The number of blogs exploded when it was discovered that blogs could be monetized. In other words, when people found out that blogging (blogging is the writing of entries in, the addition of material to, or the maintenance of a weblog) could make them money, everybody jumped onto the blogging bandwagon. As a result many websites dedicated specifically to blog communities and blog postings popped up. These websites further fueled the blog explosion. Company blogs, business blogs, political blogs, and music blogs are just some of the different, currently existing variations of the traditional weblog that have been created as a result of this explosion.

The biggest appeal that blogs have to ordinary people is that they are free. Many websites offer you your own blog so that you can write until your heart is content. Additionally, blogs gave people a forum to share their opinions with strangers. However, even though many blogs are free and they allow such freedom of speech, many companies and aspiring entrepreneurs used and are still using the blog phenomenon as a means of marketing a product.

It is not a secret that marketing costs money. As such, businesses try to develop and utilize as many inexpensive advertising ways as possible. Blogs are one of those inexpensive methods. Additionally, since the content on a blog usually changes everyday, it gives a potential customer an incentive to come back to the blog everyday. Therefore, businesses have more opportunities to try to sell something to the blog visitor.

MySpace is also a great way to market your business. However, it is important to note that MySpace does not allow business pages. Therefore, if your MySpace page is flagged as a business page by MySpace staff, your page will be permanently deleted without warning. This, however, does not mean that you cannot market some business products or services on your MySpace page. All this means is that your MySpace page cannot exist primarily for the purpose of conducting business (at least it cannot appear this way to MySpace administrators). Therefore, make sure that there are a lot of personal touches on your MySpace page. Having personal touches on your MySpace page will also attract other non-business contacts that could turn into business contacts. Therefore, your efforts to add personal touches to your MySpace page could lead to sales and business.

When marketing on MySpace, you have to avoid spamming. This means that you should not blast an advertisement to all of your "friends" nor should you go into a group and blast advertisements. The best way to attract potential customers is by answering questions posted by other members in group rooms. When answering, give an intelligible, helpful answer and provide a link to your blog or website.

Blogging and MySpace are both helpful marketing tools for you and your business. Use them effectively and you could see some amazing results.

Learn more about this author, Marco Angioni II.
Click here to send author comments or questions.

---

Add your voice

Know something about Using a blog or MySpace to promote your business?
We want to hear your view. Write now!