Who Is On Your Front Line?When the world spoke to you and said “You should have a blog”, you listened. Well, at least hundreds of millions did. Others may take a while to catch on and understand the many good reasons to blog. Overall, blogging has caught on extremely well in the past few years. Companies understand that a good blog with things people want provides a means to reach more potential customers than any other method. It can create a lot of additional sales. In fact, it can create a lot more sales than any sales representative you’ve got … even the very best of them. It can also make closing the sale a lot easier for the whole company, and greatly reduce marketing overhead. The potential customer has already done the research about what you offer, and if they contact you, they are already mostly sold.
This all begs the question of how your blog will come across to those potential customers. If you look at your blog like it is a sales representative, would it be the sleazy representative you hired and later regret the decision; the representative who makes people’s eyelids heavy and need a nap; or the sharp and clever representative who makes up your top percentile of volume producers? This really all depends on the person or people behind the blog. If you stop looking at it like a “thing” and start looking at it like your top sales representative, it can make a big difference.
Make no mistake! Blogging can create massive exposure to a company, and drive huge success, but it can also fail miserably without a great plan, clever branding, and fantastic content. If you look at it with the potential of becoming your top sales representative, it takes on a whole new feel, doesn’t it? Shouldn’t the people behind the blog have the skills of a master, and not just anybody you can find to produce it for the lowest cost? Really, this is your business front … shouldn’t you take that pretty seriously?
You should have a plan, and I mean a serious strategy to get what you want. What does this mean for you? For me, it means constantly trying to help people with great ideas, branding myself with a touch of snarky humor, and producing enough fantastic content that some of you will say “this guy really knows his stuff and I’ll bet he could help me sell a lot more if I pay him.”
That is my example … but what about you? Here are some questions to ask about whomever you will trust with your online business front. If it is you, these questions become even more challenging, and you should try to be very honest with yourself.
Do you know what readers want?
Do you understand the technology, psychology, mathematics, and creativity necessary to get what you want?
Can you produce the brilliant content it takes to stand out among thousands of worldwide competitors?
Are you able to amass enough readers that you can mathematically predict how many will become customers?
Do you understand the numbers and use them to optimally further your growth?
Can you defend your company’s position against naysayers?
Is online marketing your real job, or it is just another thing you feel you have to do?
Could somebody else do it better, and if so, will they work for you or for your competition?
The list can go on, but this should be enough to think about for now. Take inventory of these things and consider how you stack up. Is the best sales representative on the job?
Will You Get All the Pieces Right?
Do you know how to harness the value of what people want, and how to spread it to the masses? If not, I know a web guy who is for hire, and that can help you with a better call to action.
Blogs Are Not Created Equal
All blogs are not created equal, and they are as different as the people behind them. Some will create amazing success, and some will be miserable failures. Remembering this and recognizing the marketing talent and creativity of the people behind the blog as the reason for success is important. It can save you a whole lot of time and money to do it right, and not just do it like everybody else.
Twitter is a great place to gather useful information. It can also be a good place to find an audience of people who care about what you have to say. Twitter makes it easy to create a lot of business and personal connections. If you use Twitter with a little foresight, it can become an extremely valuable resource. If I did not believe this, I never would have spent the time and effort to write a book about Twitter, but blogging is even better. I am using Twitter as an example here, but much of this can be applied to other social media resources as well. What I wish to show is that many tools may be used for effective social media communications, and at the hub is a blog.
Many Twitter users have a blog, or even more precisely many bloggers have a Twitter account (or several). Blogs still outnumber Twitter users by hundreds of millions after all. Although Twitter can be useful, particularly in conjunction with a blog, it is not a silver bullet. I will explain this with data that I collected between March 2009 and March 2010, and provide charts to include comparisons as follows:
Twitter update (tweet) frequency and website traffic
Twitter followers and website traffic
Blog frequency and website traffic
Blogging is Better than Twitter, but Twitter is Still Useful
This is not a criticism of Twitter. I like Twitter, and I find a lot of great uses for the service. I meet a lot of wonderful people, I have interesting conversations, I learn from Twitter, and I share information with people using Twitter. However, it seems that while millions of business people have been fascinated by Twitter and a handful of other social media sites, it can be easy for them to overlook the even greater value of creating excellent website content, and doing it often. Social media can bring many people to a website, but consistent and high quality content development is key to keeping them coming back and keeping them telling their friends. This is extremely valuable to most business efforts.
