Blog vs. Email - Should You Do One or the Other or Both?

Here's a question a subscriber submitted recently:

"I heard your call with Lorrie Morgan-Ferrero and I was intrigued by the blogs that you mentioned. What are some ways you could use blogs to build your business (ie. market and/or drive traffic to your informational products website)? How does a blog compare with an ezine and would it be redundant to use both? Thanks for the great articles, calls and info!"

What a great question. There are so many people proclaiming that email marketing is dead and the RSS and blogs are the way of the future. So now, many online business owners are saying "NO" to the email list and setting up blogs as an alternative.

Giving up email for a blog is a huge mistake.

Here's the thing. People love the Internet for the information it provides. However, people consume information in so many different ways. Some like to get their information via email. Some may surf over to your blog on a regular basis and others will subscribe to your RSS feed. The problem is, most people will not do and CANNOT do all three.

RSS is not as mainstream technology as you may have been lead to believe. Your average Internet user does not have a feed reader, nor will they know how add your feed to their Yahoo page. NEVER assume that they will. And forget about having them remember to visit your blog on a regular basis. In most cases, that will not happen.

One thing that is mainstream is email. Email is the #1 method of online communication between individuals and it probably will be for a very long time. Despite major filtering by ISPs and email account providers, email is still getting through and people continue to make good money with their opt-in mailing lists.

Don't ever give up your mailing list. It is the one way you can directly reach your customers and potential customers on a regular basis because most people will always check their email. However, they won't remember that they bookmarked your blog in their "Favorites" and they may not check their feeds regularly.

Don't get me wrong about blogs. They are a hugely powerful tool. They give those tech-savvy people a way to consume your information, plus your content is a search engine magnet. With relevant content in your subject area, you can generate a healthy amount of traffic to your blog.

So, what do you do? You have BOTH!

It's absolutely not redundant to have both a blog and a newsletter because you'll have people who receive your promotional messages in different ways. You will simply reach more people and be more prominent in their minds. If you're worried about creating so much content you can deliver the same information on your blog as in your newsletter.

But If You Find the Same People Are Reading Your Blog That Have Subscribed to Your Newsletter - Mix it Up!

For me, many of my subscribers are also frequent visitors to my blog, so for the most part, I provide them with different content on my blog. This means, I get to visit their email inbox every week...PLUS, they come over to my blog for more information. This allows me to stay is the minds of my subscribers and further establish my expertise.

But How Exactly Do You Build Your Business with Your Blog?

You asked how you build your business with a blog and I've created a special report for you, "The Bloggin' Expert - Be The Go to Guy or Gal in Your Industry" that you can download for free. That should help you get started and positioning yourself as an expert with your blog.

More Blogging & RSS Resources