Not long ago, a community I once worked in decided to amalgamate three newspapers. The newspaper publishers reasoned that there weren’t enough advertising dollars to publish in these communities so they felt the readers and advertisers would be best served if there was just one newspaper.
Hmmm.
That’s not the impression the community first received. At one point that community had two newspapers! The businesses battled it out for supremacy but finally, one bought out the other. What emerged was a bigger and better publication. The news was the news but the sports sold the paper.
This community, like most Canadian community newspapers, supported its sports. Everyone played games or at least knew someone who was playing. The results were recorded and many of the games were filed as stories with supporting statistics. The players knew this and as the players grew up, they came to recognize that the newspaper was indeed part of the community and that people read the news just to see who was doing what in the leagues’ standings.
The content sold the advertising because people realized that the product was being read. Why wouldn’t you want to invest your advertising dollar with something that was promoting local family and friends?
A sad thing happened along the way. The people who ran the newspaper business decided to cut back the amount of space available for editorial in favor of higher profits. Oh, you still saw front-page stories and full-page editorial spaces but the advertising crept onto the front page while the advertising dominated the spaces usually reserved for features,photos, statistics, results, announcements and other editorial content. By increasing the advertising space percentage, it effectively rendered the paper less effective in the eyes of the community. Now, fewer events are getting coverage./Similarly, some business representatives would have you believe that the role of a weblog is a necessary evil. Yet, the industry insists the blog is part of the driving force behind company profits.
Marketers realize there are dollars to be made on the internet but they also know that content is king. Content builds trust. Once you provide entertainment or information on your site, people are more willing to buy from you. Content sells service and paves the way for up-to-date marketing opportunities. Providing potential clients with informative articles, added-value products and free trials are the basis for a long-term relationship that builds branding.
Today’s successful websites use blogs to improve organic search results and boost ranks among search engines. Combined with new content and links, blogs offer the biggest bang for your investment dollar because they require the least amount of effort. When site builders have to address onerous issues such as: meta tag development, online public relations, competitive research, social media, XML maintenance, and even title tag optimization, content proves to be a wise investment.
The number of blog posts can vary but most companies will post every week while others as many as three per week. Blogging alone will not give you the exposure your site needs to be successful, but it will enhance your inbound marketing strategies when combined with the correct blend of search engine optimization, social media and even your offsite links.
SolsNet can help you identify the optimum blog situation for you. After all, you would not want to make the same mistakes the newspaper industries are making.
Written by: Joseph Poirier
