Online Fun and Business

If you blog for business but fail to incorporate the appropriate techniques, you might just be losing out on boatloads of precious targeted traffic… to yourself!

Just like its kissing cousins article marketing, online networking and link exchanging, blogging has become a major traffic generator, brand builder and marketing device. For this reason, millions of internet business owners, in addition to publishing content-rich websites, opt to nick their niche with topical chatter that streams from their blogs and ripples outward to an ever-growing audience of readers.

Indeed, the Blogosphere is a thriving ecosystem unto itself, with its own secret tunnels, members-only channels and scenic side paths worth exploring. RSS feeds, tagging and pinging will help you make a bigger ripple in the blog pond and establish a loyal following of readers, fans; and most importantly, customers. So if you don’t blog, you’re essentially cutting yourself off from a highly profitable market segment. And that’s just plain silly.

But even sillier is the blogger who directs traffic AWAY from his own website. Sure, posting your thoughts can easily make you a blog prophet of your niche. But what good is having blog disciples if you forgot to show them the way to your website?

Remember…? Your website?

If you really want to know where traffic is headed after they make a pit-stop at your blog, then it’s time to take a cold, hard look at yourself through the eyes of the bumbling surfer. This person just landed on your blog from outer space because they “hit” on one of your keywords. They likely have no idea who you are. So, what do they see as they gaze along your intersection of Blog Town?

If you answered, “High quality, professional articles authored by me and my colleagues,” that’s pretty good. If you said, “An insightful discussion about current topics of concern in my niche,” that’s also commendable. If you responded, “Compelling graphics to help my blog stand out in the crowd,” that’s another smart strategy indeed. But here’s the rub: articles, discussions and graphics just aren’t enough.

To direct traffic from your blog to your revenue-generating website requires the constant application of four strategic elements:

1. Branding
2. Links
3. Keywords
4. Calls to action

1. Branding. Add instant branding to your blog by publishing your company logo and/or tagline in the top left corner. Why top left? It’s the first place the eye travels to and it’ll still be visible as your reader scrolls down. Remind your blog guests of who you are by publishing your logo (or, say, the logo of your ezine) every so often in your blog posts. Trust me; you’d be unpleasantly surprised to know how many loyal readers of your blog have no idea what your website looks like because they’ve never even BEEN there. So, get that logo out in plain view and start building mental associations which lead to future clicks and customer orders.

2. Links. Think you added links? Let’s take a look now. Scroll down and review your last five blog posts. Is there a link to your own website on every entry… or a link to someone else’s instead? You MUST add a “signoff” line after every post you write, and include your link. Also, definitely include links to your website wherever you placed your logo. By linking to specific pages of your website; i.e. http://Wordfeeder.com/services.htm, you’re building page rank for your entire website and not just the homepage, and therefore helping to boost your visibility on the search engines.

3. Keywords. Ah, keywords. They’re the secret weapon of every *real* web copywriter. Many published authors who turn to blogging fail to realize the power of the keywords. Keywords bring HITS and CLICKS to your website. Hits are word matches between you and the people who are searching for what you have. So, even if you have a vocabulary that would put Ralph Waldo Emerson to shame if he were alive to read your blog, you MUST add popular keywords. Use keywords in your blog post titles. Try to begin each post with a highly popular keyword phrase. Most importantly, add keyword links to your blog that point back to various pages of your website.

4. Calls to action. Every so often, put that stream of blogging consciousness on pause, and remind your reader of what to do. Did you post an in-depth article about, say, blogging today? Then tomorrow, publish a short ad in your blog about your blog services and tell your readers to “Click here to put your blog duties in the hands of an experience professional!” (Make that line a live link that leads back to the ‘blog services’ page of your website.

Also, take a gander at the perimeter of your blog. See those logos and relevant images into links to the pages of your website? Don’t beat around the bush or make your reader play guessing games. Just TELL THEM TO CLICK. A simple, friendly suggestion snaps your guests out of their semi-comatose state and guides them to take action. A gentle push is all it takes. So DO add those calls to action before they get distracted and go seek out your competitor!

I hope that after reading this you have a strong understanding as to why it’s not enough to just write and publish blog entries. It’s your civic duty to aggressively drive traffic from your blog to your website. (Okay, so I’m stretching the truth a bit.) But if you want to be a successful business blogger, then the strategy detailed above isn’t optional; it’s mandatory.

Log into your blog right now and start tweaking. With a little help, it will soon become the gateway to golden moneymaking opportunities; your business website!

Copyright 2006 Dina Giolitto. All rights reserved.