Blogging... what's that like?

[Joe Diaz]

1. I can think of several different benefits to displaying recently added material to the top of your page. Not sure why you can't.

2. No one proposed that a blog is more valuable then "x" so their is no argument to that stawman. However I standby my statements that it can successfully be included in addition to the rest of your online marketing strategy.

3. No one could possibly convince you that a blog is worthwhile, when you are setting the parameter on what content is in a blog or how a blog has to be organized. To me the lines are blurred between a blog and other online media. You obviously see it as black and white.

4. There is no law saying the content on a blog can't be organized in several different ways, including chronological order.

5. Not everyone experiences the web the same way as you, not everyone seeks out the same content as you, not everyone enjoys the same websites as you. My point being is, you may not see the benefit in "x", but obviously others do.

I and (obviously others) like reading blogs. Blogs have helped me make decisions on what products to buy. I can put aside my personal beliefs on blogs enough to say that not all blogs are worthwhile (because they aren't), but can you put aside yours enough to say that they can, if done right?

 

[Jon Aston]

Wow.

Jim - You're a marketer I respect a great deal. I'm shocked that you're so out of touch.

Adrien - You'll do much better to start out with a clear set of objectives, rather than blogging out of impulse. Why don't you take me up on the 90-minute-free deal? Drop me a PM if you want to schedule a call.

 

[Jim Doggett]

and once the 20 minutes are spent... you can sit on your ass for life & just be a forum contrarian picking fights, because you got Jim's magic 20 minute bullet under your belt!

Probably won't put your kids through college, iSign. But in terms of reward vs. time/money invested, Google Local is many more drops in the ocean than a locally hosted blog, IMO. Plus it's local, which most sign company's customers are, too. It's also free, making it probably the best-invested 20 minutes I can think of. Maybe I'm missing something else more valuable. Please enlighten, if so.

But to any considering a blog, I'd merely contend, and believe strongly, that a blog is mostly something we should do for fun and should not think of as a boom to our businesses or organic ranking on Google et al. It's something few will read who visit your web site (check your Web analytics). Also, check your credit card statement, and then jot down all your online purchases ... and remember the times you read their blogs, and then made a buying decision soon after. If it's > 0, you're unique.

JMO, and free advice (worth every penny) which I hope is in the spirit of this site. Take it or leave it. Or leave it and flame it.

The choice is yours.

 

[signswi]

There's more to sales than just conversions, blogging like all social media is more about building brand equity and influence than direct conversions. Conversion optimization is another ballpark. Anyway back to the grind.

 

[Jim Doggett]

Jim - You're a marketer I respect a great deal. I'm shocked that you're so out of touch.

I respect the heck out of you, too, Jon. So put me in touch:

Beyond the theoretical, which you'll agree is a bit graying in the temples (social media is the new rage, and also a bit in the theoretical realm), whadaya got in terms of a success story? What sign company's blog is taking no prisoners and a model we should emulate?

I'm a marketing guy, because I am completely absent any creativity whatsoever :^) I just see success and want to repeat it. Help me get there, pal.

Love ya,

JD

 

[Jim Doggett]

"There's more to sales than just conversions."

Sorry; was I raised poorly, apparently. At the of the month when we meet and hope to be employed the following month, sales ($) seems to be a real biggie on the talking-point list.

Also when paying our Web dev service folks, they always ask for a check and not merely compliments on their work. Getting some sales helps.

Yeah?

 

[Joe Diaz]

I've been working on my new site for quite some time. I get close to finishing it, then go a different direction, and try new things. I'm okay with this because I learn new things each time. and our main site is still up and going and does a good job, so I can afford to do that.

But what I'm working on now will take out the normal word press comment php, and replaces it with a built in facebook mini wall.

So basically when someone comments on a case study, it publishes it on facebook, thus promoting the page. Visitors will also be able to share the page on many other social network sites. Right now I post new work on facebook page for my "friends" to see, by simply uploading pictures to facebook. Once the site is done, I will instead post it to my site and share that post to facebook and other social media.

