Here are a couple of great statistics: 55% of businesses that blog get more website visitors and 57% of businesses have acquired a customer through a company blog (Hubspot 2011).
Looking at these statistics it makes sense that a small business owner cannot afford to lose an opportunity like this.
And the greatest part about blogging as a marketing tool is that it's FREE! Always good.
So first let's just get some basic blogging 101 items out of the way.
In fact, you should think of you blog as the heart by drawing a symbol of your blog as a heart on a piece of paper and then all around your heart blog you can write or draw things like social media, print and media advertising, referrals, signage and point all of these back to your blog.
Then point you heart blog back to them.
Your blog is your way to talk about everything you wish you could have in that tiny print ad or in 140 characters from Twitter, but couldn't because it was too expensive or took too much creative wordsmithing time (seriously it's tough coming up with great stuff in just 140 characters).
For a blog, the sky is the limit, in fact, you don't even have to talk about your business on your blog and you still will get people interested in your business.
The blog is your connection point out to every other source of advertising or marketing that you do and then you want to point all of that marketing, back to your blog.
Here is a quick example: You write a quick 3 or 4 paragraph blog article about the latest product line you just got in and how customers are loving it or how popular it is on the west coast or something like that.
You decide to offer the first 25 customers who mention the secret word in your blog a 25% discount on this new awesome product.
Then after you post your blog, you post to all your social media accounts that the first 25 people that mention your blog secret word gets the 25% discount on this item.
Something like: BIG NEWS! Newest widget in & getting fabulous reviews.
First 25 people that mention the secret word in link gets 25% off! .
Then in your print ads you do something similar.
Of course you are ALWAYS including your blog site and social media sites in your ads, right? Then send emails out to your email subscribers (also with your blog and social media links), then put a big sign up in the storefront (just hand write it if you have to).
So, Mary on Twitter sees the Twitter post and forwards to Mark, who she knows loves that product line.
And well, you get the idea.
Now you are directing traffic to your blog, you might pick up a couple social media followers and you just got potentially 25 new customers in the store.
And except for your choices on print ads or email services, it was all FREE! Total time to set up your marketing plan for this campaign - about 1 hour.
Not too shabby.
Now, disclaimer time.
Setting up a blog is easy (and fun) and it IS the heart of your social media plan, but getting immediate results is not always easy.
It takes time to develop a following and dedication to the process of blogging and keeping your social media current.
Advanced blogging includes making sure your blog site is optimized for web site searching, your content is current and relevant, and that your site has all the bells and whistles you can think of, like customer lead capture or various social media links.
You can learn more about these by visiting my site listed in the author resource info below.
But - If you build it, they will come.
Start small and get braver with your techniques and strategy.
Or you can outsource this work to make sure it is occurring in the background as a long term strategy for new client conversion.
In any case, remember our statistics at the beginning of this article.
Blogging is an essential marketing element in the small business world and utilizing your blog as the heart of you plan is a recipe for growth in profits and customers.
Resource: Top 10 FREE Blogging Sites
Looking at these statistics it makes sense that a small business owner cannot afford to lose an opportunity like this.
And the greatest part about blogging as a marketing tool is that it's FREE! Always good.
So first let's just get some basic blogging 101 items out of the way.
- A blog is a web log and can be an independent webpage or attached to your existing website as an additional page.
- A blog site can be set up for free using several free blogging services.
The #1 blogging platform goes to WordPress, which is what I use because of their huge selection of plug-ins (which are little ready made pieces of software you can just plug into your blog for various functions, like social media buttons or customer contact forms).
Beginners may prefer to use the free blog platforms from Blogger, Tumblr, or Weebly.
These three are known for their ease of use for the beginner blogger. - You do not have to be a journalist or a professional writer to have a successful blog.
- It will take the average person around 3-4 hours to set up a blog (home tested with family members).
- If you get stuck, Google IT! There is no issue or question you have that has not already been asked and answered and available on the net.
In fact, you should think of you blog as the heart by drawing a symbol of your blog as a heart on a piece of paper and then all around your heart blog you can write or draw things like social media, print and media advertising, referrals, signage and point all of these back to your blog.
Then point you heart blog back to them.
Your blog is your way to talk about everything you wish you could have in that tiny print ad or in 140 characters from Twitter, but couldn't because it was too expensive or took too much creative wordsmithing time (seriously it's tough coming up with great stuff in just 140 characters).
For a blog, the sky is the limit, in fact, you don't even have to talk about your business on your blog and you still will get people interested in your business.
The blog is your connection point out to every other source of advertising or marketing that you do and then you want to point all of that marketing, back to your blog.
Here is a quick example: You write a quick 3 or 4 paragraph blog article about the latest product line you just got in and how customers are loving it or how popular it is on the west coast or something like that.
You decide to offer the first 25 customers who mention the secret word in your blog a 25% discount on this new awesome product.
Then after you post your blog, you post to all your social media accounts that the first 25 people that mention your blog secret word gets the 25% discount on this item.
Something like: BIG NEWS! Newest widget in & getting fabulous reviews.
First 25 people that mention the secret word in link gets 25% off! .
Then in your print ads you do something similar.
Of course you are ALWAYS including your blog site and social media sites in your ads, right? Then send emails out to your email subscribers (also with your blog and social media links), then put a big sign up in the storefront (just hand write it if you have to).
So, Mary on Twitter sees the Twitter post and forwards to Mark, who she knows loves that product line.
And well, you get the idea.
Now you are directing traffic to your blog, you might pick up a couple social media followers and you just got potentially 25 new customers in the store.
And except for your choices on print ads or email services, it was all FREE! Total time to set up your marketing plan for this campaign - about 1 hour.
Not too shabby.
Now, disclaimer time.
Setting up a blog is easy (and fun) and it IS the heart of your social media plan, but getting immediate results is not always easy.
It takes time to develop a following and dedication to the process of blogging and keeping your social media current.
Advanced blogging includes making sure your blog site is optimized for web site searching, your content is current and relevant, and that your site has all the bells and whistles you can think of, like customer lead capture or various social media links.
You can learn more about these by visiting my site listed in the author resource info below.
But - If you build it, they will come.
Start small and get braver with your techniques and strategy.
Or you can outsource this work to make sure it is occurring in the background as a long term strategy for new client conversion.
In any case, remember our statistics at the beginning of this article.
Blogging is an essential marketing element in the small business world and utilizing your blog as the heart of you plan is a recipe for growth in profits and customers.
Resource: Top 10 FREE Blogging Sites
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