How to be Successful reaching out to Bloggers

Because blogging has become such a popular past-time for so many individuals, online companies have begun looking to weblogs as a forum for marketing their products and services.  The term "blog advertising" has been developed to reflect the diverse ways in which advertisers are capitalizing on blog popularity to promote their goods.

In the most basic sense, advertisers are able to create their own blogs where they can post news and announcements about their businesses.  Perhaps they have an exciting new product that has just arrived in the warehouse.  Perhaps they are running a great sale to end out the year on a high note.  Perhaps they want to encourage their customers to offer feedback and suggestions.  By adding a blog to their websites, companies are able to keep their supporters up-to-date on events and establish friendly relations with clients and potential customers.  Blogs can be hosted on free sites like Blogger and WordPress; they can also be added as part of the company's main web site using free online tools.

In a more traditional sense, advertisers can pay to have their marketing materials, banners, and links posted on privately-owned blogs.  Companies like Adbrite and DClick Ads allow advertisers to search their database of blogs and other sites, and then select where they would like their ads to appear.  Naturally, this enables advertising businesses to seek out blogs that are likely to be read by individuals who will be interested in what they have to offer.  Advertisers benefit from having their banners and text links appear on sites that are frequented by an array of potential customers, and bloggers are able to make a modest income doing nothing more than posting a banner or other ad on their sites.  

Another type of blog advertising works more like product placement ads in television and movies.  Bloggers write posts including links to the advertisers' web sites, creating some hype about new products or events and encouraging their readers to check them out.  This revolutionary new form of blog advertising has taken off, with many startups jumping on the bandwagon to create services that match bloggers with advertisers using a variety of methods.  So far, the results have been extremely positive for both advertising businesses and blog editors alike:  bloggers are thrilled with the opportunity to earn money with blogs and advertisers are enjoying increased buzz about their web sites.

At this point, it seems quite safe to say that all internet-based businesses and many others as well can benefit using blog advertising in one way or another.  As in the traditional marketing world, the best ad campaign is one which incorporates a variety of mediums in order to draw in as many customers as possible.  While advertising on blogs should never be a business' only attempt at marketing, it is a valid and constructive step toward brand-recognition and success.