Category: Making Money

Profiting from the sale of personal or business items. Working for pay. Investment purchase at below market prices and reselling at or above market value. leveraging one’s time and resources through the efforts of others for residual income.

Defining the Blog – From Text to Corporate




The blog defined

For many years, blogs (weblogs) were defined as text-based websites that kept records of days, similar to a captain’s log on a sailing ship. However, this started to change as the group of people who kept blogs became more diverse. The more bloggers began to explore the limits of their medium and of the technology that made it possible, the more the boundaries of what could be called a “blog” expanded. That having been said, the definition of blogging is something which has been very much in flux for many years, as new technologies that appeared on a seemingly daily basis, redefined what a blog was, what a blog could be, and what a blog should be capable of doing.

Blogging has evolved, taking with it the manner in which it is defined, but among the most challenging types of blogs to have emerged is the corporate blog which, for a significant period of time, struggled to gain legitimacy and acceptance in the blogosphere. In recent years however, corporate blogging has become more mainstream and has gained prominence in an otherwise individual-based medium which often has more to do with the day-to-day activities and personal experiences of an individual blogger than with a cold, “it’s only business” approach of the corporate entity; but there is little doubt that corporate blogging is here to stay, as we will discuss further in the following paragraphs.

Corporate blogging, once considered a controversial marketing tool that might have created more problems than solutions, has turned out to be the kind of advertising strategy with which businesses can derive maximum benefits from their Web marketing efforts. The most practical description of corporate blogging, as indicated in the Brafton website article titled, Corporate Blogging, “is the practice of creating content that addresses industry updates, expert tips or best practices and company news from the perspective of a brand.” The article goes on to say that Corporate Blogging “is used by businesses of all sizes as a means of content marketing.”

The corporate blog

In view of the percieved benefits promised by this method of Web marketing, many corporations, companies and other businesses that were in search of ways to capitalize on the blogging trend, made a calculated determination that a great way to ride the blogging wave is to keep a blog on their corporate website. These unique blogs are often created to appeal to a particular demographic that the company needs to attract; and content published to such blogs may at times have quite a lot to do with activities of the corporation, while at other times, it may have very little to do with the company itself.

A corporate blog will often focus on the kinds of content likely to attract a desired type of Web surfer even if that content is not related to the product or service provided by the company itself, because there are other benefits (advantages?) that can be gained. Such advantages might include, boosting the business’ web presence, which can be derived through one or more of the following coveted features:

  • SEO (Search Engine Optimization);
  • Visitor Engagement;
  • Brand Awareness;
  • Conversions;
  • Thought Leadership;
  • Lead Generation

Some bloggers feel that corporate blogging is a kind of validation for the blogging movement, and shows that this exciting new medium has really infiltrated the mainstream, while other bloggers consider the kind of viral marketing that corporate blogs practice to be unethical or distasteful. In any case, having watched the evolution of corporate blogs and whether how survived and proliferated the Web, instead of succumbing to failure, neglect and extinction served as some interesting and insightful lessons into the habits, preferences and spending disciplines of the modern-day consumer.

A constantly changing blog

As enhancements to the growth and expansion of today’s blogging, there is an abundance of new blog types which include photo blogs, as well as video blogs; and mobile blogging devices may well change the definition of blogging entirely by making it possible for bloggers to create new kinds of posts. And as more companies hire writers to keep blogs with the sole purpose of creating a positive buzz about their brand, bloggers across the globe will debate about whether these manufactured blogs are really worthy of the name. But between all of these different forces that are constantly expanding and reshaping the blogosphere, it is difficult to imagine that the definition of what is, and is not a blog, will ever remain fixed for very long.

To Evaluate Your Email Marketing Business

The EM business model

To say that email marketing can be a very effective method by which to reach target audiences around the world is most certainly an understatement, since the email marketing business model, when appropriately implemented, has been proven to do just that. However, not everyone who attempts to use email marketing as an additional income stream to augment their brand will acheive success. Reason? Failure to implement the email marketing plan! In other words, an individual’s email marketing efforts may not result in him / her reaching full potential unless s/he invests the time, energy and money needed to evaluat his / her email marketing strategy.

During this evaluation process you, as a motivated email marketer, must be able to determine whether or not your email marketing efforts are helping you to reach your goals during a particular email marketing campaign, as well as after that campaign has completed. Likewise, during the same evaluation process you can also determine if the email marketing is having an adverse affect on your business. That having been said, we will discuss a few of the reasons why evaluating your email marketing is as important as any other aspect of this Web-based business model, and will likely result in the kind of success many email marketers envision when they start out.

Ineffective email marketing

Consider an email marketing campaign which is not effective because it does not reach members of the intended target audience. This ineffectiveness can be attributed to an opt-in/subscriber list which does not consist of subscribers who expressed a high interest in the particular product, service or topic originally offered or discussed on the marketer’s website. Such failure and ineffectiveness result when business owners neglect to ensure that their email subscriber lists include recipients who are extremely interested in the products or services they offer.

Another group of business owners that often get less than optimum results from their email marketing efforts are those who take shortcuts by purchasing large email lists, since the recipients of their marketing emails are simply not interested in the products or services being offered. In this scenario the email marketing is likely to generate very few sales or website visits; but a reevaluation of the email distribution list to include recipients who are interested in their products or services will likely result in significantly more sales and website visits.

Let’s now consider a situation in which email marketing is being construed as spam by the recipients. In this scenario, if the email marketer has taken precautions to ensure that emails are reaching members of the marketer’s target audience, but emails still seem to be over-the-top sales pitches, the members of that particular subscriber list may view those emails as spam and not take the advertisements seriously. If this occurs, then members of your email distribution list may be more likely to seek out a competitor when they are in need of products or services, rather than making a purchase from you.

The nature of evaluation

Evaluating your email marketing efforts can be formal or informal in nature; but if you have specific business goals in mind you might want to consider using whether or not you are on the way to meet this goal as an indication of the effectiveness of your email marketing efforts. If you’re interested in reading about more detailed and proven email marketing strategies, techniques and success stories, take a look at this email marketing trend setters website.

Alternatively, you can evaluate your email marketing efforts by soliciting customer feedback, by asking customers for their opinions about the email marketing campaign and whether or not they were compelled to make a purchase because of the content, the advertisements or some other element. Based on this information you should have a good indication of whether or not your email marketing is effective. If it is not effective you should consider making changes to create more interest in your products, services or brand.

Regular evaluation

Changes you make should reflect the feedback you receive in order to ensure that you are not making changes which will create even less interest from the members of your target audience. To say that evaluating your email marketing strategy on a regular basis is important is a tremendous understatement. Regularly evaluating your email marketing is not only important, it is critical to the success of your business. Failure to evaluate your email marketing strategies can have adverse effects ranging from not producing results to causing you to lose customers to your competitors.