The Write Stuff - Blogging for Fun & Profit

By Carl Weiss

Image courtesy of hotfrog.ca

When it comes to generating results online, most people still act as though a website is the be-all, end-all of Internet marketing.  That kind of thinking is so 20^th Century.  Sure, before the year 2000, there were only two things you needed to succeed online: a website and a search engine.  Fifteen years later, not only is this clearly not the case, in some cases you don’t need a website to generate results at all.

Since it can take from 4-6 months on average for a website to work its way up the food change onto the first page of the major search engines, this isn’t always the best route to success for many businesses.  Sad to say it, but 99% of websites never make it onto page one.  In the first place, a website only represents 25% of the criteria that search engines use to determine ranking.  The other 75% consists of off-page media, including blogs, social networks, and videos.  Unless you have the time or money to post relevant content to Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Blogger and YouTube on a regular basis, then your chances of making it to the top of the search engines is slim to none.

However, that doesn’t mean you should throw in the towel.  Especially if your resources are limited, it is sometimes a better course of action to choose your battles and start growing your web presence on the installment basis.   One of the quickest ways you can create a growing audience that you can sell to is by blogging.

This Ain’t Your Daddy’s Blog

Started on August 23, Blogger was originally created in San Francisco by three contract programmers during the dot-com boom.  When dot-com became dot-bomb, Blogger barely survived the shake out.  Then Google came calling in 2003 and bought Blogger.  Since that time, Blogger has seen quite a few changes.  Today’s platform allows users to do much more than merely post blogs.   Fully fledged, a writer can do everything with Blogger that they can do with a website, including:

·         Post text

·         Embed videos

·         Include banner ads

·         Host forms

·         Create subsidiary pages

·         Add backlinks

·         Automatically resize to any platform

·         Generate a loyal following

Even more important is the fact that as soon as you click on the submit button, the Googlebots will spider your blog.  This means that a properly optimized blogpost could wind up on page one of Google in as little as a few hours.  Try doing that with a website.

We Don’t Need No Stinking Website!

wikipedia.com

Face it, the reason anyone builds a website is to generate exposure.  The problem with that idea is that the current monopoly exerted by Google, Yahoo and Bing means it’s their way or the highway when it comes to what generates top ranking. That makes trying to getting on page 1 very hard to do.  (This is especially true when the search engines “Tweak” their algorithms on an almost daily basis.)

But what if there was a way to generate the same or even better exposure for your business without having to rely on search engines at all.  In fact, what if I could show you a way to generate a bigger, more targeted audience while at the same time increasing conversion without the use of a website?  Would that interest you?

Before I do that, let’s take a look at the best case search engine scenario.  Let’s say for the sake of argument that you woke up one morning to find your website in position 1, page 1 on Google.  Let’s also assume that it was for a highly coveted keyword or phrase that produces 10,000 relevant searches per month.  Sounds good doesn’t it?  Well, it should, because on average the top organic listing on Google generates nearly two thirds of the clicks that land on that search.  So your website would receive around 6,500 clicks that month. 

That’s the good news.  The bad news is just because your site generated a few thousand clicks doesn’t necessarily mean that it will generate a lead, much less a registration or a sale.  That’s because on average a visitor to your site from a search engine is going to spend less than two minutes on-site before they either take action or click back to search.  After all, there are upwards of twenty listings on page 1 of Google search from which to choose.  Unless your website fulfills a need, or contains an irresistible offer that compels the visitor to act, odds are they are going to peruse several sites other than yours.  That’s the main reason people “Google it” in the first place, to comparison shop.

Blog readers are a different breed of cat.  In the first place, blog readers spend on average twice the

Courtesy of bytecubed.com

amount of time on a blog as a visitor does when they visit a website.  Secondly, a well-written blog can not only make an impact on the reader, but it can also elevate the writer to the level of expert. That’s right, it raises your credibility!  Since it is important that a visitor know, like and trust you before they make a buying decision, you can convey much more authority with a timely blog than you can with even a highly focused website.  Best of all, once immersed in your blog, the only subsidiary clicks available are not to competing bloggers, but to the other content contained on your site.  Just like your website, Blogger comes complete with analytics that can help you adjust your message, your subsidiary content and your offers. (Take a look at a snapshot of our readership below.)

Currently, our blog is being read by almost 50,000 people per month.  This figure far exceeds the 6,500 clicks per month that our mythical website above achieved during the same period.  These blogs are well-read and our offers and ads produce results nearly every day.  This blog’s readership was generated by writing an average of 1 post every week for the past three years.  So this is something that anybody can do as long as they follow the ABC’s of successful blog writing.

A - Always intrigue the reader.  The last thing anyone wants to read is about your last board meeting or ad copy.  To create a following you need to answer a question, fulfill a need, or provide real value. A catchy title and lead paragraph are also a plus.  The objective is to inform and entertain at the same time.  (We refer to this as Infotainment.)

B – Bring your readers a great read.  We have found that the minimum copy for a great blog is 1,200 words or more.  Don’t short sheet your readers by penning only a few paragraphs.  Think magazine article as opposed to a tweet.  Your readers will thank you.