I plan on categorizing my content in several different ways so my visitors can find what they want quickly. Also to the visitor there will be little visual difference between the "blog" and the rest of the site. It probably wont be a "traditional" blog, or website.

 

[Jon Aston]

Jim,

I'm not denying the value of Google Local. But getting found isn't the same as building trust. And, by the way, B2B businesses that blog enjoy an average 55% more traffic to their websites - in part because fresh, informative, relevant blog content gives both search engines and visitors reasons to keep coming back. It's also worth noting that social media (including blogs) isn't just a 'marketing' play.

Getting up to speed... A couple of good places to start:

A very good friend of mine put this presentation together recently. Obviously, you won't have the benefit of her commentary, but you'll get the gist if you want to learn. Pay close attention to the sources for some of her slide graphics.

This is an excellent read, I know you will value:
Zero Moment of Truth, A Modern Marketing Strategy

Does Signwarehouse ever engage marketiong consultants? Maybe food for thought. XOJA.

 

[signswi]

"There's more to sales than just conversions."

Sorry; was I raised poorly, apparently. At the of the month when we meet and hope to be employed the following month, sales ($) seems to be a real biggie on the talking-point list.

Also when paying our Web dev service folks, they always ask for a check and not merely compliments on their work. Getting some sales helps.

Yeah?

Perhaps it's more clear as stated it's not all about direct sale conversions? That's the ultimate end goal but much of marketing is about reach, trust and authority as those factor heavily in conversion events and using your marketing reach to build equity is much more effective in the online space than simply trying to directly drive sales conversions with social media tools. People hate being overtly sold to and that's magnified intensely online. We're really, really off topic.

 

[Jon Aston]

I don't think we're off topic at all, Jesse. Good points.

 

[Jim Doggett]

Hi Jon, Joe, all.

Hey; I am not out to beat on vendors of Web services, nor make anyone who spent some bucks on one and/or invested time/effort/love into a blog feel bad. I'm just offering my 2 cents.

And in re: the OP's question: blog or Facebook, I vote Facebook. Here's why:

1. Everybody has a page, darn near, and loves liking, sharing, whatever, since it's a shorter path to adding to the darn thing, so our friends don't think we have no life. You'll get more notice on FB than anything else you do.

2. You already know how to do it, or your kids do. Super easy.

3. It builds networks (friends other businesses) way better than anything else you can do.

4. It's free and needs no designing, templates or coding know-how of any kind. Only cost is your time.

What do I know?:

Only what I've experienced. SignWarehouse has what I believe is one of the most highly-trafficked Web sites in the industry. We own the top results in Google on nearly every keyword relevant to sign equipment/supplies, laser engraving, and other markets.

And sure, we have a blog (http://www.signwarehouse.com/blog/) which is also well-trafficked. Very well. It cost us zero, since we use WordPress and iThemes. But we have paid staff, in fact our expensive talent, writing for it (but we have other mediums for delivering the content, too. It has multi-value.)

And we're on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/signwarehouse). We have a lot of "likers" there, too -- and way, WAY, more commenting activity than our blog. We're a big company and need not choose. But if I were a small company with limited time resources, I'd use Facebook for blogging, hands-down. I'd also install Apple's free Tweetdeck, so it added all my FB posts to Twitter, which is crowded and not such a big deal, IMO. But it's free, and with Tweetdeck adds zero time-expense. So what the heck?

Free advice; worth every penny :^)

 

[signmeup]

So.... thanks for all the new info. I'm pretending to understand most of what you guys are talking about. Have a look at my shiny new blog.

http://www.adrianpage.com/blog/

I just made another entry to see if the archive part works since a new month rolled in. And wadaya know! It works!

 

[Jim Doggett]

"Does SignWarehouse ever engage marketing consultants?"

No!!!! They have me!!!

Don't even suggest that paying an aging and out-of-touch guy, full time, is a bad idea!!! My children are deadbeats. My girlfriend is high maintenance. Plus I am poor at managing my own spending!!!!

;^)

 

[Jon Aston]

Jim,

A blog is on your turf, subject to your rules... not Facebook's. And FB will do very little to drive traffic to your site in comparison to a good blog.

