The Secret Power of Blogging: How to Promote and Market Your Business, Organization, or Cause with Free Blogs by Bruce C. Brown

Author:Bruce C. Brown
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: web log, blog, journal, web site, blog marketing, online marketing, blog marketing campaigns
Publisher: Atlantic Publishing Group
Published: 2014-01-30T00:00:00+00:00

Stefan Mischook has been developing Web sites and Web applications since 1994. Stefan has spent the last several years working on dozens of Web and multimedia projects for small business and large pharmaceutical and banking organizations. Stefan now runs several educational Web sites, including www.killersites.com, www.killerphp.com, and www.idea22.com.

Case Study: Justin Premick

www.aweber.com

Can you describe your introduction to blogging, how you became interested, and how has it impacted you personally?

I personally played around with blogging years ago, but didn’t get into it seriously until the idea of publishing one here at AWeber came up. I’d been reading various blogs and had an idea of their usefulness, but I can say that I’ve learned countless times more by doing than by observing.

Its effect on me? There have been many, but the one that sticks out in my mind is that how you say something (or don’t say it at all) can be just as important as what you do say. When blogging, you’re writing in a conversational tone, but without the same extralingual communication that you get from talking to someone in person or even on the phone. Inflection is difficult to convey at times, and it’s easy to be misunderstood.

Of course, you can’t let this dissuade you, because most people will allow for this, and if there’s any uncertainty it’s easily sorted out through the blog’s comments.

From a business perspective, how do you think blogging can positively impact communications, sales, and corporate image?

As the audiences that we try to reach become more demanding of businesses and more resistant to traditional marketing tactics, we have to find new ways to connect with them.

Blogging is a great way to do just that — it humanizes companies, putting a face on them that potential and current customers can identify with. People do business with people they trust and who they perceive to be like them, and a good blog makes it easier for potential customers to identify with a business.

What is the best advice you can give an individual or business who is considering starting a blog?

Go do it. Don’t spend countless hours worrying about what you’re going to say or how you want your blog to look. You can change, improve, etc. as you go, and if anyone notices, even better — you’ll look (gasp!) human.

What industry sites and blogs do you read regularly?

I have more subscriptions set up in Google Reader than I should probably admit, but even among all the excellent marketing blogs out there I can say that there are a few I read regularly:

* John Jantsch’s Duct Tape Marketing blog:

http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/weblog.php

* Mark Brownlow’s E-mail Marketing Reports:

http://www.email-marketing-reports.com/iland/

* MarketingSherpa’s Articles/Blog Posts:

http://www.marketingsherpa.com

* Joe Rawlinson’s Return Customer blog:

http://www.returncustomer.com

What are your favorite blog development tools or applications?

We stick to WordPress — just about anything we need can be done with an existing WordPress plugin! We also have the benefit of having a top-notch team of developers at AWeber who can create whatever we need but can’t find in the WordPress community.

Can you name five tips for successful blogging?

• Be yourself.

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