It seems everywhere you look, online businesses have blogs. The obvious question for you to ask is “Do I Need To Start A Blog?”
Starting a blog is a little like getting pregnant, there is no middle ground…either you go ALL IN and adopt blogging as one of your top 1-3 methods of building a platform and generating traffic for your online business or you should stay away.
Yet what I typically see are people that start blogging with the greatest of intentions, then let it slip for a week…then a month…until soon they proclaim that blogging simply does not work for them.
Rarely do I see quality blogs that post regular content (daily or at least weekly) that stays on target, on topic and shares truly useful information.
Despite that fact that there are a Gazillion blogs out in the webisphere, there is always room for another blog that is well targeted, up to date and on-purpose.
So Should You Start Blogging?
Think of this as a business, not a bunch of detached tactics or tools.
What you need first is…
1. A well defined market
2. A desire for something (product, information, service) within that market
3. An understanding of WHY they want it…putting your finger on desire is the way you can best target your offering toward fulfilling that desire
4. A way to reach your market (ideally 2-3 ways when you start out)
5. A sales funnel that converts visitors –> leads —> customers —> repeat buyers —> champions
Blogging is one platform you can use to reach your audience, you can also use paid advertising, partners/affiliates, articles, videos, etc…
It happens to be one of our top strategies, has been for years. The reason is that I enjoy writing, enjoy connecting with my audience (YOU!), and have the discipline to stick with it on a semi-regular basis. I also like to think the content I share is practical, NOT boring and useful for the vast majority of the audience I target.
Blogging is effective because…
- Gives you a simple, clean user interface to generate web content, syndicate it and wrap various pieces around it (opt in’s for example) without having to know html
- Accomplishes many things including traffic generation, gaining and keeping interest, adding personality and credibility to you and your business and providing a good platform for turning visitors into leads and customers. All of this is of course assuming you are blogging effectively
- Allows for multimedia content – you can easily mix writing, images and videos as well as audio podcasts all on a single interface with your WordPress blog
Do you HAVE to have a blog?
No!Â
I know several online marketers that either do not have a blog or rarely maintain their blog, their main traffic comes from either paid advertising, social networks or affiliate partners…in that case, blogging does not fit into their strengths so they know enough to put their energy elsewhere.
As with anything in life (and especially in business), you want to play on your strengths.
If you enjoy writing, enjoy interacting with your marketplace, have the discipline to generate content daily or at least a few times a week, then blogging is a technique you should consider to generate traffic and sales.
If you prefer to leverage partners, love the challenge of writing and testing ads or enjoy being a social network “celebrity” – then blogging may not be for you.
That’s the beauty of running your own business, there are many ways to skin a cat. You want to find the methods that fit best with your interests and abilities.
Do you agree? Leave us a comment.
