I’m not going to state the benefits of blogging. Oh wait. Over 73% of internet users regularly read blogs. 45% run their own blog (excluding micro-blogs i.e. Twitter) and over 39% know what RSS is. More importantly over 88% of people Google something before they buy it.
What can we conclude from this mountain of stats? This thing called the internet is important. Blogs are no longer online diaries, people read, trust and know how to use them. And, perhaps more importantly, there is a high saturation and competition in the blogosphere.
As most of you know I offer Digital Marketing and Social Media Marketing services in Toronto (shameless plug). When I first propose blogging to many of my clients the response back is similar: ‘I have tried that and it doesn’t work’. Unfortunately we jump head first into technology (it is so quick and easy to set up) without first deciding WHY am I here and WHAT do I want?
Sit down and ask yourself:
- What is the purpose of my blog? (i.e. new leads, sales from existing customers, technical support)
- How will you achieve this / How will people find it? (i.e. mailing list, search engines, social media)
Seems simple? It is! But deciding ahead of time what the purpose of each stream, blog and post is will save you time and probably deliver the results you want. Perhaps blogging is not working for you because you are sending out mixed, muddled or confusing messages.
Shameless Plug: Starting this Thursday I will be running a free 5 day course that will teach you how to get sales over Facebook for your business. Click here for details.
