Blogs are better than traditional static websites because…

You may have heard the “buzz” about blogs. However, what may not be immediately clear is WHY blogs are better than traditional web sites, especially if you’re looking at a blog as a potential marketing tool for your business.

• What is a blog?
• How is a blog different from a static or regular web site?
• Are there times when you’d be better off WITHOUT a blog?

As for What is a Blog…. blogs are just another type of website. They’re as diverse in look and content as “regular” websites. Chances are that you’ve visited blogs and didn’t even know that it was a blog.. This web site is an example of a blog and this is an example of a blog post.

Blog posts are simply short (or not so short in my case) articles which are easily posted to the web site.

A blog is really just a CMS (Content Management System). The most recent articles are listed first, in reverse chronological order.

Blogs are MUCH, MUCH, MUCH easier to use and maintain for “regular” people than a traditional website. Heck, blogs are much, much, much easier to use and maintain for “geeks” as well! In addition to being easier to use… blogs allow visitors to interact with the blog owner. Visitors can leave comments and express their opinions via comments on the blog. Other blog owners can reference content on other blogs and in the case of Wordpress blogs, you can see those incoming links. Wordpress will even create trackbacks for you! (Trackbacks are also known as “reciprocal links”…. except you don’t have to beg, borrow and steal them. The other blog just has to approve it and VIOLA! LINKAGE!)

While blogs are great, and Wordpress is the best of the bets…. there are times when ‘Yes, Virginia… tis far nobler to have a static web site. As a general rule, if you’re making a Minor Sale, then your business would be better served with a traditional web site. What is a Minor Sale? According to Rackham in his book Spin Selling , your business is making Minor Sales if:

• There is a single decision-maker
• The buyer’s financial or emotional investment is low or insignificant
• The purchase does not warrant the time/energy necessary to research alternatives
• There is little interaction between you and the customer
• The consequences of making a purchasing mistake are inconsequential or insignificant.

Sound like what you’re selling? Then skip the blog and hire a web developer. YOU my friend are the lucky owner of a business which is engaged in making Minor Sales!

On the other hand, blogs are simply communication tools which means they are really the web presence of choice for the business that is engaged in making Major Sales. Your business is making Major Sales if:

• There is more than one decision-maker
• The buyer’s financial and/or emotional investment is significant
• The purchase warrants significant time and research into alternatives
• There is the potential for a long-term relationship between you and/or your business and the customer.
• The consequences of making a purchasing mistake are high.

Sound like the kind of sale YOUR business is making? Well, congratulations because of the nature of your business YOUR potential customers need a LOT of information before they make a buying decision. This is important. It requires time, thought and research. A buyer has to have a certain level of trust established before they make the leap and complete the Major Sale.

Lots of information…. TONS of information… no such thing as too much information. The more check marks you can make beside the factors listed above, the more trust you have to build BEFORE the sale.

THAT is the biggest reason for a blog. You need to provide TONS of information… some of it over and over again… you need to educate your customer…. they want to know more… and a blog is a great way to deliver that information to your potential customers.

Tangible Evidence: Your Blog Can Increase Your Profits

David Maister is an expert on the management of professional service firms. In his post Pricing Consulting Services he writes:

Raintoday.com has just released a new study Fees and Pricing Benchmark Report: Consulting Industry 2008. 645 respondents in the consulting industry completed the survey. Among the findings:

Firms that are well-known in their target markets receive higher fees, see their revenue grow, and earn higher profits than their lesser-known counterparts. Brand leaders were more likely to price their services at a higher level than their competitors in the market (42% of brand leaders were premium-price vs. 28% of lesser-known firms). And, they were more likely to actually get higher fees by up to 35%.

There are a LOT of ways to become “well known” to your target market.

• You can spend money on advertising in various media that reach your target audience.
• You can write articles for publication in magazines read by your target audience.
• You can arrange to speak before groups of your target audience.
• You can write a book to demonstrate your expertise to your target audience.

If you want to become well known to your target audience, I STRONGLY encourage you to engage in any and all of the above activities.

However, if your budget is screaming and your time is limited, then the best low cost, highly effective method of becoming “well known” to your target market is to launch a self hosted Wordpress blog.

Becoming well known used to be thought of as an “ego” thing.  The report above demonstrates that becoming well known is necessary to affect the bottom line performance of your service based business.

Wordpress rocks for SEO

This is one for the “more proof” files. As you know, I’m a real fan of Wordpress blogs.  I’ve found that for my clients, who are not tech savvy, a Wordpress blog allows them to compete successfully with “web experts” in getting their website found on the internet.

Mark Gosh on the Weblog Tools Collection did his own unscientific research project and was kind enough to share his findings. In his “experiment” he typed in a keyword and took a look at what results were returned. In each case, the results returned a WordPress blog post on every Google Search.

March challenged his blog’s readers to find keywords that didn’t return such favorable responses, and they found a few.

I’ve written about how I’ve had clients who launched a Wordpress self hosted blog in addition to maintaining an established blog on another “popular” platform who were SHOCKED at how quickly their Wordpress blogs rose to the top when they searched for their own name.

Reading the comments on Mark’s post, you’ll see their experiences are not uncommon.

