Article printed from SiteProNews: http://www.sitepronews.com
  HTML version available at: http://www.sitepronews.com/archives.html

Marketing Optimization 101 for Blogs
By Rok Hrastnik (c) 2005

Truth be told, most blogs aren't really optimized for marketing
effectiveness. Even more so, some blogs are absolute marketing
machines, but they at the same time fail to fully capitalize on
that fact by not being really optimized marketing-wise.

Blogs may be Web 2.0, but bloggers should not ignore some of
the good old internet direct marketing tactics that have been
working for marketers online almost for a decade or more.

Here are the absolute 101 basics you really shouldn't ignore ...

1. Don't Forget E-Mail Delivery

Bloggers are often abandoning or completely ignoring e-mail
as a tool to deliver their content to their readers. As an RSS
evangelist I certainly believe in using RSS to get your content
to the world, but only as a supplement to e-mail delivery.

While RSS provides us with many unique benefits, it is yet
to reach mainstream adoption. Until it does, marketers and
publishers should not even consider abandoning e-mail delivery,
or risk ignoring most of their potential readership.

If you're still wondering why you need e-mail, consider the
potential you might be wasting without it. Someone visits your
blog, likes the content and would like to be notified as new
content of interest becomes available, and he does not know what
RSS is or even care. If you fail to capture his e-mail address
and consent at that exact moment, he might never again return to
your site, either because he forgets about it or because dozens
of other sites capture his interest even before the next day.

2. E-Zine Publishing Is Still A Must

Publishing a blog is not a replacement for an e-zine. If nothing
else, publish a weekly or monthly e-zine of your top blog posts,
available in a single easy-to-consume format.

Some simply do not have the time to watch your blog regularly
and others will only want to receive a quick summary to get
your best and most crucial content. Publishing an e-mail e-zine
will do that for you, giving you the opportunity to communicate
with the widest possible long-term audience for your blog.

3. E-Mail And RSS Subscriptions

Providing e-mail (e-zine) and RSS subscriptions is important to
the success of any blog. But neither of these will do you much
good if your visitors don't actually see them and if you don't
give them enough incentive to subscribe.

Foremost, display your e-mail e-zine and RSS subscription
information at the top of your blog, instead of somewhere far
down where no one will see them.

And second, use enticing copy to get visitors to subscribe.
Briefly explain the benefits of subscribing, what kind of
content they can expect to receive, and also do not forget about
your privacy disclaimer, calming potential subscribers that you
will never abuse their personal information.

4. Explain RSS

Most internet users still do not know what RSS is or how to use
it, and consequently the RSS buttons on your blog mean absolutely
nothing to them.

To overcome this problem, create a special RSS presentation page
and link to it next to the RSS subscribe button. On that page
explain:

- What RSS is
- How the visitor will benefit from using RSS
- Where they can get a free RSS aggregator (recommend one
  yourself!)
- How they can install it (provide step-by-step
  instructions)
- How they can subscribe to your RSS feeds
- Why they should subscribe to your own RSS feeds
- Then, on this same page, include the links to all of your
  RSS feeds.

5. Top Content

If you update your blog frequently, your less recent top content
keeps being pushed down and down, where most of your blog readers
will never bother to look for it.

Overcome this frequent blog problem by creating a list of your
top posts, clearly displayed and available from each of your
pages. Depending on the topic you cover, you might want to place
these headlines as close to the top of your blog as possible, in
order to quickly entice your new visitors to start reading the
best of what you have to offer and then use this content to
convert them to loyal readers and subscribers.

6. The Headline

The site or blog headline will tell your visitors what to expect
from reading your blog and will answer their key question:
"What's in it for me?"

Make sure that your blog headline gives this reason and a story
inviting enough for your readers to keep reading.

7. Lead Your Visitors To Your MDA

MDA is the Most Desired Action you want your visitors to take
on your site, ranging from a subscription to your e-zine to
requesting more information about your services or ordering
your product / getting more information about it.

Your blog will be of great help in this area, but only if you
actually lead your visitors to this action. Putting this
information in your menu simply is not enough.

Experiment putting some copy for your MDA directly below each
blog post (on your permanent blog post archives pages) and also
prominently in your left- or right-hand columns.

If you're providing multiple services or products, promote each
of them next to the appropriate posts, based on post topics.

And yes, this is more important than having dozens of Google
AdSense ads on your blog ... if you want to use your blog as
part of your marketing mix.

8. Look Different

Blogs are usually not heavily designed and most of them look
exactly the same. While light design is one of the positive
sides of blogs, you should invest some effort in making your
blog stand-out visually. Don't cram it with design, but still
make sure it's different than every other blog in the market.

9. Use Your Own Domain

Having a subdomain.typepad.com type sub-domain might be the
easiest choice, but don't forget that your domain name is your
permanent online address and part of your online brand.

Consequently, invest a couple of dollars to get your own domain
name, to enforce your brand, as well as making it easier for
your readers to access your blog.

10. Don't Forget Your Keywords

What keywords do you want your content and blog to be found
under in the search engines?

Don't forget to implement these keywords in the titles and body
content of your blog posts. I'm not saying you should write your
posts to please the search engines, but at least keep them in
mind and use them when possible, without taking anything away
from the actual content.

11. Interact With Your Readers

If you're blogging for business, don't forget about business
oriented reader interaction.

Mainly, solicit questions from your readers, pertaining to your
field of expertise, and then respond to them via your blog. Post
interesting client case studies. When you get a review, post it
or link to it. And so on ...

12. Blog Specific Promotional Tactics 101

a] Intensively market your RSS feeds

b] Ping the search engines and directories after you update your
blog, using a free service such as http://www.pingomatic.com

13. Don't Forget About The Content

And of course, none of the above won't make any difference at
all if you don't provide high-quality, interesting and frequent
content.

These 13 points are of course only the most basic stuff, but
enough to help you get on the marketing optimization train.
================================================================
Find out immediately how you can power your online business with
RSS and use it in all of your marketing. Request the free 28-page
Business Case for RSS report, with easy-to-follow instructions,
examples and advice on how to get the most out of RSS in the
shortest possible time. Get the free download here:
http://rssdiary.marketingstudies.net/case/index.html?src=sa20
================================================================

Copyright © 2006 Jayde Online, Inc.  All Rights Reserved.

SiteProNews is a registered service mark of Jayde Online, Inc.