Just listened to an excellent webinar with Chris Baggott from Compendium – also co-founder of Exact Target. It was hosted by Tobias Schremmer of MarketingProfs. Key points I heard:
- 80% of people who read your blog entries are strangers. So blogging is an excellent way to get found for the first (and only) time. Sure, try to ‘sell’ RSS link, but sell some other next step.
- My take: blogging is part credential, and part troubling. So make sure the blog entry is discussing how the problem plays out, and make explicit the link to the next ste.
- Consistent with that? Talk with a Funnel Coach in your area about how you choose tactics and make sure they do the job you have in mind.
- People want to advertise themselves, not you. So, make it possible for those who share your interests to post their own blog entries (on your site) and then let them promote their own blog entry. Naturally, moderate user-generated content. Reserve the right to ‘lightly edit’ entries before approving, and to decline to publish at all.
- My take: this is a great tactic for finding new names, and establishing credentials. Don’t get too tight about getting the language aligned to your own, but do make sure it offers a unique and interesting insight into the problems you solve.
- Make it conversational. The highest conversion search is long tail (3-4 words). Great blog can be easy and ‘day to day’ like: Just got off the phone from a […] company in […] and they were wrestling with [issue]. Here’s what we found once we talked further. BTW, for more on the solutions we are planning to offer them, take a look at [url].
