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Blogs are the New Websites for Business Professionals and Organizations
A few years ago when someone visited a website they would expect to see a static page of content with some basic information on a company or individual. You would be greeted with the standard home page, followed by an about us/services page, and then if you were lucky, a contact page. You would read through the site and then judge whether or not the person/company really knows their stuff.
Nowadays having a blog is almost expected and in fact desired. Blogs offer something that static websites just can’t; (generally speaking) perspective and content. A blog gives far more insight into a company’s (or individuals) way of thinking and users like that. Now, instead of visiting a static page, a user can visit a dynamic page filled with valuable information and insight. If you are in the Venture Capital business then you can bet that your users are going to want to see a blog with some with some analysis on the VC market, tips and tricks for getting funding, how to avoid bad deals, etc. If you’re a hypnotherapist or marriage/family therapist you SHOULD have a blog that offers daily advice on how to deal with various situations, calming techniques, benefits of hypnotherapy, etc.
Blogs are becoming the new standard for websites and believe me blogs can be fantastic lead and revenue generation tools. If you are able to provide valuable information and analysis for the users in your respective industry, then your users will view you as being an authority in that industry. The Online Marketing Blog is a great example of how a blog is used to generate leads. Lee Odden and team put out quality content almost every regarding PR and SEO. As a result the blog is virtually an authority on the integration of PR and SEO and you can bet that Lee Odden and team are getting plenty of leads out of it. According to Lee, the Online Marketing Blog generates:
- 4 ad inquiries a week
- 1-2 speaking requests a week
- 1 media inquiry a week
- 4-5 leads a week.
As Lee puts it, "If the company has something to say then a blog is a great tool for them, and if they don’t have something to say then they have other business issues to deal with."
Gone are the days of static content pages. Users want more; they want to understand the mindset of companies and individuals. They want to know what they can expect and they want to know that they can trust you. Blogging about your industry is a great way to build trust with your users and prospective clients. A blog gives your users a chance to see what you know and how you interpret information. Think of a job interview, you wouldn’t hire someone to run your marketing for you just because of their resume, you want to meet and interview the person before you offer them a job. A blog is a way for the world to interview you to see if they want to work with you. This is why it is so important to provide quality content to your readers on a regular basis.
You’re not still using that old website to get leads now are you?
Jacob Morgan is a social media consultant and runs a team of technical SEOs in San Francisco. follow him on twitter.
Thanks to LAMP and Wordpress anyone can make a presentable web page on the cheap. WP even lets you build static-looking “pages” that are secretly just blog posts. My take: WP is the new publishing platform of choice for an awful lot of different purposes.
Good post. I agree that blogs are of increasingly greater importance than a corporate site for some purposes.
At FreshNetworks we talk to clients about their online communications splitting into three types:
1) Brochure-ware – what a typical website is like, even if it is a technically very advanced one. This serves a very important purpose but the main reason we liken it to brochures is because it tends to not change very quickly
2) Formal press releases – this is typically the news or similar section of a site. It is a formal push of a press release or news from a company and typically doesn’t allow real engagement
3) The part where they have a conversation – this could be a blog, or a forum or an online community. This is where the firm can really come to life, people get a real understanding of what you do and think, how you act and behave. It’s where they truly engage with you.
There are some great examples of the latter (Coca Cola being an interesting one that springs to mind). There is also a lot of scope for more use of blogs by firms.
I’ve written more about this if anybody is interested – the last two posts here would be most interesting (they include the Coca Cola example):
http://blog.freshnetworks.com/category/topics/blogging-topics/“> http://blog.freshnetworks.com/category/topics/blogging-topics/
Matt
FreshNetworks
Blogs are an excellent way to engage in conversation with your current and potential customers. What better way to get to know someone then through some good old discussion.
Thanks for the mention Jacob – we’re big evangelists on blogs for many reasons as you know. PR, informal communications, community, SEO and just plain being social.
Like any tool, it’s only as productive as the talent and vision of the people using it. Some companies simply don’t have either – that’s what I meant by the “other business issues to deal with” comment.
Still, those companies can get by with expert help for a while, but only a while. At some point they’ve got to take the reins.
I think this is so critical for new companies to grasp. The idea of a one way conversation is embodied in the static site where the blog provides an interactive, response based, conversation with customers; exactly what they want.
Its a must. Thanks for bringing it to peoples attention.
Check out my blog at http://ryanagraves.com
Hey Jacob – great post to intro people on why you should have a blog. Here’s a 10 more reasons:
http://thefuturebuzz.com/2008/06/30/10-reasons-your-small-business-should-have-a-blog/
meh – I think it’s 99% critical for service providers (and the type of companies I always see referred to as people who use blogs to get clients are: surprise! SEO/advertising, consultants (of any kind) and start-ups). For product and so forth, it’s often not as critical. It can be used with press releases and to engage to a degree. For service providers it’s definitely a requirement. For everyone else – i’m not convinced/ I’ve done a lot of my own research (i.e. not scientific by any means) for how corporations use blogs and for the most part they’re read by the competition and some. If the blog writing isn’t good, no one reads it.
Say a retail entity hires a funny writer to write about industry trends or whatnot it’s only as good as the writing. Otherwise, I wouldn’t bother.
I know of a B2B company who recently *killed* their blog off. They saw no value, no point and no ROI. I was so saddened to hear about this blog death because I don’t think the blog ever stood a chance. The marketing manager said getting blog content from staff member was like pulling teeth. Every time she came around to collect content from product managers and developers, she was shunned with “I’m too busy.” Unfortunately, she herself was not much of a writer so she didn’t take the time to write much beyond information promoting their own events. And the CEO never really got involved … never took the time to give his own company blog the kind of insight and positioning only a CEO could give.
At the end of the day, what happened here is sadly far from uncommon with many companies. I know that sounds hard to believe with all the millions of reasons we know as to why we SHOULD blog … but there are still those detractors who don’t see the point. They don’t see how blogging for their biz can help them. They want to see the ROI result in tangible return (as improved revenue from sales as a direct result of blogging) and not want to be bothered with intangible return (as in SEO/SEM improvements, improved traffic and visibility, brand awareness and outreach, positioning for leadership and innovation in the industry or market vertical).
Check out my blog at http://www.mayraruiz.com for some other business blog related posts:
10 ways to draw blog inspiration (when your blog idea well runs dry)
http://tinyurl.com/6aw4xt
If It Walks Like a Duck and Sounds Like a Duck … (Surprise!)…It’s Not Always a Duck!
http://tinyurl.com/5rjsnb
– Mayra :-)