All Entries Tagged With: "marketing"
Can Your Niche Be Too Narrow For Blogging?
If you are looking for the right niche for your blog, you’re in luck. It’s out there. But can your niche be so narrow that blogging makes no sense?
The surest way to find out if your niche is too narrow for blogging is to do research how many people actually make searches for the keywords associated with your niche. Whether you are in real estate or sell apple-flavored toothpicks, you’ve got to find the right market for your product or service. But if only five people per month search for what you are offering you are going to have a hard time closing any sales.
Sub-niches are a great way to narrow the field for your product or service. I’ve seen this happen in many different niches. For instance, green building is one niche within the real estate niche that has become popular. The travel industry could have several sub-niches that are profitable. Many other industries can make room for a host of sub-niches as well. But you have to be careful not to narrow it down too far. Otherwise, you’ll be carving yourself out of the market.
6 Reasons Blogging Is a Good Marketing Strategy
We have our own reasons for believing that blogging is a great marketing tool, but Christine Imamshah shares a few good reasons herself:
6 Reasons Blogging Is a Good Marketing Strategy
Blogging is something that anyone can do. It is extremely popular now and there is no end in sight for its popularity. There are thousands of new blogs created every day. Now, initially when I first thought of blogging I felt is was not for me since I imagined it to be a difficult thing to do. Not so I have since found out. This article will cover six reasons why you should blog.
There are many reasons why you should blog, here are 6 of the main ones in my opinion;
1. Blogging is fast to get setup with. There are free hosts where you could get a completely free blog but it would be my recommendation that you at least get your own domain name and hosting to set up your blog. Then I would suggest you use the easiest blogging software which is WordPress to build your blog. Blogging is fun and it is relatively easy. These days with the elections upcoming there are many people political blogging and people enjoy it because it is like discussing current events with others online. The key to good blogging is unique and interesting content. You want to engage your readers so they keep coming back and interacting with you.
Yes, a blog is fairly quick to set up, but there are pitfalls. WordPress is a challenge for first time users. You can get around that by using a free blog host like Blogger.com, but I wouldn’t recommend that. You have no control over a blog on a free host. They set the guidelines and you have to follow them. Own your own domain name and you set the rules.
2. You can make money blogging. You can put a number of different types of ads on your blog, which, when clicked through and a purchase is made you get a commission. One of these would be Google AdSense ads but there are many others you can do a search for and see if they fit with your blog’s topic. You can also use your blog as a traffic director by having your affiliate links on it and directing your visitors to check those links out. Also, if you have your own products you can direct your visitors to those if you have them at a separate website or point them out at your blog.
Yes, you can make money selling ads, but if you are using a blog as a marketing tool for your business, I’d hold these types of advertising arrangements to a minimum.
3. You can build your list via your blog. If you are looking to build a list of subscribers to your blog, which you definitely should do if you are trying to make money blogging, then you can very easily do this by having an opt-in form at your blog.
I definitely recommend using your blog to build a list. Not only that, you can promote your blog with a blog promotion newsletter.
4. Blogging helps you to create your brand. Basically you are being yourself, or should be, at your blog and your readers begin to know you by this.
True. You can learn more about this at Blog Content Provider.
5. Blogging allows communication between you and your readers via the comments that they can leave about your posts. The world is all a buzz about interaction online and a blog is a perfect format to accommodate this.
Blogging is a good way to interact with the marketplace, but not all blogs necessarily have to approach it this way. It’s entirely up to you.
6. Blogging can help you keep up with a lot of the Social Networking communities as well as there are plugins that allow you to automatically update Twitter for one example. Social networking is growing rapidly these days as the new way to do online marketing. It is a different type of marketing than in the past but you definitely want to partake in some of these communities and you can also invite your friends at these places to visit your blog and leave you a comment.
Social networking is gaining in popularity and is a big benefit to blogging. If you use the Blog Content Provider basic blogging service then you’ll get daily social bookmarking thrown in.
The internet is all about interaction and blogging is a fun, fast and easy way to develop your own readership and interact with them.
To Your Success,
Chris
Christine Imamshah is a full time internet marketer. You should visit her blog here at http://www.christineimamshah.com and get a Free report about internet success. Please leave a comment also.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Christine_Imamshah
Blog marketing is still fairly new and there is no real definitive way to get it done. Learn more about using your company blog as a marketing tool.
If It’s Good For Paulo Coehlo, Is It Good For You?
Bestselling author Paulo Coelho says he blogs. So does that mean you should to?
The interesting thing about this article is that Coelho says the marketing people in major publishing houses told him he should be “mysterious” and hang out in the ivory tower. Well, that’s how they are in the publishing houses, and that’s why there’s a huge revolt among authors and they’re flocking to the Internet to take control of their own marketing.
