When you first start your corporate blog, it’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of coming across a new marketing medium. You suddenly have access to millions of readers that are just dying to know about your products, right? Wrong! Your readers are out there, but they don’t just want to read about what you have to sell. They want to read content that enriches them, makes them laugh, makes them think or simply informs them.

There is a fine line to walk when you are corporate blogging for marketing purposes, and with practice, you can become a pro. There will a few bumps along the road, there always are, but with time, you can develop a solid method of marketing that works on your corporate blog. The key is knowing what to do, and what not to do.

Do: Provide your readers with a resource that will enrich them in some way
Don’t: Post endless commercials about your products that provide no actual value to a reader.

Do: Find ways to integrate your products into posts that readers enjoy.
Don’t: Spam your readers with endless product pitches and hard sells.

Do: Develop a balance of selling products, telling a story, and reporting news
Don’t: Ignore the fact that no one likes a blog that is nothing more than an endless commercial.

There is a trend that is obvious right off the bat with these do’s and don’ts. First, the key is knowing how to market to your audience. Second, you have to find a way to quietly market your products while still providing interesting content. Third, you have to avoid coming off like you are actually marketing your products – even if that is precisely what you are doing.

It can take some time to develop that balance, and there are a few ways to know when you are striking the right chord. Watch your site analytics, pay attention to comments and feedback. If your traffic goes down, or your comments drop off, chances are you are either selling too hard, or not providing your readers with what they want to hear.

Another don’t that bears mentioning is writing your blog solely for the purpose of search engine optimization. Yes, SEO is vital. Yes, SEO will benefit your site, increase traffic and has the potential to increase your sales.

What SEO cannot do is force people to buy your products. Search engines don’t have wallets. Search engines will not buy your products – but people will. You need to write for them – not for the search engines. Find ways to enrich your content with keywords, but keep it readable by human beings. Avoid practices like keyword stuffing, auto generated content, and gibberish. It may take a little longer to get that ranking you want, but along the way you will be appealing to humans, not machines, and it is the humans that you need to reach first and foremost.

Photo Credits: 1

Originally posted 2008-11-03 05:50:48. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

• Projecting the Right Image of Your Company Through Your Corporate Blog Few people realize how powerful a blog can be when it comes to projecting an image to the public. Words have a power all their own and the wrong ones may sink your company’s reputation. Before you even start your own corporate blog it is very important to first come......
• Find New Customers Through Search Engine Optimization (SEO) You've got a website... Fantastic! Are customers finding you? Without a blog or advertising program, probably not. Having a telephone number is not very helpful if you aren't listed a phone book (or online equivalent). The website is the same way - except that the "phone book" has been replaced......
• Is Corporate Blogging Worth The Effort? Listen to corporate blogging evangelists long enough and it’s easy to start thinking that success is going to fall out of the sky and bonk you on the head. However, spend a few weeks implementing all of their techniques and you may end up wondering whether or not all of......
• Quick and Dirty Tips for Effective Corporate Blogging, pt 4 This is part four in our series about good tips for good corporate blogging. We have touched on three tips each in the first part, second part and third parts of this series. - Now here are another handful of tips for your consideration. - 10 - Know the value......
• Corporate Blogging Demystified For some, the premise of corporate blogging is a bit strange. It’s hard to know when a corporate blog may be right for you and it’s also difficult to know just what you’re supposed to do with one. Here’s an easy guide to help you get your blog started the......

• Affiliate Marketing - What Are Keywords and Why Do You Need Them to Sell Your Affiliate Products What is a keyword?A keyword is a word that describes your product, service or web page you are trying to market. For example this article could have the keywords: "Keywords", "Affiliate", Internet", "Products" etc. The main use for these keywords is describe what is found in the product or......
• Google Reader Search Button for the Google Toolbar Why the Google Toolbar does not include a search button for Google Reader by default is beyond me! I searched for a Google Reader button in the button gallery, and much to my dismay the only one I found does not perform a search. I then took it upon myself......
• Earn Passive Income From Domains Is it possible to earn passive income for domains? Absolutely!  It isn't rocket science but it does involve a little bit of work. Here are the simple steps: 1. Buy a cheap domain name. 2. Decide how you're going to monetize it. Either through ads on a niche site, affiliate......
• Keep Readers Coming Back to Your Blog If you have a blog, you want to keep readers coming back. You can attract readers in a variety of ways, but keeping them is a little harder. You may end up high in the search engines for tons of keywords and pull in tons of unique page views. But......
• Tips For Successful Hubpages Marketing And To Create Successful Hubs Hubpages are free to use online space for publishing or sharing about anything that you know. Its more or less same like a blog and hubpages are great marketing tool because its already a well established system-on-place. There are more than million hubs available in hubpages and it has hundreds......