More value, than not, in blogging for business
Posted by Gary Ares
In this post, we will briefly cover business reasons for blogging, how to best approach it, and then some tips on getting started. Granted, there's a lot to learn about Social Media, but today is only about Blogging for Business.
Blogging ( a.k.a. Web Log) is a growing segment of the Web 2.0 world widely referred to as Social Media. Before we're tempted to get too complicated, let's simply understand both Social Media it as people conversing online. Blogging is just one of many ways to conduct a conversation. Simple enough.
Notice the word "converse" in the paragraph above that implies a two-way dialog. Yes, in a blog the writer gets to express their thoughts, feelings, and experiences, and you the reader most often get a chance to comment - WOW! Now you can tell people all of the nice things that you've had bottled up for years, or at least let's hope they're nice.
What is the scope of the blogosphere you ask? Is it worth my attention? In 2009, a little less than half of the active internet users regularly read one or more blogs. The good news is the forecast for growth is about 10% during the next 4 - 5 years. As for people who actually do the blogging, the number is relatively low as a percentage, 13%, but again will grow to around 17% in the same period.
Here's another way to view the proportions of the blogosphere; today there are about 100Million blog readers, and that's expected to grow to a bit over 125million by 2013. All of this material will be generated by somewhere around 32Million people today, and will grow to just under 40Million.
Now, here's what blogging means for your business. First of all let's start with the word FREE. Well, almost because it will take time to write a blog, and TIME IS MONEY. However, the rewards are the significant profits derived from the increased number of visitors to your site, and the related conversions to sales. Next, imagine that every blog post you offer out to the internet world can be searched and found by thousands, or hundreds-of-thousands of readers, and it stays there forever.
Let's review the FREE advertising leader. Consider this...in most cases each blog post is considered as a separate piece of information, or page on your website; like having multiple ads in the same periodical. Do the math; 2 posts a week will give you 100 more chances to have visitors find you site. Please forgive this à BUT WAIT, THERE"S MORE! You work doesn't vaporize every year, it has an additive effect, and after 2 years you have many more chances to be found during a search (sorry, no knives or slam-choppers included with this offer).
As important as increased revenues from a significant up-tic in visitors and conversions to sales are, it must not be forgotten as to how these people arrived...your blog post. The most beneficial thing to remember is to share ideas that are relevant to the people you are attempting to attract - in a word, helpful. Here's one way of many to begin blogging;
- 1) Think about who your potential customers/clients are, and what kind of information, game, survey, test, or imagery would be attractive to them.
- 2) Make a simple list of general topics, maybe 5 to start, and then write down your best guess at what words a person would type into a search engine (Google?); these will be called keywords as they are referred to in Google-speak. Better yet, try doing a search for several words yourself and see what results come up, and then hone your ideas.
- 3) Use this knowledge to find a few blogs that might be of interest to your prospects. Visit them, and do what's commonly called "listening", to other bloggers. For now, just get the feel for how they engage their readers, and if they're not interesting just move on to the next one, and repeat.
- 4) At this point it may be a good time to write an article about what your prospects what to read - not about your products or company - to address something of interest to them. Try to find your own "voice" or tone, and focus on how your information can be of help to your prospective reader.
- 5) If you are like the majority of people, you might want to write a few blog posts, and let them "age" a bit before actually sending them out to the world. This can give you more time for review and to possibly improve your post. If this method doesn't appeal to you, then do a good spell check on it, and get ready to post it.
Finally, as with anything you want to show off in public, just take your time so as to project the image appropriate to your business. There is no specific time-line for blogging at the beginning, and it's actually a good, if not best, practice to work your way into this new Social Media world. I will be working on more ideas and advise on blogging for business on a regular basis, so please drop by often. Oh, and please leave a comment, ideas, or correction if necessary.