Business Logs

Helping companies communicate better

Why Blog?

Non-Monetary Benefit to Blogging: Positive Feedback from Blog Readers

I know I talk a lot about the monetary benefit to blogging. Blogging can definitely help any online business make more sales and increase traffic. However, there are also non-monetary benefits.

I bring this up because a common thread with the business people I interact with seems to be their passion for their industry. They didn’t just go into business to make money. They wanted their business to be in a field they love. They wanted to enjoy their work.

Blogging adds to this enjoyment including getting positive feedback in emails from blog readers. After you blog for a couple of weeks and with a little bit of marketing, you’ll probably start getting emails from your readers. If you’ve been publishing great posts, many of these emails will be positive. Here is an email I just received from my Magic The Gathering (strategy card game) blog:

Hi, I just wanted to say thank you so much for this site! I have played magic for a while (previously) but am getting back into it after a rather long hiatus! I’m supposed to be going into a tournament on the weekend(lol I think it is a Pro Qualifier) and I had no idea before coming here. Seriously, I googled around and this site has all the strategy etc plus it has the neat effect of showing the card without having to go into another window or tab (which saves so much time!). Anyway, just wanted to give you some feedback on how great your site is!

These type of emails are very rewarding. They show that you’re on the right track. They motivate you to keep blogging. And not only that, you can actually interact with your readers in a personal way. This is great because running an online business can be an impersonal endeavor, since you’re not interacting with customers in a face-to-face basis. I like to ask readers who email me what future blog post topics they would be interested in.

Finally, make sure to put a link to your contact page in a prominent position so that your blog readers can easily contact you. The contact page link should be one of the most visible links on every page of your blog (and maybe even every page on your whole site).

Tips From Google For Increasing Your Traffic

With Google being one of the most trafficked sites on the global web, it makes sense to listen to them whenever they give out traffic tips.

Maile Ohye, a Google employee, advised website owners to “create unique and compelling content on your site and the web in general.”

More specifically, Maile gave these two bullet points:

  • Start a blog: make videos, do original research, and post interesting stuff on a regular basis. If you’re passionate about your site’s topic, there are lots of great avenues to engage more users.
  • Participate thoughtfully in blogs and user reviews related to your topic of interest. Offer your knowledgeable perspective to the community.

The first bullet point highlights the importance of blogging with a passion for your industry.  This will generate more traffic because, over time, passionate people stand out from the crowd and attract other fans of the industry.

However, if you don’t have a lot of existing traffic, you’ll have to do some promotion.  Don’t fall the trap of “build it and they will come.”  The web is too crowded with billions of websites to just start a blog and hope people find you.  This is what Maile’s second bullet point is all about.

You need to find out where your target audience is.  Then, go to one of those sites and become a valuable contributing member.  Your reputation will grow as an expert.  Many people will become interested in you and visit your site.

After an extended period of promoting yourself, maybe a year to two years, you can scale back on promotion because you’ll have a critical mass of repeat visitors that will drive traffic for you through word of mouth.

But that initial marketing push is critical to gain traction and brand yourself as an industry expert.

What if Your Business Became a Regular Part of People’s Lives?

In this interview back in December 2007, Gary Vaynerchuk talked about the video blog he added to his wine business site.  In less than 2 years, his blog, Wine Library TV, got so much traffic that he was noticed by mainstream media.  He appeared TV shows like Conan O’Brien and Nightline.  His blog was covered on magazines like Wall Street Journal and Time Magazine.

Also, he got an email that said:

Gary, the place in my heart that was occupied by Grey’s Anatomy has been replaced by Wine Library TV. I can only be a one-watcher kind of person and it’s the only thing that I watch now.

Amazing, right?  In the mind of the email sender, a business site was worth her attention more than a popular primetime TV show.

Become Part of People’s Lives Like Traditional Media

The internet has leveled the playing field.  Much of the world’s population is interacting and buying things online.  And it’s cheap to produce online content – even video and audio.  Therefore, any online business can now compete with traditional media for attention.

You can produce a video blog like Gary and start building your own following.

Or you can start an audio blog, or podcast.  Many people have their favorite talk radio station.  Your podcast could become like a talk radio show that people in your target audience look forward to.

Or you can start a traditional blog based on text.  Think about the many people with magazine subscriptions.  Your blog can function like a magazine subscription.  It gives people an incentive to return to your site on a regular basis.

If you publish great content on a regular basis, you won’t need to rely on traditional advertising to get traffic.  Your content will be building an audience of fans that will support you and recommend your content to other people. This will increase your traffic, which will lead to higher sales.

3 Ways Blogging Greatly Increases Your Google Traffic

If you want increase your Google traffic, blogs are the way to go.  Here are 3 reasons why.

1. Google likes updated content.

The problem with many business sites is they don’t publish new content on a regular basis. Just having a home page, an about page, and product pages is not enough today. You need a section on your site that is regularly updated with fresh content.

My friend Ryan, the owner of an internet firm that does web marketing, wrote about his experience with static sites versus regularly updated sites:

One thing we’ve noticed over the last year is that static websites are at a disadvantage. Over the past few years, search engines have added elements to their algorithms that often prefer fresh data. Or, at the very least, the search algorithms of today tend to prefer domains that provide a steady stream of new content.

Many online businesses have greatly increased their Google traffic by starting a blog. They publish on their blog a couple of times a month and Google rewards them with many new visitors.

2. Google likes a lot of content.

Google and other search engines look at many factors to determine their search results pages. One of those factors is looking at the keywords on a page.

If you have a blog, you’ll be publishing a lot of content. This content is what I like to call “Google fodder”. Each blog post you publish is a page that Google can send traffic to (based on the keywords on the post). The more posts you publish, the more keywords you target. The more keywords you target, the more traffic Google will send you.

3. Google likes links.

The biggest factor for getting more Google traffic is links. If you can get quality websites to link to your site, you will greatly increase your Google traffic.

Reputable search engine marketers will tell you that the best way to build links is through producing quality content and promoting it.

On a blog, you share your knowledge about your industry. If you promote your blog, you will build links in no time.

Also, the way Google works is links pointing to any section on your site increases traffic to the whole site. This means even if all your links point to your blog, your home page and product pages will receive more Google traffic.