Make Money with Blog

The best way to look at your business blog is to see it as both a marketing tool and a relationship building activity, which a decided preference given to relationships first and marketing second. You can promote your business on your blog and your readers will be responsive to your offers when they believe that you have approached them as a compatriot, a fellow member of their community. If you set out to be a guru, you probably won’t be received as one. But if you set out to share top notch resources and opinions naturally and consistently, you may soon be received as a thought leader. Let it come naturally. Some ideas you can post on your blog look like this:

• Share industry news.
• Professional accolades.
• Answer frequently asked pre-sales questions.
• Your products and services.
• Brag about a client’s accomplishments.
• Share articles and statistics.
• Comment on business trends.
• Display your knowledge of industry history
• Share text or audio interviews with experts your market is interested in.

Some very successful bloggers post several times a day and some post just a few times a week. The more you blog, the more you’ll bring yourself back to reader’s minds so be sensitive to that. Don’t come back to the forefront of their thoughts with a boring post or they’ll think you’re boring! If youre blogging about your products and services and inviting readers to subscribe to your mailing list, your blog will consistently add to your bottom line. It can also be used to build a second stream of income through the promotion of affiliate programs. Unless you have a very diverse business, it isn’t possible to provide everything your market needs directly. There will be opportunities to recommend other products and services. If you can find an appropriate vendor who offers a percentage or flat fee commission for referrals, go for it!

Post recommendations when you discover them and also create a page on your blog where you update a list of common recommendations. Blog experts encourage you be transparent about your affiliate links and let your readers know that you will earn a commission if they act on your recommendation. You can mention this with every recommend or you can create a blanket disclosure policy statement, post it on a page and link to it on your side bar. If the recommendation is targeted your readers won’t mind and they will appreciate your honesty. Keep your ‘second stream’ posts in an appropriate ratio with your other posts or your readers will grow weary of them.

In order to be a great blogger, you have to leave your blog on a regular basis and go out to visit other people’s blogs. Search for blogs on similar topics and read recent posts. If you have something useful to add or you want to give them a quick kudos, leave a comment. In most cases you’ll be given space to share your own blog URL when you leave your remarks. Add your favorite blogs to your blog roll which is a list of links on your sidebar. Some of these bloggers will return the favor. You should take every opportunity to share the link to your blog. Add a link to your main page and include the URL in your email signature. If you’re active on Social Networking sites, many of them ask for your blog URL. If you find a blogger that you find really interesting you could invite them to be a guest blogger on your blog.

This means that they write a full post that you share in their name on your blog. They may invite you to be a guest blogger on their blog in return, but if they do not – be patient. The blog love will come back to you. Another way to share readers is to initiate a cross blog conversation where you carry on a one on one conversation, almost as if you were emailing each other privately, only you post the letters on your blogs so that readers have to follow both blogs in order to catch both sides of the story. Depending on your market and surrounding online community there are some other fun ways to cooperate with other bloggers through blog carnivals and cooperatives but there are many types of businesses that would not be served well through participation in these projects so use your best judgment.