C – Create a sharing atmosphere.  Provide your audience with information that they can’t find anywhere else and they will treat you like an authority figure. Also make it easy to share your blog with others. Post it to your social nets daily so that your current following can stay current.

A few other must haves are:

1.      Keywords embedded in the title and text

2.      Backlinks to your website (if you have one)

3.      Brief bio of the writer at the end of the blog

4.      Appropriate images and/or videos embedded in the copy

5.      A clear offer or call to action

Then there is just one more task and that is to distribute your blog.  The problem is if you write the world’s best blogs and no one reads them what you have created is a billboard in the desert.  While there are a number of ways to create an audience, the most popular way to promote a post is via pay-per-click advertising.  And that can get expensive.

From ihatepresentations.com

However, that isn’t the only way to generate an audience.  The two best organic ways to get the word out are by posting to your social nets and by working with other successful bloggers.  If you already have a substantial amount of followers on Facebook, Twitter, Pintrest and/or Google+, pushing your blogposts couldn’t be simpler.  That’s because at the bottom of every Blogger blog is the F, T, P and G that were created for you to do just that.  Simply point and click to push your blog to your followers.

An even better way to generate a following is to pool your resources with fellow bloggers.  One of the services that we offer to clients is called Team Tech.  This is a peer-to-peer blogging club where members are matched with five bloggers from non-competing businesses.  Every week these blog buddies are tasked with reading each other’s blog, adding an appropriate comment and then pushing member blogs to their respective social nets.  This creates instant readership, since their blogs are seen every week by thousands of readers who would otherwise have no way of receiving their blog.  This has literally allowed us to help bloggers generate thousands of readers in less than a year for participating club members.  (If you would like to learn more about this service, call Carl or Hector at 904-410-2091.)

On top of that, we coach each team to make sure they are optimizing their blogs and acting in each other’s best interest. As part of the service we also share their blog post to our 65,000+ followers and groups we belong to. This gives each of the team tech members an additional bump each week and really kick start their readership.

The important thing is that with a little imagination, you can create an audience without having to duke it out on the search engines.  If you do have a website, adding a blog is a great source of Google Juice, since the world’s most popular search engine puts a high value on blogs that generate a substantial following.  You can also use these blogs to bolster your social networks as well, in essence killing two birds with one stone. All you have to do to succeed is apply the write stuff. 

Carl Weiss is president of Working the Web to Win, an award-winning digital marketing agency based in Jacksonville, Florida.  You can listen to Carl live every Tuesday at 4 p.m. Eastern on BlogTalkRadio 

Are You Ready to The Win BIG Game Online?

By Carl Weiss

When Fall is just around the corner and anyone mentions the big game, most people immediately think of the Super Bowl.  And why not?  With a viewing audience of a hundred ten million for a game that commands nearly four million dollars for a 30-second TV ad, this is one game that’s hard to beat.  Well, at least it is on TV.  When it comes to that other big game, the online marketing game, we’re talking about a whole other arena.

With a worldwide audience of nearly three billion, Internet marketing is in a league of its own.  Unlike pro football, this is one game where literally every business owner on the planet is forced to play.  The problem is that most businesses are still sitting on the bench when it comes to online visibility.  Statistics show that 95% of businesses in the US have little or no presence on page one of the major search engines.  This is primarily due to the fact that this is one game where the rules constantly change.

Time to Get Off the Bench and Into the Game

Most businesses have a website.  In the past this was all you needed to get off the bench and into the 

game. That’s because before 2005, the Internet used a website-centric architecture.  What this means in plain English was that back then all you needed was a properly optimized website to get into the game.  This was in the time before such things as blogs, social networks and online video.  Once these online elements became commonplace on the Internet, the rules of the game were changed forever.  So much so, that by 2014, your website only contributes 25% to your overall ranking.  The other 75% consists of activity related to your blogs, social nets, podcasts and videos.

Sad to say but the days of set-it-and-forget-it online marketing are over.   If you want to succeed online, you need not only to embrace the off-site elements of your web presence.  You need to feed them.  More importantly, before you spend a lot of time and money playing the game of online marketing you need to start off by taking a look at your current strategy.  More precisely, you need to ask yourself the following questions:

    

    1.     How many page one positions does your       site currently have and under which               keywords?

   2.      How much traffic are you now generating? 

   3.      How many sales per month are a direct result of your website?

If your answer to these questions is either none or “I don’t Know,” then you need to head back to the locker room and rethink your strategy.  Because if your current game plan is not scoring, the only solution is to make some changes. 

If the name of the game is to score, then the first thing that every business owner needs to do is define what is meant by scoring.  I mean, are you trying to generate leads, sell your products and services, or simply brand your business.  If you can’t define your online goal, how are you going to be able to achieve it?

The Starting Lineup

The Patriots defense rushes the Eagles offense during Super Bowl XXXIX. The Pats D had 4 sacks costing the Eagles 33 yards. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Once you determine what you are looking to achieve on the playing field, then you need take a look at both your offense and defense.  Where most people consider their website to be the quarterback, in today’s online arena it is really only an eligible receiver ready to move the content you create.

