While most commentators seem to agree that there is still room on the Internet for good content, after I wrote that post I ran across two additional posts that really emphasized the nature of the problem.
The second post is from Sarah Perez at ReadWriteWeb. In her post titled Too Many Choices, Too Much Content Sarah describes how there is an overload, not only of blog posts, but also of social media tools to organize blog posts. (Ironically, I found Sarah’s article through my account on Second Brain, which is yet another social media organization tool.)
Is there a name for all of this clutter?
Of course there is. It’s called information overload.
Getting Your Reader’s Attention
How can you make sure that your business blog gets your customer’s attention in such a crowded environment?
The answer is to make it easy for your customer.
I have a little confession to make. I look at literally hundreds of blog posts every day. I would like to say that I thoroughly read all of those blog posts, but that would not really be true. What I really do is scan them to see if they are worth reading.
Those blogs that pass the scan test are the ones that get a thorough read. Those are the blogs that I pass on to others, link to in posts like this one, and submit to social bookmarking sites. The rest of the blog posts that I look pretty much get ignored.
For most businesses, creating scannable blog posts is a must if you want your posts to reach your targeted customer.
I use specific techniques to make my posts more scannable. Your business blog can use them too. Here are four quick tips that I use to make my posts scannable:
Graphics. You’ll notice that I almost always include a graphic with my blog posts. That’s because a good graphic can capture a reader’s attention and draw them into the text.
Short paragraphs. Today’s blog reader doesn’t have time to read long chunks of text. Forget what your English teacher taught you and break long paragraphs into shorter ones.
Formatting. You’ll notice that I use a lot of formatting to break up the page. Boldface, italics, and bulleted lists all make a post more scannable.
Headline. Many would argue that the headline is the most important part of your business blog post. In fact, the headline is so important that numerous bloggers have devoted whole posts to writing good ones.
A business blog should still be a vital part of your marketing strategy. By paying attention to the principles above, you can make your business blog posts stand out and reach your customers and potential customers.
How are you doing?
Does your business blog contribute to the overload, or is it easy for your readers to scan?
When you write a blog, especially if you are a solo practitioner who provides a service, such as accounting, marketing, law, coaching, etc. it can feel a lot like it is a one-way relationship with your readers.
You are giving and giving every day, providing your insight and expertise and sometimes, especially in the early, lonely days of blogging, it can feel like you are not getting a lot back in return: readers are scarce, commenters are even scarcer, and you can begin to feel a bit burned out.
I think it is important at those times to recognize all of the other benefits that the act of blogging is providing for you.
In case you are at a loss as to what those are, I thought I’d share a few:
Blogging increases your subject matter expertise. Blogging requires you to stay on top of the latest information in your line of business, if only so that you don’t run out of things to say. Even with good intentions, it is unlikely that you would stay this current on a subject without a reason, such as a blog.
Blogging provides you with a way to demonstrate your expertise to prospective clients without cornering them at a social event and monopolizing all of their time. Blogging enables them to get to know you on their schedule, without your active participation.
Blogging creates a body of work that you can package and turn into other modes – articles, workshops, books, CD ROMs, etc.
Blogging helps you to network and build a community with other professionals whom you might not otherwise meet.
What do you think? What benefits have you found in blogging?
Is the blogosphere getting too crowded for my business blog to do any real good?
It’s an excellent question, and one that you may have been wondering about your own business blog.
The truth is that blogs launched now are not going to get the same kind of immediate attention just for existing that blogs launched ten, or even five, years ago did.
In those days blogging was so new that anyone who launched a blog drew some attention just by being there.
The novelty of blogging has worn off and today’s business blogs are being held to increasingly high standards. For most businesses, yours will not be the first business blog in your field.
Should you give up on the concept of business blogging just because the media has matured?
Of course not!
All new media goes through the same cycle. Television (TV) was an innovation in the 1950s and products advertised on television during that era had the good fortune to be on forefront of a new technology.
By the 1970s, however, there was a television in nearly every home. TV wasn’t a novelty anymore. Did that mean television advertising was dead? Of course not. However, TV ads did grow more sophisticated to meet the needs of an audience.
Blogging is following the same cycle. Blogging is moving out of the “innovative” phase and into the mainstream.
The audience for blogs is no longer an elite few who just happen to be technically proficient. Instead, blog readers can now be found virtually everywhere:
In every walk of life
In every occupation
In every age group
In every country
What this all means to the business owner is that business blogging is more important now than ever. However, as Liz noted in a recent post just having a business blog is not enough.
To get the most from business blogging in a crowded blogosphere you need to:
Take steps to make sure that your blog reaches your intended audience.
Make sure that your blog’s design and writing is both unique and professional.
Respond promptly to customers and potential customers who contact you through your blog.
As Laura and I’ve mentioned previously, it is not necessary to have a blog in order to engage with bloggers.
One way to promote your business is to create pictures, videos or articles that are worth blogging about and then make them available to the blogosphere. If the item is good enough, it can spread rapidly around the internet which is what has given it it’s name – viral marketing.
