In June the VerticalResponse marketing team presented a “Quick Tips for Effective Email Marketing and Social Media Copywriting” webinar, and received some great questions from the audience. Most notably, “Did social media kill blogs?”

That’s a good question…and the answer is negatory. Blogs, an online journal where you can post content quickly and easily, are social media. And they’re definitely still alive and kickin’. Actually, in 2010 there were over 152 million blogs online in the U.S. (according to Royal Pingdom: Internet 2010 in Numbers).

If you want more proof, here are 5 Reasons Blogs are Still Cool. Blogs allow you to:

1. Let Your Personality Shine – A company blog is usually written by one person (or a few contributing/guest bloggers), so it’s a medium to humanize your business and add some personality. Unlike websites, a blog is best written in first person. This provides a human element that your readers can relate to. That being said, a blog is a great forum to tell a personal story or experience, relax and write like you speak, and definitely crack a few jokes when appropriate.
2. Generate Awesome Content – I like to think of blogs as “content generators.” You have lots of space to write posts and aggregate content like personal stories, praises, gripes, business updates, new product announcements, industry findings, things you find online, upcoming events and more.
3. Repurpose Your Content – Once you aggregate your content on your blog you can effortlessly include sound bites in your emails, newsletters and social media (like Twitter and Facebook). Use these short “teasers” in your other online marketing and link your readers back to your blog. This is a great way to build your following, and save time by reusing content you’ve already created.
4. Show Your Expertise – Your blog is a great place to show off – literally. Show your readers you know what you’re talking about. Do this by sharing industry related studies, experiences, findings and learnings. If you have a case study or report, your blog is the perfect place to post it. You can also share positive examples, and maybe a few things to avoid, too.
5. Get Visibility and Improve Your Search (SEO) – There are lots of reasons that blogs help your SEO, so I’ll stick to a few highlights.

• Search engines love blogs because they’re easily searchable and updated often (so update yours frequently). However, don’t write your blog solely for search engines because it can sound robotic and might alienate your readers.
• Most blog services provide functionality to share posts on social media like Twitter and Facebook, so your readers can also share your content with their networks. This will help you get more exposure and increase your online presence.
• Adding links back to your website and products, and using keywords and key phrases, will also increase your SEO rankings.

To get more tips from expert blogs and bloggers, here’s a list of a few faves related to small businesses, email & marketing, social media and blogging. Happy reading and blogging!

• Blogging Tips
• CEO Blog Watch
• Copyblogger
• Duct Tape Mareketing
• Inc.com
• MarketingProfs
• Mashable
• ProBlogger
• Seth Godin’s Blog
• Social Media Examiner
• TechCrunch
• The Retail Email Blog
• VR Marketing Blog (of course I had to put it on the list!)

What are your favorite blogs and who are your favorite bloggers?

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