by Jeremy Nulik from the March 2007 Issue of St. Louis Small Business Monthly October 10, 2004, is a day that Scott Ginsberg will never forget. On that day, Seth Godin, the Web’s most popular blogger posted a link to Ginsberg’s website. Ginsberg, author, speaker and entrepreneur, also known as "the nametag guy" received millions of hits to his website. His email inbox overflowed, and his voicemail was full. With response like this from a simple blog post, Ginsberg decided to start his own blog and his business hasn’t been the same since. “Blogging is absolutely the No. 1 most important part of my entire business,†says Ginsberg. “Since I started blogging on a daily basis, my business has tripled every year.†Blog is short for “Web log.†It is an online journal that is written in common, everyday language. Unlike typical websites, they usually lack a flashy commercial look and avoid overt marketing messages. A blogger simply posts his thoughts or advice, and readers are encouraged to comment and offer feedback. The medium is growing at an incredible rate. According to Technorati.com, a website that tracks blog activity, there are now over 55 million blogs. Almost 40% of Internet users read blogs daily. That’s about 57 million American adults, according to the Pew Internet and American Life Project. Business consultants have much to offer these readers that are starved for information and expert advice. Sometimes without even realizing it, consultants who jot down a few thoughts and post them online are becoming the venerable rock stars of their industries. And that Web buzz is turning into real dollars. “I can track $100,000 from one blog post,†says Ginsberg. “I posted an article in 2005 called ‘What’s the Most Important Word in Marketing?’ It was a simple article to write, and it got great response with a lot of interesting comments. Then, some newspapers picked it up. Another person saw the blog and hired me to do a speech, and that one speech was in front of a room full of buyers, which led to me securing about 20 customers. That led to more customers, book sales and more speaking events for the next two years. All of this from one blog post. Needless to say, I don’t have trouble getting motivated to write something every morning.†By giving first and offering helpful information, consultants are doing more than selling their expertise. In fact, they are not selling at all from the blog. They are creating an environment where readers can become buyers. Dennis Kennedy is another such blogger. He just turned “400 years old…in blog years.†He has had at least one blog since the dawn of blogging, about four years ago. In that short time, Kennedy, who created the blog for his business, The Dennis Kennedy Law Firm, LLC, has dramatically increased his potential customer reach. He has turned clients into his fans and fans into clients. He now has a worldwide audience—some of his most loyal blog readers are in India—and is now considered an expert on technology and law—the topics he writes about. This community of readers has affected the way Kennedy does business. He reflects, “It used to be that I would get a phone call from a listing like the Yellow Pages, and the first question that person would ask is, ‘What are your rates?’ Now people call me, and we just talk about my last blog entry for a few minutes. Sometimes, it is not until the end of the conversation that the person mentions, ‘Oh, by the way, I was going to ask you about your rates, but I’m sure they’re fine.’†While not all blogs have been as successful as Ginsberg’s or Kennedy’s, they definitely are an indication of where the Internet is heading and how consultants can be a part of this medium. Here are some of the common questions that consultants usually have on the subject of blogging. I already have a website, do I need a blog? Compared to a static website, which can be difficult to update, the blog always gives your clients and readers something new every time they return. “A blog creates a mechanism for people to publish content and engages the reader in a way that websites cannot,†says Nicolas Farley, a business technology strategist with CIO Services of St. Louis. “It stresses the social interaction and allows someone to feel engaged.†Also, since the blog is updated regularly, it actually generates more traffic than most websites and creates a more loyal readership. Ginsberg notes, “I get 20,000 hits a day to my website, and my blog gets even more. The Internet is no longer about having a website. It is about establishing a Web presence, which is everything on the Internet that is not your site. A good way to test your presence is to type your name or your industry into Google and see how many hits come up with your information. If I type in “approachability,†thousands of sites come up. The first 10 are pages on my website, my blog or articles I posted to the blog.†I don’t know HTML, can I still blog? If you can use a word processor, then you can start a blog. Part of the attraction to this medium is the lightweight technology. Many blog administrators allow you to start one free of charge. “You can set one up in 15 minutes, just go to blogger.com or typepad.com,†says Ginsberg. “They have tutorials and design templates to choose from. Also, there are a million articles and books on how to do a blog. Getting started is not the hard part. There are millions of blogs started everyday. It is keeping it up that people struggle with.†What if I’m not a good writer? The mechanics of the writing do not matter nearly as much as the quality of the content. This quality is closely followed by how often the blog receives new posts. Some blogger experts say daily posts are necessary, while others say weekly. Frequent updates are part of what makes a blog a benefit to the readership, so it only follows that nothing will turn an audience off faster than a blog with no recent posts. Alex Wolk, owner of Insite Advice and a Web developer, agrees, “People can always think of something to write about. It is more important that something gets posted than nothing. A post does not need to be a soliloquy. A few paragraphs are better than nothing.†Bad content This does not mean bad writing. This means writing that is not conscientious of a target audience. Keep the writing fresh and pertinent to readers, or they will go elsewhere. “Where people mess up on their blogs is that they post stuff that is boring or that is completely irrelevant,†says Ginsberg. “Nobody cares what you had for lunch yesterday if it is not somehow helpful “ “In a consultant business, you need to focus on your expertise and your field. You can throw personal things in if it works,†says Alex Wolk, owner of Insite Advice. “A blog should offer unbiased advice and not your services. It is an extension of what is done when you meet with a client. Demonstrate your expertise. Show them how to save time or money. Be helpful.â€
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