Are blogs really worth the bother?

slyle · #1 (**permalink**) 24-09-2008, 13:29

Hi, I am debating whether or not to start up a blog mainly because the niche is very competitive and I am wondring whether it is a good use of my time because I'd have to be posting to it daily in a market (IM) completely overrun with em!

Can anybody really say they've had good success with one? Because there are so many other options out there to promote your products on the web.

Any advice or comments gratefully received!

Love
Sarah

RedEvo · #2 (**permalink**) 24-09-2008, 15:23

If you've got something to say and you can say it in a compelling way, do it.

d

slyle · #3 (**permalink**) 24-09-2008, 16:39

Fair enough!

rgbartlett · #4 (**permalink**) 24-09-2008, 17:03

I've been blogging a lot and not that frequently (averaging once a week) but it's picked up a few hits just because people were searching for an answer to a question, and the blog answered it. No business yet, but some traffic through to my site from the blog though. About to try and promote the blog articles through a regional network site as a series of articles, so I'll get another use out of them that way as well.

Time will tell if it actually generates business, but I suspect it's good for SE rankings at least.

Inzvestor · #5 (**permalink**) 24-09-2008, 17:09

Sarah, you can dominate a niche with a great blog, making you a subject matter using blogs as a medium to achieve this.

Where are you aiming to rank in your niche (1st isn't always best) and what USP can you deliver?

Cracking Media · #6 (**permalink**) 24-09-2008, 21:22

As you say as well as Blogs, "there are so many other options out there to promote your products on the web".

It's an interesting thought - what are these other options and in terms of value to a company's Internet visibility which of them has more value than another, such as for SEO purposes?

Here's a few I can think of off the top of my head:

Blogs
Directory Listings
Forums
YouTube (or other) videos
Articles
Social Networking sites (there are so many forms of these emerging, so some will be better than others)
...

There are others that could be added to this list.

I wonder what the opinion is about which is of more value than another?

In truth, I think it is difficult to be sure whether one is better than another because it will depend on the type of business and many other factors one of which is the ever evolving and changing face of the Internet.

But what I wonder which of these (and any of the others I haven't mentioned) might be considered top of the Internet Value league and which are struggling down the bottom?

Peter

Fyrall · #7 (**permalink**) 25-09-2008, 15:26

Hi there!

There is another great reason to start a blog.

Whenever google is trying to work out how far up the rankings your site will appear in response to a search; one of the things it does is to add up the number of links from well known "good sites" to yours. The more sites linking to yours the higher up the rankings you will go.

Aside from my website I have a store front at bt tradespace which google reckons is a good site. Every time I add another blog entry to BT google adds 1 more link to the count.

Will give you an example, now bear in mind I have a computer software company.
1. Bring up a new browser window and navigate to google.
2. Enter the following words in the search engine: customer improve profits
3. Currently 6 down the list you will see an article entitled "Swipe Customers To Improve Profits - Blog Generation X Design".
4. Go ahead and click on it, perhaps you wouldn't mind having a read as well and feeding me back any comments!

Now I haven't spent a penny yet I've managed to shoot my site up the rankings where people might actually get to see it. We've also used a search string that someone looking to improve their business, (hopefully from buying my software), might actually enter.

Have fun!
F

RedEvo · #8 (**permalink**) 25-09-2008, 15:49

The phrase 'customer improve profits' has no search volume according to Google. Also, there are only two pages in the Google index that have the phrase 'customer improve profits' on them and no pages with that exact phrase in the title element so ranking for it isn't going to be difficult.

It's about ranking for things people search for, not just being on page one of Google just for the sake of it.

Hope this helps.

d

slyle · #9 (**permalink**) 25-09-2008, 17:01

This is exceedingly interesting stuff!! I will be promoting a product soon in a specific niche so much much food for thought here. I will be printing out this page for ref!! Many thanks for everyone's input!

Sheffy · #10 (**permalink**) 26-09-2008, 06:36

Personally, I don't see what you have got to lose, if you have the time. The problem is thinking of what to write.