A few months ago, I pointed out that companies that blog get on average 55% more web traffic. But it’s not just 55% more traffic; it’s new prospects finding you exactly when they’re looking for what you do. Recall that half of all web traffic originates at a search engine (mostly Google).
Yet if you blog, there’s an even more effective way to build your traffic… participating proactively in the blogosphere by commenting on other authors’ relevant posts. Instead of working day-by-day to bring an audience to you, go to where your audience is already spending their time and attention.
The search engine Technorati.com shows you the blogs are the most “authoritative”, meaning the most widely read and cited, for any given topic. Not only has the crowd already vetted the quality of the content, they’re likely to be interested in what your business offers (assuming that you’ve select relevant keywords).
At Technorati.com, click the toggle switch to search for “Blogs” (publications) rather than “Posts” (individual articles). Then enter a keyword or phrase that relates to your business and target audience, and click “Search”.
You’ll see a list of blogs ranked 1 to N based on “Authority” score, 1,000 being highest. Any blog with a score of, say, 100 or higher, has a meaningful audience.
Make it a habit to regularly read these blogs and when you have something of value to add, click to leave a reply. Remember that you’re never overtly selling or self-promoting. Instead, you’re sharing information of value to the readers, which happens to demonstrate your expertise. These comments on high authority blogs will be widely read.
There’s an interesting aspect about human psychology: When someone shares something with us, we are wired to want to reciprocate. As a “contributor to their community”, readers are more likely to consider your products and services.
A couple of years ago, I met the team that runs www.cosmeticsurgery.com and associated web properties. They were using exactly this strategy of sharing valuable information with audiences on blogs and discussion forums focused the various plastic surgery procedures.
According to one of their executives, during two years they’d increased their traffic five-fold, from 8,000 unique monthly visitors to 40,000 unique monthly visitors.
It’s funny, but reciprocity has become a powerful currency of the web. Share something of value with a key target audience and you’ll likely get something valuable in return.
And don’t forget about all of the traditional ways to promote your blog. Like for any social media initiative, you must create and execute a comprehensive awareness plan. Highlight your blog on your homepage, in your email signature, on your business cards, in your email blasts, and everywhere else you can. Tweet about it, share it on Facebook and Google+, and feature it in LinkedIn (perhaps by using the LinkedIn WordPress App to make it automatic). And offer to guest author posts on others’ blogs. Maybe even use targeted pay-per-click ads (on Google or Facebook).
In the end, building a following for your blog or any other social initiative is a combination of inbound and outbound techniques. It requires compelling content, delivered consistently over time.
Like other effective marketing initiatives, blogging success requires hard work. But as social media initiatives go, blogging can be rewarding for almost any type of business.