30 Days "Take Action" Program - Day 14

Blogging - Sort of Like Article Marketing - But NOT!

Welcome to the wonderful world of blogging - frequent, chronological publications of personal thoughts and Web links. Often a mixture of what is happening in a person’s life and what is happening on the Net. Call it the Reality TV of the Internet.

There doesn’t seem to be much that isn’t tackled as a topic for a blog – so – based on that observation – why not jump in with both feet and blog about FOL and what we teach. What a tremendous vehicle for adding in daily lessons, pictures, links and articles you’ve written.

But First Some History

Blogs have been around since forever (early 1997 to be exact), but really took off in popularity when automated publishing systems were introduced – ie. Blogger at blogger.com. Just so you don’t get confused, stick to the term blog, rather than the other alternative – weblog – as it means a server’s log files.

By 1999 there were 23 in existence – but things didn’t stay that way for long. Blogs and blogging proliferated rapidly until it was almost impossible to keep up with them. Of course those who design software got into the fray and came up with even more ways for people to publish their own blogs quickly and easily.

The piece of history that’s important for you to know – because it directly relates to what you can do with your blog – is that original weblogs were link-driven. Today’s blogs are also link driven and there is your key to the success of your blog. Seek out unusual links, interesting links, teaching links, and learning links for your blog - and – add your own review or commentary to them.

You can also add extra facts not found in an article, show your own expertise in the area or invite others to submit their observations. No matter what way you choose to do it – you win! One thing to remember with a blog is, you need to get to the point fast – short and pithy – as there isn’t lots of room to write a novel.

Best you don’t do the essay route either as these days people don’t have enough time to be reading lengthy articles on the Net. What you’re really doing for them is pre-screening or filtering sites that would be of interest – quality sites, because you’ve already checked them out.

This brings us to another point – an audience vs a public. An audience is passive. A public participates – which is what you want with your blog to be because ultimately, you want leads.

Another angle you can explore with your blog is how you want to write it. For instance it can be a mixture of links, commentary and personal notes – or – a record of your own thoughts (a quick reflection on something you observed or tried at work)

Whichever style you choose, remember to make it distinctive to you – written in your own voice, letting your personality come to the fore. This makes sense, because one of the principle tenets of relationship marketing is getting to know your prospects – and – them getting to know you.

Kinds of Blogs:

• Vlog – comprised of videos.
• Linklog – comprised of links.
• Sketchblog – a portfolio of sketches.
• Photoblog – pictures.
• Tumblelogs – shorter posts, mixed media.
• Moblog – written by a mobile phone or PDA.
• Blawgs – by genre (political, travel, fashion etc).
• Private blogs – usually the most popular.
• Business blogs – for businesses.
• Corporate blogs – used internally for a business (marketing, branding, PR).