A while back I wrote a post called What Came First: The Chicken or The Blog regarding advice I gave my sister for starting her own blog on raising chickens….
The background on it was: my sister wanted to sell decorative eggs online but she couldn’t get enough traffic to her site by search engine optimization. She tried pay-per-click but couldn’t compete with big-gift advertisers like Hallmark. So I suggested she write her own blog to build up traffic and link to her decorative egg site.
This is the same advice that I gave our friend Muffin Storey on her life coaching business, What’s Your Storey. Muffin wanted to have a Web presence so I helped her with buying URLs, setting up her email, and talked with her about basic site design. Muffin started a blog over at blogger.com and just started posting a few days ago over at http://mkstorey.blogspot.com/.
Ok, so what’s my blogging Storey? I get that question all the time.
When I started my personal blog back in September 2005, I wanted to be the voice of the marketer because business blogs out there either linked to other sites with no commentary, were more educational, or geared toward agencies. Wow, that was a little idealistic, no? A year later… why do I do this?
1. It boosts my Google credibility with more links and listings than I could have imagined back in Sept. 2005.
2. I’ve met a lot of great people and built online relationships like then one I have with Ann Handley, the editor of this blog.
3. Just like the advice I gave my sister and Muffin, I use this blog to help generate and land new business.
You really need to understand what the motivations are behind the news. When it comes to MSM (mainstream media), for example, the motivation is to sell advertising space by increasing readership or viewers. Think about how many extra newspapers the Daily News sold today with its headline on Joe Torre about to be fired from the Yankees.
What’s the motivation behind the DailyKos and other political bloggers? Traffic, support for their chosen candidates and causes? When you read posts from other viewpoints like I regularly do, you need to understand what their “Storey” is and why certain headlines are posted. One of the first rules of blogging is to be controversial. Don’t forget that.
Some bloggers have an excellent following and perhaps push public relations on behalf of their employer. Hopefully, if they are above board, they disclose it properly. Otherwise, they are secretly blogging on behalf of an employer or worse, they are getting paid to post by advertisers as the folks over at PayPerPost.com are now engaging in. Your Storey for blogging (or having a Web site) should be painfully obvious.
BTW — I just saw this over at BusinessWeek. It is an article called Wal-Mart’s Jim and Laura: The Real Story. Yes, they are real people… but according to BusinessWeek, Working Families for WalMart is sponsoring the couple and that organization was setup by WalMart’s PR firm, Edelman.
Is this a cute little site or a PR strategy that is paying to have a freelance writer and a professional photographer make posts? You decide. Is enough information disclosed? BTW – their Alexa and Google Page Rank is zero so perhaps people have figured it out already.
Understanding why someone is posting commentary is key to forming valued opinions on subjects important to you. Anyone can stretch the truth or be controversial in the name of generating traffic, increasing sales revenue, or just getting their name out there. Until you know where your information is coming from and their motivations, you really can end up with a hollow ghost storey.
PardonMyFrench,
Eric
P.S. My sister stopped blogging because she got very busy, and her business website at www.keepsakeeggs.com does not have an Alexa Ranking and a Google Pagerank of 3. Clearly traffic has dropped off, but I think she has put that business on hold for a little while!
Eric,
I, too, started my blog to drive folks to my business and to my web site. The blog is only a few months old, and my web site was already attracting double-figure daily unique visitors. But unexpected benefits have occurred:
1. Ann invited me to join this outstanding group of thinkers and bloggers. (I think she needed to lower the group IQ a little, and I was the perfect choice.)
2. I learn a lot from fellow bloggers that I wouldn’t get anywhere else.
3. My brand is getting out to new and interesting places.
4. I am making new friends.
Man, in this world Christmas arrives everyday.
Ain’t bloggin’ cool?
My main blog is all about growing the awareness of and community for Masi Bicycles. I was open and honest about that from the start and it seems to have worked. I throw as much non-brand-specific stuff in it as I can too. Making it as “real” as I can. That seems to be working to some extent at least.
To your point though, blogs/ sites all have a “goal” whether it is stated or not. Knowing that goal helps you understand the purpose behind the content. It’s also important to know your own goal when you build your own blog/ site.
Hi Eric,
As a guy who owns his own design consultancy, and hasn’t had the time to start up and maintain my own blog due to client and travel schedules, Marketing Profs has been a God-send. Like Lewis, I see this as a great resource for all of us to share what we’ve learned with each other, and to learn from each other. Thanks to Ann and the folks at MP for giving me this opportunity, as well. I’m really enjoying it and I’m really pleased with the attention it focuses on my firm.
I’ve found that if you own your own business your blog and in my case, MarketingProfs, is your lifeline to closing new business. I’ve been asked for brochures and sales docs and instead I point them to my website and blog.
One of my best moments since I went off on my own was when Ann asked me to start blogging on MarketingProfs. I’ll never forget the email subject line which said “New Gig?” As I tell my friends, the list of people on MarketingProfs is a whole bunch of smart people and me!!!
PardonMyFrench,
Eric
Eric, I feel much the same way about being associated with the Profs. I am floored that my name and bio are listed in the contributor section. I mean… dang! Not to kiss Ann’s butt too much, but this site is amazing and the group of bloggers I get to be listed with blows me away- thank you Ann!
Sheesh guys…..you know, you *did* have a little something to do with it! I invited you because you both are good at what you do in your very different areas. Thanks for the kudos — but seriously, my true gift is that I know smart when I see it!
And that’s why we love and respect you Ann. Starbucks Howard Schultz says frequently that “The secret to success lies in surrounding ourselves with smarter people than us.”
Now, I think he (and you) deserve to be recognized as perhaps the smart kids in the room, but the point is well made and best taken.
I, too, blog about marketing and public relations, but unlike most of you here, don’t have big-name recognition (yet!) Recognizing that it will take awhile to build an audience, my blog has a quirky twist: in addition to Internet marketing, I also blog about my other passion: food.
My post on October 5th offers some suggestions on how to use blogs for business.
Jennifer,
Nicely done. DOn’t worry about name recognition, yet. It will take you longer, but as long as you continue to post original content they will find you. And, you certainly have original content.
PardonMyFrench,
Eric