Before you rush into business blogging there’s something you should know:
Blogging does not work in a vacuum.
Every week someone calls us and asks if we can just ghost write blog articles for super cheap for their business blog. There’s a name for these spammy business blogs, and it sounds like something that grows in that goo that accumulates in the drain pan under the fridge: splog.
Splogs are blogging’s answer for the guy at the fair who yells “Hey you, with the face! Step right up…” So, after discovering that our future client has a splog, our first question is, well, if we are just writing, how is the blog being promoted? The answer from our prospective client is nearly always:
“We don’t care about that. We just have the blog around to mop up on some keywords on Google. It needs lots of new content, but we don’t really care what it says. We just want Google to index it.”
After we take a look at the prospects blog, we usually find three things are true about the aforementioned business blog:
1. It’s written by fake people. Not real people with pen names, but fake as in department store mannequin with a bad wig and big sunglasses.
2. The content isn’t personal (it’s written in third person), usually isn’t well written and isn’t tracking in the search engines for keywords that actually get traffic. It’s usually just more spammy content that will end up on page 8,500 in Google’s search results for a fourth rate keyword.
3. The business blog is screaming fire in an empty theater at three in the morning on a Sunday after the popcorn ran out. It gets 20 clicks. Per month. Meaning a visitor is more likely to be a hacker’s spider looking for unpatched scripts than a person, anyway.
Cheaply written business blogs which are put up for an audience consisting of a search engine spider and a ranking algorithm don’t work very well if you are trying to actually market. To engage, you have to actually communicate with people. Which raises the biggest mistake that people make when they start business blogging: failing to be genuine.
Blogs which are written by real people that can be called on the telephone are the most effective if you want good marketing. That does not mean you have to write the article, but it does mean that every blog post needs to be your ideas, and said in a way that is personal and genuine.
Why? Because, people do business with people. It’s that simple.
What are you going to do when someone calls and asks if Mr. Fake Person can speak at a trade show or come on a sales call? Hire an actor? Good luck with that.
Think about it.
People do business with people. People network with people. Sites like Facebook and LinkedIn connect people to people. It’s called social media for a reason, and the blog is the foundation of it all. Spammy business blogs are anti-social.
About the Author: Mike Seidle
Mike Seidle is a leading internet and social media marketing consultant who specializes in developing campaigns that are measurable and get long term results. Mike has been helping companies get internet results since 1996.
Tags: Business Blogging Content, Ghost Writing, mistakes, splog, strategy
Posted in Business Blogging | No Comments »
Monday, December 29th, 2008
Look at any Search Engine Optimization (SEO) course or checklist… you’ll find content freshness to be a key line item.
Read almost any social media plan… you’ll see that you have to have content to feed that huge network of friends, contacts and buddies you are creating.
Brush up on a few blogging how-to’s… you’ll find it’s all about content.
So, if content is so important, why do business people invest so little time in creating it?
Since starting Professional Blog Service, I’ve learned a little bit about why business people struggle with content:
Writing just isn’t urgent enough. Most business people are stuck in a reactive mode (much to Stephen Covey’s chagrin) where they deal with the most urgent task right now. Writing content is important, but it isn’t urgent.
Business people look at writing as something anyone can do well. My friends in the copywriting, legal and journalism professions know this isn’t so. Good writing isn’t easy to find. It takes time. And usually the person who has the time isn’t the one that can write the article.
Content creation isn’t fun. It’s fun to create campaigns, videos, and diagrams but writing content just is not most people’s idea of fun. It’s homework. It’s not sexy. But now more than ever it is critical to your marketing’s success.
About the Author: Mike Seidle
Mike Seidle is a leading internet and social media marketing consultant who specializes in developing campaigns that are measurable and get long term results. Mike has been helping companies get internet results since 1996.
Tags: blog content, business blogging, Ghost Writing, Social Media, writing
Posted in Business Blogging Content | 3 Comments »
Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008
OK, so Beth Harte has me thinking because of her “Top 25 Ways to Tell if Your Social Media Expert is a Carpetbagger“.
On Beth’s blog, she posts: “7. Will ghostwrite blog posts and other social content for you.” as an indicator that your social media expert may be a carpetbagger.
At first, I was offended. After stepping back and reading it again, Beth is right. If your social media consultant is being paid to advise you and tells you to have them ghost write your blog, the consultant is a douchebag (with apologies to douchebags).
See, a consultant has a responsibility to disclose conflicts of interest or to avoid them. If that consultant doesn’t than “carpetbagger” is a nice way to describe them. “Snake in the grass” may fit better. You see, there’s no integrity in being paid as an impartial advisor, only to turn advise buying services from your own company. Your client wanted an advisor, not a salesman.
Which leads me to a little clarification about our company – Professional Blog Service:
We are not social media consultants. We are not social media experts for hire who will analyze all kinds of problems and provide impartial advice. We’re downright biased. If you want impartial advice, talk to a non-carpetbagger consultant (there’s maybe 10 in existence).
If you want a blog and social media program and don’t have the time, skill set or just have terminal writer’s block, we are a good fit. We do the work so you don’t have to. You inspire, we perspire. We do the grunt work so you can get the glory.
We happen to believe in business blogging, we believe in social media, and are very, very good at it. Some people might even call us experts. But the truth is we would simply love to have more happy customers that use our service.
About the Author: Mike Seidle
Mike Seidle is a leading internet and social media marketing consultant who specializes in developing campaigns that are measurable and get long term results. Mike has been helping companies get internet results since 1996.
Tags: business blogging, consultants, experts, Ghost Writing, services, Social Media
Posted in ProBlogService | No Comments »