In order to emphasize the importance of content creation (blogging), I will illustrate the side by side growth and reach of a Twitter account and a blog which were both created near the same time. The first blog post was on 7 December 2008 and my @murnahan Twitter account was created on 9 January 2009, so about a month apart. I used Twitter in conjunction with several other sites prior to this (copmagnet.com, stormmagnet.com, and others) but my @murnahan Twitter account and this blog create a good comparison. This is a one author blog and a one author Twitter account of about the same age.
Twitter Update (tweet) Frequency and Website Traffic Comparison
Many people believe that if they tweet at high velocity all day and night that it will bring huge traffic to their website. There has been some validity to this, but the landscape has changed. It should be obvious that influence is more important than simply yelling across a room and the same is true with Twitter. Here is a chart showing numbers of Twitter updates (tweets) compared with blog visits. I will add additional metrics later, but this may be an eye-opener to some people. Since lines on a tiny chart will not do this justice, I am providing the number of actual Twitter updates I sent during this period, below the chart. The high levels of traffic in the earlier part of the chart coincide loosely with a huge numbers of tweets, but then toward the more recent months you can see that traffic went back up (after I finished writing three books in 2009) while there were many thousands fewer tweets per month. Look at March 2009 with 9091 tweets compared to March 2010 with 175 tweets month-to-date.
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mar
9091
5969
1272
659
671
850
314
406
329
400
355
238
175
Twitter Followers and Website Traffic Comparison
A lot of Twitter followers should surely do the trick, right? It seems that there has been some amazing wool pulled over Twitter users’ eyes with this myth about Twitter followers. Sure, it is great to make a lot of connections, but how does that play into actual relevant website traffic? After all, website traffic is a common reason that a lot of people use Twitter. A squillion followers is a big dream for many people, but the way Twitter follower numbers relate to website traffic is not the same as some people may imagine. There is a lot more to building a brand and building website traffic than sending a bunch of tweets to a large number of followers.
I must say that in the beginning, Twitter was massively helpful in introducing people to this blog. In those days, people were retweet crazy, and it seemed that people retweeted everything I wrote. An example is an article I wrote about Twitter retweets … it was retweeted over 400 times. It was probably actually retweeted a lot more, but that is just what tweetmeme has on record.
Twitter helped to spread the word and create a lot of incoming links from many other social media sites as well. In May 2009, I wrote about how Twitter improves blog traffic (NOTE: “improves” and not just “increases”). In social media time, that was a long time ago. Twitter still holds great value that should not be overlooked or underutilized, but Twitter is different now.
Blog Frequency and Website Traffic Comparison
Twitter gets them there, but frequent content creation keeps them coming back.
Twitter can be instrumental in generating and cultivating an audience for a particular blog topic or service offering. A chart that cannot be overlooked is the one below which shows the direct relation of blog content creation and site visits. I used actual numbers of visits to my blog, so I multiplied the blog post numbers in order to be more visible in the chart. What I wanted to point out is how the lines follow a very similar course. While comparing nearly every metric of my website traffic, the one thing that relates more closely than any other is to continually create useful information for my readers. I hope that you will see this as an important focus in your efforts, too.
A blog is a hub for good social media outreach and is what keeps the machine moving. It is where you can reach more people with the information you want to share the most. All of the many related tools in your social media marketing strategy are fantastic and should be used to the best of your abilities. In the end, the tool that is expected to create more sales for your business is your website, so take good care of it and pay attention to the numbers.
If you have not already read the following articles, I encourage you to take time for these.
aWebGuy.com Grade 99.7
Blog authors love comments so much that they may lose focus of other important measures of the value of their work. If you are a blogger stuck in the destructive thought pattern that your blog is less important or less heard without comments, read on my friend. I have some good news for you.
I want to address the concern that a lot of bloggers have and carry with them like a big monkey on their back. The monkey I refer to is blog comments or a lack thereof, and it is time to look at some additional metrics. Of course, blog comments can have huge benefits such as bringing together other points of view and growing a sense of community, so don’t get me wrong. What I have to tell you, though, may ease some of that pressure and give you some encouragement.
I kind of like the way Seth Godin stated it in his massively read, respected, and circulated blog. In a blog post titled “Why I Don’t Have Comments“, Seth Godin said “… it permanently changes the way I write. Instead of writing for everyone, I find myself writing in anticipation of the commenters.”
Blogging is Concentrated Social Media
Blogging is social media at perhaps the most focused and personal level. A blog post provides the opportunity for discussion of a narrowly focused topic, and it is personalized by the originating author who often wants to hear from readers. The great news is that sometimes fewer but more meaningful comments can be a really good thing. This blog is focused on social media and SEO, so I do not expect a lot of input from bean farmers and rock and roll bands. They may come here to read and gather new ideas, but they are far less likely to add commentary than a know it all SEO or social media practitioner. This can be a good thing, because I have a lot of readers who do not know it all, but want to.
