(View entire post here)

Many business owners and writers who promote their businesses or books online wonder whether a blog makes sense. After all in this Web 2.0 age you already have a website that gets traffic, you produce a well-read e-zine and make connections in social media networks. Why would you still need a blog?

In Technorati's State of the Blogosphere Report (2008), (www.technorati.com), the overwhelming consensus is that blogging is a global phenomenon which has hit mainstream:

• 26.4 million people in the United States have started a blog while globally that number tops 184 million people
• 60.3 million people read blogs in the U.S. while 346 million people read them worldwide
• 77% of all active Internet users read blogs

No doubt, blogging is here to stay. It's an ever-evolving medium that offers tremendous opportunities for the blogger such as:

Raising search engine rankings. The more you blog the higher your rankings on Google and other search engines.

Increasing online visibility. You are part of a community that thrives on linking and connecting. The idea is similar to viral marketing. Your post could be featured on other sites.

Low costs yet high-impact results. Creating a blog is free or is at a minimal cost. But the opportunity to effect your bottomline is significant.

Reaching a global audience in less time. No longer are you relegated to promoting your books one-to-one but promoting one-to-many.

Cementing expert status. Over time, your audience perceives you as an expert in your field as you feed them information that they can use.

Interacting with your audience. By asking your readers for their comments you engage them into a conversation. You get their feedback and form your own informal focus group, which ultimately helps you to better serve their needs.

Building a loyal community. You build a loyal community when your readers read and participate with your blog. They comment, you add others to your blog roll, they download your widgets and pass them on and most importantly they subscribe to your blog via e-mail or with feeds. With this community you can channel them to your website or your e-zine and promote your products or services to them over and over.

This is good news for authors who want to expand their reach from the traditional methods of a limiting book tour or promoting with bookmarks and brochures. Intrinsically, a blog is the perfect marriage as you must love writing in order to blog.

But blogging doesn't have to be text-oriented. Videos, photos, audio, polls, surveys and other interactive widgets proliferate the blogosphere, ensuring a more dynamic medium. The more you use these add-ons the more you engage your audience with their varying learning styles.

Make your blog work for you. Find the right provider, create compelling content, attract more readers, distribute your blog across the blogosphere and know exactly what to say and how to say it for every blog post. Read more about promoting with a blog in How to Say It: Marketing with New Media: A Guide to Promoting Your Small Business Using Websites, E-Zines, Blogs, and Podcasts.

Lena Claxton and Alison Woo

View more information How to Say It: Marketing with New Media

Lena Claxton, Alison Woo, How to Say It Marketing with New Media, marketing, new media,how to,online,small business,books, Penguin Books