GETTING involved in e-commerce will mean taking the time to pick up some new skills, and one of those skills will definitely involve online marketing.
Most of us are familiar with the use of social media as effective platforms for selling products and services, but have you considered blogging as another way to reach more people and potential customers?
An article entitled ‘Blog Marketing: What Is It and How to Do It’, which was published on the website thebalance.com, described ‘blog marketing’ as the “process of reaching your home business’ target market through the use of a blog”.
If you already have an online store or are already selling your products online, the blog will allow you to promote your business.
According to the article, although it’s relatively easy to start a blog and use it immediately to promote your business, the hard part will be the on-going marketing process and management of the blog.
To help you, it has come up with this simple checklist:
Prepare a blog marketing plan
This will mean deciding on what you want to publish on your blog. Are you going to provide the latest updates about your product or are you going to write about the updates in the industry you are in? Apart from that, your blog marketing plan will decide on whether you will update your blog once a day or twice a day or more.
Create the blog that’s right for you
Once you have your blog marketing plan ready, you will need to decide on the blogging platform – WordPress, Blogger, Tumblr, Wix, etc – that offers the best fit for you and your business. Although you have the option of going for a free blog platform, it’s better to opt for paid plans, as it will make a huge difference in making it easier for people to search for your blog.
Update your blog immediately
Before you publish your blog, make sure you have an ample supply of posts, because if your blog is empty, you might as well not bother setting it up in the first place. So, get those posts ready and then follow the schedule you’ve decided in your blog marketing plan.
Use social media effectively
Although the primary goal of your blog is to market your product, you will still need to market your blog. Fortunately, with social media this task is much easier especially since it’s not difficult to integrate Facebook, Twitter and Instagram into your blog.
Stay social
Due to the social nature of blogs, you must always reply to comments from your readers. However, you also have to make sure to deal appropriately with online trolls and spam posts.
Encourage email signups
By allowing you to send them updates directly through email, your customers are also signalling that they’re excited about your products and services and hopefully excited to buy more from you, as well.
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