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I'm sure that by now everybody knows what a blog is and the speed that it has captured a global audience is quite remarkable. However, many don't realise the potential for a blog to be an incredibly powerful marketing tool for businesses. With the capacity to drive traffic to a main website, generate product sales, create advertising income and be a customer service tool, a blog is fast becoming part of the marketing strategy for even the largest of companies.

A blog is able to humanise your business. It is all well and good having a professionally designed website with great specifications for all your products but what many businesses seem to miss is a relationship with their customers. Because it is far more informsl than a usual website, it is possible to write in your own voice, that of the company and show the world that there is a person behind the products. Studies have found that just by putting aa photograph of the managing director on a website, people start to relate to the company and are reassured that there is someone there who is capable of catering for their needs. All in all, it allows a business to project much more personality into the online market than a regular sales site does.

The blog can often act as a sort of interactive FAQ whereby customer can ask questions and you can answer them in an instant. How many times have you sent an email to a company via their website and waited weeks for a result? Well, using a blog, all it takes is for customers to submit their questions where they will be visible to all and you can go on there and interactively answer them. How nice would it be to get your questions answered straight away and how many websites actually do this? The answer is great and not many. A blog is a great place to set up how-to articles as well. For example, say your company is a supplier to the building trade. Why not put up articles on how to choose the correct nails or screws for a job? It will saving them having to spend time looking it up and give proof that your company knows their stuff, creating a greater likelihood for sales.

Perhaps above all else, a blog is a fantastic way to drive traffic to the company website which is ultimately where you want customers to visit. This can be done by re-directing them through links, special offers and product features. Using tools like Google Analytics you will be able to easily monitor the click through rates from the blog and see what sort of effect it has on sales. The most effective

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