Learn the Secrets of Making Money For Your Business With A Blog

You’ve probably read dozens of blog posts. You may even subscribe to a few RSS feeds from your favorite blogs. But what exactly is a blog? How can you use it to market your own business?

Check out my latest Squidoo lens, What Is A Blog to learn more about blogging, and how it can help you become a better blogger.

Blogs are a great way of building up your relationship with your prospects and your clients. You can share your ideas, your strategies, ask questions, share comments - really anything you can think of. And you can do it much more efficiently because you are working on your own time. You don’t have to schedule meetings - just create a post when you have a spare few moments.

If you’re ready to start your own blog, I would highly recommend having a blog customized for your branding, your look and feel. You’ll love blogging.

It’s fun. And it’s easy. And it’s addictive!

Photographs make blog posts more interesting.

They just add more to the human eye, and make you want to read further.

There are many different sources you can go to online for images. Or take your own and upload them to your files.

But I like finding fun things as well.

How about a newspaper clipping generator? Add your own newspaper name, date, headline and text, and it will instantly generate an image of your newspaper, ready to use in your posts.

Give it a try. 

It’s 11am. You haven’t eaten since 7, and you’re starting to get hungry. You come across a site advertising a burrito, sandwich, (insert your favorite) and you just have to get up and grab something to eat.

What makes those ads work? Why do they affect you so much? It’s the photography.

Those photos bring out all of the good qualities of the foods, and make you want to dive right in.

That’s where I am today - out surfing and I come across a blog with dozens of fantastic photographs of food. Lunch is a blog filled with, well, food.

Like Chinese food? There’s 23 entries sharing a variety of lunches at a variety of spots (the site is focused on New York).

Like a particular area in town? This site shows you food from a variety of places, including Greenwich Village and Chinatown.

This is a great example of a fun, interactive blog that showcases something the authors love. In this case they don’t have a lot of writing because the focus is all about food.

This is also a good example of a blog that is personal in nature, and hasn’t made the jump to a profitable blog. They have a lot of great content, but haven’t monetized the site to help them with their lunch habit.

What could they add?

• Coupons to the restaurants they talk about.
• Advertising from local restaurants.
• Email a daily lunch suggestion around 10 every day with a new offer.
• Delivery service

And that’s just the start.

Success Works: This is a case where large photographs work well. Staring at them makes you want to take action - especially at 11 in the morning. They have quality content and lots of it. They do a great job of keeping it up to date - now its time to monetize it. Great site!

In honor of Earth day this week, I set out to find a blog that shared a variety of tips and ideas that could us all be a little more green.

Green is the buzz word of 2008. I hear it on the news and on the radio. It’s in magazines and in books. In fact at my local bookstore, they have a whole section up front on living Green.  You know it’s big news if you can create a whole section out of it.

So why not blog on it? TreeHugger fills that niche nicely. TreeHugger strives to be a one-stop shop for green news, solutions, and product information. They have a variety of ways to share information with their readers, including daily newsletters and a radio show, and post more than 31 posts per day.  

You can read all about cars and transportation, or you can read about the latest fashions. And everything in between. Whatever your interest, you can definitely find something fun on this site.

The thing that impressed me is how well they use their space. They have so much content it begs to be read. And when you do find a page of interest, it’s covered from top to bottom with opportunities. Yet it all works. You’re motivated to stay and read because of the ideas. And you may just happen to click around, making TreeHugger money.

I also like the way they split out their navigation, and offer many choices. I can start by following the Get Informed section, and read about anything that interests me. Then I can Interact. I can visit their forums and share my ideas and opinions. I can comment on any of the existing posts. Or I can take a quiz and find out a wealth of interesting facts. (For instance, how much poop can an earthworm produce in a day? Take the quiz and find out if you’re right.)

Not only do they teach you a wealth of information, they make it fun in the process. And that’s what makes blogging so much fun.

Success Works: Yes, it helps to have a bunch of people writing content for you. You can get to success very quickly that way. But studying a large blog like TreeHugger can give you a world of ideas to incorporate into your own blog. The photographs are dynamic and add to the content. You can have many different choices in the navigation. You can read a short post, or gain access to one of dozens of how to guides. And you can make money in many different ways. What can you learn?

We can see it all in our heads. We start with a blog, have everyone follow us, make millions, and sell it to Google for a mint. Then retire to a tropical island and live happily ever after.

If I had a dime for every time I heard someone dream in that order, I could live on that tropical island myself.

But what most people seem to forget is the order of their dreams. They see themselves on the island. They see themselves selling a business to Google. But what they don’t see is the sweat it takes to start and build the company.

You have to start with an idea, and you have to have a way of monetizing that idea to fulfill your dreams.

Creating the blog is easy. You can design it to look anyway you want. You can add your image. You can add beautiful photographs. But what is going to make people come back again and again?

Think of your blog a year from now. What will it look like? How will you be making money? Then work backwards.

