Does Blogging Get You More Sales?
“Everyone is too afraid to use the Internet for shopping.”
Do you remember when they said that? Not so long ago.
Look at us now. People can buy and buy anything online. Fear, really fear of change, is gone.
They said television would ruin the movie. It doesn’t work that way. Cinema is a completely different form of television, but we didn’t know it at the time. Television and film survived and now feed each other.
Looking back, we all see something that was quite clear.
Now they say that blogs or blogs are invading the Internet.
A blog is, in fact, an online magazine in which you or a group can write down your deepest thoughts and comment on a topic. Anyone can access and respond to your log recording (also known as a message).
For more information about blogging, see Wikipedia’s Blog Post.
You’ll get more than 474 million search results when you type in the “blog” on Google.
Part of the appeal of blogging is ease of use. It only takes a few minutes to start blogging.
First, sign up on a blog server such as Google Blogger, SixApart TypePadblog, or use WordPress.
You choose the page template you like. There are some very good ones that are available for free. Then publish your first entry.
The last step is to notify your blog directory every time you create a new message (this is called ping). Services such as Pingoat and Pingomatic are sites that can ping a number of other directories on your behalf.
People search these directories through blog search engines and browse blogs in the same way as websites.
Do companies really use blogs?
Business leaders use blogs. Bob Lutz, vice president of General Motors, for example, runs his own blog. Other GM professionals also contribute. IBM Vice President Bob Sutor and Boeing Vice President of Marketing Randy Beisler also maintain their own blogs.
Employees of companies such as Microsoft, Google and Hewlett Packard Blog.
When used in a positive way, blogging shows your customers and potential customers your business personality and helps build relationships.
What are the drawbacks of blogging?
The CEO of the company is not allowed to blog. This is because there may be pressure to mark future events. Or worse, if they drop the clang, it can spread very quickly around the world.
Another potential drawback of blogging is that you can’t influence what other people post on their blogs about what you’ve written.
Just look at some of the comments general Motors received on Bob Lutz’s blog when they started discussing seat belts to see how hot things can be.
Companies may worry that employees spend too much time blogging or blogging. This means that there must be a blogging policy to prevent such abuse.
What’s the use of a blog?
A blog can position someone or a company as an expert. But people can easily do other people’s work for their work. So this is really a case of “buyer’s caution” when reading blogs.
So, will blogging be a crushing blow to attracting and retaining customers?
The short answer is that it depends on the circumstances and for the following reasons:
1) It’s just another channel of marketing communications – it can be used or not. A kind of PR is used.
2) For some companies it is too public
3) It’s completely without editorial control
4) Pledge to regularly update, check and respond to comments
Consulting firms and other knowledge and intellectual property organizations benefit most from blogging. This is because they can present their capabilities and knowledge to their market differently than other marketing tactics.
But why should it stop there? General Motor’s blog is useful for reporting new models and responding to customer feedback.
In fact, there really are no practical restrictions on who can use blogs to communicate with customers and potential customers.
But is blogging really a dead end?
Corporate blogging is certainly an important communication tool that every business should seriously consider as part of its marketing arsenal. But it should be seen as another business tool whose ultimate measure is “does it increase sales or reduce operating costs?”
If it can’t provide at least one of these metrics, the corporate blog is entitled to fail.
I’ve been blogging for over a year now and have found that I have thousands of views. I consciously do not receive income from this. But that’s because I’m writing mini-articles and will eventually use them as the basis for my next book.
So, after all, blogging is another channel of communication that gives businesses the flexibility to engage in PR, sundress radio, viral and internet marketing for them.
Online advertising has become a big business. Expect blogs to do the same.
Jim Simcox is a business development coach, strategic marketer, copywriter, blogger and author of “How to Give a Boost to Your Competitors.” He has coached clients of Chet Holmes and Tony Robbins around the world. He also trained clients at Growth Accelerator in the UK.