A guest post by Steve Conway. 

The role of blogs used to drive up business as a part of the internet ecosystem is complicated and constantly evolving.

At first the blog’s main function was a sort of digital diary, somewhere for individuals to share their thoughts and passions with the world. However, blogs have now changed beyond recognition.

As time has gone on, the functions that blogs serve have also grown exponentially. Blogs are now just as important from a Business perspective as a personal one. An entire industry has built up around the idea of taking advantage of the personal nature of online blogs. Businesses now pay blog owners to endorse and promote their products and services within their posts.

This is only one example of how blogs are utilised by businesses as a means of gaining exposure and legitimacy in their audiences’ eyes. In this article, we are going to look at some of the other ways that blogs are increasingly being used to drive up business.

Acquiring increased legitimacy

Getting a mention on a personal blog gives businesses an air of legitimacy. Some prefer to engage the services of popular blog owners and pay them for a suitable plug on their blogs.

Appearing on a personal blog, rather than one clearly set up for or by a business, has a much greater effect on its audience. They are more likely to interpret the view as that of a credible individual, rather than an endorsement paid for by the company.

Other businesses prefer to operate their own blogs to drive up business. It’s easy to set these up as regular, personal blogs of individuals. But in reality these are usually company employees, who focus is to monetise the blog.

In either case, blogging is an excellent way of engaging with customers and raising your profile. However, you need to remember to write in a conversational style, and continue the discussion successfully on social media.

Targeted advertising to drive up business

Partnering with a blog allows your business to target your advertising at specific groups. It is important to focus on users whose interests align with both your business and the blog’s subject. This means you to be more successful in selecting who you market to. And you can also direct exactly what you want your audience to read.

It is useful for companies to be able to target advertising with more specialised product offerings, such as XCD HR software. Marketing niche products is notoriously difficult, so using blogs offers an elegant solution to this problem.

Engaging more with customers

Blogs are an excellent way of communicating with your audience. They can be used to do much more than just advertise products.

You can intersperse posts about your business with personal posts. This helps to humanise your business and make it appear to be more approachable. This humanisation helps to endorse the products, which is more likely to encourage the customers to buy.

You can also use blogging to help increase your mailing list – another important tool for engaging with your customer base. A compelling call to action may encourage the readers to click through to a suitable sales page on your website. There you can enforce your marketing message and provide the method of collecting their contact details.

How do you use blogs to drive up business?

I’ve mentioned some of the things a blog can do to help drive up business, but do you have any more you could add in the comments below? I would love to read them.

Your contributions will help those who aren’t already taking advantage of the opportunities of owning and running a blog. This is something all businesses should definitely consider doing, as well as individuals.

About the author:

Steve Conway is a content marketing professional and inbound marketing expert. Previously Steve worked as a marketing manager for a tech software start-up. He is passionate about discovering new software that will that will advance his already well-honed digital marketing techniques.

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