1. Newsletter: A newsletter can establish you as an authority. It makes a great direct mail piece that will give you ongoing contact with your customers and prospects. A dynamic and interesting newsletter can mean new business. Formatting tips: Provide a lot of useful information in easy-to-read paragraphs. Use short words. Make sentences brief. Illustrate your ideas with cartoons, photos, and graphics.

2. Brochures: Brochures can convey extensive information about your business. The best brochures include graphic images - use photos, graphs, illustrations, and diagrams. But, make sure you also include written copy about your organization and services that you offer. Offer your brochures to current customers to pass along. Hand them out at events and trade shows.

3. Press releases: Make sure your press releases are well written and news worthy. Your release should reinforce and build upon your business identity. If you are submitting it to a newspaper, include an appealing photograph. Tell a story about a client you have helped, or discuss new technology your company is implementing.

4. Special events: Events raise awareness of your business and they provide a service to community. Try creating or sponsoring an event that will be of interest to your target audience. As people begin to associate your organization with event, you derive publicity, goodwill, and new leads. Another option is for a business to partner with a non-profit organization as fund-raising co-sponsors. Try offering seminars and workshops that feature you as expert.

5. Ezine: Publishing an ezine will help position your business as an expert in your field. In addition, you will be providing tips to your customers that will help them. It sets you apart from your competitors and instills confidence and trust in your readers, making it easier for them to do business with you.

Blog Blood Type 3: Personal Web Journals - These blogs make up bulk of 36.1 million web logs online. The majority are personal accounts written without regard to size of readership or monetary value. Many have heralded free blogs as Internet's greatest achievement, allowing virtually anyone with an internet connection to publish literally whatever they want, and all in a matter of a few minutes. There are as many purposes for personal blogs as there are bloggers. Perhaps most common theme is chance to be heard.

I've Taken Blog Blood Test…Now What?

Which category did your blog best fit in? Did you find that you're writing one type of blog but desiring benefits of another? If you haven't already started your blog, which type do you believe would best match your writing abilities and desired outcome? Simply put, if you're not writing best type of blog for benefits you want, you'll never get them - and you'll waste a lot of time in process.

If your current blog is doing exactly what you want it to, leave it alone. If you find that some changes are necessary, consider following questions:

• Do I think I can drive actual sales from blog?
• Would I rather spend my writing time interacting with customers (both positive and negative) or writing about my product? (Remember blood test)
• Am I best person to author my blog, or is there someone else who could do a better job?
• Do I want to stage blog as a company-sponsored communication tool or would I rather it appear as a kind of third-party, objective review?
• How much time am I willing to spend writing?
• How free do I want to be with regards to frequency of posting and responding to customer comments?

Millions of others are already blogging, but don't let that stop you from starting. Give your business blog blood test and see which type works best for you.