Is your blog working hard enough for your business? - How to write the Best Damn Blog in the World V

Recently, I recommended to a business associate that they install a blog on their website. They responded as such:

"Actually we have a blog, and it was last updated last September ;). "

Following is a note I sent that associate. They had now become a potential client.

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Dear Bob;

And that's what most people say. But the problem is that the most popular blogs in the world, post at least once a day. On my own blog, I publish three times a week. And then I syndicate. Syndicate like crazy, which means broadcasting to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and a number of other news aggregation sites. In the last year, the Wild Wild East Dailies has been picked up by The New York Times, New York Magazine, The Wall Street Journal and The Huffington Post as a trusted news source, with links going directly back to my little ole blog, right here in Vietnam. Read this from Technorati's State of The Blogosphere 2010:

"no longer an upstart community, now with influence on mainstream narratives firmly entrenched, with bloggers still searching for the next steps forward. Bloggers’ use of and engagement with various social media tools is expanding, and the lines between blogs, micro-blogs, and social networks are disappearing. As the blogosphere converges with social media, sharing of blog posts is increasingly done through social networks"

This illustrates my key point: If you're not using your blog as a broadcasting and lead generation device, you're missing a huge opportunity. Huge. 65% of my hits come from other sites, and only 17% from search. LinkedIn is my top feeder.

I notice you have a Facebook page for your company and it's good. But do you know what that doesn't give you? It doesn't give you data. Mark Zuckerberg gets all your content anf data for free but you don't get anything. And you can't insert code on Facebook pages. (code that feeds data back to you) You can maybe tracks links to your site, but that's about it. If you took every post you made to your Facebook page and did it on your blog instead, things would work better, but in reverse. A post to the blog automatically goes to your Facebook page and then, correspondingly, out to the world - if, you configure the blog properly. And you get a central base, from which to collect data that YOU control, not Facebook.

I read your Facebook page and if that's you writing, you're pretty up on how social media is working, but it's not working to your benefit as much as it could be. Your blog could be a page on your website and be feeding people directly back to your site - instead of to Facebook where they get all your good data.

My blog, The Wild Wild East Dailies is rated #26,105 in the world. Ha, a joke you say? We'll, not considering that there are over 100 million blogs in the world. I'm in the top fraction of 1%. And blogs are tracked differently than websites. They can be identified by Google and other Bots that don't pick up your website.

Here are some of the stats I like:

Time on site:

	154	Less than 5 secs
	7	From 5 secs to 30 secs
	27	From 30 secs to 5 mins
	5	From 5 mins to 20 mins
	6	From 20 mins to an hour
	35	Longer than an hour

If I hear another web genius tell me how many 'uniques' they get to their site, I'm going to spit. Who cares? On my best day I accumulated over 1000 hits but what were they worth? Not much. Almost none of them converted into regular readers. I put something controversial and funny on the site and got attention. Then it went away. So what? What you and I want to do is build a dedicated, intelligent audience. A well structured blog can help you do that, build a subscriber list and induce loyalty among readers. You become an authority on the business - one other media sources can rely on. Not just a Facebook page.

Where do they come from?

The first two countries are not surprising, but the ever fluctuating list of those below always entertains me. One week Azerbajan was #3. H(how)TF did that happen? I have no idea, but it's cool to know.

	232	46.40%	Vietnam
	125	25.00%	United States
	14	2.80%	United Kingdom
	13	2.60%	Singapore
	12	2.40%	France
	12	2.40%	Canada
	10	2.00%	Australia
	9	1.80%	Germany
	9	1.80%	Korea, Republic Of
	8	1.60%	Taiwan
	7	1.40%	India
	5	1.00%	Austria
	4	0.80%	Netherlands
	4	0.80%	Hong Kong

More specifically, I like the cities. Historically I have a very strong base in Silicon Valley and tech areas on the west coast of the US. New York is always a leader (as I am from there), but I'm always surprised by some. This week it's Nice, France. Why? Dunno.

	214	42.80%	Ho Chi Minh City	Ho Chi Minh	Vietnam
	20	4.00%	New York	New York	United States
	14	2.80%			Vietnam
	11	2.20%	Singapore		Singapore
	11	2.20%	Washington	District Of Columbia	United States
	9	1.80%	Nice	Provence-alpes-cote D'azur	France
	7	1.40%	Coimbatore	Tamil Nadu	India
	7	1.40%	Karhyondong	Kyonggi-do	Korea, Republic Of
	7	1.40%	Taipei	T'ai-pei	Taiwan
	6	1.20%	London	London	United Kingdom
	5	1.00%	Vienna	Wien	Austria
	5	1.00%	Brisbane	Queensland	Australia
	4	0.80%	Englewood	Ohio	United States
	4	0.80%	Central District		Hong Kong
	4	0.80%	Los Angeles	California	United States

I say all of this, because I think I can add something to your mix, and help you guys gain control of and grow your audience.











Here's a couple of weeks on my site. It's not my best. Over time, I average 100 hits a day with 75% unique visitors but the read time is over 5 minutes each, so I'm gaining traction with people who really care. And Facebook doesn't tell you that when people click on stuff you post. A blog - your blog, will.

So that's what I'd like to talk to you about. Configuring your blog and giving you a traffic boost and data you can use to grow business by growing your audience.

To configure the blog and get it connected properly will take me a month - and I'll give you all the instructions, connecting sites and features that I install. You and I will share common password and you can change it after I'm off the project. And my fee for this is extremely reasonable. Less than $.

After that, I would recommend that I maintain and grow the site for six months. If I don't grow the base and data, you don't pay. And that would be a monthly service fee for six months. Not much can be accomplished in any less time. We would need to talk about a posting schedule before I have a fee on that, but again, very manageable and a small fraction of any employee's time.

You've already stated that your staff is dedicated to client work and things like home maintenance get put on the back burner, sometimes for over a year. Outsource this one, and it gets done. And it gets done efficiently and produces results.

Let's discuss more.

David

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For more on blogs, blogging and bloggers, check here:

Tell Me Your Secrets - How to Write the Best Damn Blog in the World V
Is Your Blog Working Hard Enough For Your Business? - How To Write the Best Damn Blog in the World IV
How (NOT) to Write the Best Damn Blog in the World III
Advertising People & Blogs - The Travis Diaries VI
How to Write the Best Damn Blog in the World II
Throw That Blog a Bone!
If Blogs Are Free Are They Worthless?
What If Gutenberg Had a Blog?
If You Like the Blog, Read the Book
2008 Annual Report - The Wild Wild East Dailies
Blog Redesign WWED
BarCamp Saigon 2008
Attraction vs. Conversion - How To Write the Best Damn Blog in the World
Are the Bloggerati Missing the Market?