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Blogs are Blogs…and success doesn’t matter what platform you’re using…. right?

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Blogs are blogs… that’s what you’d think.  WordPress, Typepad, Blogger blogs or even the free WordPress.com blogs… they’re all the same… right? That’s exactly what I used to think but over the past two years, I’ve seen evidence to the contrary.

For example, I had one client who launched a blog on a VERY popular free blogging site on my recommendation.

The plan was to use the free blog as “bait” for her sales site.  The plan was to capture targeted reader’s attention and those readers who were interested would click through to the frequent references to her sales website.

She blogged faithfully five times a week for several months yet when I ran the log files on her sales site, we didn’t see a single visitor come from her free blog to the sales site. In other words, over a 6-9 month period not a single person who visited her blog and went on to visit her web site.

I probably need to add here that I wasn’t using a free “stats” counter to track this or even the free “stats” programs available for free.  I was using ClickTracks to analyze her log files.

Sure, my client didn’t have any $$$$ invested in development, but she was investing a significant amount of time and effort in her blogging efforts. (She’s a WONDERFUL writer, by the way!)

During this time, I launched quite a few wordpress self hosted blogs for other clients and the testimonials from those clients were outstanding.

It just didn’t make sense.

These people weren’t blogging as faithfully as the client with the free blog nor were they as well “branded” and tightly targeted as she had been with her free blog yet they were seeing growth in their blogs.  There was increased traffic with the self hosted blogs (something we couldn’t track with the free blog) but most measurably, when you typed the other blogs into Google, the blogs came up in the search. That was NOT the case when it came to the free blog.

Because of what I had seen, I advised my client to launch a self hosted WordPress blog. (I’m a boot strapping entrepreneur’s best friend and hate to recommend spending money they don’t have to spend.)

Her WordPress blog was hosted on it’s own hosting account with a unique domain name pointing to the WordPress software installation. Her new blog acts as a “free standing” web site.

I then installed the necessary plug ins to “pump up” performance and she went to work blogging on the new site with the same enthusiasm she was on the free blog.  She put a notice up on her free blog account that her blog was “moving” but we didn’t port the content over to the new blog.

Within 6 weeks of launching the self hosted WordPress blog, we began seeing traffic from her new blog coming to her HTML “storefront” web site.  That traffic started as a trickle and is now a reliable flow.

Thanks to this hard working client, and a few that aren’t quite so enthusiastic when it comes to their blogs…. I’ve developed a real confidence in recommending that small business owners make the investment to launch a self hosted WordPress blog.

So these days, when I get an email asking me how to create an “alive and vibrant” blog presence, the first step I suggest is to launch a self hosted WordPress blog. It’s been my experience that free blogs just don’t get the attention they deserve or the traction for long term growth.

WordPress 2.5: Fix for the “unable to upload files” blues

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I love WordPress… really I do. WordPress blogs are great for so many reasons which I’ve covered before here. I’ve got clients who can barely use email who are creating posts on WordPress blogs that are getting GREAT SERPS.

WordPress is DEFINITELY the technically challenged person’s dream application.

Installing WordPress is easy.   Using Fantastico, it’s positively simple.  The devil is in the details.

For example, when WordPress 2.5 is running on a security minded hosting platform… well, let’s just say allowing WordPress 2.5 to upload images or video is NOT viewed as a desired activity.

In order to work around this, you have to rewrite the htaccess file. It’s not a biggie and while I was in there, I found some great suggestions on how to rewrite the htaccess file to keep the “bad bots” out.

With that said, it only takes a misplaced character to screw up your ENTIRE website when you’re messing with your htaccess files. Mistakes were made…. but no clients were injured in the process. <grin>

Here’s a bit of the code that I found on the WordPress.org message boards which fixed the 2.5 image upload file error. Add this to your htaccess file and VIOLA… WordPress 2.5 uploads files, images and videos.

<IfModule mod_security.c>
<Files async-upload.php>
SecFilterEngine Off
SecFilterScanPOST Off
</Files>
</IfModule>

As for my clients… they are ecstatic that this is my job and not theirs.

Unfortunately, as WordPress becomes even more powerful and more popular, it’s becoming less accessible for the technologically challenged.

Blogs are better than traditional static websites because…

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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

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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

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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.