A. CasalenaGaining Momentum
Start blogging and keep blogging. This is not a short term commitment and there are rewards for the company that stays in it for the long term. Frequent posts with useful information will be rewarded, as each post adds to the value of the blog and increases the chances that new people will find it and bookmark the site. The returns from blogging increase over time.
I’ll tell you what can happen. I worked with one company who started blogging over 2 years ago and they recently got an email from a New York Times reporter who thought they would be a good resource for his story. He searched and found the site. And because of all the time spent building up the blog, writing content at least once a week, and carefully creating a community, this company was seen as an authority who the reporter wanted to contact. This blog had already been mentioned once in the New York Times, too. It has also gotten inquiries from places like the Today Show. Other blogs in the industry read and link to the site. And the coverage brings more readers to the blog, so it reaches even more customers who can be directly influenced through it. A project like this takes time, but it’s worth it.
When you get coverage like that, it becomes obvious that your blog is a success. But there are many different forms of success and you can make an impact without press beating down your door. So what can you look at to measure success? One measurement is participation. If there are people coming back time and time again, leaving comments and engaging in discussion, you’ve hit a chord. Also, if your traffic numbers are going up, even slowly, that shows movement in the right direction. And while it may not be in the newspaper, it doesn’t have to be to reach an audience and lead to increased conversions.
If you aren’t seeing audience participation and a traffic increase, it may be time to reevaluate. Have you found a target audience? Is this audience aware of the blog and, if not, how can they be made aware? With your blog up and rolling, begin reaching out to find the readers your content addresses. If you build it they may come, but if you tell them about it, they will.
Reader Comments (6)
Success monetarily is making that first dollar--it sticks to the wall of memory.
Success is the first friendly comment.
Success is seeing your RSS feed climb into the hundreds and thousands.
Success is personal; I am someone. I retain value. I am heard. Others hear me.
I am a blogger. Hear me roar!
Kelly Jad'on
http://www.BasilandSpice.com
#1 Site for Book Reviews and Author Interviews--Diet, Weight Loss, Health, Nutrition, and Fitness
In our case since we started our blog http://stradaautostore.squarespace.com/welcome/ on Squarespace our unique visitor count has increased every month.
In our case we get few comments, this could be due to the fact the we have our web site / blog integrated as one it seems that the majority of visitors are more interested in the web site aspect.
Blogs by their nature require reading, most of our visitors don't have the time to read, or do not take the time. Its our experience that in a business oriented site / blog the visitor is focused on the business side and once he has acquired the specific information that he is seeking he is done.
Squarespace provides useful tools to measure the the traffic, the popularity of the content, the activity of the search engines. Its easy to adjust and fine tune.
As my blog is an integral part of my main website, it also adds all-important content to my site which the search engines like - after just 4 months, I already have a Google Ranking of 3, and I am sure that is partly due to the written content on my site, which is constantly increased and enhanced by my blog.