Blog marketing has become a powerful way to get more people to know what a business offers and why they should should use the product or service that is being offered. Blogs are no long just online journals. Large and small businesses alike are using blogs as marketing tools to expand their research and generate new business.

What Is A Blog Anyway?

The word “blog” is actually a shortened form of the the phrase “web log.” When blogs first appeared with regularity back in the 1990′s, they were used almost exclusively as “online diaries” where people would simply write down their daily activities, personal opinions, thoughts, goals, and dreams. It took a few years for businesses to recognize the potential that blogs had to connect with prospects and customers. Blogs can be a part of a website or stand alone.

How Blog Marketing Can Help Businesses?

1. Be An Expert. A blog allows a business owner to communicate with individuals on a personal basis. Blogs are generally not static. Instead, they tend to be updated regularly and are less formal in nature. Blogs let business owners cover a variety of subjects and issues related to the niche the business is in. This will increase the credibility of both the business and the owner, and demonstrate the knowledge and expertise associated with that niche. Blogs also allow owners to go over additional information that just can’t be covered via other forms of advertisement methods such as commercials, display ads, telemarketing, and direct mail.

2. Increase Exposure. Most blogs generate a RSS feed that third party websites and individuals can use to instantly get updates whenever the blog has a new post published on it. “RSS” stands for “Really Simple Syndication” and is what lets a site to subscribe to a blog and receive the new posts as they occur. What this means for the business owner is a dramatic increase in exposure. Every time the blog gets new posts, the posts are immediately distributed to all of the RSS feed subscribers. So hundreds, even thousands of people outside of the blog will be reached.

3. Increase in Traffic Generation. Because blogs tend to be highly focused on a specific topic, they tend to rank well in search engines like Google and Bing. The higher the blogs rank, the more people will find them in their search for information. Getting a blog to the first page of Google can result in an explosion of highly targeted traffic. Businesses thrive on theses type of prospects.

Blog Marketing for Businesses

Although blogs have become very simple to create and maintain, most business owners still prefer to use the services of an internet marketing consultant to help them establish a professional-looking and effective blog. These internet marketing firms can also create keyword-rich content related to the niche the business is in, as well as managing the time and effort to publish those posts at specified time intervals.

Today’s business owners are quite aware of the marketing power provided by the efficient use of blogs. Besides being a way to generate new customers, it also gives owners the ability to interact with past customers and develop long-term relationships with them.

Viral Marketing Examples – Success Stories

Current: The King of Viral

With the upgrades in internet and computer technology has come the newest fad which is called viral videos. A viral video is a video clip that gains worldwide fame by being sent through files on the internet. Viral Marketing is the same thing. It is using online websites and social sites to promote a product. There are several well known sites that used viral marketing such as YouTube and MySpace. YouTube allows big companies to advertise on their site and put the advertisements on the most watched videos on the site. The king of viral marketing though is the popular channel, Current.

Current is the television channel that is the brainchild of former Vice President Al Gore. It’s big draw is its ‘viewer created content’ format. Viewers make their own videos on any subject, download it just like you would on Youtube, then send it to Current. If it gets selected, the viewer gets paid and the video is broadcast on the station. The big innovator of the channel is its agreements with major advertisers to let the viewers create their ads to be aired exclusively on Current. The advertisements were becoming so popular and advanced that the big corporations were using the ads for worldwide and corporate promotion. There are several major commercials on television that were developed by a Current alum.

With the popularity of sites like Myspace and Facebook, it is so much easier to recieve and send information. The big thing about viral marketing is its exclusiveness. There are alot of companies that have web only discounts and sales. With the sudden popularity of the internet, the percentage of people that have access to a computer is very high. This means that the companies have more of a chance of getting a bigger consumer base which means more sales and more money to be earned.

Viral Marketing is just another new thing is the business world. It is through sites such as Current and Youtube that allow anybody to create a vid and then have a chance that a big company will purchase it. It is stories like this that make viral marketing that much more interesting.

Interested in professional assistance with viral marketing? Contact Perkolate, a local Las Vegas Marketing firm at www.perkolate.com.

There is a lot a Las Vegas business or company can do for themselves, without hiring a professional Las Vegas online marketing firm, with regard to promoting their business or website online. I’ve compiled a list of free resources that can help promote your products and services online.

There are a lot of resources online that cost nothing, just your time. Any place you can advertise online for free is a good thing.  Let’s start with some basics. You want to make sure you submit your website to search engines and free directories for inclusion. When included, your business website will be a part of any search engine results and when people find your website on a search, they may click on it, go to your website and you may have a lead.

Search Engines to Submit Your Las Vegas website to:

• Add your URL to Google
• MSN Live Search URL Submission
• Yahoo! Submit Your Site
• DMOZ – The Open Directory Project
• Scrub the Web
• EntireWeb Free Submission
• SearchSight.com – Submit Your URL
• ExactSeek – Add Your URL
• Librarians’ Internet Index – Suggest a Site
• whatUseek – Submit Your Site
• Exalead – Submit a site
• IllumiRate
• Infotiger – add your URL

Press releases are excellent tools to get you and your company’s name out into the Las Vegas community. You can create a press release for a variety of reasons – new client acquisition, project completion, community involvement and volunteer work, new hires, change of location, company growth, and much much more.

No matter what the topic, make sure it is written in proper press release format, and ensure that you have a grabbing and interesting headline to your press release.

Here are links to websites with advice on how to write a press release:

• PublicityInsider.com – How to Write a Press Release and Sample Press Release
• eHow.com – Hot to Write a Proper Press Release
• Free-Press-Release-Center.info – Sample Press Release

Once you have your press release written, you need an avenue to get it out. You can hire a PR or Marketing Firm (see www.perkolate.com) or there are other ways to do it at low-to-no-cost.

More Links to Websites Where You Can Publish Your Press Release:

• MyFreePR.com – Online Marketing Community and PR News Wire
• PR.com – Press Release Products, Services & Articles
• Free-Press-Release.com – Online Press Release Distribution Service
• i-Newswire.com – Free Press Release Distribution Center

• ReviewJournal.com – Submit Your Press Release & Story Ideas
• Las Vegas Sun 

Marketing Overview

What is Marketing? – (Wikipedia)

Marketing Teacher
Since 2000, Marketing Teacher has been providing marketing learners, teachers and professionals with FREE resources on the topic of marketing. So if you are studying for a marketing module or qualification, the contents of Marketing Teacher are specifically designed to support your learning.

Marketing Plans

What is a Marketing Plan? – (Wikipedia)

Free Marketing Plan Resources – (mplans.com)

Develop a Value Proposition – (about.com)

Perkolate – Las Vegas Marketing Firm

Market Research

What is Marketing Research? – (MarketingTeacher)

Free Marketing Research Resources

• www.researchinfo.com
• www.buyusa.gov/china/en/fmr.html
• www.free-research.com

PR

What is PR? – (Wikipedia)

PRWeb.com

Free Press Relase Center

PressRelease365.com

How to Write a Press Release – wikihow.com

Sample Press Release

Professional Las Vegas PR Company - (perkolate.com)

Advertising

What is Advertising? – (Wikipedia)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advertising

Small Business Advertising Basics – (allbusiness.com)

Small Business Advertising Techniques – (businesstown.com)

Low Cost Advertising Basics – (entreprenur.com)

Professional Las Vegas Advertising Firm - (perkolate.com)