Do You Really Understand the Blog Animal And How He Can Help
You?
The growth and popularity of blogs in general has been
phenomenal within a very short period of time. Blogs or web logs
as they were previously called is where all the action on the
World Wide Web is, right now.
It is amazing how quickly web sites have been relegated to the
back seat. Actually the role of web sites is rapidly being
re-defined but it is clear blogs will be the place where all the
traffic will be congregating for a long time to come. What some
thought was a passing fad is clearly here to stay and is a
permanent development that has already had far reaching effects
on communications and the way we transmit and receive
information.
Yet most entrepreneurs who have quickly jumped onto the blog
bandwagon do not seem to fully understand and appreciate what
blogs are really all about. Worse still, many of those who have
remained away have no idea what all the fuss is about.
A clearer understanding of blogs is bound to benefit any
e-commerce business owner or online entrepreneur.
Everybody can be a publisher or media owner
Probably
the most significant impact of blogs is the fact that it is
rapidly changing mass media, as we have known it since the
invention of the printing press in the 15th century. Powerful
media companies have been in the hands of a few people who have
carefully controlled what we see in our media. Sometimes
deliberately to achieve their corporate goals and objectives.
Blogs are effectively transferring that power back to the people
and away from the hands of a few.
This era of blogs means that anybody can be a publisher or media
owner and effectively transmit whatever information they want
and push whatever cause is dear to their hearts. The impact of
blogs in politics for example has been a clear demonstration of
the power of blogging. We have some blogs covering politics that
have a couple hundred thousand visitors on a daily basis.
This may be a scary development to many folks including media
owners but it presents a number of excellent opportunities for
entrepreneurs to reach huge audiences with their messages at a
tiny fraction of what their budgets used to be in the days when
blogs did not exist.
Breaking news, courtesy of the blog community
Further power of blogs to handle breaking news in real time,
complete with photographs and video clips, has clearly been
evident in retimes. For example during the Tsunami tragedy last
December. Footage of the damage being caused by the giant waves
was seen in blogs long before the traditional media channels got
wind of what was going on.
This opens up a whole range of new opportunities that can be
tried out in the years to come. Not many entrepreneurs have
realized this yet.
Anybody who didn't have a site can own a successful blog
Blogs are so easy to set up, maintain and run that a new breed
of online entrepreneurs is on the rise. It consists of many
individuals who for one reason or another were unable to set up
and maintain heir web sites.
We are now in an era where an online entrepreneur needs little
else other than lots of creativity, there is actually so much
that he or she can do without a single cent in capital.
Distinct advantages of having a blog
Blogs tend to get lots of traffic. Lots more than websites do.
Besides search engines seem to love them. Blogs are also able to
build up links much more easily than web sites. Thus it is no
longer surprising for a nobody-novice to suddenly shoot up in
stardom and recognition.
No entrepreneur can afford to be left behind
The benefits of a business having in it's stable a blog or two
that is capable of attracting huge traffic, is very important
and can be extremely useful in helping a business to achieve
its' marketing goals and objectives.
Any entrepreneur whether online or offline who does not have a
blog to help promote their business is making a very serious
mistake that they will definitely live to deeply regret. In fact
even playing catch-up with a blog that already exists will
continue to be more and more difficult.
There are a number of advantages that blogs have which will
continue to be extremely useful to entrepreneurs and webmasters.
One of them is the fact that they easily allow for customer
comment and anybody can be able to post a comment at your site.
In a way this is a form of research and sampling because it
enables the business to get feedback and thus be able to gauge
the sort of response they will receive when they finally roll
out their product or service into the market.
Start using your blog more carefully and watch your traffic and
revenues steadily climb as a result.
Article by David Callan. David is the leading search engine
consultant with AKA Marketing.com's Search Engine Optimisation
Ireland team. AKA Marketing.com provide full SEO services as
well as telephone based consulting for those preferring the DIY
approach.