This week’s guest post is from Don Purdum, CEO and Founder of TexstarWeb.com. Don talks about the importance of incorporating a blog into your website, and offering value to your target audience. Read this article below for more tips.
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What is a Blog and How Do I Use It to Grow My Business?
Great question, I thought you would never ask! Just kidding. All joking aside, a number of you don’t really know or understand the difference between a website and a blog.
The answer is in how you use it, in my opinion.
A website is full of all kinds of relevant information about your product and service, and those products or services can help your customers and potential customers. It can be a marketing site, informational, educational, or ecommerce website where you’re selling products. However, in most cases it tends to be a one-way communication tool.
You get to talk to them, but they really don’t get to talk back to you.
Blogs are really a two-way communication tool between you and those interested in products or services and what you have to say about them.
Social Media
Blogs are tending to fall in the social media sphere because they are hybrids. Not quite a website, but not quite a full blown social media site either.
When you write a blog article, you can post it directly to your Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn pages. People can leave comments and feedback on your blog or social media pages. Because of this, your blog opens up to the web in ways that your website may not.
Your blog should be a part of your website. What I mean is don’t use a third party blogging platform like blogger.com, wordpress.com, etc. Not that those are bad, but they may not really help you build search engine traffic for your website. That’s a whole different conversation right there.
To make your blog a part of your website, install WordPress from www.wordpress.org onto your server and have the domain be www.yourdomain.com/blog. That way, you get credit for the blog instead of Google or WordPress, who doesn’t need it. You do! And, for business purposes it makes you more credible and respected if you’re attempting to monetize your blog and website.
How To’s
Blogs are tools that you get to write about your passions and interests, noteworthy news and information, and especially “How To’s”.
The key to a great blog is how does what you are writing help your readers?
“How To’s” do that.
For example, if you sell some kind of furniture, then write a how to brace a book shelf and caulk it into a wall so that it blends in and becomes part of the wall. I hope you get the point? There may not be a whole lot to say about a book shelf. But, there may be ways you can write about how to utilize a book and make it part of the decor that is practical, interesting, and relevant.
That’s giving value!
Value
Value is part of the blog game. The more value, i.e. practical ideas, suggestions, and how to’s, you can give away the larger your reader base will grow and the greater the opportunity you have to earn new and repeat business. And, use pictures and video as much as possible to help illustrate your points.
I admit value is an overused term. But it is a good term. With a fragile economy, you have to give people a reason to both trust you, and buy from you. Value is that reason. If you can give me a practical idea or tip that benefits me, why wouldn’t I buy from you?
Conclusion
So, there is the difference between a website and blog. Websites can be interactive, but they are still generally a one-way communication tool. Where blogs are a two-way communication tool whereby your readers can write comments back to you.
Of course, there are great similarities. They ought to share the same domain, and they may be in the same website theme and look similar. But their uses are very different.
On a final note, one of my favorite blogs comes from Southwest Airlines. They have a tremendous blog that anyone can emulate. Check it out at Nuts About Southwest.
Thanks for reading this blog entry!
If you would like more clarification, or if you have other ideas about blogging and how to use one, please leave us a comment.
Don
Don Purdum
CEO / Founder, The Internet Conference
Email: don@texstarweb.com
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About Don Purdum
Don has been in the business of web design, search engine optimization, and has specialized in social media for a combined seven years. He founded Texstar Web.com in July 2009 and The Internet Conference in November 2011.
His desire has always been to help businesses of all sizes reach their potential on the internet by educating, influencing, and building trust with each individual client and site visitor.
From the design and look of a website, to informing clients on how to use social media such as Twitter and Facebook to increase their reach, his business approach to innovation, creativity and web design results in meaningful and relevant online experiences for business and their customers.
Don understands the unique needs of small businesses, has the foresight for growing businesses, and knows what it takes to maintain or launch a brand, product, or service.
He has worked with companies as small as two employees up to fortune 1,000 companies.
Don is an avid blogger, serves on the Board of the Royse City Chamber of Commerce, a suburb east of Dallas, TX, and on the leadership team of his BNI group in Dallas, TX.