Blogs and Marketing: Do they work and what about metrics?

Bob Bly has a great conversation on Blogs and how well do they work for marketing on his blog.

My favorite comment is from Morty Schiller, and I agree:

Yes, blogs are overrated. But they’re also underused.

I've got a couple of comments, including:

Blog metrics exist and are useful but not as “hard” or absolute as say email marketing metrics.
Sure, I can track readers, page views, etc., but it’s really money that matters. 10,000 passive readers may make me feel good, but don’t pay the mortgage.

That said, I have a newsletter signup on my blog. I can track signups. I can track the % of subscribers that somehow generate revenue. I can track the average lifetime value of a subscriber and customer.

I also ask new customers where they came from. Often they say they found me through my blog. Sometimes they say my blog was the differentiating factor. I had someone book me for a keynote last week, they already prepaid half my fee, and they stated clearly that my blog distinguished me from my closest competitors. That money is already in the bank.

I’ve got a salespage up and can track where clickthroughs come from. Do they come from my Web site or blog or elsewhere? What’s the conversion rate? Is it better or worse from Web site/blog/Google/etc? Maybe I should (or should not) test and optimize the salespage for each?

Plenty of metrics are available. They are certainly not as deterministic as from e-mail marketing, but worth tracking. So what do I track?? — admittedly not enough!

Comments

[Morty]

Thanks for the kudos, Ted!

I get caught between both factions in this debate. And, like Tevye, I keep finding myself saying, "On the other hand...."

On one hand, blogs are just another medium. On the other hand, because of their interactivity, the medium is often the message.

And nobody ever became a fan of a brochure!

Morty

[Kian Ann]

Hey Ted,

I guess the reason why the "return-on-blog" is so tough to track is because blogging does not work using the direct response mechanism that sales pages or emails do.

An email piece tells the reader "Click this link within 24 hours or the offer will be gone". So the either click, or they don't. You can track that easily, because there is just one instruction.

On blogs, if we do that, then I think we won't have many readers to click through to start with!

[Lars]

I have found blogging to be useful and profitable as a business strategy. I get blog subscribers who then keep up with my business. I get search engine traffic to my blog pages that click through back to my web site and buy stuff. And it's all very measurable by pageviews, subscribers, clicks, and sales.

Plus, blogging gives me something to do to avoid working!

In an unrelated comment, I enjoyed your talk at Internet Retailer today.

[Ted Demopoulos, Blogging for Business]

Kian Ann,

You're right of course. A direct response mechanism, like (e)mail with a limited time offer make it MUCH easier to measure ROI.

Lars,

Good point -- most people enjoy blogging. It is 'work' but often doesn't feel like it.

Glad you enjoyed the talk today -- I greatly enjoyed giving it!