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At the MarketingProfs B2B Forum I moderated a panel on B2B blogging. When you get a room full of marketers the conversation will sometimes turn to SEO and of course ROI. Mix the two and you have a lively conversation.
Yes we all know that Google loves blogs, but if your only reason for blogging is SEO, then you're going to fail. Back in early 2006 I posted about a newspaper that wanted to start community blogging. I told them if the reasons were revenue or page views that things would fail. The primary purpose has to be conversation and community. If you do those two things right (and have your blog properly configured) then SEO and all the other benefits should follow.
During the panel today the analogy I used was this:
If your fiance asks you why you love him/her and want to spend the rest of your life with them you shouldn't say:
A. I'm looking for increased ROI thru shared living expenses.
B. You have a great network of (hot) friends, and partnering with you allows me to position myself favorably with them.
It should first and foremost be about love and compassion (with your fiance).
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Comments
"Back in early 2006 I posted about a newspaper that wanted to start community blogging. I told them if the reasons were revenue or page views that things would fail. The primary purpose has to be conversation and community."
Bingo. Communities do not form around the idea of being monetized.
Posted by: Mack Collier | 10.03.07
I disagree. An SEO blog is perfect for businesses. Companies are saving a lot in PPC using blogs. Done right it can be the motor on a web site (which is often stale).
Some companies may blog for community building. I favor blogging for rankings.
However, on my personal blog, it's all about building community. If no one read it I'd still write. I can't say the same about writing for a business.
-Janet
Posted by: Janet Meiners | 10.03.07
The Text Message Blog has brought in a lot of business to our company and I do recommend it to anybody not in our industry of providing text message mobile marketing promotions.
Posted by: Text Message Blog | 10.03.07
Janet can you share some examples of engaging business blog content that is purely SEO driven?
Posted by: Josh Hallett | 10.03.07
SEO is just one of the advantages of starting a blog, agreed. But the 'building of a community' that Josh talks about produces other noteworthy advantages as well. Feedback from your customers or clients is invaluable to product development and retention. Just getting consumers to feel comfortable enough to share their feelings (a blog is perfect at this) is worth it's weight in gold. Think of the costs of fielding a survey, both monetary and in time! I just started purethinking.typepad.com for my company, and it's already helped me learn the areas of advertising that are most popular with our clients. Cheers, Ken
Posted by: Ken Barber | 10.04.07
Great analogy. It got me to thinking about the need to encourage corporations to stick to blogging even when the going gets rough and the comments are negative.
Because, let's face it, sometimes they can catch heat for a campaign, a business decision, a bad product, or whatever crisis comes along. What's important is having an open conversation and giving your readers/customers a forum for talking with you. If there are detractors, you have a unique opportunity to engage them rather than simply being a victim of their anger.
I suppose the associated analogy would be if your fiancee asked you, "Does this outfit make me look fat?"
Posted by: Scott Monty | 10.05.07