How Blogs Are Used As a Marketing Tool

Now that blogs are so popular all around the net, marketers are starting to use them more and more in ways they were not intended to be used in. Marketers love blogs because search engines rate blogs higher because readers trust blogs more because authors give blogs a personal touch. At least that’s how it used to be.

Today blogs are still started for the same reasons as before - someone with something to say creating the medium in which to say it. Still many blogs are about sharing ideas and having conversations . But that is changing rapidly. Blogs are turning into marketing tools.

There are four main functions that a marketing-tool-blog can accomplish:

1. Building personal or brand authority
2. Funneling prospects to individual products or services
3. Tricking search engines into giving your site a higher rating
4. Tricking visitors into trusting you

I want to start with the two "tricking" options - 3 and 4. Now, I leave it up to you to decide whether or not they are ethical and should be used. Personally, I’d prefer to stay away from trying to fool your visitors because it destroys your credibility and makes you look like a scammer. Although there are many people who advocate the "whatever works, works" approach.

Number 4s are sometimes known as flogs - fake blogs. It involves making your website look like a blog - with categories, posts, tags, sidebars, everything - when in fact it is anything but. It usually contains few posts, is never updated, and has comments disabled (typical excuse: "due to spam levels"). Some have a few comments posted, often fake as well. Last red flag to watch out for - you can’t find the date of posting in any of the posts.

Number 3s are typically not as malicious. Most of the time it is about using a blogging platform (WordPress for example), but making it appear as a regular web-site - a non-blog - to visitors. It’s not your fault that search engines think a non-blog on a blog’s platform is more trustworthy than a typical non-blog, right?

This leaves us with the first two - building authority and creating a sales funnel. Most of the time they are used in combination - after all, it would be difficult to funnel visitors to buy something, if you don’t have a reputation for authority.

Having a blog in a certain niche and posting high quality, up-to-date, relevant content is great for establishing yourself as an expert in that niche. Being a valued expert gives you credibility and as your credibility grows you gain more and more followers.

These people read your blog, because they trust you. And since they trust you, they are inclined to buying your offers - as long as they are relevant. Having a valued blog can give a long-term boost to all your products - both in terms of people finding them through your blog, and in getting higher search rankings.

If you think blogging is for you, come back next time to find information on how to set up a blog . Meanwhile, leave a comment and tell us what you think.

I really appreciate that you keep coming back to my site, it's loyal people like you that make what I do worth it. If you have any questions feel free to email me at Tony [at] BeginWorkingOnline [dot] com. If you like what you read, and find it helpful, make sure to share it with a friend - they'll love you for it! Remember, this blog is not about me, it's about you - so participate in the discussion, let me and the other readers know what you think and how you're doing.