A brief guide/top tips on how businesses can make the most from their blogs

1. Blogging for profit ...
NATION1 2010
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2. A CASE STUDY IN
BLOGGING FOR PROFIT ...
An overview
of the blogosphere ...
• By 2013 128.2 million people (the equivalent
of 58% of the US population) will consume
their news through blogs
• In 2009 96.9 million people were blog readers,
representing 48.5% of the internet population
• By 2013 37.6 million people will become bloggers
• In 2009 27.9 million people had a blog they up
dated once a week or more
This represents a massive and cost effective way
for you to communicate with people and businesses
have no choice but to stand up and take note.
(source Omnicom)
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3. A CASE STUDY IN
BLOGGING FOR PROFIT ...
Questions we need
to answer ... Who reads blogs?
It’s also no surprise that the largest proportion
What factors are facilitating blogging? of bloggers are young people under the age of 35.
However the people consuming blogs are from
a far wider age group, with the silver surfer
dramatically skewing the average age.
Blogging has come a long way since ‘web1.0’ where
How is the landscape changing it was a one way conversation. Today it’s more
for monetising blogs? about engagement, comments, postings, forums, a
two way debate.
What is a blog?
“It’s less frowned upon. For an individual, there’s “blogs are now mainstream media, and mainstream
no shame in using affiliate links like Amazon media is starting to blog”
Today, national newspapers are seeing more
to boost funds, similarly they can have a PayPal
and more people consume their news online with
‘Pay Now’ button. The one area that some still Most people don’t realise when they are reading
journalists even keeping their own blogs and not
find controversial is paid blogging. For businesses a blog, most newspapers now link to writers
even approaching the press to publish their work.
you want to use it to show authority/expertise and personal blogs when they are covering a story.
convert to sales. One of these is nice, but you
The lines are becoming blurred between the stand
should aim for both.”
alone blog for The Times and the newspapers
official website.
Despite this, blog creation remains a niche activity,
reserved for a community of savvy internet users
and companies that are considered ‘ahead of the
curve’
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4. A CASE STUDY IN
BLOGGING FOR PROFIT ...
How will this
make me money?
Ketchum, a leading global PR agency researched
the blogosphere and concluded (based on some
kind of weird science) that of the 15% of the
population that exercise influence on society, 37%
Online activities of US adult internet users,
were blog readers (of non journalist/news blogs). 2006 (% of respondents)
So let’s consider that for a second. By keeping
a good blog, you can influence the influencers
100.0 %
and it costs you nothing more than 30 minutes E-Mail
of your time a week. 57.6 %
Local search*
Here’s another interesting stat: 73% of European Instant messaging (IM) 56.9 %
blog readers are male. 55.5 %
Online purchasing
Music search and download 46.2 %
Read blogs 44.8 %
Video search and watch 42.7 %
Social networking 41.3 %
Video downloads 36.2 %
Publish own blog 28.0 %
Voice communications (VoIP) 27.7 %
Podcasting 25.9 %
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5. A CASE STUDY IN
BLOGGING FOR PROFIT ...
Select Weekly Online Activities* of US Internet Users, by Age,
February-March 2007 (% of respondents in each group)
Millenials Generation X Baby Matures
Boomers
(13-24) (25-41) (42-60) (61-75) Total
Watching and reading personal content created by others 71% 56% 40% 36% 51%
Searching, downloading and listening to music 78% 57% 36% 17% 50%
Visiting online gaming sites where you can actually play games 66% 51% 39% 38% 49%
Maintaining and sharing photographs 53% 52% 38% 43% 46%
Visiting TV show Web sites 48% 52% 43% 34% 46%
Conducting job searches 31% 52% 43% 17% 39%
Participating in auction sites 30% 49% 37% 32% 38%
Reading/posting on message boards 51% 43% 29% 22% 38%
Seeking financial/investment information Socializing 20% 42% 42% 41% 38%
Reading blogs 62% 41% 25% 18% 37%
Watching YouTube or other video streaming sites 55% 42% 27% 16% 36%
Creating personal content 62% 41% 24% 11% 36%
Participating in a discussion board or forum 58% 41% 19% 16% 34%
Watching TV shows online 34% 33% 24% 19% 28%
Maintaining your own personal Web site 34% 28% 19% 9% 24%
Keeping a Web log (blog) 36% 27% 14% 7% 22%
Using a computer video camera 35% 25% 7% 1% 18%
Using computer’s microphone to conduct audio chats or 20% 19% 14% 8% 16%
Internet phone calls
15% 15% 10% 6% 13%
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6. A CASE STUDY IN
BLOGGING FOR PROFIT ...
