Focused niche blogs get results much faster than blogs that deal with multiple topics. The Internet is filled with a massive amount of information. Focused writing in business blog marketing allows a niche blog to stand out.
Search engines quickly recognize the subject of a niche blog and reward this focus with good search engine rankings.
A niche blog focuses on a market segment and possibly a niche demographic. A blog focused on fashion wouldn’t be considered a niche blog, yet one focused on trendy junior fashions would be. In this case the demographic creates the niche.
To set-up a good niche blog, select a topic that is popular and one that you know about. Start your blog by writing one entry each day. Watch your blog’s traffic statistics carefully. You will quickly see which postings generate the most interest. Modify your writing topics and writing style based on your audience response.
What makes a good niche blog?
- Keyword Research: Use one of the keyword research tools to determine the level of interest and competition for your subject. Look for a large number of searches with only a limited competition.
- Tightly focused content. All posting should be around a single subject area. This requires that the topic be approached from multiple angles or perspectives.
- Narrow subject: Focus on a segment of the market and go into great depth with detail. Be an expert and dominate your chosen niche.
- Fresh Material: A good niche is wide enough to allow for a large number of postings that allow fresh and new insight. There has to be long-term value for your readers.
A Blog network is a group of blogs that are linked together under a common brand name, domain name or traffic referral system. Although there are different models their chief purpose can be to promote blogs or to serve as an outlet for business advertising.
Commercial blog networks and Independent blog networks act as an outlet for blog advertisers. These are corporations and businesses active in business blog marketing that want to promote websites, products and services in the blogosphere. This form of advertising is highly targeted by choosing blogs aligned with their market niche.
For advertisers: networks serve as a way to reach a whole new audience. They allow a way for businesses that may not have their own business blog to stll promote their company. They allow businesses a chance to get valuable content links from blogs to their websites.
For bloggers: networks serve as a way to earn money using their writing skills. This is a way for freelance writers launch their own business. This is a way people are making full time livings by blogging each and every day. Networks are searching for passionate writers who can produce quality niche content.
Types of Networks
Commercial Blog Networks: Here the organization owns the blogs and hires writers to create blog postings. They normally sell advertising. Examples are engadget.com and b5media.com.
Independent Blog Networks: Here the bloggers own the blogs and the network acts as a marketplace putting bloggers and advertisers together. Examples are payperpost.com and loudlaunch.com.
Affiliate Blog Networks: This is a group of blogs that share a common interest. Bloggers own their own blogs and they are bound together by a common interest, hobby or politics. They are really a federation of like minded bloggers.
WordPress blogs have neat a feature called Post Timestamp. This allows you to write blog postings in advance and then publish them according to your schedule. This is a great blog marketing tool.
I use this for 90% of my blog postings. For example, I didn’t write this posting at 4:30AM on a Sunday morning. I write something everyday day and pick out the topics I want for my blog which is published every other day. Sometimes I will write 3-4 consecutive pieces that I want to post and I schedule them using Timestamp.
Let’s say you have a three times per week posting schedule and you are getting ready to go on vacation. You could let your blog sit idle for that week or two, or you can write your topics ahead of time and then schedule them.
How it works: By default, Timestamp uses the current date and time for each posting. You can write your topics ahead of time and then edit the Timestamp to the date and time you want each posting to appear. When you are finished writing, click on “Publish” and your posting is saved and will appear on your blog exactly at the day and time.
Productivity Tool: Let’s say you are a business owner and you have a demanding and busy schedule. You can block out a morning once a week to spend on writing. You can still publish three times per week by writing all three posts at one time and editing the Timestamp for each posting.
Improve Quality: Write your posting in advance and then schedule your posting with Timestamp. You can still go in and edit your posting, links, trackbacks, inserted any pictures, etc. Just save it after editing.
Podcast marketing is one of the newest marketing frontiers with its beginnings in 2004. It is newer than blog marketing. The term “podcast” was first used in a February 2004 article by Ben Hammersley who coined the term podcast to mean audio blogging or amateur internet radio.
Podcasting moved beyond audio blogging and it is now an audio or video that can be downloaded to a portable MP3 player, or viewed on a PC.
This is targeted digital broadcasting, where people choose to listen to your message. MP3 players are now being integrated into cell phones. 2007 forecasted sales for MP3 players are 120 million and 200 million for MP3 enabled cell phones.
Podcasting allows listeners to listen to what they want, when they want and where they want. Choices for topics are unlimited. It is ideal for listeners who want new, interesting and plentiful content to fill their MP3 players.
Now you can target a specific niche market with your message. Broadcasting to a small audience may not seem cost effective… but this small audience has chosen to listen to your message. Targeting the correct market with an interesting message can achieve a very high conversion rate of listeners to customers.
Use podcasting along with other Internet marketing strategies such as blogging and website marketing. Consider adding a podcast library to your website.
Designing a podcast
- Determine the marketing opportunity
- Identify the target audience.
- Develop a central message.
- Choose keyword phrases.
- Select your format (Interview, call-in, guest expert, etc.)
- Distribution plan (blog, network)
- Write your script in a conversational tone
- Write a written summary with keywords
- Produce and publish
Which business blogging software should you use? In a quick search of the Internet we cam up with over 60 possible choices. Four of the most popular blogging platforms are Blogger, Movable Type, TypePad and WordPress.
- Blogger is the most popular hosted solution. Owned by Google and free to use, it is full featured and must be hosted from their central server. This makes it easy to sign up for and maintain. It is not our choice for business blogging because of limited customization options. It still remains an excellent choice for personal blogs.
- Movable Type was released in 2001 and dominated the blogging market from 2002-2004. Owned by Six Apart, Movable Type is free for personal use and commercial licenses range from $200-$800. This must be self-hosted. This is full featured blogging software, but it is built on older technologies. It can slow down over time with a large number of blog entries. A good choice for business blogging, just not our top choice.
- TypePad is owned by Six Apart and was released in 2003. TypePad is only offered as a hosted blogging solution. Pricing packages range from $4.95 to $29.95 per month. TypePad has many tools and features and allows for the addition of photo albums. But in the end, it is still a hosted solution and not customizable enough to meet the needs of business blogging.
- WordPress started in 2003 and is an Open Source project. This means there are hundred of developers worldwide working on developments, plug-ins and improvements and it is free. Available in hosted and self-hosted versions. For business blogging, we recommend the self-hosted version. Because it is completely customizable, it is our top choice for business blog marketing.
Blogging software comes in both hosted and self-hosted types. Hosted blogs are hosted by the blog service and are easier for creating a personal blog. Self-hosted blogs require downloading software and is better for business blogging because it gives the control for branding and marketing.
Hosted Blogs: A user simply needs to sign up, set-up a blog account and start blogging. These blogs are hosted on a central server and are very easy for the novice to get going quickly. All software updates and database maintenance is done by the provider. This type of hosting is required with services such as Blogger and Typepad but optional with services such as WordPress.
The main disadvantage of a hosted solution is the limitations. You are limited to having your blog on their domain. You are limited on the themed looks that are available and you are limited on how you can optimize your blog for search engines. This is fine for a personal blog, but not good for business blogging.
Self-Hosted: (User Hosted)This is very much like setting up a website. Here a domain name is purchased, a hosting account is set-up, the blog software is downloaded, a database is set-up and the blog is configured. Which blog platforms can be self hosted? These include Wordpress, Textpattern and Movable Type.
The advantage of a self-hosted blog is you get maximum benefits of control, flexibility and customization. Business blog marketing will usually use self-hosted blogs so they can control everything about the look and operation of the blog. They can customize the templates, incorporate plug-ins and optimize their blog for the search engines.