In any case, many blog owners are frantic about the curse of non-commenting readers. It gets them all stirred up and concerned that nobody is paying attention, that they have lost their readers’ interest, or that their blog has a lower perceived value. Buck up my friends, and consider another point of view.
Is There Something Wrong With My Blog?
One of the first things you may imagine when comments are sparse is that something is wrong with your comment system. So you check it by responding to a post. No, that is not it … commenting is working fine. So it must be that the quality is suffering, right? No, that is not it … you have written some of your best work. Has something else changed? Here are a couple questions I asked myself recently when considering the topic. I have included my conclusions as well. Perhaps these are also useful considerations for your blogging efforts.
Is it your reader-base? No. I still have thousands of the same regular readers as before. The server logs and statistics reporting from FeedBurner, Google Analytics, and Clicky do not lie. These are the same people who left hundreds of comments on previous posts.
Are your articles actually being read? Yes. The average time on page is way up, and the bounce rate is way down, meaning that readers spend more time on each article and also visit more pages of my blog.
Is your writing quality or public interest of chosen topics suffering? No. My statistics logs show that they receive more attention than ever. Although some recent posts are longer than usual, readers’ time on page is up … way up.
Have you asked for readers to add their opinions, and are you really asking questions in your material? Yes. I always ask a question for readers to address with their opinion and to start a dialogue. If you are a regular reader of my blog, you know this to be true. I practically reach out and smack you silly to hear your comments.
Are your readers disengaged? No, but this was actually my biggest concern. I receive many comments on my work at Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, email, and by telephone … actually more than ever. So people are engaged and reading, but just not commenting where everybody else can benefit. This brings up an important consideration of how people are using the Internet.
Have people changed and their usage patterns changed? Yes! Ding ding ding … we have a winner! This is true here at aWebGuy.com and I have found it to be true in many other blogs as well.
Blog Comments Are Down While Readership is Up
It can seem strange that although blog readership is up that commenting could be down. How could it be that more people are spending more time on a blog, yet fewer of them are taking the interest or care to add their comments? It is a sign of the times? Yes, Internet users are behaving differently, and that is fine. The results are different for everybody, and it requires a closer look at some other important measurements.
Important Measurements of Blog Quality
Instead of beating yourself up (the way I sometimes do), consider these other metrics of the success in your blog’s reach and impact.
1.) Are people still linking to your blog in social bookmarking sites, from other blogs, and other social media venues? For this, you may want to see my recent article titled “SEO Backlinks: Why Most SEO Fail at Link Building” to clarify the matter of linking. I pretty well kick some butt in link-building, so you may want to settle in and read this one.
2.) Are your readers still spending the same or more time on each article? A look at your statistics will tell you the answer to this question.
3.) Are people still responding in other social media or other desired calls to action including offline methods of response?
4.) Are you still producing content that has a clear and obvious public appeal by meeting a need of your readers?
If you answered yes to these questions, the answer is likely that you are simply so damn correct in your materials that others feel no means to criticize your work, no perceived means to accentuate your work, and the conclusion may just be that no comment sometimes means you’re right!
I am sure you are just dying to comment on this, but if you got this far and have nothing whatsoever to say, it just means I am right and I have given you something of value. You’re welcome to it, and I thank you for reading!
You have given me the means to accumulate a whole lot of nice little badges like the one below showing what is what on this Internet. I thank each of my bean farmer, rock and roll band, and SEO/social media know-it-all friends for being a part of this blog. Even if you are a bit coy from time to time.
I recently wrote an article titled “10 Really Good Reasons to Blog” and if the reasons blogs fail caught your eye, you should really read the one on good reasons to blog.
I got to thinking about how there is another side to the coin. There are some common reasons blogs fail. This is the short list. I am not going to keep you long. Read it, think about it for just a moment, and do what you will with it.
The author gets “too busy” and realizes that they do not have the same amount of time every other successful blogger has. They were robbed at birth by a debilitating disorder called “busy” and their day only has 23 hours.
The author is greedy, and since this Internet thing isn’t paying out like they were so sure it would, they are taking their remaining money and heading to the casino.
The author writes poorly and had no business trying to author a blog in the first place.
Nobody is interested in the subject matter (I saw this once, but then even the blog about Strawberry Shortcake and the Flying Green Monkeys had a few readers).
The readers, although plentiful, did not take the time to participate in the discussion.
5 Solutions to These 5 Common Reasons Blogs Fail
Stop being lazy. You still have 24 hours every day like the rest of us … go buy a new watch and see for yourself. If you feel like you have less time, you are probably just not using it wisely.