Domain Name Registry Scam

The bastards are on the loose again.  You know, the CREEPS  who send you a very official looking “invoice” regarding your domain name registration.   Obviously a LOT of people fill in the form because it looks so damned official.  I’m a “professional” and I have to admit, if I didn’t know better… I’d sign it as well.

It’s bad enough that you have to worry about security online… now you have to guard yourself off line as well.  It’s a form of snail mail domain name phishing.

In case you don’t know, here’s the scoop.   In the fine print it is written that by signing this form you’re authorizing the  transfer of your domain name to THEIR service.  Want to point your DNS to another hosting program.  TOO BAD!  You can’t.  Want to transfer your domain name… can’t do that either… you signed away those rights.

I’ve gotten two emails this week from clients asking about the letters they’ve received via snail mail regarding this scam.

“But I thought my domain name was registered through you?”

My reply, “It is and will be unless you fill out that form and send it in.  Then all bets are off.”

In case you can’t tell, one of my clients made that mistake a few years back.  I don’t think we ever got control of the domain name back.

It INFURIATES me when some slimy bastard tries to use FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt) to make a buck.

Well, obviously the scam isn’t working so well anymore, so the slimy bastards have hired a call center to telemarket their service.

I got just such a call this morning.  “Hello.  I’m from Domain Name Registration Services and you will be getting a notice in the mail about changes to your domain name account.”

“Why will I be getting that?” I asked.

“Uh, because there are changes in your domain name registration account,” she replied.

“Why?” I asked again because I can be a horse’s ass sometimes.

She started stumbling so badly it was literally incoherent jibberish.  I began thinking of the dear, sweet woman who wrote to me earlier this week and thought about how different this phone call would be if she were in my place.   That visualization set me off and with that,  I let loose on that poor telemarketer.

You know you’ve reached a new low when a telemarketer hangs up on you.

IF YOU DON’T KNOW ALREADY:

• Don’t click on links in emails regarding your domain name .  Go to  the web site where you registered your domain name and renew it.
• If you didn’t register your domain name via snail mail, don’t respond to snail mail messages regarding your domain name.
• Your domain name registrar will NOT be phoning you about your domain name… even if you haven’t paid the bill.

By the way, these rules apply to your CREDIT CARD, YOUR BANK and YOUR PAYPAL accounts as well!!!

It’s only classified as paranoia if they ARE NOT out to get you.

Finding Time to Blog

One of the most common laments I hear from clients is that they don’t have the “time” to create content for their blog.

Long ago, when I was involved in selling an ad agency’s services, I learned that one must “overcome” objections.  So, when I began hearing the “I don’t have time” objection from clients, I would reply with a “We always find time to do what’s important.”

After all, I didn’t have TIME to write my book… and I too don’t have “time” to post to my blog.  However, I MAKE the time.  For me, to find that time means I don’t get to watch a lot of television.  When the discussion turns to who has been voted off American Idol, I have to shrug.  When a character named “McDreamy” was mentioned one day in a conversation… I seriously thought it was the name of a character on some parody skit.  If I were blogging about the entertainment industry, then this would put a serious crimp in my content, but I don’t so it rarely comes up except in casual conversation with people I don’t know well.

But what if you’re not willing to give up television viewing?  Or…worse yet, what if you’re secretly not sure of your writing skills.  I’ve had clients who chose to hire a professional editor to review the content they create.  Is it possible that my clients are “freezing” up when it comes to writing content for their blogs?

If you find you’re freezing up when it comes to creating blog content, there is a solution which is probably more palatable than giving up watching television…. hire a ghostwriter.

For many, it’s an idea that represents the best of “out of the box” thinking.   However, you may share a sentiment echo’d on the Men with Pens’ FAQ:

Anyone can write. Why should I work with you guys?

Actually, not everyone can write. And not everyone can write well. Think of it this way: Almost everyone can run around the block. But not everyone will become an Olympic athlete. That athlete trains every day, learns new techniques and strategies, and pushes the limits of the human body to achieve the ultimate goal of a winning victory.

Professional writers are the Olympic athletes of the written word. Our goal is your success – and we’re ready to help you win the race against your competition.

Hiring a ghostwriter may be a new thought for you and your blog.  There are those who don’t feel blog ghostwriting is practical or ethical.  However, I don’t think it’s any LESS ethical than hiring a copy writer to compose your direct mail or sales letter.

By the way, the best ghostwriters will take your thoughts and ideas and return to you something that, if you didn’t know better, you’d say you had written yourself.

Rates for ghostwriters vary… and that doesn’t mean that the most expensive are necessarily the best.  A great goal is to find a ghostwriter who can compose in YOUR voice.

I have a client who spent several months “auditioning” writers.  The writer my client found can truly write in my client’s voice.  Whether the ghostwriter was the “cheapest”… I’ll never know.  My client won’t even share her email address with me.  Yes, she’s found a treasure and she wants to make sure her ghostwriter doesn’t get busy with other people’s work.  (Probably a good choice… I’ve been known to “close” more than on Virtual Assistant’s practice through referrals.)

Oh, there’s a difference between ghostwriting for a blog and blog management services.

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