Business and Blogging

16 opinions for When Blogging Is Not Enough

• James Chartrand - Men with Pens
  Jul 15, 2008 at 3:34 am

  Very nice list, Laura. As you mentioned in the comment section of our blog for that post, blogging works - IF it’s done right.

  Thanks for the link.

• Laura Spencer
  Jul 15, 2008 at 5:37 am

  Thanks James!

  Having a business blog can be a tremendous asset for a business - but only if the business uses it properly.

• Graham Strong
  Jul 15, 2008 at 6:40 am

  Hi Laura,

  Excellent points, all!

  I should point out that my original post was referencing writers’ blogs aimed at other writers, and how effective they are at attracting clients.

  But I do believe that anyone with a business blog (none of this matters if your blog is just for “fun”) needs to question its effectiveness, if only to learn how to do it right. I think this is a symptom of many Web 2.0 “solutions” — everyone hears they work, so they invest a lot of time and energy in blogs and Twitter and everything else in an effort to boost business.

  However they don’t take the time to figure out how it works, or how to make it work for *them*. The biggest problem in my mind though is that they don’t track the impact. It may be hard to find measurable results from a blog, but I think its important to have some idea.

  James is spot-on when he says a blog will only work in the context of a larger marketing plan. At the very least, you need to market your blog. Too many people suffer from the “build-it-and-they-will-come” syndrome.

  But before even all that, you need to identify why you are blogging, who your target audience is, why blogging to them make sense, and what response (in terms of sales) you hope to achieve. And, of course, a plan for measuring your results!

  ~Graham

• Laura Spencer
  Jul 15, 2008 at 6:46 am

  Thanks Graham, for such a thoughtful and comprehensive response!

  Even though your original post dealt with the writing business, I felt that the question you asked is something that most businesses wonder about.

• Michael Martine
  Jul 15, 2008 at 9:58 am

  If done right, a business blog can enhance the marketing, PR, and customer relations efforts of most companies.

  And what is the purpose of this? Sales. What most businesses get wrong is that they forget what marketing means, what it’s for. It’s to get sales. Business blogs must convert like an ecommerce site does: there is a most-desired action we want reader-prospects to take.

  I love that “no good” list! Many people are guilty of the first two (and of course they don’t know it).

• Laura Spencer
  Jul 15, 2008 at 3:05 pm

  Thanks for weighing in Michael!

  I think that because the sales benefit is not easy to measure in some cases, or not immediate, businesses tend to give up.

  Thanks for taking a look a the “no good” list. There were a couple of other items that I thought about adding, but decided they were too specific.

  I think that the true benefit of lists like these is when we can see ourselves in it and it changes us for the better.

• Michael Martine
  Jul 15, 2008 at 5:06 pm

  I agree. That’s the funny thing about blind spots — we can’t see ‘em!

  By the way, I think the sales benefit is very easy to measure. If you’ve been tracking your conversion rates and sales, you’ll have pre- and post-blog numbers to compare. Super basic: sales should be going up. You’re right about the results not being instant–not much we can do about that, it seems.

• Laura Spencer
  Jul 15, 2008 at 7:31 pm

  Hi Michael!

  I think that most businesses don’t ask where their leads come from. Without that, I’m not sure how results would be measured accurately.

  Of course, you could observe a trend such as sales are up 15% since beginning this strategy that includes blogging.

• Michael Martine
  Jul 15, 2008 at 7:38 pm

  You’re right, most businesses don’t know where their leads come from. The two best ways are analytics, and to simply ask. My contact form asks everyone how they found me. Knowing this information has been very valuable to me.

• Do Your Readers Trust You?
  Jul 16, 2008 at 9:07 am

  [...] our discussion about earlier this week (When Blogging Is Not Enough) Michael Martine of Remarkablogger pointed out in the comments to my earlier post that one of the [...]

• Laura Spencer
  Jul 16, 2008 at 9:09 am

  Hi Michael!

  Personally, I’m a big fan of keeping and using statistics.

  Thanks for all of your feedback.

• How Do You Feel About Marketing Your Writing Business?
  Jul 18, 2008 at 2:44 am

  [...] conversation spilled over to Men With Pens and Business & Blogging and now I’m throwing it open to Writers Cafe [...]

• What is Your Writing Blog Doing for You? | Freelance Writing Jobs
  Jul 18, 2008 at 5:05 am

  [...] refer to Do Blogs Work at A Few Strong Words, Do Blogs Really Earn You Business? at Men with Pens, When Blogging Isn’t Enough at Business and Blogging and How Do You Feel About Marketing Your Business at Grow Your Writing [...]

• Coffee Break
  Jul 19, 2008 at 11:02 pm

  [...] by Graham Strong. The discussion spread through the Internet like wildfire and wound up not only here on Business and Blogging, but also on James Chartrand’s Men With Pens, Kelly Erickson’s [...]

• Free Business Blogging Secrets
  Jul 25, 2008 at 7:58 pm

  It may be hard to find measurable results from a blog, but I think its important to have some idea.

• Подарки для мужчин
  Aug 4, 2008 at 12:28 pm

  Благодарствую, полезная вещь.

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