Stop listening to liars. The Internet is not your mother. Getting fed takes effort. Make more effort.
Hire a second grade student. Seriously … at least then you will have a good excuse for not knowing the differences between two, too, and to; your and you’re; it’s and its; or their, there, and they’re. If you don’t think the second grader will work for you, then you are probably smart enough to hire a better writer.
Everything has an audience. Do you recall that Charles Manson guy who got in some trouble for killing? Yes, even he has fans!
Add your comments here on my blog. Anything else is on the verge of criminal abuse of my thoughtful work.
“Why are you reading this?” This is perhaps the most important question a blogger can ask. This is not only for bloggers, but it also goes for Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or other social media users. You do not have to ask your readers directly, but it is the question that should be considered whenever you sit down to write.
You have probably heard how important it is to know your customer. I still find a lot of people who do not know how to answer me when I ask specific questions about who their customers are … or who they think their customers are. Sometimes this question of “why are you reading this” will be as simple as “because the author is just so damn interesting”, but that is seldom the case. I like to think it is because I am good looking and people just like to come back and see my picture … but I doubt even that is the case. Well, probably for some?
What’s in it for them?
Let’s be realistic for a moment. I don’t like being realistic, but I will give it a whirl, just for you. People read what you have to say for a number of reasons. These reasons can include entertainment, industry facts, product facts, respect for your opinion, and a whole lot of other things. The one common factor is that there is something in it for them! Knowing your readers reason and knowing what is in it for them is imperative to your success. Digging deeper, you can look at a whole lot of data to key in on who they are and why they read what you have to say, but just looking at the surface can get you started.
It may seem tricky to find what they want at first, but there is something on the surface to tell you what they are after … there always is. Much can be discovered if you simply ask yourself why you write what you write. I will share my example and hopefully it can help jump start some thinking about how it may apply to you. Maybe you can draw some useful parallels.
In my case, I write about things I know well. My inspiration very often comes from something that happened. If somebody asks me a question and I had a good answer or additional thoughts on the topic, I blog about it. I mostly write about my industry … the Internet. I am a search engine optimization guy, social media guy, a programmer guy, a Web hosting guy, an ecommerce guy … pretty much your overall “Web Guy” (hence my blog aWebGuy.com). I have been in my job since the mid 1990’s, and I have a lot of experience … so I share it.
So why do people read it? People want to know about my industry. For some people it is totally alien, and others just want another opinion to draw ideas from. I try to break it down and make it easier to understand, and I try to help people make it more useful. I try to help people with good ideas about marketing. I give them something. There is something in it for them. There is a value proposition. I try to fill a need.
What’s in it for you (me)?
Since we asked the first question of what’s in it for them, naturally there should be a mutual value. There should be something in it for both parties. Otherwise, one of the parties is getting stiffed. The important part is that you make the “what’s in it for you” (me) the secondary focus. If you focus first on giving and second on receiving, you will receive a whole lot more!
I could never do all of the writing I do without some remuneration (getting paid). Well, maybe I could, but it would not be as good. I would probably let you down, and we don’t want that. In my case, I let people know that they can reach me for help, and if they really want to get serious in their marketing, that is what I am paid for. That is just a very small piece of my readership. Most will never become a client … ever. This fact actually helps me, because I am not trying to sell you a bunch of stuff. Plus, I am also the CEO of YourNew.com, Inc., so that is really my bread and butter … not my blog. That means I can focus better on what’s in it for you … err, “them”.
Your Core Readership
By knowing and trying to understand your core readership, you will be better equipped to serve them. It is this core readership that I would consider to be your “translators” and your “promoters”. If you are giving them value and making sure that there is something in it for them the translation and promotion can look like this:
Translation: When I say translate, it can mean that they hear a need from somebody else and they translate it as that person’s need for what you wrote. Another type of translation can happen when they comment on your blog with their interpretation of your message. It can be good for them, and it can be good for you … you learn together.
Promotion: If your core readers know somebody who should be reading your writing, they will pass it along, and often with their translation as well … or even an excuse for you. For example, you may pass this along to somebody and say “hey, you need more business and I know a guy who can help … but he is kind of unconventional, so just forgive him if he drops cigarette ashes or spills coffee on your rug.”
Your core readership will get to know you and your personal brand. It is normally best if you keep it human. Maybe even a bit funny and quirky and entertaining now and then. People are people … they like people stuff.
Translate This!
OK, now it is your turn, my core readership. Go ahead and translate this for others. That is what blog comments are for. Also, please be sure to answer the original question: Why are you reading this?
Will You Get All the Pieces Right?