You really need to look at your blog as the quarterback, since it is responsible for passing on timely information regarding your business.  Face it, once you create or refresh a website how often do you change it?  Once every year or so?  I you want prospects and clients to stay current with your business weekly blogs are the best way to move the ball down the field.  Of course, there are a number of other positions that are vital to your offense. 

We regard our social networks as our offensive line.  They give us the ability to run interference so that our receivers can get in position to catch the pass before the quarterback gets sacked.  Like any good offensive line, these players need to workout daily in order to keep in shape.  They need to stay healthy throughout the long season.  And they need to get off the bench and into the game.

That brings us to special teams, which is how we regard videos and podcasts.  It used to be that the Internet was text only.  Today that isn’t the case. Back in the late nineties people who found your business online would spend quite a lot of time clicking around your site to check you out.  Today you have less than two minutes to score.  Add to this the fact that people are five times as likely to watch a video or listen to a podcast than read text and you have to ask yourself if going multimedia isn’t a winning strategy you need to adopt.

Your Offense is only as Good as Your Defense

When it comes to winning, defense is every bit as offensive, right.  Think about what would happen to t

Shea Smith, the former quarterback of the Air Force Falcons, looks to pass during the 2007 Armed Forces Bowl. Español: Shea Smith, el ex mariscal de campo de los halcones de las Fuerzas Aéreas, se pase el fútbol durante el Armed Forces Bowl de 2007. Français : Le Quarterback Shea Smith juste avant de faire une passe. Suomi: Pelinrakentaja Shea Smith valmistautuu syöttämään. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

he quarterback if the ball was hiked to him and there weren’t any linemen to keep the other team’s defense at bay.  That would be either a very long day or a very short day for that QB.

Before a consumer or another business owner decided to do business with you, they need to check you out.  While your website, your blogs, your videos and social posts tell them a little bit about what you do, what it doesn’t tell them is what your customers think of you.

The main reason that prospects are reluctant to give you their contact information or make an initial purchase doesn’t have as much to do with price as it has to do with trust.  The Internet is known to be a den of scammers and spammers.  You read about it every day.  Today things like reputation management, online reviews and video testimonials are vital to giving a prospect the confidence to make an initial purchase or sign up for an offer.

That means they want to read reviews and they want to hear what your customers have to say before they do business with you.  I you aren’t cultivating positive reviews and posting credible video testimonials then don’t complain if they decide to do business with someone that does.

Worst of all is the fact that if you do not have a mechanism in place that fosters positive reviews then that only leaves what:  Negative Reviews.  I don’t care how conscientious you are then sooner or later you are bound to rub someone the wrong way.  When that happens don’t be surprised if the disgruntled party doesn’t post negative remarks and ratings about your company.  That’s just the way the web works today.  That’s also why you need to make the effort to cultivate positive reviews.  This way if you take a hit, you will be able to get back on the field and continue to play.

Gimme the Ball, Coach!

Last but not least the thing that separates the dynasties from the also-rans in the NFL is one thing: 

Coaching.  If you are still trying to put together a winning team without a coach, or are trying to coach your team by yourself, let me give you some food for thought.  Working the web to win is not a game

 to be taken lightly.  The success or failure of your business could well hinge on your company’s web presence.  Get it wrong and your website could languish in the backfield of this money game.    This also holds true for anyone you hire to manage your web presence. 

Unless you have the manpower and intestinal fortitude to lead your team onto the field week in and 

U.S. Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander, U.S. Central Command, gets ready to toss the coin at Super Bowl XLIII, Feb 1, 2009, at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

week out you are going to have to hire a coach.  While there are many  highly reputable online marketing firms out there, there are also a number of firms that can do more harm to your business than a wily competitor.  That’s due to the fact that there are still some people who make their money by trying to cheat the search engines in order to beat the search engines.  While black hat tactics can jump you to page one in a hurry, once discovered these tactics can cause your website to be banished from the playing field altogether.

Therefore it is important that you check out the credentials of anyone who offers to help you promote your web presence online.  Among other questions, you need to ask the following:

     1.      How many years have you been promoting businesses online?

     2.      Can I speak to some of your current clients?

     3.      What are your fees and what will I receive should we choose to hire you?

     4.      How long is the contract?

     5.      Do you offer any guarantees?

     6.      What happens if you fail to deliver?

     7.      Who do I call if I have any questions or concerns?

     8.      Have any of your clients ever been de-listed by the search engines?

Last but not least you should search online to see if their firm has any positive or negative reviews.  (Having no reviews is almost as big of a red flag as having a bunch of negative reviews.)  The last thing you want to do is trust the future of your team with anyone who has not been able to deliver a winning season or who has been penalized by the league. Because when it comes to playing the game of online marketing, you’re only as good as your last season.

Carl Weiss is president of Working the Web to Win, a digital marketing agency based in Jacksonville, Florida.   You can listen to Carl live every Tuesday at 4pm Central on BlogTalkRadio.