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Blogs have become the IN thing to have for your business. They can be hip, fun, sassy, factual and matter-of-fact --- anything you want them to be. You can twist them around to suit your purposes; these can be reliable proof of your market appeal and industry stature. But what are they, really?

Blogs, a shortcut for 'Web logs,' are usually 300-800 words long essays that center on a single idea supported by facts, opinions, or even links to other articles from which a viewer can get more information. These are easily the hottest items on the Web nowadays, and many people from all walks of life caught on. Blogs started out as some sort of 'online diary' where an anxious teen can pour out her angst about appearance, insecurities about attracting boys, marks in school, relations with parents and/or family. It can be about midlife anxiety, self-worth, career dead ends, relationships with one's superiors, chronic disease. It can be about anything under the sun, so long as it catches someone else's attention. Bloggers usually pour their hearts out -- sometimes meandering along, sometimes passionate, sometimes seemingly catatonic. But it is all a personal sharing. Powerful stuff.

It didn't take long before somebody thought of harnessing the power of blogs to try to sell almost anything. Accordingly, blogs transcended the 'online confessional' type to become the more focused business blogs. Market-savvy individuals quickly realized that blogging is a virtual powerhouse for sales.

It helps a lot that a blog is inexpensive (even free) and easy to set up as compared to your run-of-the-mill web site, thanks to such services like TypePad or Blogger. A blog is virtually foolproof to use, maintain, update/change, and promote. You can attract customers because blogs have nifty powerful methods, resources, features and tools that make it easy for researchers or even just the plain curious to look for you. So now, you have an entirely new way to market your products.

Since you've already caught people's attention, you can inform prospective customers about your product or service in a manner that does not come across as aggressive 'hard-sell ' (which frankly is such a turn-off!) Remember those 'snake oil salesmen' in the vintage films? Or those insurance or credit card agents that hound you as you go about the mall? More often than not, people avoided, became irritated at, or were even downright rude to these poor souls. Blogging is a more dignified way of informing people about you or your company. It appears to be, and most of the time, really is, simply talking 'man-to-man,' straight from the heart,' an honest-to-goodness sharing of actual, personal experiences or opinions. This now makes the prospect feel that he/she is really getting to know you, and ergo, he/she can take your word for it because he/she now TRUSTS you. Now you can reel them in. With your great blog, you had them at 'Hello.' This takes time, but it often is well worth the effort.

Blogging is a great customer service tool. It is an inexpensive and quicker way to reach out to potential customers as well as maintaining current ones. Through postings, the blogger gets instant feedback. This is something that marketing firms often spend a lot of money on. ('Survey says'!') Blog visitors get to post their reactions to whatever catches their fancy, and be heard. In turn, this feedback helps you, the 'seller,' come up with more effective strategies to either counter the negative feedback or follow through with the more positive ones. You can even use your blog as a sort of Q&A forum wherein customers post all their queries and you readily come up with the answers and information they need. When customers need to make crucial decisions (such as finally purchasing bulk amounts of your products, perhaps?), it is vital to have all the information on hand.

Aside from the potential income that you can get for your products and services, don't forget that you can even earn some money through affiliate marketing. If you belong to several affiliate programs, you can place corresponding ads together with the products that you offer in your blog. Your faithful followers instantly get to know about these timely updates thanks to another useful resource ' the RSS feed ' even without logging in to their email accounts and checking their In boxes! Convenient.

With all these positive aspects of blogging as a radical means of internet marketing, it seems foolhardy, even suicidal for business owners to NOT go ahead and create their own blog. Refusing to go with the tide is risking being left wa-a-a-ay behind the competition, eating dust.