Getting Business Performance through Blogging Sanford Dickert Rawlings Atlantic

Building better business thru blogs We have all heard this: “Built it and they will come…” - quiet whisper from “Field of Dreams” Why would they come? Our customers are in control of finding what they want Ten years of internet services (40+% US BB penetration) google, Yahoo! and MSN are indexing information We filter our information after evaluating the content We need to be “attractive”…

Beauty in the search engine world How are we to do it? Search is about relevant content – in the relevant location e.g. Finding a auto mechanic in the Yellow Pages In making the decision, we: Read the advert (is this what I want?) Cold call the mechanic (does he share my viewpoint?) Ask friends or references (does he have good reputation?)

Blogging empowers the consumer By blogging about the content that is relevant to you – and engaging with the blogging community – you address the customer needs to reach a decision. Read the Advert – snippet in the search engine Cold Call – follow along other posts/comments Ask for References – how high does the post rank in google? who ranks them? who comments? Through personal publishing, you identify the product –the customer comes to you, because you offer what they need, when they need it

Social Media returns the promise Blogging can be about defining a “space” – the power of personal publishing and becoming the expert – even if there are others already there Politics in ‘04 showed the power of the web: “Fully 75 million Americans – 37% of the adult population and 61% of online Americans – used the internet to get political news and information….” (Pew Internet and American Life Project) After “Black Friday” comes “Online Monday”

Does blogging really deliver? Backbone Media conducted an extensive survey with corporate bloggers, and summarized: 'Another way to publish content and ideas', 'Thought leadership', and 'Build a community' top three reasons for blogging Bloggers received results more quickly on the search engine marketing factors 'Increase link popularity' and 'Boost search engine positions' than bloggers received on 'Increasing sales'. Within one month – search engine ranking and link popularity increased 83% saw traffic increase due to blog traffic to the site Search engine keyword traffic increased with posts relevant to the keywords

Rod Smith for Governor Study Campaign needed a change of online direction: Increase awareness Focus on “Democrat” Increase membership Increase involvement Site redesign hid other strategies: Search engine optimization Blog engagement

Rod Smith for Governor Study Campaign needed a change of online direction: Increase awareness Focus on “Democrat” Increase membership Increase involvement Site redesign hid other strategies: Search engine optimization Blog engagement Blog recruitment

Results? Search engine placement: google: from 19 th to 3 rd Yahoo!: from 10 th to 3 rd MSN: already at 1 st Site traffic: Tripled average traffic Signups doubled Keyword cost: Reduced paid click thrus due to higher SE placement All within 30 days… Launch was Nov 9 th

Next project: employment law Employment legal firm working with CentralPodcasting.com Based in New York and California Blog Strategy: comment on changes in employment law and become a reference for employment law Newsletters: provide weekly or monthly newsletters on the state of the law w/ stories Podcasting: be first to market w/ relevant content for podcast consumers Search Engine Optimization: meta tags, keywords, content

Summary Blogging leverages the nature of search engines More people talking about you, the better “Any press is good press” Immediate performance is not guaranteed, but will come over time – especially if you interact Create the dialogue and engage in link sharing Create the attraction by conversing on what you are about – make the honeypot Podcasting, social networks, and blogging are all about valued, referential connections

Thank you for your time! Sanford Dickert

Blogging Systems