As an example, this past weekend my husband and I went to the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens as a Mother’s Day treat. The gardens were beautiful and beyond my expectations, even though we had missed the annual cherry blossom festival that I had wanted to see. After our visit, I became curious as to whether the BBG had a blog.A quick search led me not to the BBG blog but to a variety of blogs all featuring a video of the cherry blossom festival.
It turns out that the BBG web master, Dave Allen, created a timelapse video based on 300 digital pictures taken every three minutes from April 18 through April 26. He put the video to music, using original music from Jon Solo, a Brooklyn-based musician and producer. Then he placed the video out on the web on YouTube and Vimeo.
Other blogs (including this one) then picked it up to share with their readers.
This type of relationship with bloggers is a win- win; Bloggers are happy to have something interesting and exciting to post which generates more page views and more comments, and of course the business gets increased publicity.
Happy Mother’s Day! It’s time for another coffee break. Help yourself to some cream and sugar if you like, we’ve even got a special coffee cake set aside for you this week.
Once you’ve settled in, I’m sure that you’ll enjoy this week’s coffee break picks.
Last weekend was SOBCon, so naturally the blogosphere is full of great summaries of the event like this one on the BlogHerald by Lorelle VanFossen. Read it to see what you missed.
John Cass over at PR Communications has been analyzing the review results posted on the Fortune 500 Business Blogging Wiki. While it turns it that most reviewed Fortune 500 blogs are above average, there is still room for improvement. Read his analysis to find out where most corporate blogs need some additional work.
In the meantime, Mario Sundar at Marketing Nirvana has come up with his own list of the top 15 corporate blogs. This is a new series for him and it’s worth taking a look to see if you agree.
I took your advice and started a blog for my small business. But so far I have seen very little traffic. Am I doing something wrong or is this whole thing a waste of my time?
Signed:
Writer’s Cramp
Dear Writer’s Cramp,
Many people think that all they have to do is create a blog, and customers will read it. But that is not necessarily true. There are millions and millions of blogs in existence these days.
While most of these have become dormant, there is still a large percentage out there competing for your customer’s attention.
So, once you start writing relevant, interesting and regular posts in your blog - you need to promote it.
Here are some suggestions for getting your blog noticed:
Clearly link to your blog on your website
Run “blog only” specials – for customers who mention an article in your blog
Hold contests on your blog
Write online articles with a link back to your blog in the bio section
Comment on other people’s blogs (there’s a space to enter your url)
Submit your blog articles to carnivals
Participate in topic-related forums and put a link to your blog in your signature line
Forward links to relevant articles to existing and potential customers who might benefit from the information
With proper use, a blog can be a conversation starter with potential customers, a way to demonstrate your knowledge and proficiency and a means to drive traffic to your site.
Good Luck with your blog and let me know whether these tactics help you increase your readership for your blog.
Liz
What advice would you have given this blogger to increase traffic to his blog?
If you have questions about blogging, please email Laura or me for our advice and the advice of our readers (and don’t forget to include your blog url so we can link to it here!!).
If she’s one of a growing number of women who use the Internet to reach out to others, then she probably does.
Just in time for Mother’s Day, Mom blogs are in the news again. I found this link (via An Island Life) to a Today Show interview with the popular blogger, Dooce.
Not only are Mommy bloggers joining television talk shows, right along with other celebrities, but the business world is starting to take notice of them too.
One of the most notable statements in the video is in the panel discussion that precedes the Dooce interview. During the discussion, Mir Kamin of Woulda Coulda Shoulda reveals that she earns 10% more as a blogger than she did as a software engineer.
Edited to add: Mir stopped by to clarify the comment shown on the video. Mir’s statement was based on her software engineer earnings of ten years ago. Also, her income does not come solely from blogging, but from a combination of blogging and freelance writing. (Thanks for the clarifications, Mir!)
Mir’s statement is indicative of a trend and many companies are recognizing the powerful influence that popular mommy blogs wield. As a result they are starting to develop marketing programs specifically for them.
And why would a company not want to reach mom blogs? Many of the successful blogs have thousands and even tens of thousands of daily readers.
NJ.com, reports on a social event, “Camp Baby,” designed specifically for Mommy bloggers by Johnson & Johnson.
Johnson & Johnson is just one of a growing number of companies trying to leverage the influence of the blogosphere.
We’ve posted here at Business and Blogging on the power of blog reviews and reaching bloggers before.
In fact, according to a study quoted on the internet retailer blog, 74% of consumers indicated that they were influenced by online information about products, including information found on blogs.
What about your business?
Do you recognize the power of blogs and understand how to reach out to bloggers? Do you know which segment of the blogosphere is the best fit for your company and your products?
Why not?
Image Source: Usage purchased by Laura Spencer from stockxpert.com
In my last post I wrote about the challenge that corporations face in building trust with their potential customers. Not too surprisingly, word of mouth feedback from “people just like me” was seen as more credible than advertising or public relations.
Based on reports like this, it’s only natural then that PR departments decide to influence “word of mouth” marketing by leveraging bloggers to spread the word about products. Although I’ve shared my thoughts on how to build good relationships with bloggers I thought it might be useful to see what a highly respected advertising and PR firm has to say on the subject.
