Weekly Column: 2017-02-03

It is now a time where is it easy to find all kinds of information by simply browsing the Internet. Now, even without having to personally research, social media allows you to have access to photos and blogs that share information and experiences that others have had. In fact, the most basic function of a blog is for someone to write about and share things from their day-to-day lives. However, recently many have started using blogs as a means of marketing.

It goes without saying, blog marketing allows you to advertise yourself online highlighting your strengths in a short period of time at minimal costs.

Because blogs have a huge impact with low costs, they are the perfect alternative for your online marketing. Let's face it, people use the internet to search for products and services before making purchases. Therefore, whether you are a restaurant or provide a service, online marketing is crucial. Blogs are one of the best marketing tools to offer your products or services. Blogs will attract potential customers if you offer good quality information and interesting posts that draw people in.

So what are some of the ways to utilize blog marketing successfully?

First, you must select keywords that fit well. It is vital for success, which is the biggest goal of blog marketing. Consumers find information through keywords, and naturally, the top-ranking blogs do this very well!  However, should we just pick the keywords that have the most hits? Using the most popular keywords is taking the most competitive route. If you pick keywords that have a high number of hits upon the initial startup, it would be virtually impossible to make your blog pop up in a top search. One way to combat this competitiveness is to choose keywords that are associated with high-hit keywords rather than the actual keywords themselves.

Second, you must have solid and consistent information. People who read blogs want information rather than colorful designs or just for fun. For example, if you have a picture of delicious food at a restaurant, but the price of the food is missing, visitors would leave immediately because the price is the most important factor to the visitors when they read blogs on restaurant menus. In the long run, the consumers will choose what gives them the basic, up-to-date information. Blogs also require consistency. I myself have a blog, but it is not as easy as it sounds. I have seen many bloggers that are active in the beginning but are inconsistent and are eventually forgotten.

Finally, the most important aspect is content quality. Once again, I stress that visitors want information from blogs, not advertisements. If you focus too much on marketing rather than valuable information, visitors will shy away from your blog. No one wants to see an advertisement on your blog and will recognize that your blog is an advertisement from the beginning. They will close out of the window before they even see the next page.

If you want to market through your blog, it is a good idea to imagine that you are a visitor and think about how you would view the blog content and blog marketing. If you are clear in why you are blogging and have a consistent and authentic blog, rather than throwing something together in impatience, you will definitely have a larger impact in the future, even if it is not apparent immediately.