And all of that aside, if you're getting minimal engagement with your blog's readers... I think you should be asking why. Maybe you need a better content strategy.

 

[Jon Aston]

"Does SignWarehouse ever engage marketing consultants?"

No!!!! They have me!!!

Don't even suggest that paying an aging and out-of-touch guy, full time, is a bad idea!!! My children are deadbeats. My girlfriend is high maintenance. Plus I am poor at managing my own spending!!!!

;^)

Dude. I'm NOT trying to cut your grass. I just sense you could use some help. And I even have marketing consultants as clients. How about that?

 

[signswi]

Just be careful about putting all your eggs in the Facebook basket. Particular platforms come and go and Facebook is very bad about allowing you to control and export your own content. One common idea is using Facebook to as a conversion funnel for opt-in email addresses, another is to use iFrames to embed your own platform within the Facebook ecosystem. The most common idea is using Facebook as a traffic funnel for...your website (see also: your blog).

Facebook is very, very big and will be for a long time but it's absolutely dead in certain market segments, being too tied into a platform you don't own can be a huge mistake. Should you be on it? Absolutely, everyone should -- provided they are active and understand how to leverage it, as I mentioned earlier. Nothing is worse than a consumer going to a business Facebook like page and it's absolutely dead--all you've accomplished is showing the potential customer that your business is either sleepy or people don't care enough about it to engage. That's even worse than not having a page.

 

[signswi]

I started putting together a book list for another thread but some of it is applicable to this conversation, so here's a reading list if anyone needs something to bring up to the cabin or whatever as summer heads towards autumn.

Book Yourself Solid - Michael Port
Unmarketing - Scott Stratten
Trust Agents - Chris Brogan & Julien Smith
Crush It! - Gary Vaynerchuk
The Thank You Economy - Gary Vaynerchuk
Rework - Jason Friend & David Heinemeier Hansson
Permission Marketing - Seth Godin
All Marketers Are Liers - Seth Godin
Bankable Business Plans - Edward G. Rogoff

 

[Jim Doggett]

Dude. I'm NOT trying to cut your grass. I just sense you could use some help. And I even have marketing consultants as clients. How about that?

I was joking!!! No sweat, Jon. I do not know of any need that's not being served by many others, including myself. It only seems like me, since I'm the mouthpiece ... when I'm not upsetting everyone by dissing what's popular. (Hmmm? "We" might need you after all!!!)

It's all good, my friend. And please do not hesitate to call the company (PM me for contact info) any time.

XO,
JD

 

[Mike F]

Blogs definitely aren't useless, and they can help strengthen your social media accounts (if you have them) by giving you that much more content for them. When we launch our new site, we're going to have a blog, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and LinkedIn, as well as a monthly newsletter / e-blast, whatever you wanna call it. It's going to be set up so that any blog posts are automatically posted or linked on our social media accounts. Each account will also have content exclusive to it's respective site, but having the blog linked to them will give them that little bit of extra oomph, and it'll expose the blog to more people as well. Obviously some people will only visit the blog, others will just connect with us on facebook or twitter, and I honestly can't see anyone connecting with us on all of them, so I see this strategy as a way to keep everyone in the loop even if they've only connected with us on just the blog or just facebook, or any combination of those sites.

Who knows, maybe we won't get a single sale from any of it. I can't imagine it's going to make us lose money though.

 

[Jim Doggett]

"Maybe you need a better content strategy."

Perhaps, Jon. But it's not the content; indeed, I'd put Jerry Barrax at the top of the industry when it comes to product knowledge. People rave when getting his weekly newsletter, or he offers up a tip on our message board. I am in awe of Jerry.

It's a delivery-vehicle thing, by our standards (we set them kinda high, since we get huge traffic, daily. We probably get more online orders than most get visitors).

Bragging/theories/whatever aside, look at the same content on the blog vs. Facebook, which both deliver our content; and are equally treated on the SignWarehouse.com home page. Moreover, I do not care about rules and who controls the backend. The message is delivered, and WAY better received on Facebook. Simply the truth, FWIW.