites, and resources are used to enhance the visitor’s experience. This lets your readers know that you’re not afraid of the competition, that you’ll do whatever it takes to make them happy and well-informed.
   
   
6. Contact information is not hidden.
   Hiding your contact information makes your company appear dishonest and untrustworthy.
   
   
7. The comments feature is on.
   One of the fascinations with blogs is the ability to offer feedback and communicate with the blogger. This is also a great tool for learning more about the needs, likes, and dislikes of your customers. You can’t buy feedback like this!
   
   
8. Posts are regular and consistent.
   There’s nothing worse then building great traffic only to lose it because the last post was made weeks, if not months ago. While experts disagree as to how many posts are best, they tend to agree that blogs benefit the most when they post no less than three times a week or and mo more than once per day.
   
   
9. Posts are focused.
   It’s important to be consistent with your blog. Find your voice and stick with it. Find your theme or topic and stay with it. Discover your audience and don’t fluctuate. Remember, you can’t be everything to everyone, but you can be someone to a few and those few can make or break the bank!

• Type: Ask [Your Company Name]
  Tagline: Expert Advice On [Your Company's Product/Service]
  Content: Q&A Format. Each answer includes information about one of your products/services along with a product picture and link to the buy page. When appropriate, an answer may include an outside link to industry news, and websites or blogs that can add depth to the answer.
  
  
• Type: All About [Your Product/Service]
  Tagline: Something catchy to match your product or service.
  Content: Talk about any and everything related to your product or service while sticking to a central theme. Provide links to authority sites and tie each post into one of your products/services followed with a product picture and link to the buy page.
  
  
• Type: Genre Related [i.e. Moms on Bikes]
  Tagline: Something catchy to tie your product/service into that specific genre.
  Content: Talk about the daily ins and outs, struggles, and positives of being an individual in that genre in this day and age. Then share how your product/service can help resolve that issue followed with a product picture (preferably "in action") and link to the buy page.
  
  
• Type: Customer Focused
  Tagline: Something that says "without the customer, the product/service would be meaningless".
  Content: A Q&A segment with customers from all walks of life, success stories, etc. Include before and after images and tie each post into one of your products/services followed with a product picture and link to the buy page. (This should include a customer appreciation drawing where everyone profiled during that current year will be entered into a drawing to win a prize package worth $XX from your company.)
  
  
• Type: 250 Word Tips
  Tagline: A Tip A Day Keeps ____ Away or whatever gets your point across.
  Content: A tip a day related to one of your products/services.
  
  
• Type: Projects
  Tagline: Weekend Projects, Projects In Under An Hour, etc.
  Content: A detailed how-to article, broken up into several days. (Projects may require step-by-step pictures; which means the company will need to purchase materials and pay for time to assemble project as well as pay for the writing time. Or the company can use an employee to assemble the project, take pictures, then send to blogger to organize and write.)
  
  
• Type: Celebrity Tie In
  Tagline: ____ With The Stars
  Content: Showcase celebrities using your products or services, then include information about your products/services along with a product picture and link to the buy page. (This requires purchasing photos from a celebrity photographer or requesting permission to publish images from a magazine layout or cover.)
  * I didn't write a single word, but for a great example of a celebrity tie in check out Sparkle Like The Stars.
  
  
• Type: [Your Company Name] News
  Tagline: Get The Latest Scoop On [Your Company]
  Content: Updates about sales, awards, events, workshops, speaking engagements, trade shows your company will appear, where to find your latest advertisement, publications your company is mentioned in, shows your company will be appearing in, etc. (This requires constant updates from your marketing, advertising, and public relations staff.)