Improving Your Customer Relationship Management by Blogging

Before I address the following questions:

* What is a blog? and

* What can a blog do for my business?

let me pose a few "What if . . ." questions to you.

Keeping in mind that before your prospects and customers buy from you, they need to know you, like you, and trust you. In other words, they need to know, whether overtly or covertly, that they have a trusting and ongoing relationship with you. What better way to accomplish that goal than a blog?

Now, here are my What if . . . questions:

* What if less than two minutes after creating and publishing your blog, it were to be promoted to 10.000 prospects without any extra effort or cost on your part?

* What if every time someone clicks on a hyperlinked keyword that describes your hobbies; your occupation; your industry; or your favorite books, movies, music, or artist, your blog pops up?

* What if every time you leave a comment on someone else's blog, you could leave a hyperlink to your website, blog, or email?

* What if someone enters your name or business name (completely or partially) into a major search engine, your website or blog pops up in their search results?

* What if every time you post content on your blog, it would bypass the spam filters and instantaneously appear on your subscribers' desktop without any extra effort or cost on your part? ( - an excellent opportunity to get your sale, special message, or time-sensitive announcement into their hands, or actually in front of their eyes!)

* What if your satisfied customers had the opportunity to place their self-generated testimonies on your blog? (Although some might need encouragement, that's all right. Make an incentive opportunity of it! Offer some incentive for their efforts.)

By now you should be beginning to see the powerful marketing potential a blog offers you. These are just some of the powerful customer relationship management features a blog offers you.

But wait!

There's more!

What if you were to combine these powerful features with other online and offline efforts such as a blogathon, teleseminar, webinar, online articles, and others ??

Would that enhance your customer relationship management efforts?

I realize that successful marketing and sales are still a high touch entity, but when you combine high tech with high touch, you're bound for success!!!

Now to answer the original questions, What is a blog? and What can a blog do for my business?:

A blog, short of web log, is an interactive web-based journal that encourages participation from viewers. It looks like and does everything a website does ? and more! Entries, called posts, are published by date on the page according to your predetermined quantity and are archived in the margin according to your predetermined frequency. A blog served as an excellent supplement to your website and other marketing efforts.

A blog offers your business countless options, namely, a blog:

* gives your viewers, prospects, customers, or subscribers immediate access to you.

* helps to reduce your time spend distributing emails and other messages.

* improves your content delivery rates by 100%.

* improves your search engine rankings.

* publishes constantly fresh content.

* bypasses spam filters completely.

* improves your online visibility.

* Enhances your web presence.

* Generates more visitors.

* and more . . .

So, if you don't already have a blog, I only have 1 question for you:

What are you waiting for? Don't let this cutting-edge technology, this powerful marketing tool, pass you by. Online companies are popping up all over the internet offering you free blogs. My recommendation is that you grab one, or two ? or more! Most, if not all, are extremely easy to create, but may be time-consuming, according to your already hectic schedule, to maintain.

If that's the case in your situation, you might want to call in outside help. Consider the high school computer techie next door, or the college-age computer-major son or daughter of a friend who could always use a few extra bucks.

Or, if you don't have either option available to you, or want to see samples first, I invite you to take a look at what I'm doing by going to:

www.MasterBlogBuilder.blogspot.com/

< p>I leave you with this wish:

May you always be successful in looking for and using new and creative ways to maximize your earning potential.

Remember: When you maximize your potential, we all win! When you don't, we all lose.

Etienne A. Gibbs, MSW, Management and Marketing Consultant, known as The Master Blog Builder works with individuals, managers, and small business owners to help them maximize their personal and business potential. Reach him at http://www.MasterBlogBuilder.blogspot.com/

In The News:


Ask Suzen: What's the Value of a Blog Comment?
Patch.com
Not even the Huffington Post would have commenters unless they were performing a few effective tactics such as: Sending your blog out via email to your opt-in list… which I know you have on your log to encourage folks to subscribe via RSS or an auto ...


Live blog: Kings, Coyotes tied 3-3 in Game 5
Tucson Citizen
22, 2012, under USA TODAY News We're live-blogging Game 5 of the Western Conference. The Los Angeles Kings, visiting the Phoenix Coyotes, can clinch a berth in the Stanley Cup Finals with a win. 10:45: That goal was big for the Coyotes because the ...

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Live blog: Devils lead Rangers 3-1 in Game 4
Tucson Citizen
21, 2012, under USA TODAY News NEWARK – We're live blogging Game 4 of the Eastern Conference final. The New York Rangers lead the New Jersey Devils 2-1 in the best-of-seven series: 10:34: Rangers pull Henrik Lundqvist with more than two minutes left.

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5 Common SMB Online Marketing Optimization Issues Solved: Q&A with Lee Odden
Search Engine Watch
Ongoing Engagement Means You'll Never Run Out of Things to Talk (or Write) About We asked Odden what advice he has for entrepreneurs who have shied away from blogging and/or social because they don't feel they can produce enough contenton a regular ...

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Bloglovin, a prettier take on RSS and Tumblr, gets Betaworks investment
GigaOM
Now, the company said it has about 1.4 million members worldwide and 2.4 million monthly unique visitors, who use the site to follow blogs in a range of areas, from fashion and food to photography and interior design. Like an RSS reader, ...

and more »

Blog To Get More Patients? IDA's New Dental Marketing Websites Can Showcase ...
San Francisco Chronicle (press release)
New websites from Internet Dental Alliance, Inc. (IDA) let doctors easily embed their blogs into their IDA New Patient Portals to automatically generate fresh content and new patient leads. IDA's Portals let doctor's integrate the RSS feeds from their ...

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12 Reasons Why Blogging Is The #1 B2B Marketing Tactic
Business 2 Community (blog)
What is a 'Blog'? Shorthand for “Weblog,” a blog offers an easy way to present brief chunks of frequently refreshed Web content. Backed with easy-to-use technologies for syndication (eg, RSS), comments and trackbacks, blogs are often the blazing ...

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Twitter applies greater precision to 'Who to Follow' feature
Red Rocket Media News
If you are new here, you might want to subscribe to the RSS feed for updates on this topic. Micro-blogging service Twitter is tweaking its 'Who to Follow' feature, as not everyone is interested in “Justin Bieber, FC Barcelona or Kim Kardashian.

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How to Get Bloggers to help in Your Press Release Distribution
PR Newswire (press release)
In Vision Smart News online press release distribution system if the press release is crafted well it will help reach various blogs by way of RSS feeds. To learn more about a How to Get Bloggers to help in Your Press Release Distribution contact Qamar ...

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COMMENTARY: Does "The Stage Door" need a Facebook page? My thoughts.
Naples Daily News (blog)
But how do you feel about getting anywhere from 50-90% of the blog content via Facebook? 4. This is the big one. Does anyone else have concerns about me building an audience for and inside Facebook - a platform controlled by someone else?

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