Converting Traffic Into Business
Posted by Pat on May 24th, 2006
You’ve jumped into the blogosphere with both feet. After diligently developing and sticking to your blog strategy, you begin to see the fruits of your labour traffic to your site continues to increase each week and you’ve started to get good reviews from peers and colleagues. Everything is going according to plan except that you have not been able to monetize your traffic presumably the main reason for starting your blog.
This is something that I have been wrestling with. You’ll notice in my previous post that I concluded with, “If you’d like to learn more about business blogging, please feel free to download our Corporate Blogging 101 whitepaper. If you’re already up to speed on business blogging basics but would like to discuss whether it makes sense for your business to have its own blog and a rough estimate of how much it would cost to get your blog set up, please feel to contact me.” Is this something that I should be putting at the end of every blog post or is this too in your face?
The question at hand is this - What have you done to create an effective call to action in your blog?
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on May 24th, 2006 at 7:47 am
This is an awesome post. This is what I do at the end of each post I make. I tell people to go visit my website. It works. I can’t wait to brag about this when I boost you…
DeAnna
on May 24th, 2006 at 7:58 am
[...] http://corpblog.shadowbox.com/2006/05/24/converting-traffic-into-business [...]
on May 24th, 2006 at 8:53 am
[...] I recently stumbled upon "Corporate Blogging 101", by Patrick Dodd, through LinkedIn Bloggers and read some of his posts. He's got an interesting view point on various things, but one of the subjects that he speaks about is marketing through blogs. His latest post, "Converting Traffic Into Business" asks a poignant question "What have you done to create an effective call to action in your blog?". He writes with a monetary intent in mind and the assumption that most people do. I suppose that's an accurate assumption — business people writing business blogs usually have some sort of business purpose behind it. [...]
on May 24th, 2006 at 8:55 am
An interesting post, Patrick. I hadn’t thought about doing it, but now I suppose I’ll need to. I haven’t decided to actually do so yet, simply because … well, my specific INTENT hasn’t been to directly make money through the blog — just to draw a level of interest and insight.
– Philippe
on May 24th, 2006 at 10:00 am
Recipes - Oatmeal Dinner Roll Recipes
Recipes - Oatmeal Dinner Roll Recipes - Bread Recipes
2 cups water plus 1 cup extra
1 cup quick cooking oats
3 tbs butter
2 packages active dry wheat
1/2 cup warm water
1 tbs sugar
4 cups flour
1 plus 1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
B…
on May 24th, 2006 at 10:29 am
I’m not sure what the recipe has to do with tips on monetizing your traffic, but Im going to leave it in because it looks really tastey
on May 24th, 2006 at 11:42 am
Patrick,
The Recipe seems to me the very best comment yet.
I aspire to have a reader get up from reading a post of mine, go into the next room and make something happen that is as great as the smell of fresh baked bread.
Laura Ricci
Winning Proposal Expert
on May 24th, 2006 at 12:02 pm
Patrick,
After reading over several posts and several topics I must say you cover very well the idea of how to earn from a blog. Your whitepaper, is a good, informative ebook and with the call to action inside as well. Practicing what you preach. Good links and explanations. I give you 4 stars (based on a 5 star system).
Best to you.
on May 24th, 2006 at 3:00 pm
I only qualify as a corporate… employee, so I launched your pitch towards whichever Romanian entrepreneur with a blog reads me. I’m really curious about their point of view.
on May 24th, 2006 at 4:28 pm
[...] Patrick Dodd raises this question in his blog entry Converting Traffic Into Business. He asks, “The question at hand is this - What have you done to create an effective call to action in your blog?” [...]
on May 24th, 2006 at 4:34 pm
Patrick-
Here’s my commentary:
http://podcastroundtable.com/?p=112
- Dennis
on May 24th, 2006 at 6:19 pm
Thought-provoking post. I would like to see the ‘monetizing your blog’ concept nuanced a bit. There are various things we do in business, all of which are in some way intended to get us more business and/or keep and grow the business we have. And in that sense we need to look at how we ‘monetize’ our activity. But there are ways of doing things. As part of my coaching practice I offer ‘between session’ contact, IM, phone, email: I only bill for that if it turns into or is agreed as a longer contact than usual. That’s how I run my practice and I believe it give clients a level of comfort even when they don’t take advantage of it (which is about 98% of the time).
It’s an old saying but true that people like to do business with people they know and trust. A blog can be a way to help people get to know and even trust you more effectively than via a brochure or traditional website. Which can help your business. So the money can come from the knowing and trusting, rather than from - say - links on the blog to a sales page (altho I do that too).
It seems to me perfectly reasonable for a business to have a blog that supports the business and therefore the business’s profitability without itself being a directly monetized offering.
And I have to say, with respect, I will probably stop reading blog posts if I get to see there is a call to action in every post. I may be in a minority, but my preference is for the sales stuff to be in the sidebars, in the footer or the header. My attitude is: this person is more interested in my buying her or his stuff than informing or entertaining me, and that’s a turnoff.
But thanks for raising the issue.
on May 24th, 2006 at 10:50 pm
Are Our Readers and Visitors also Customers?
One of my fellow LinkedIn Bloggers, Patrick Dodd of Corporate Blogging 101 talks about a variety of topics relating to people interested in both businesses and blogs. His focus in the entry I’m linking to here is Converting Traffic Into Business. He s…
on May 25th, 2006 at 10:48 am
[...] So 6 months later I started amd-llc.com. Now I am going to talk about design and homes in hopes of helping someone build their dream home. I also wanted to gain a network of people with like ideas. I was off to a great start and am apart of a Yahoo! Group called Linkedin Bloggers. Linkedin is a social networking site of professionals. The Linkedin Bloggers take this a step further to help everyone promote their blogging efforts. We do this through linking. Each week a member of the group is picked to be the subject of a boost. Each member, if they choose too, writes a review or comments on a post of the boosted party on their own site. Just like what you are reading now. The boosted this week is Shadowbox Studios. [...]
on May 25th, 2006 at 12:23 pm
I came here via Gorgeoux and couldn’t agree more with Des Walsh with respect to commenting. Bloggers are absolutely sensitive to the issue of spam and the smart business will avoid impropriety. It seems to me that the rare instance of a one-off call to action in a business blog should be a necessarily limited affair.
What is is They say, “Giver’s Gain?” Something along these lines. If your material is of value to your target audience and you’ve managed to tuck away your (hopefully subtle) advertisements in the sidebar, for example, then you should be well positioned. Presumably audiences will be struck by you and your content as it resonates with some need they have, whereupon it would be quite natural for them to explore more about who you are.
I’m sure you’ve thought of this perspective before. I want to share that I subscribe to it.
One final note, I think the vast overwhelming majority of marketing blogs do themselves a disservice by allowing comments. In my opinion, commenting is only good for the exceptions and not the rule.
on August 1st, 2006 at 12:38 pm
I just happen to browse your blog I will consider all your tips regarding blogging.
I might do a podcast regarding blogging in the future…
at http://olliestyle.co.nr