Which Type Of Blog Is Right For You?
When it comes to commercial blogging, there is more than one way to skin the mountain lion. Here are a few types of blogs that others have set up in the past:
- Made For AdSense - A Made For AdSense blog is a blog that you set up specifically to showcase AdSense ads. The content is there to attract organic search visitors for specific keywords and doesn’t really have to be that great. In fact, most of these blogs do not have good content at all because the owners really want their visitors to click the ads.
- Affiliate Blogs - An affiliate blog is set up to specifically promote one or more affiliate programs. You do want the content on these blogs to great content. You are not really selling the products that you are affiliates for. You are pre-selling. Your goal is to spark an interest in the product and drive traffic to the affiliate program’s website. When a visitor from your blog makes a purchase then you are paid a commission because your link has your own special affiliate ID code embedded in it.
- Onsite Company Blog - Your ownsite company blog is designed to be the face and voice of your company. You want good, solid content on this blog because every post is a separate web page that gives organic searchers a chance to find your company. Great for SEO, these blogs add fresh, daily content to your existing static website and that invites the search engine spiders to your site to crawl it more often.
- Offsite Promotional Blog - This type of blog is similar to a company blog, but it has a standalone web address. You definitely want to update this blog every day and add fresh content daily. Best used as a link building tool, the offsite promotional blog is very effective in driving traffic to individual pages on your company website. Through each blog post and through sidebar links, you can drive traffic right to where you want it to go.
- Product Promotions Blog - This type of blog is designed to promote one specific product or suite of products. You want the blog to have a name associated with the product that you are promoting. It can be “sponsored” by your company or be disassociated with your company, but its main goal is to promote the one product or family of products that you wish to promote. It can be on your company’s static website or have its own standalone web address.
- Industry Dialogue Blog - The Industry Dialogue Blog is designed to address important topics within your industry. The focus can be on your competitors, partners, and/or suppliers, or it can be on the industry itself. You can encourage dialogue within your industry or simply use the blog as a platform for addressing important topics within the industry.
- Customer Service Blog - A customer service blog is usually a part of your company’s website, but it doesn’t need to be. It’s primary focus is on delivery timely news on aspects related to your customers. It should communicate items of interest that any customer or prospect would be interested in and be used to provide better service and to solicit feedback on your service from your customers.
- Department Blog - Sometimes you have a department head who wants to address issues related to his department. In today’s complex, global business environment, you may have people within your department in different geographic regions who need to receive the same information. You can communicate that information through a department blog.
A blog can be used for any purpose, really. The important thing is that you communicate with the right audience in the right way. Need help setting up your blog? Just let us know.