Last Fall, Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide developed and published their Blogger Outreach Code of Ethics v2. I like the fact that this is the second version - it says to me that they are taking it seriously, keeping it alive and adjusting it as they learn more, or as they put it - “it’s an ever evolving document“.
Ogilvy does a good job of putting their code of ethics in every day language and focusing on the needs of the blogger as much as the needs of the PR company.
New items added in their version 2 include:
As available, we will provide you with links to third party information/blog coverage of the campaign we are pitching to you.
Whenever possible, we will articulate how blogger outreach, and your blog in particular, fits in with our overall campaign strategy.
We will seek to present you with a range of opportunities to work together around a campaign, so that you can create the best experience possible for your audience. We acknowledge that, when it comes to knowing your audience, you are the expert.
We’ll let you know who we are by providing you with a link to some background or bio information on the individual contacting you.
We understand that when you agree to blog about a campaign it’s not going to happen overnight. We’ll work with you to develop a reasonable time line for posting that fits with your schedule - and we won’t pester you to put up your post.
If we reach out to you with news about a product, campaign or issue, we will not provide monetary compensation, because we believe it is unethical to “buy” favorable reviews and not want to appear as if we are.
If you have advertising opportunities on your blog, we will counsel our clients to consider purchasing advertising as a way to reach your readers. We will make it clear, however, that paying for advertising does not mean that you will post about the campaign or that, if you do, you will do so in a way that is favorable to them.
If we ask you to review a product and, therefore, provide you with the product to enable you to “experience” it, we will ask that you be transparent and reveal that you have been given the product temporarily, or permanently.
If we engage you as an advisor on a specific project, we will consider providing you with compensation (agreed upon at the start of the project). This compensation will solely be for your time as an advisor and will not include an expectation that you will write about the project – favorably or unfavorably.
The Ogilvy code of ethics is longer than the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) guidelines listed below, although they both cover a lot of the same general points.
I will always be truthful and will never knowingly relay false information. I will never ask someone else to deceive bloggers for me.
I will fully disclose who I am and who I work for (my identity and affiliations) from the very first encounter when communicating with bloggers or commenting on blogs.
I will never take action contrary to the boundaries set by bloggers. I will respect all community guidelines regarding posting messages and comments.
I will never ask bloggers to lie for me.
I will use extreme care when communicating with minors or blogs intended to be read by minors.
I will not manipulate advertising or affiliate programs to impact blogger income.
I will not use automated systems for posting comments or distributing information.
I understand that compensating bloggers may give the appearance of a conflict of interest, and I will therefore fully disclose any and all compensation or incentives.
I understand that if I send bloggers products for review, they are not obligated to comment on them. Bloggers can return products at their own discretion.
If bloggers write about products I send them, I will proactively ask them to disclose the products’ source.
I was struck by the fact that while WOMMA created a useful guideline for PR professionals to remember and use, Ogilvy deliberately created a code of ethics directed at what they would do for the blogger (”you” used in every line).It led me to think that even in their code of ethics they are thinking about the need to establish and build a relationship.
So now, let me ask you - what have been your experiences in reaching out to bloggers? what questions do you have in avoiding issues and getting the most out of the new word of mouth media?
Facing an outage of several days the website developer, Tracey Lee Wallace, was frustrated. Wallace used her Blackberry to access the microblogging tool, twitter, and tweet her discontent about the situation.
Fortunately her service provider, Comcast, has a someone monitoring Twitter for complaints just like Tracey’s. Frank Elias saw Tracey’s complaint and was able to resolve her issue and get her back online in less than a day.
A quick search of the Internet shows that Comcast’s policy of monitoring the blogosphere is paying off. In just a short time I was able to find quite a few posts praising Comcast’s new program:
Monitoring the blogosphere, and specifically Twitter, is a huge turnaround for Comcast, a company that just a few short months ago was inspiring negative articles and posts about customer service all over the Internet. A few examples:
Who would you trust more to tell you the truth? The CEO of a major corporation or one of its employees? Corporate advertising or a blog? A story on TV or a story from a friend?
If you are like the respondents to the latest Trust Barometer survey conducted by Edelman PR firm, it would be the employee rather than the CEO, a blog rather than advertising, and a story from a friend rather than one on TV news.
This means that a lot of the effort most companies put into their communication and strategies is focused in the wrong places. In fact, 55% of the US respondents aged 25-34 cited Wikipedia as the most credible source of information about an corporation - I wonder how many corporate PR groups know what wikipedia is, let alone what is written there about their company.
The solution? According to the report:
Share your content with your employees, passionate consumers, and bloggers, allowing them to co-create, repurpose, and improve their knowledge through dialogue. Change your tone from one that pronounces to one that invites participation, ceding some control in return for credibility.
Click here to read the full report. I’d love to hear your opinion on whether you think corporations are going to be willing to give up some control in order to gain credibility?
When I wrote Tuesday’s post on the crowded blogosphere, I had no idea of the can of worms that I was opening.
Is the blogosphere getting too crowded for my business blog to do any real good?
Does your Mom blog?
Today’s Houston Chronicle has 
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