On October 1st, we start our new series here on Blog For Profit called 31-Days to Kick Your Blog in the Butt. While a lot of what we are going to talk about is geared to the blogger who just needs help in getting their blog going. All of what we are going to talk about can be used by brand new bloggers to get a new blog started right.
When we started promoting the series back on September 1st with the daily tweets we have been doing, I received a few questions from businesses and service firms. And the central theme to the questions was whether a business or service firm should even bother with the internet. And more specific, should they be blogging or spending time using social media sites like twitter and Facebook. My answer has always been and will continue to be yes. You have to be online as that is where your customers and potential customers are going for information and answers to their questions.
Businesses and services firms who are using the internet, blogging and social media to connect with their target audience and market are going to do well. But it takes work and a commitment. Two things we discuss in 31-Days to Kick Your Blog in the Butt. Let me just make one thing perfectly clear. We are giving you a ton of free information in the Kick Your Blog in the Butt series. However, unless you are willing to put in the effort, don’t bother reading it. I am serious. And I am also serious that if you do and if you start establishing a presence online, you are going to reach your target audience.
Should you be online, yes and here are some reasons why:
Recently nielsenwire ran a post called “Social Networking and Blog Sites Capture More Internet Time and Advertising.” The report really backs up our premise that you should be online.
Americans have nearly tripled the amount of time they spend at social networking and blog sites such as Facebook and MySpace from a year ago, according to a new report from The Nielsen Company.
Did you see that? Americans have tripled the amount of time they spend at… blog sites… Clearly, this indicates blogging has become a key way for businesses to reach their target market.
The report goes on to say:
“This growth suggests a wholesale change in the way the Internet is used,” … “While video and text content remain central to the Web experience – the desire of online consumers to connect, communicate and share is increasingly driving the medium’s growth.”
To show others are seeing this trend, advertising spending on some sites has increased 119 percent over the last year. This has occurred even in this so called recession we are in.
And if that isn’t enough to convince you to be online, Entrepreneur Daily Dose had a recent post called “Businesses are looking for you…Online.”
The study of more than 400 American purchase decisionmakers at SMBs conducted in March by Slack Barshinger asked business owners about their Internet habits. Among the findings: 93 percent of respondents said they use the Web to find work-related information, compared with 76 percent using trade publications and 69 percent using newspapers. More than half are online at least weekly, trying to solve a specific business problem. Twenty percent of SMBs use the Internet daily to try to resolve issues.
To sum up: “For many, the Web isn’t a place to look for information, it’s the only place.”
And look at this:
99 percent of respondents said they find search engines an effective way to find suppliers–compared with just 77 percent who said referrals from people they knew were effective!
If you are not online with a blog and using social media, you are truly missing an opportunity to stand out in the crowd. Here is what they said about social media, where they lump blogging into.
On the social media side, interest has definitely jumped. Just one year ago, 18% of respondents said they participated in blogging–now, it’s 40 percent. The study found substantial participation, with 53 percent of SMBs perusing online forums and more than 45 percent using social networking sites and blogs. Just 13 percent said they have their own blog, so if you’re doing that, you still have a chance to stand out from the crowd.
Final Thoughts
I hope all of this has convinced you that you seriously need to look at blogging as a marketing tool to use to promote your business or professional service firm. I have been preaching for at least 3 years that blogging is going to set you apart from your “competition”. And it is refreshing to see two actual studies which support my position.
But more than that, I hope the information above convinces you that you and your business must be online. And that blogging is how you can connect with all of those people looking for information and answers online.
If you are blogging and you feel your blog needs help, sign up below for our October series 31-Days to Kick Your Blog in the Butt. And if you are just thinking about blogging, you need to do the same. Hope to see you there so you can capture some of this web traffic for your own business.