So how can you use
your blog to help your
bottom line? ROI of blogging ...
There are a number of golden rules you must follow: • Benefits
• Costs
• Add value – there is no point having a blog • Risk
if there is no value in reading it
• Keep it current – update it as often as you can,
even with short entries
Benefits
• Keep it real – don’t lie or pretend to be
• Identity benefits
someone or something you’re not
• Use existing metrics Risk
• Get out and about – post comments
on other blogs that are relevant to you, linking
A top tip: • Assign value to metrics • Identity
uncertainty
ROI of blogging
back to your blog • Calculate Total impact on
Don’t just dive in. Check out your competition Costs probability
for a while. See what they are doing, what topics • Starting up business
they are covering, how many comments they are • Recurring costs
getting, the tone of voice they are using. Do it better.
Blogging shouldn’t be overmanned.
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7. A CASE STUDY IN
BLOGGING FOR PROFIT ...
Metrics
Identify the top three best and worst outcome you
can expect from your blogging activity and prepare
a plan of action for each outcome.
Get hands on with free monitoring tools.icerocket.
Set objectives for
com, technorati, Google blog search set these
tools up to monitor conversations around brands,
products or industry topics.
your blog ...
In a study of 17,000 US e-commerce users, 60%
said that blogs influenced their buying behaviour.
If we are successful how will
Use your blog to define the benefits of your product we know it?
or service in more detail and feature examples
and user case history.
So lets have some examples,
Microsoft is seen as the big bad faceless
corporation. There was a guy within the firm
I hear you scream:
Qualify benefits with standard metrics.
that kept a blog who worked on the development
of WindowsXP, way back in the early days he A bit closer to home than Microsoft, Nation1 set
called it Chanel9. He posted tips on how to fix up and maintained a blog for hairstylist and chain of
problems, how to avoid errors, gave heads up on Scottish salons, Charlie Taylor. We wrote it on her
new developments and came across as a generally behalf and updated it every few days giving top tips
good guy. As his blog grew in popularity, he started on what products to buy and provided an insight
to share gossip about Microsoft as well as tell some into how each worked and what it did. We also did a
tales about how the giant was getting it wrong. feature on hair type every week and gave advice to
People loved this honest insight into a firm that women based on their hair type (rather than product
had previously been faceless and emotionless. range). Added to this, we ran a ‘get the look’ feature
Microsoft’s initial response was to take down the after any major TV event (the Bafta’s etc) where we
blog, fire the guy and make an example of him. linked to a Youtube film of Charlie recreating the top
Instead his following was so great that they had hairstyles from the red carpet that night. Everything
to keep him, and he become one of their biggest linked back to her online shop and appointment
assets in the PR war to reposition Microsoft. booker.
Today success of this can be measured in unique Perezhilton.com is arguably the King of bloggers.
visitors (over four million per month) and positive His A list insight into Hollywood’s darkest secrets
sentiment in the blogosphere regarding Microsoft has made him a subject of his own creation. The
and this blog. secret to his success was adding value – he gave
us insight into things we never knew or had seen
before. And he made sure it was instant. So no one
had the gossip before he did. He is now ranked
as the No.1 Twitter user in the world too.
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8. A CASE STUDY IN
BLOGGING FOR PROFIT ...
So what have we
learned ...
• Blog readership is on the rise
• Blog users are on the rise
• Men read more blogs that woman
• You need to add value and keep it instant
to succeed
• Sincerity and engagement are the key
• Avoid the pitfall of using your blog to drive traffic
to your site
• Nurture your blog
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9. A CASE STUDY IN
BLOGGING FOR PROFIT ...
The Scottish Blog
Awards ...
We are launching the first ever
www.thescottishblogawards.com.
Register your blog in one of these six categories
for your chance to win:
Awards ceremony is being held on Friday,
• Sport 1st October Glasgow with guest Judge
Perez Hilton.
• Fashion
• Business
• Politics
• Comedy
• Personal
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10. A CASE STUDY IN
BLOGGING FOR PROFIT ...
Nation1...
Nation1 specialises in helping our customers target
niche audiences online. Using all the latest digital
stuff wrapped in cutting edge creativity our approach
allows clients to trial new ideas at a low cost with
a focused end game and measurable objective.
To find out more email
Andrew.grant@nation1.co.uk
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