One of the big struggles when you are launching a business blog, is how to write content that will both appeal to your audience and have some connection to what you have to offer. I have been helping a couple of clients pull their blog topics together, they both were frustrated that there was apparently very little to talk about the widgets they sell. The solution for both was the same, even though they are in starkly different industries. You might find the same solution works for you also, … [Read more...]

In my previous post I wrote how educating customers can provide more sales, increased trust and loyalty. Richard asked in the comments if people took this advice would advertising diminish. I started answering as a comment but then I realized the issue deserved a full post. Advertising Versus Blogging? So first things first, do I advocate blogging instead of advertising? No. Blogging is not a marketing strategy, it is one tactic of many. Using one tactic to the exclusion of others is … [Read more...]

Sometimes blogging can be the difference between making a sale and giving the sale to a competitor. What do I mean? I was talking to a client the other day who was moving from Pay Per Click marketing of his products into SEO and blogging. His widget is expensive so while the per click price is not up there with lawyers and loans, the sheer quantity it takes to make a sale works out just as expensive or even more. Their PPC budget is in the tens of thousands a month. With that kind of … [Read more...]

When we put up a website, blog or even an article, in most cases we do so hoping for the visitor to do a particular thing, take a specific action. Those actions are called conversions. We are converting the visitor into something else, a subscriber, a customer, and so on. As you know from daily life, getting people to do what you want them to can be tricky. We have our own agendas, we see the world differently, there is also self interest, which can work for or against you. That is why … [Read more...]

Interesting tweet I picked up this morning from SEO Chicks "Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008" This interesting law comes in to force on May 28th 2008 and within the UK stands to criminalise some regrettably common practicesIt seems that fake blogs ("flogs"), like those from Sony and Walmart, will become not just black hat in the UK, but illegal!This seems like a victory for the UK consumer, if of course it really does work out that way (how many times have we seen … [Read more...]

Yesterday I asked you to answer my Have you read "The Cluetrain Manifesto" poll The question was based on a quick question I posted on Twitter. I have been thinking about this book and its impact on the web and social media concepts we take for granted. As you can see from the chart here, most people today haven't heard of it. So what is this "Cluetrain" I speak of? Why am I so concerned that nobody who joined the web this decade seems to have heard of it? In 1999 a group of the webs … [Read more...]

Just under 10 years ago a website then book was released called The Cluetrain Manifesto. I did a quickie poll on Twitter and found around half of people questioned had heard of it. Today I want to repeat the experiment here. {democracy:10} You will find out why I am asking later in a full article. Today I want to know your immediate reaction, hence right now I am not linking to any of the material online, but I am sure you can find it if you are curious, just please answer the … [Read more...]

Yesterday I wrote about how you can identify your Sneezers and Linkerati. Essentially these people are incredibly valuable to you because they are your advocates. They spread your message, defend your honor and if you do a good enough job of nurturing them, become your all-round raving fans. How do you grow your readers from first time visitor to long term fan? It doesn't happen over night, or at least not very often. I am sure there are many ten year olds who walked out of the first Star … [Read more...]

In marketing circles you often hear about "Sneezers" and "the Linkerati", but what are they? Who are they? And most of all, why should we care? Sneezers and the Linkerati are people who will spread your message or help promote your work by linking to you. While the Linkerati are obviously going to link to your content, "Sneezers" are people who "spread ideaviruses", which is a fancy way of saying they tell other people about your stuff via word of mouth, email, social voting or messaging … [Read more...]

It might seem a strange question to ask. Especially coming from a blogger. But really, do you know where your audience hangs out? Yesterday I had two emails in reaction to my business blogging series where people were having problems that could be solved much more easily if they did a small amount of market research. One lady was wondering why she got traffic and no sales, the other chap wanted to boost his readership. Both issues could well be a problem of finding the right audience … [Read more...]