It is often asked why blogs are so important for businesses, and the answer is very simple – blogs equal a higher potential revenue. Did that get your attention? It should, because it is true. Simply slapping together a blog and expecting magic to transform your sales numbers overnight however is unrealistic. Today we will take a look at why blogs are effective tools and what it takes to have a successful blog.

A blog is another avenue for traffic. The more streets you have that lead to your main site, the higher your potential is to increase sales. That is a pretty easy concept to grasp, right? Even if your main site is highly ranked, it still is not drawing in every potential client possible. Having one blog leading back to your site is good, two is better, and several is really taking the bull by the horns. Think of it this way – one dollar is good – ten dollars is better. It’s the same concept.

Another nice thing about blogs is that you can use them to get out information about products that may not really have a appropriate space on your site for the purpose.  You may not always want to tinker with your main site so having a blog that addresses that need works perfectly. Another thing to keep in mind is that a well maintained blog can be monetized via programs like Adsense or other advertising opportunities and over time become self sufficient or even profitable entities. This isn’t the norm, but it does happen, and if you can get some revenue back, you have to grab it.

What you need to do when setting up a blog is have a well thought out plan. Know the audience you want to target with your blog(s) as best as you can. Focus the content to attract those people, and as importantly, keep your blog fresh. You should plan on adding new content at least 5 times each week – one update per day is optimal. You can go with less, but the main key is consistency. Establish a presence and maintain it.

Create a space where visitors feel comfortable posting comments, and good or bad, make sure you respond to those comments. Consider using your blog to give away some freebies – people love almost anything that is free. Run a weekly contest, randomly choose from those who have posted, or use whatever criteria you desire. The key is that a blog that is interactive is a blog that gets bookmarked and passed around which leads to you getting more links, more exposure and almost assuredly more sales. it’s a lot cheaper form of promotion than many other options.

Once you’ve established a thriving blog, you can work to make it more viable for conversions and increase its value as time goes on until you wonder how you ever got by without it! Invest the time – your business deserves it!

Link exchange requests are sent to the trash soon after being sent many times. Many people send mass link exchange requests that are simply spam. We can dress them up all we want, but the majority of people think “spam“ immediately and hit the delete button. Truth be told, these belong in the trash! If you want to be taken seriously, you will have to do better than a form letter with no individual touch.

In order to get links from authority sites, you must send link exchange requests – this is just the way it works. The secret of successful requests is to produce a link exchange message that is won’t look like spam and sit in file 13 forever. You need to be read!

1. Secure the reader’s attention

The first thing you should let the recipient know is what they get out of responding to your request. There has to be something useful in this for them. Focus on benefits, not the features of your site – what do they care about your features? Those features don’t help them get traffic or a better PR. Tell the recipient how your website can solve his problems, and aim for their ego- if you tell them that you only plan to link eight or ten sites and they have been selected, that makes the request seem customized and more appealing! Everyone loves being a part of a select group.

2. Grab the reader’s interest

If you want people to read your link exchange message it will have to stand out. “Dear webmaster” is not going to cut it. take the time to find the recipient’s real name and then use it!  Go the extra mile and write a personal message. Starting with “Dear webmaster” makes it all the more likely that it will be moved to the trash. Use a real email address with a real name as the sender address – the more professional, the better. Free email addresses from funky mail clients and email addresses with numbers look spammy. Keep everything aboveboard and transparent.

3. Create the need and wish

The recipient of your link exchange message won’t react to your request if they have no need or wish to. That is nothing more than common sense – link juice is to valuable to toss around. You have to create this, preferably by doing something in advance as a gesture of goodwill. You can kick a webmaster up a notch from interest to feeling invested by downloading his ebook, subscribing to his newsletter or RSS feed, or asking permission to reprint a quote. They will feel more need to reciprocate if you have already done something. Be accessible, and show trust; include your phone number in your email to make the process seem even more sincere.

Don’t make the recipient have to think. Supply copy/paste HTML code with your link information to make the linking process as easy as possible, but make it clear this is only for their convenience and of course they should use what linking methods they are most comfortable with. Give them the appearance of choice, most times they will be pleased with that and then do things exactly as you requested.

Once you have established a rapport with the first webmaster you approach, you should find it easier to build the next relationship and the one after that. Yes, it takes longer than automated spamming asking for links, but the rewards and response are much higher when you take the time to do it right! The results and benefits will be obvious – you’ll be glad you went the extra mile!