How’s your blog doing today? Because if it’s a naked blog this post is for you. If you don’t power your blog, it will die. So you might as well decide what you want to do about it. Today.
Your blog can be at the core of your content marketing program. Your social media will prominently share your blog articles, expert interviews, product reviews, book reviews, training videos or whatever it is you do best to help customers get what they want. But all of this starts with feeding your blog with information your future and existing customers want and need.
Here’s how I got started with blogging. I have to admit I was late to the game in my mind. But now I’ve been at it almost every day for 10 years. In 2006 I read the book, Blogwild!: A Guide for Small Business Blogging
Even though the BlogWild book was written over a decade ago, I still find it inspiring because it launched me into a blog publishing frenzy the helped me build my small business to where it is today. I am grateful for my passion and love of the blog.
Your Most Valuable Marketing Weapon
Not everybody loves to write and blog like me. But blogs and websites are crucial for marketing success these days.
What better marketing weapon do you have if not your website? If you’re like most business owners the answer, “Nothing is more important than my website.” But getting your website to perform the way it could is challenging because you don’t know how to build websites. This means you’ve been relegated to the same treachery we all have by hiring duds for website people. Not easy.
If you’re lucky, you love your site and your blog is rich, as is the pipeline of customers waiting to give you money. But even though I love my site and blog and feed it regularly, it is not the sole source of new relationships and business for us. It is a huge element for new traffic, credibility, list growth and proving we walk the walk. Conversion marketing works when you work it and your blog can be the core of it.
If you don’t give up on crafting the right website, and it’s live today, how do you “feed” the site so you keep the right people coming to it and making inquiries about doing business with you? Or better yet, buying your products on your site because it’s an ecommerce site and your blog contains massive product reviews, customer success stories and other educational, engaging content that keeps people visiting and clicking so you and your business prosper.
What Brings Traffic To Your Site Now?
This is the rub … building marketing funnels and campaigns that actually work. Now, let’s think about how you get traffic. What brings the best traffic to your site now, and how much does this cost you?
Most of the time the answer is, “We’re not getting the results we want from our website.” Yesterday I talked for an hour with a frustrated business owner who had burned over $100,000 to get her small, ecommerce website to where it is today; an outdated disaster for visitors, the owner and her entire team. In this case, not only is the blog naked, but the site is ugly with no analytics providing useful insights to owners on how to optimize it.
Enter the guy who can power the blog. It’s not just me. My blog and the blogs we power today are more like blogs on steroids. These can and do morph into digital and print magazines. And this takes massive amounts of content. The content must be engaging, educational and meet the interests in near-immediate needs of your visitor.
If your blog is naked today, and you believe your website can do a better job for you, what’s it going to take for you to get off your butt and find someone to power your blog with love, care and consistency?
If you told yourself and anyone else, “I’ll write my own blog content,” then look in the mirror and ask yourself what your highest and best use of time is every day. Is it really blogging on top of the other 8 hats you wear to manage your business?
No. So if you said you’re going to power your blog and it’s naked, be honest. Get help.
Know the ROI on Blogging
Does blogging get you customers and a return on your investment? You bet it does. But the blogging you do must fit your overall strategy, customer targeting, brand voice, and more. Your blog content must be exceptional and consistent. Heck, I’m never quite content with the blogging we’re doing here and we are raising the bar soon.
Here’s what you can expect for a return on your blog investment if you power your blog consistently well …
- Increased traffic. More people visit.
- Decreased bounce rate. More people like your stuff.
- Increased engagement and conversions. Your social shares, web form conversions, phone calls, clicks and other conversions will increase in time, if you choose to set up the systems to track your ROI.
There can be a significant return on ROI when you power your blog with passion and really stick to it. However, if you look at the blogs of Hubspot, Content Marketing Institute and many other leaders in the content marketing and blogosphere, you’ll see a huge investment in creative and tech talent to crank out all that amazing educational content. You will also see CMI integrates the blog into the homepage of the site. Hubspot has a stand alone blog fully integrated with their site since Hubspot sells their own Content Management System to compete with WordPress, the world’s largest and most-accepted Content Management System or CMS. (Your website is a CMS, basically.)
Do It Now
Fear not. Start where you can. If you love to write, channel your writing into your blog. If not, find someone you can afford and take your blog to new heights. Just don’t expect overnight results.
The more you power your blog with discipline, the better the business result you will see over time. Just make sure you power your blog with consistency, love and in line with your sales and marketing plan of action.
What’s the biggest thing holding you and your blog back? Or maybe it’s time to put it out of it’s misery.
We always appreciate your comments and questions on the CME blog.