Blogs: The Long-Term Way to Build a Huge Audience
Businesses blog all the time now. Everyone from IBM to your local printing shop. Many make a big mistake though – they expect blogging to bring them tons of traffic (and customers) overnight.
A company blog CAN do this. But rarely overnight. Building a blog is a long-term activity, taking months to produce a popular blog with lots of content. The good news? It can pay off. Big time.
Why Would I Want to Blog?
Do you have a customer base?
Do you want to build one?
These are both reasons to begin a company blog.
If you already have a customer base, blogging helps you stay in contact without bugging them. They choose when and for how long to view your work. It's great for soft-selling and reminding customers you're there when they need you.
If you want to build up an audience, a blog provides a platform for drawing potential customers in through conversation. Websites tend to be one-sided; blogs are two-sided.
Should I Blog on My Website, or Use a Separate Domain Name?
This depends on your current customer base. If you market to more technically-skilled customers, you can use a separate Domain Name. This makes it easier for them to follow your blog posts on their own schedule.
Otherwise, blogging directly on your current site will serve you better. Why? Because then they'll keep coming back to see what's new.
How Do I Create a Blog on my Own Website?
If your website uses a content management system (CMS), it may already be able to create a blog. Sitefinity,
our recommended CMS, has this ability out of the box. It takes just a few clicks to build a blog into any website it runs. Otherwise, we'll need to develop one separately. See "How Will You Develop My Blog?" below.
In both cases, blog development isn't just about setting up the basic structure. You also need to decide on your message. What you'll blog about. How you want your audience to find you.
PlanetMagpie Blog Development Services
All of these necessary steps are covered by PlanetMagpie's blog development services.
- Blog Setup – What software to use, coding, design/theme
- Blog Organization – What post structure to employ
- Content Development – Writing posts and/or static Description Pages
- SEO – Initial Research / Meta Tag Writing / Testing
What's the Secret of a Successful Attention-Drawing Blog?
Good, clear, relevant content. Share valuable information with readers. Make your blog a resource for them to turn to when they need a question answered.
This isn't easy. And it almost never happens in a few weeks. But the effort over time is worth it. Here are some examples of blogs that became popular resources:
TechCrunch – A blog created to follow the tech industry, TechCrunch has become one of the most popular tech-related sites on the Web.
The Consumerist – A resource for the wary buyer, Consumerist gave retail advice and showcased consumer stories. It was acquired by the Consumers Union (the group that publishes Consumer Reports magazine) in January.
Lexcycle – A startup blog created to promote Stanza, an iPhone reading application. It was bought by Amazon in March.
Reasons to Choose PlanetMagpie
- PlanetMagpie’s W3 division has been devoted to web marketing for the past 11 years. Our clients have gained search ranking, traffic from target audiences and even media attention due to our work.
- We have four blogs ourselves. We're currently building up a resource for one of our favorite products, Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007. View our blog here: The OCS Insider
- Blogs live and die by their search engine optimization. With 3 SEO experts on staff, we provide plans for building up search rankings AND long-term aid to help you keep your audience interested.
- We also staff a professional copywriter, who can help you write posts if you're in a time crunch.
How Will You Develop My Blog?
Depends on your website setup. If you have a static HTML website, we could convert your website to Sitefinity CMS and build a blog within it. Sitefinity lets you create blogs integrated into your website.
If you already use a CMS, or want your blog separate from your website, we recommend developing a WordPress-based blog. PlanetMagpie hosts and develops in WordPress for our new blogging clients.
Call PlanetMagpie W3 at 408-341-8770 and ask for a blog development quote. It's no-obligation. Be sure to mention which blogging option would suit your company best!