If you have sponsorships, and people are paying you for advertising on your site, you have to have quality content to get your traffic up.

If you sell products, what type of people will buy your products and how will you get them to read your blog?

If you have Google Adsense on your site to make money through pay per clicks, do you have the traffic that can make the money you’re looking for?

Now that you know how you’re going to make money, it’s time to develop your content. Write Write Write

You may post the first 50 posts with no one reading. Don’t worry. That will come as long as you develop your content and your style. Never lose site of your long term goals, and keep it up every day.

You’ve heard of blogging. You may have even tried it a little yourself. But is anyone really paying attention to blogs? Will it really do you any good?

Overwheliming, the answer is Yes.

According to the BlogWorldExpo:

• Over 12 million American adults currently maintain a blog
• Over 57 million Americans read blogs
• 89% of companies surveyed say they think blogs will be more important in the next five years
• 9% of Internet users say they have created a blog
• Over 120,000 blogs are created every day
• 22 of the 100 most popular websites in the world are blogs
• 51% of blog readers shop online

Convinced of the importance of blogging?

Are you blogging for business?

 

You have a business card to tell people about your business. Why not have a social card to tell people how to find you online?

Ink Mojo is a new site in beta that allows you to customize social cards to match up with your favorite social site. Want to advertise your Facebook account? Create a card with your Facebook profile. Want to advertise your blog? Create a card with a Wordpress theme and your customized content.

And the pricing is amazing.

They also have something called the Business Trading Card that I have to look into further. An interesting way of putting together a personal social card that lists out several of your online resources. A great tool for tradeshows, expos, or other networking opportunities.

On a recent trip to the mall, I found several new shirts at incredible deals. It’s always nice to get something new for the changing season. But when you save 30%, 50% or even more, doesn’t it just seem more enjoyable?

That’s the premise behind Pink Deals. If you’re in the mood for a good deal, head on over to Pink Deals and take a look at their bargains. (If you’re going to buy anyway, why not save a little in the process?)

Right on their home page, I found deals for RedEnvelope for 25% off an entire order, 15% off a Footlocker purchase, and 2 free Burt’s Bees Lip Balms with a $25 purchase from Drugstore.com.

What makes this blog work it bypasses  the fluff, and gets straight to the deals.  I can immediately see the new deals, take a look at ongoing offers, and sign up to get coupons and other discounts delivered directly to me through my RSS feed reader.

And if your short on time and know exactly what you want, Pink Deals is categorized in many ways, including free shipping, special discounts, and by product.

Success Works: Once again, its all about monetizing your blog in a way that’s customer friendly. You have to decide on your purpose, create your design, and stay true to your plans. In this case, it’s all about the deal. With sponsors providing funding to Pink Deals, the site can continue to bring in new deals all the time.

Blogging can be used in many ways. Don’t like to write? Why not try podcasting.

Quick and Dirty Tips has a variety of topics, and a variety of podcasts that are produced to be fun and informative. Mignon Fogarty and Cherylyn Feierabend have created a podcast series on everything from parenting to legal, and are converting the Grammar Girl series into a book deal the summer of 2008.

Grammar Girl really hit home with me. My daughter is a budding author, and is the best editor I know. She finds grammatical errors in almost everything she reads, and picks up on things most of us overlook. As a writer myself, I know I often have questions about little things that pop up in my writing. So listening to Grammar Girl’s tips provided me with ideas I haven’t thought about. For instance, have you ever been confused with choosing which or that in your writing? Not to worry says Grammar Girl. So are a lot of other people. Hear her podcast on the subject, and learn which to use in your next writing.

When starting any type of business site or blog, the most important thing to start with is how you will monetize your products or services as efficiently as possible. With books, ads and even t-shirts, this site has a variety of ways to bring in money.

Who knew grammar could be so much fun?

 Success Works: Blogs are a platform to help you get your information out any way you can. I’ve showcased this site because I love how they’ve taken a variety of topics and information styles, and combined it into a site that works. From their awards and exposure, it’s easy to see how these sites will continue to work long in to the future.

I found Wine Library a couple of months ago, and have been watching ever since. This is a great example of combining a passion, with a blog, with video - and taking it to a whole new level.

Gary Vaynerchuk started this blog because of his love for wines, and his desire to bring in new clientele to his business with a new media. Instead of working in the store, he set up shop to start his own "tv" show online, and has been growing strong ever since.

Five days of the week, Gary creates a short "tv" show that compares and rates different wines. He provides a thorough understanding of each wine, what it pares with, and how to develop your own love of wine.

And the sales for his business have skyrocketed!

Plus he’s been gaining a huge amount of PR on places like The Wall Street Journal, Ellen Degeneres Show, Nightline, ABC News, and National Public Radio.

Success Works: This blog works because it appeals directly to the consumer. They can expand their knowledge of wine in short clips. And can learn how to serve the right wine with each meal. Plus Gary’s personality comes shining through - which is what blogging is all about. This is one case of using video perfectly to further what you love.

Great job Gary!