Before starting my blog, I dabbled in Internet marketing. It really wasn't for me, but some aspects of what I learned through that avenue have carried over to this one. For instance, the SEO information I gained from studying Internet marketing has proven handy in the blogging world. With marketing online, the focus is on building a list of email contacts. This is so you can reach out and market promotions and information to a targeted audience. I have started thinking recently how email marketing may be able to fit into my blogging to help grow my blog in the coming year.

The problem with email marketing and blogging fitting together into a cohesive growth mechanism is that marketing tends to be thought of as spamming by some. Obviously as bloggers, we are not trying to necessarily sell anything, but we want to sell our blogs and ourselves to keep readers coming back time and again. The key is definitely not to be perceived as spammers. Omniture has some great information on their site on how email marketing can be used to help a business grow. Since I have grown to think of my blog as my business, I found it very intriguing.

I think that list building with the intent of sending out once monthly blog newsletters or important updates would be a wonderful way to keep in touch with readers, spread the word about great things to come and help draw in those who may not have visited in a while if done correctly. Of course, would need to avoid sending out too many messages per month, sounding like spam or pushing products or sponsors to heavily in order to pull it off with a blog. If you are interested in looking into email marketing to help your blog grow in the coming year, Omniture.com has some good services, prices and information.