Blogs And Forums Washington DC

When discussing online marketing there is the inevitable comparison between a Business Blog (b-blog) and an online forum. The feeling is that the two serve essentially the same purpose and it is a simple matter of defining which approach may be best for your company.

The comparison between these two approaches is something like comparing apples and oranges. They are both fruit, but that’s about the sum total of their similarities.

B-Blogs

A b-blog is designed to allow you a controlling interest in a conversation between you and your customers and guests. Your guests can provide feedback, but they can’t post.

B-blogs allow you great flexibility in timely release of company information in an informal and nonthreatening way.

Forums

A forum is offered as a means of allowing member interaction and conversation. Generally speaking a forum will be member-directed and in most cases a moderator or administrator will simply act as referee when needed. They may also answer a few questions along the way.

B-blog Benefits

As the owner of a b-blog you have the capability of keeping an informal line of communication with your customers and prospects. You can keep your clients updated on a variety of aspects related to your business. There is very little work that needs to be done with a b-blog to keep it maintained.

Forum Benefits

When you develop a forum for your business you are welcoming individuals with an interest in your products or services to network with other likeminded consumers. In a best-case scenario a forum will allow customers to discuss your product or service, provide tips to other users and develop friendships with other customers based on mutual interests.

Since this approach is consumer-centric it may seem a less than ideal means of online marketing. The truth is, a forum is less about active marketing and more about learning customer trends and preferences. If you pay close enough attention to what your customers are saying to each other you will learn more effective ways to connect with them.

It is a bit surprising, but a forum board somehow allows openness in communication that you won’t likely find in face-to-face conversations.

Combining Benefits

By combining these two truly unique online marketing principles you maximize your effectiveness in reaching your customers while allowing them the opportunity to provide honest feedback. Sure, they may not realize that’s what they’re doing, but an astute netrepreneur will take the information clients voluntarily share with each other and maximize customer satisfaction whenever possible.

About the Author:

Scott Lindsay is a web developer and entrepreneur. He is the founder of HighPowerSites and many other web projects. Get your own website online in just 5 minutes with http://HighPowerSites.com at: http://www.highpowersites.com.





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I am all for advanced technology when it helps to enrich our lives or make some tasks easier. However, when this same technology starts to replace humans, I think it has gone a bit too far. As an Internet Marketing Consultant, I obviously spend a lot to time on the Internet and spend way too much time having to “prove” that I am a “human”. Is it just me or do others find this a bit odd? With the use of Captcha’s on so many blogging sites, bookmarking sites, etc. I find myself wondering why and when being “human” became something we had to offer proof for.

A Captcha is defined as “a type of challenge-response test used in computing to ensure that the response is not generated by a computer”. In other words, unless we can prove otherwise, we are assumed to NOT be human. This is a rather peculiar twist on the “innocent until proven guilty” premise. The phrase “challenge-response test” in the definition of a Captcha is in many cases, extremely accurate. However, when the “test question” is a simple addition problem such as “what is 1 + 1”, I have no problem passing and have a bit of resentment that this type of question is referred to as a “challenge”. Granted, many of us have lost our ability to do simple math because of the calculator, but “1 + 1”? Even the mathematically-challenged adult can handle that one. But then there are those Captcha’s that cannot possibly be interpreted by a “human”. It sometimes takes me upwards of 5 tries before a non-human presents me with a Captcha I can still barely identify.

This brings me to the new concept in Internet Marketing called “auto blogging” (http://www.profitblogger.com/what-is-autoblogging-and-how-does-it-work/). This is a neat concept that makes it possible for bloggers to blog automatically. In other words, there is no need for a human to sort through the vast amount of information on the Internet that bombards us on a daily basis. There is a program that can do that for us. Personally, I don’t subscribe to this kind of system because I like to assure that the content on my blog is valuable and also like to know what I am posting. But I would like to thank those Internet Marketing Professional bloggers who do use automatic blogging and posted my press release announcing the launching of my new Internet Marketing website on their blog site. I can’t help but wonder if a “human” would intentionally post the announcement of a competitor’s website.

Attribution: New Horizons123 is a small business Internet marketing consulting company helping small business owners integrate the Internet and social media marketing into their overall marketing strategy.

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