Free Marketing - Blogging for Business

Completely Free Marketing Tactics that Really Work... As Long as YOU Work, They'll Work!

What Makes a Good Free Marketing Tactic?

How Does Free Marketing Differ from Paid?

Elements of Successful Marketing Materials

The Stuff that DOESN'T Work

The Essential Assessment

The Pros and Cons of Do it Yourself Marketing

Good Tactics

Article Marketing
Directory Listings
Signature Lines
Event Participation
Link Trades
Ad Swaps
Bartering
Cross Promotion
Cooperation
Search Engine Listing
SEO
Viral Marketing
Opt-In Lists
Link Optimization
Print Downloads
Forum Participation
Blog Participation
Networking
Target Your Customer
Niching Your Business
Press Releases
Guest Appearances
Leveraging
Volunteering

Downloads

Blogging for Business

Blogging follows the same rules as Article Marketing - It is free (unless you have to hire help), it is friendly and helps with the relationship process, and it MUST be indirect to be successful. NO ONE is going to check in regularly to read ads!

Free blogs on Blogger.com, or WordPress.com offer you the advantage of a ready-built blogging community to tap into. Self-hosted ones offer more flexibility, less of a chance of it getting deleted (Blogger has that reputation), but a little more risk in some ways.

The key is that you provide posts that people are interested in - they have to give them something they want, that they consider to be valuable.

Value may mean instructions, information, humor, warmth, reviews, recipes, ideas, encouragement, etc. It can be anything that they feel a need for in their life.

And it has to be regularly provided. Bloggers are a hungry lot. They can be taught to diet on a schedule of once a week, but less than that, and they'll starve. They also get testy if they are used to an every other day schedule, and you drop them unexpectedly and leave them hanging. Like a bowel-fixated senior citizen, regularity is important to them.

So, in order to make it work, you have to be pretty gregarious and you have to have plenty to say that is worth saying. Some people operate a blog by finding words from others to post, and while this is acceptable some of the time, it is not going to produce quality stuff that keeps them coming back for more if that is all you have to offer. It is like a diet of TV dinners - they can get it anywhere. They want home cooking. They want it fresh, and they want it to be digestible.

Bloggers tend to be more impatient than other website visitors also. They want something that gets to the point. Don't waste their time with a tidbit that tries to lure them somewhere else every time. They will be willing to visit your site if you link it in, but they expect you to earn that visit.

If you cannot produce good quality regular content, then you are better off with article marketing, which does not require a regular schedule.

Blogging won't bring you a flood of business instantly. It is like the other forms of free marketing - it takes time to establish, and time to grow, and then frequently the benefits will be indirect.

A blog can provide three basic benefits:

1. Clickthroughs from links to your site that you put on your blog. These are easy to track.

2. A minor increase in pagerank from links in the blog that go back to your site.

3. A viral benefit as your blog link gets picked up and syndicated, IF you have something good enough to syndicate.

You'll have to promote your blog too though. When you have a website, and a blog, you have to promote them both, which can complicate the marketing tasks for some businesses. You are the only one who can decide if it is worth trying, and then determine whether it is worth it for you to keep doing it.

Expect to have to give it three months before you'll have an idea of whether it is sustainable. By that time, you should be able to see at least a potential.

Start a Real Business. Complete instructional kit, sales aids, website, and personal assistance. Read a full independent review here.

Firelight Web Studio - Websites that benefit YOUR business.
Bad Marketing Ideas - The bad marketing ideas, and what to do instead.
Skinny Shoestring - Shoestring Startup Info and Resources.
LDS Home Business - LDS Business Resources
Good Marketing Ideas - All the stuff that works.
Bad Website Ideas - Errors that interfere with function.
This Site 4 Sale - Complete websites for sale.
Home Business for Parents - How business and family compliment one another.
Fabulous Frugal Websites - Get a great website at an affordable price.
Simple Effective SEO - Just the basic, good stuff.
Best Business Freebies - Just the really good stuff.
Not Quite a Scam - It might be legal, but it isn't honest.
Better Instant Website - A quick site that is NOT a replicated site.
Frumpy Haus Frau - A different business blog.
Online Computer Instruction - Lessons in Plain English!
Western Hills Institute - MicroBusiness Service Provider Training.
MicroBusiness MarketPlace - Find or promote a MicroBusiness.
Total Integrity Business Group - A gathering of ethical businesses.

Disclaimer: We provide this site for informational purposes only, we are not legal or financial professionals. We make no guarantees of success of any kind. Success is dependent upon factors which we have no control over, including individual effort and undertstanding, national and local occurences, and other elements which cannot be predicted. Use this site at your own risk!

Updated August 20, 2007