On Hiatus for a Bit…
Both Greg and I have been extremely busy of late, and there hasn’t been much action here. We expect this to continue for a short while. You can follow what we’re doing at Micro eLearning for Small Business, Small Business Coaching & Transitions, and Remarkablogger.
What’s the Noise Level of Your Blog?
My friend Easton Ellsworth has written a very on-the-mark article called Why are most business blogs lamer than a two-legged dog? (great headline!). In it he asks:
How many corporate blogs - official company blogs - do you read regularly?
If your answer is greater than 5, congratulations. You’re a rare (ahem) breed.
Long gone are the days when you could make heads turn just by saying, “We’ve got a business blog.” That’s so far past jumping the shark it’s not funny. It’s like pouring a gallon of meh all over yourself.
Now, that is a great point, and it brings up one of the similarities between regular blogs and business blogs: success comes by focusing on meeting the needs of your audience. In the case of a business blog, that niche audience is the business’ customers and industry peers. But the goal is the same: to continually engage the audience in order to convert (perform the most desired action, such as buy a product).
Easton says companies have to raise the noise level of their blogs, because otherwise, they’re just not very interesting to read and they lack value. I think what he’s talking about is buzz. The word noise makes me think of the phrase “signal-to-noise,” as in a high signal-to-noise ratio is desirable. The more signal and less noise on a blog, the better, because that means the blog is focused on providing value to its intended audience while accomplishing its mission for the company.
I think the reason why so many business blogs aren’t worth following is because there isn’t enough signal coming from them–it’s mostly noise, because the company doesn’t know how to make the blog further the company’s objectives and the company doesn’t know what its customers want from the blog. This is exactly the problem Gateway Blogging is designed to address.
Eastons’ metaphor of lameness is apt–most business blogs are lame. They lack boldness. They lack controversy (let’s not rock the boat). They take no risks (the lawyers will never approve that). The same edginess and humor that some companies put into their commercials should be put into their blog.
Photo by chicanerii
Customers Are Not Time Starved Just Smart and Selective
We hear so much about how time starved and busy lives we lead. Yet we find time to spend hours in front of the TV, on the Internet, playing Soduku, playing videos games for hours, or doing crossword puzzles.
I met two busy 20 somethings this week. One said, “When I sit, I knit.” the other told my mother that she spends 2 hours a day quilting.
It got me thinking. So what’s going on here?
What appears as a paradox is really just the other side of the same coin.
Discerning, Thoughtful, and Caring
As busy and time starved as we might be, when we find what we want we will spend as much time as needed. In fact, if we need to carve out extra time - we will do it - when we find something we really enjoy or want.
Yes we have busy lives and for the most part we are also a very centered society.
We know what we want, why we want it, and go after it when we see it. Here is the paradox, even if you have what we want, deliver it with indifference, or treat us like a transaction and we will never be back.
While some say that todays customer lacks loyalty, I say our customers are people who are smart and discerning enough to know which vendor “gets it” and which doesn’t.
They just choose to do business with those who ”get it” and who “get them”.
Are you genuinely interested in your customer as a person?
Do you take the time to listen, really listen to their needs and wants?
Do you take the time to assist, educate, and help your customers make a decision? Even if it means you might not make a sale? Are you willing to serve?
If this describes you and your business I applaud and congratulate you because you “get it”.
For you, understanding your customers needs is a foundation, a principle which you will never compromise. Why? Because you love what you do and wish to serve the customers with respect and real caring.
If this is describes you, you are “the competition”. If not, perhaps now is the time for an attitude shift and a major realignment of your values, marketing, and operations.
Oh, I almost forgot. Those who use the Gateway Blogging method, “get it”.
Why We Call it Gateway Blogging
For a customer, a blog is a gateway into a meaningful relationship with a business. A business blog is often the entry point or the first point of contact a customer may have with a business nowadays. A customer may be searching for something and will have landed on a business blog through Google search. That customer is leery and alert to any deal breaker. That customer is going to form an immediate impression of a business based on the blog’s appearance and content. The gateway must be appealing and the customer must be able to see that it’s worth stepping through.
And once the customer steps through the gateway, expectations must be exceeded. Many business owners and freelancers are familiar with the idea of a sales funnel. On the web, a sales funnel looks like a black hole to most customers. They need to ease into it at their own pace as you pass test after test in order to establish trust in their minds and build up a relationship. A business blog, if created and managed correctly, will be the gentle slope that eases customers into your sales funnel.
However, you can’t create a blog according to the conventional wisdom and get more business and better customer relationships. You have to take a different approach to it. This approach is what we call Gateway Blogging: using your business blog as a gateway in order to further your business by improving your relationship with your customers.
Why We Need Gateway Blogging
There is a problem with business blogging. You likely don’t know what that problem is… and that’s part of the problem. I wanted to address something really fundamental, and that is why we need Gateway Blogging. I think we need Gateway Blogging because it solves a problem and carries significant benefits. The problem is that traditionally, business blogging hasn’t really been all that focused on business. The benefits are many, but at the end of the day they result in greater long-term profitability.
When it comes time for the business person to learn about blogging, almost none of what she will find online is geared towards business. More specifically, information online is not designed to address how blogging can generate leads or increase conversion rates. Most advice is aimed at a general audience of bloggers who are not running a business (selling goods or services directly). Instead, this advice is aimed at bloggers who engage in content monetization efforts such as advertising, affiliate programs, and paid writing. Usually, the goal of this advice is to generally increase traffic and RSS subscribers. Even information that is declared to be for business blogs hardly distinguishes itself from conventional blogging advice.
Advice and information for business blogs should assist business bloggers in growing their business through their blogging activities in a deliberate manner, instead of as a by-product of traffic. Greg and I are, hopefully with your help, trying to create this “deliberate manner” for business blogging in a system called Gateway Blogging. We want Gateway Blogging to address the particular needs of business bloggers.
This is what Gateway Blogging needs to accomplish:
- Helps you determine the purpose of business blog and establish objectives
- Helps you focus on a particular, highly qualified audience
- Provides information and methods to help you frame and create content that appeals to the audience and that generate leads and sales (the gateway concept)
- Provides information and methods for creating content and managing a business blog so that customer relationships are strengthened
Business blog objectives are different than for other kinds of blogs. The definition of a highly qualified prospective customer is stricter. How you create content on a business blog that is useful and without overselling and overmarketing needs to be addressed.
For non-business blogs, there is nothing beyond the blog itself–no ecommerce pages, no services to purchase, no customer service. But for a business blog, the blog is essentially the gateway into a more trusting and involved relationship in which products or services will be purchased. When you understand that it’s a gateway, and you treat it like one, it changes how you do things. I can see the results of this at my business blog, Remarkablogger. Other freelancers and small business owners have expressed that the concept of Gateway Blogging resonates with them and that they have used some of its ideas successfully. This gives me hope that we are onto something, here.
