Toll Free: 1-877-695-7388

GTA: (647) 699-2838

Search Engine People
  • SEO
  • SEM
  • CRO
  • Display
  • Blog
  • Why Us
  • Contact
  • Join Our Team
  • Get A Quote

Toll Free: 1-877-695-7388

GTA: (647) 699-2838

Making a Successful Blog – Tips and Expectations

Jeff Quipp | August 17th, 2010
Tweet17
Share
Share
Pin
17 Shares

So you've built a blog, and you've been blogging away twice weekly for the past 6 weeks. But you've not seen one single sale yet as a result. Should you give up?

Absolutely not ... but maybe you need to adjust your expectations. Blogs are not a short term proposition. THEY TAKE TIME to work their magic. Here are a few tips for making a blog successful, and a better vision of what a blog can actually be expected to do for you:

1. Add Content Frequently - So keep blogging away, creating as many resource/educational type posts as possible (of course, please do inject personality into them ... which you're great at doing btw). Add in news stories too, though make sure you don't merely repurpose the news. Instead, add value by answering what this news means to your readers.

We'll then use all this content you've created to attract people to the site. But they're not going to buy your products/service just yet ... be patient.

2. Encourage Sharing - We need to add some social media sharing buttons ... to get those who read and like the content ... to share it. In most cases, I'll suggest Twitter buttons, Facebook like buttons, the "share this" tool. I'd also want to add a "Email to a friend" link. This will help current readers of the blog, attract more readers to the blog ... which means more potential clients.

3. Encourage Following - We then need to add:

    a. follow us on Twitter
    b. friend us on Facebook
    c. subscribe to our email newsletter (if you're willing to commit to write one every month ... for those potential clients not into social media)


4. Win Them Over - The goal here is to attract people with content, but it doesn't end there. We also want to get new site visitors to subscribe to receive updated posts/information in the format they prefer (RSS, email, Twitter, Facebook, etc.). This gives us a better chance to truly engage with them, and permit them to connect with us. Why? As I like to say

"attract with content, win on experience!"

In essense this means; people don't buy based on content alone (unless its an impulse purchase). Typically, they buy based on their own experiences (which lead to trust), or the experiences of others they trust. Experience as it happens, helps to limit exposure to risk, so potential clients will look for:

    1. signs of a company's knowledge and ability - can you do what you say you will?
    2. signs of honesty and integrity - will you do what you say you will, or are there hidden catches?)

Some of the specific cues and signals potential clients look for are:

    a. are friends or other trusted sources buying from you?
    b. who else is buying from you and how do they feel about the experience?
    c. are you associated with large trusted brands?
    d. is your company philosophy consistent with their philosophies?
    e. do the company's employees seem to really care?

This means that the more they see the company's content, the more they learn about the company's people and philosophy, the more they see how the company responds to problems ... the more experience and trust they get. Again, people buy on experience, either the experiences of themselves or of trusted sources. Repeat content exposure then becomes EXPERIENCE, so long as your blog posts continue to reinforce the key messages (without being outright promotional).

Other Benefits To Blogging:
Aside from "attracting with content, and winning with experience", blogs have a couple other benefits to be aware of:

    1. people link to content they like. Of course, links help sites rank better within the search results of most major engines, and not just for the page in question. As we like to say, all ships rise with tide, meaning the site will rank better for all terms across the board as the site's authority is higher.

    2. increased rankings, mean even more traffic and potential clients. At the same time, if everywhere potential clients search, they see your company, then your odds of getting short listed and ultimately getting the business is increased substantially.

Tweet17
Share
Share
Pin
17 Shares
Posted in Content

6 thoughts on “Making a Successful Blog – Tips and Expectations”

  1. Dianne says:
    August 17, 2010 at 6:10 am

    Great post Jeff…felt like you were speaking to me! 🙂 Note taken!
    .-= Dianne recently posted: Of course! =-.

  2. Jeff Quipp says:
    August 17, 2010 at 6:21 am

    Thanks Dianne! 🙂

  3. peterlilsl says:
    August 17, 2010 at 4:20 pm

    Great Tips, thanks for sharing!:)

  4. Sue McDonald says:
    August 17, 2010 at 9:50 pm

    Great tips.I am a great believer in blogging and I love learning more and more. I am not to good on the social media but that will come. I try to add at least one blog a week and just relate a lot of what is happening.
    .-= Sue McDonald recently posted: Week 3 of the Newbies Course =-.

    1. Jeff Quipp says:
      August 18, 2010 at 6:58 am

      Thanks for taking the time to comment Sue. If you like blogging, you’ll love social media, since they’re so closely related. Both do require the “have patience” philosophy though. If you can master that … odds are you’ll win.

Comments are closed.

Recent Posts

  • Maximizing Your E-Commerce Sales:
    A CRO Audit Guide
  • Movin’ On Up! Why Migrating to Google Analytics 4 (GA4) Should be a Priority
  • A Year in Review: The Digital Marketing Trends That Defined 2021
  • The Basics of Video Marketing
  • Just How Much Do Google Reviews Impact Your SEO Ranking?

Categories

  • Analytics & ROI Analysis
  • Company News
  • Content
  • Conversion Optimization
  • CRO
  • Display Advertising/RTB
  • Email Marketing
  • En Español
  • En Français
  • Inbound Marketing
  • Lead Nurture & Marketing Automation
  • Local Search
  • Marketing
  • Mobile
  • Partnership Marketing
  • PPC
  • PR
  • SEO
  • Social Media Marketing
  • Web Design

Additional Posts

Twitter Update: “Also followed by” & “You Both Follow”

August 16th, 2010 | by Thomas Ballantyne

PPC Ad Sitelinks: What They Are & How To Get Them

August 16th, 2010 | by Laura Callow

Twitter Launches Own “Official” Tweet This Button For Web Pages

August 12th, 2010 | by Ruud Hein

LET'S TALK

Need more information or want to get in touch?

Get in touch!
  • SEO
  • SEM
  • Display
  • Blog
  • Why Us
  • Join Our Team
  • Contact Us
  • Local SEO
  • Small Business SEO
  • Enterprise SEO
  • International SEO

LOCATION

1305 Pickering Parkway,
5th Floor Pickering, L1V 3P2

PHONE

Toll Free: 1-877-695-7388
Greater Toronto Area: (647) 699-2838

Social

© Search Engine People Inc. 2023 – Canada’s Top Digital Agency
© SEP 2023 – A Search Engine People Company | Privacy Policy

Search Engine People