Top Ten Reason to Publish an Ezine AND a Blog

The reading level for this article is Novice

Blogs are the hottest thing going these days when it comes to marketing on the Internet. A blog is a way of delivering your messages and article to clients. They are a like personal web sites, easy to create and far less expensive than traditional web sites.

Just when you thought you were master ing the tasks of ez ines and newsletters, along comes blogg ing, and you have to ask yourself:

• Do I really need a blog?
• Isn’t an email ezine or newsletter doing the same thing?
• Should I do both?
• Are these two marketing tools going to eat up all my time, energy and money?
• What’s the best way to spend my resources here so that I can get cl ients and results out of my market ing efforts?
  

Here are ten reasons why you should pay attention to this new blogging revolution and do both and ezine and a blog.

1. Because a blog is web based, it is publ ished instantaneously every t ime you post. Th is allows you to be spontaneous and current w ith issues that affect your readers/cl ients. Blog posts are short, ez ines can be longer. One can complement the other.
   

2. Because blog posts are spontaneous, they tend to be more informal, fr iendly, and conversat ional. Blog posts show your personal ity. Ez ines show your knowledge. Your readers/cl ients need to know who you are ill invest in your serv ices. Prov id ing both an ez ine and a blog allows your readers to get to know you.
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3. You can set up a subscription form on your blog and your subscribers will get a short notice in their inboxes each time you post something new. This is a great way around the spam filter problem which blocks so many ezines and legitimate messages from professionals.
   

4. Blogs l ink to other blogs and web sites, which helps you create a v iral market ing system, increas ing your exposure to search eng ines. Search eng ines love blogs because they are text based and key word r ich. Your rank ings go up when you publ ish a blog and use l ink ing and post ing on a frequent bas is. You can also l ink to your own web s ite(s).
   

5. You have instant access to all your publ ished art icles on your blog. A blog automat ically creates arch ives of prev ious posts. You see them in a s ide-bar for easy access. You put them into categor ies for easy f ind ing. One clever person we know spent a day post ing all her ez ine art icles to her blog, so that it would appear she has been blogg ing for a much longer t ime. Also, readers of her blog may not have had the opportun ity to read all of her other ez ine art icles.
   

6. You can use your blog to become a trusted expert in your field by filtering content on the web for your subscribers. Readers don’t have time to surf and to collect information, but you can do it for them, thereby establishing yourself as a good resource.
   

7. You can set up l inks for ads, products, and for your aff il iate programs in the blog s ide columns so you don’t have to include them in the body of your art icle. In an ez ine, you have to be careful about promot ional stuff in the art icle because it annoys people and causes them to unsubscr ibe. A blog is a non- intrus ive way to do th is, and an ez ine can l ink to the blog where more informat ion can be found.
   

8. Readers can comment on your blog postings, which creates rapport and with readers. You can ask questions, stimulate responses by being controversial, and survey readers. It is a great way to keep your finger on the pulse of what readers want.
   

9. You don’t have to mess with a web site, or pay a web designer to update your web site every time you have a new article or teleclass, or program or product. Blogs are user-friendly, and with a few instructions or tutorials, you can learn to use it yourself. It is less expensive than setting up your ezine in HTML.
   

10.  Bottom line is this: using a blog and an ezine will help attract more visitors to your website, who become subscribers and who may eventually become clients.

Th ink of the World W ide Web as a b ig f ish ing pond. The more f ish ing l ines in the pond, the more f ish you are go ing to catch!

You have a web s ite, yet it is stat ic l ike an onl ine brochure.

You have an ez ine, wh ich you grow through subscr ipt ion l inks everywhere.

And now, you should have a blog, where you can attract more readers to get to know you, where they can interact w ith you, and maybe take your ba it!

Happy f ish ing!