The fact of the matter is that everyone from best selling authors to small business owners are starting to see the value of a blog. And if you haven’t seen it yet then I’d say open your eyes. You’re about to hit with a brick.
How Blog Talk Radio And Podcasting Can Increase Your Marketing Mojo
Here’s a good article about getting free advertising on Blog Talk Radio and setting up your own podcast. At the bottom of the article I’ll share a couple of my own ideas as well.
7 Ways to Advertise For Free on Blog Talk Radio
By Joanne Mason
One of the best ways to advertise your business online for free is by using BlogTalkRadio.com. Anyone who has ever dreamed of being a radio personality can now turn their dream into a reality with Blog Talk Radio. Within minutes you can set up your own radio show about any topic that you desire and broadcast it all over the world at no cost. In this article I will share with seven more ways to advertise your business your business online for free at BlogTalkRadio.com.
1. Volunteer to Be a Guest on Other Shows – One common denominator that all of the hosts on Blog Talk Radio share is the constant need for material. If you have a great product, service or event to broadcast you could easily get some needed publicity by volunteering to be the guest on another show. Just take a look through the category directory and find shows with a description that matches whatever you’re offering. Contact the host and let him or her know about your product and set up a joint venture where the host gets commission sales and you get more customers from promoting your product on the show.
2. Blog and RSS Marketing – In my opinion the absolute best feature about BlogTalkRadio.com is the blogging and RSS marketing elements. This site is like blogging on steroids so you need to be strategic in planning your shows and blog post in order to make the most of what Blog Talk Radio truly offers. Every page and tag is rss enabled with well targeted titles and rss tags it’s very easy to get indexed and ranked on the search engines for your prime keyword phrases within just a few hours. Did I mention that this is all free?
3. Social Networking – Another great element of Blog Talk Radio is the social networking opportunity. With an estimated 3.4 million listeners as of September 2008, Blog Talk Radio is certainly much smaller than most of the social networks that you’re probably accustomed. However, there’s a big benefit hiding in those small number that you may not find on larger social sites and that’s the chance to actually get to know someone and make a real connection. According to Compete.com, their July 2008 statistics show that BlogTalkRadio.com has an average audience engagement time of 18 minutes and 04 seconds. That means that the average unique visitor stays on BlogTalkRadio.com for more than 18 minutes per visit. That’s more than a minute and a half longer than most people stay on Myspace.com and almost twice as long at a visitors stays at Google.com. More time spent at your website gives you more opportunities to advertise for free. It also increases the bond between you and your potential customers so that they feel more secure about the possibility of spending money with you.
4. Podcasting – Blog Talk Radio allows you to set up your account so that your shows can automatically be turned into podcasts. From there you can use syndicate your podcast to dozens of directories using PodPusher.com.
5. Use an Opt In Form – One very powerful way to get lots if free advertising out of BlogTalkRadio.com is to add your optin form to your profile. This is another way to build your mailing list so that you can advertise anytime you want. Surprisingly, I don’t see very many people on BlogTalkRadio doing this yet but it’s certainly something that you want to start taking advantage of.
6. Add Product or Affiliate Links – Here’s another big opportunity that Blog Talk Radio gives you to get free advertising. You can add your own list of links to your profile. This is similar to a blogroll. You just go into the Options tab under Setting then scroll down to where it says “Links listed on my profile page” to add links to the sites that you want to promote.
7. Feature Your Own Show – BlogTalkRadio.com media kit says that the site receives an estimated 400,000 unique monthly visitors. Being listed on the front page of BTR as a Featured Show could bring a good hunk of that traffic to your website. There’s a form under the settings option on your host account that you can fill in to request to be a featured show. Keep in mind that only very best shows will be featured so it’s a good idea to wait until you develop a really go show before making this request. In the meantime, just keep working making your show better and using all of these other methods.
If you’re looking for effective ways to advertise your business online for free then I hope that the methods offered in this article are helpful to you and you will take advantage of this great opportunity to use BlogTalkRadio.com.
Joanne Mason is an Internet Marketing Consultant who teaches small business owners how to use the internet to grow their businesses. To learn more about building a successful business using free advertising methods visit http://www.MasonInternetConsulting.com/30Ways
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Joanne_Mason
If you have a blog, you can add a podcast plugin and upload your daily or weekly podcast to your blog in addition to Blog Talk Radio. You can use Blog Talk Radio to get new subscribers to your blog this way.
Also, by promoting your blog through Blog Talk Radio, you stand a better chance of reaching the market you want to reach. Not everyone reads. Some people will download a podcast and listen to it on their way to work. Podcasting is just one more way to market your business online. The more you do the more you increase your chances of success.
