The Influence of Bloggers on Consumer Purchase Intentions

Running head: ONLINE BLOGGING AND CUSTOMER BUYING INTENTIONS
The influence of bloggers on consumer purchase intentions
ZEHRA SERMA

ONLINE BLOGGING AND CUSTOMER BUYING INTENTIONS 1
ABSTRACT
This literature review evaluates the impact of online blogging on buying intentions of customers. The paper begins by
offering an overview of marketing. Next, an analysis of the process of e-commerce and its relevance in the modern business
world has been undertaken. The paper also provides an overview of the construct of digital marketing and the manner in
which it has affected the contemporary business world. The paper then offers an insight into the construct of online blogging
and how it is used by contemporary organizations. The paper also examines the manner in which blogs are being used for
search engine optimization and content marketing to influence the buying behavior of customers. Finally, the paper concludes
by identifying a literature gap and the need to conduct further research work in this area.
Keywords:
Online blogging, customer buying behavior, SEO optimization, content marketing, marketing

ONLINE BLOGGING AND CUSTOMER BUYING INTENTIONS 2
Table of Contents
“1. INTRODUCTION”................................................................................................................................................................. 3
“2. MARKETING ANDITSIMPORTANCE”............................................................................................................................. 3
“3. E-COMMERCE ANDONLINESHOPPING”........................................................................................................................ 4
“4. DIGITALMARKETING”....................................................................................................................................................... 5
“5. ONLINEBLOGGING”........................................................................................................................................................... 6
“6. ONLINE BLOGGING, SEO OPTIMIZATION,CONTENTMARKETING”........................................................................7
“7. CUSTOMERBUYINGBEHAVIOR”..................................................................................................................................... 7
“8. IMPACT OF BLOGGING ONCUSTOMERBEHAVIOR”................................................................................................... 9
“9. LITERATUREGAP”............................................................................................................................................................ 10
“10. CONCLUSION”................................................................................................................................................................. 11
“11. REFERENCES”.................................................................................................................................................................. 12

ONLINE BLOGGING AND CUSTOMER BUYING INTENTIONS 3
“1. INTRODUCTION”
Business has undergone a substantial change brought about by innovative technologies and
globalization (Kannan 2017). The process of globalization can be seen as the single most important factor which
has changed the nature of business in present times (Urban, Gosline and Lee 2017). Contemporary businesses are
increasingly resorting to internationalization and global expansion. This has enhanced business competition
significantly by increasing the number of choices available to contemporary customers (Kingsnorth 2016). The
net result is that business enterprises are increasingly attempting to mitigate competition (Baltes2015).
Business prospects depend on the kind of strategies organizations deploy (Ho et al. 2015). The business
strategies, a particular organization is using for business operations needs to be in synchronicity with the overall
goals it is trying to achieve (Ryan 2016). Digital marketing strategies have a significant prominence and
businesses are increasingly using digital marketing (Patrutiu-Baltes 2016).
This literature review will evaluate the effectiveness of online blogging as a form of digital marketing
strategy and also the manner in which the diverse online blogs influence the buying behavior of the different
customers in the present times. This paper will be of interest to a wide range of readers since it highlights the manner
in which the construct of blogging can be used as a form of digital marketing strategy by the different contemporary
organizations so as to enhance their business prospects. Thus, the paper tries to show that an effective usage of this
construct can not only aid the different organizations to market as well as promote the products or services offered by
them to the customers but at the same time offer them a better chance of gaining success as well. It is with this
objective that the different aspects of blogging and digital marketing have been explored in this paper.
“2. MARKETING AND ITS IMPORTANCE”
The processes of marketing and promotion of goods or services offered by an organization determines
organizational success or its failure (Hsiao, Chang and Tang 2016). Businesses deploy different kinds of
marketing and promotional strategies to cascade the right kind of information to consumers. This act of offering
relevant information to consumers is important since if consumers do not have appropriate information regarding
the products or services they are less likely to choose them (Ukpabi and Karjaluoto 2017).
Marketing and promotion are important for firms as it enables them to convey information to consumers
to help influence their buying behavior. More importantly, different firms are effectively using the tool of
marketing to advertise in advance the goods or services that they will be launching in the future (Hernández-
Méndez, Muñoz-Leiva and Sánchez-Fernández 2015). This enables them to create anticipation among
consumers and thereby ensure the success of the concerned product or service. The marketing strategy used by