The “New” Word of Mouth

Ask a business owner what the best source for new business is and you’ll always get “word of mouth” as the answer. Nothing is more powerful than the referrals you get from your customers. Customers are your free sales force!

In today’s e-commerce marketplace, the question that begs to be asked is this: “Is blogging the new word of mouth?”

And, if the answer is “yes”, what can you do to get blogs and bloggers to drive business to you?

First, be sure you understand the world of blogging. Lets start with some facts, although in the world of blogging facts can change on a daily basis.

There are around 70 million blogs currently being tracked. About 120,000 new blogs are created each day. And there are approximately 1.4 million new blog posts each day. 56% of people searching online are reading blogs regularly.

Efforts at tracking who are the users, creators and readers of blogs show a broad base of consumers and corporations. In fact, 53% of blogs created were done for the purpose of generating income.

If you are considering incorporating a blogging strategy as part of your marketing, here are some of the things you need to know or do to make it effective.

Decide if your blog is to be a separate Web entity or something you incorporate into your Web site. If you incorporate it into your Web site you’ll need to integrate it with the other content and purpose of the site.

Will you use your blog for writing and posting your information only, or do you want others to be able to post feedback and comments on your blog? Corporate blogs are frequently limited to posts done by the company to protect them from unwanted comments. This kind of blog, however, does little to generate word of mouth.

Be sure your company, products, service or destination are of such quality that blog comments will be in your favor. It is thought that less than 5% of companies and destinations do any blog monitoring to know what is being said about them — good or bad! Negative press on blogs follows the same paradigm as negative word of mouth in that it will generate 6-10 times more interest than a positive posting.

Your blogging strategy should start with deciding how to use it to get people to come to you. To do that, you need to be writing about what they are looking for. So you need to think organically. People are looking for categories of products, information or entertainment. They are not looking for your specific product, information or destination. So you need to keep your blogging strategy focused on your category.

Do you have the manpower to maintain and update a blog? Old content renders a blog ineffective. With so much blogging activity going on each day it is essential to keep fresh content posted if you want your blog to generate constant activity. Are you willing to let your employees use portions of their time to be your bloggers?

Frequent blog posts give you the opportunity to get new information into the public marketplace quickly and can get you indexed multiple times in one day. The more frequently you are indexed the more likely you are to be connected with new customers through organic searches.

If you implement a blogging strategy, set some parameters for your blog content. What kind of information will you post? Do you have stories you can share with readers? What kinds of experiences can you share on a blog that will connect you with potential customers? It is essential that the people who post content for you on your blog clearly understand what they should and shouldn’t say.

Be sure to use key word phrases on your blog to drive the kind of traffic to it that will be meaningful to you. Keep your key words at the most basic level you can to connect with the kinds of customers who will most likely want to connect with you.

Make your blog interactive. If you don’t let people post on your blog, you must have some way to let them communicate with you. If you allow comments to appear on your blog site, it is wise to moderate your feedback so you can read and evaluate the content before you allow it to post.

People use the Web because it is fast and productive. Companies that provide products or services that fill those same needs have much more success potential from a blog strategy. If you can make life a little easier for a consumer or business customer, use your blog to convey that message. If you have the best price or deal on the product you sell, the blog can be the best way to build your brand reputation online.

Blogs that are found through organic searches provide much more potential for a great return on investment than paid online advertising. One recent study found that the conversion opportunity from a blog is 5.6 times higher than that from the click through or paid Web advertising. This is one more reason why your content needs to be fresh, frequent and high quality.

Will your blog be text only or will you post photos and video for visual communication? Visuals generate more interest in the content.

You should also decide if you want to put links on your blog that connect or move your blog visitors to additional compatible information. By posting helpful links for other information of interest to your customers and prospects, you can become a primary go-to blog site.

One of the key benefits of a blog site or a blog functionality on your Web site, is the ability to meet potential customers instantly when they are online searching for information that interests them. This is the only media that makes you accessible to a potential new customer at the height of his or her interest.

It is akin to being a retail store and having a customer walk through the door. Except with a blog, your customer has the opportunity to share his or her experience instantly with the rest of the world. Be sure the experience you deliver is a good one. You need to be first-class all the way in quality, accessibility and integrity.

It is also good to have a system in place to monitor what’s being said about you in the blogosphere. If there are positive comments you can build on them. If there are negative ones you can refute them or learn from them.

William Flaiz, of Search Engine Watch, observed that, “People don’t go to Web sites anymore. Web sites come to them.” That’s the significance of being positioned correctly so you can be found when people search. With blogging as part of your strategic plan, you have greatly increased the odds that when potential customers are searching, they’ll find you.

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