Blogging as a Sales Technique
If you've ever wondered why various web-based businesses have blogs, then you should know it's a critical component to their marketing strategy. Think of the vast amount of people, millions all over the world that are putting search keys into Google and Yahoo. While 99% of those individuals are looking for something else, the 1% that is seeking out your service may simply be looking for information on the industry or key trends within the industry. This is why well-designed web pages are putting more and more money and effort into their blogs. If I'm a fisherman and I'm interested in topics concerning fishing and wildlife and I happen to be surfing the internet on topics that I'm interested in reading about, it would not necessarily be a bad thing if I stumbled upon a blog that was hosted by a company that happens to deal in fishing rods, lures, and other paraphernalia that I otherwise have an interest in buying.
Help clients understand their options, helping them make informed decisions.
Engage your Customers with Interesting Content
The fisherman metaphor is apt because it's an almost perfect analogy for how well designed and maintained web businesses recruit potential customers and clients. For instance, I may not be interested in buying lures today or tomorrow, but I was thinking about a topic related to fishing that I found interesting, decided to look it up, and then wow, this page has a lot of interesting hunting and fishing related tools that I'm very interested in browsing. On top of that, their blog contains a lot of interesting links and content that will keep me engaged with an area of interest I'm already predisposed to looking into on my own.
The idea is, that not everyone who has an interest in fishing is necessarily going to be interested in buying something then and there. But if they do have an interest in fishing and wildlife, then they are very likely to be interested in looking up topics relating to that, and they're likely to do this on a weekly or even daily basis. This is precisely the sort of individual that you're going to be interested in making aware of your brand and company, which is precisely the point of having an operational blog in the first place.