Have you ever read an article proclaiming that you must start blogging to drive new sales and increase customer satisfaction? These proponents never tell you how to make this happen or they use acronyms and technical terms that leave the reader dazed and confused. The purpose of this article is to clear up much of the confusion and provide simple advice in plain, simple English.
A blog is nothing more then a simple web page. The term blog comes from “web log" and was coined by Jorn Barger on December 17, 1997. It describes a basic website where regular entries can be made or read and is presented in reverse chronological order. Currently there are 45.3 million active blogs connected to the internet via 2.6 billion links. The Pew Internet Study estimates that about 11%, or about 50 million, of Internet users are regular blog readers.
Creating a blog is easy to do and requires no additional marketing or advertising funds. It requires a little time each and every week but it will help you attract new customers and drive revenue literally overnight.
There are many ways a blog can attract new customers, but there is one overriding reason to start blogging today. Search engines love blogs and your customers love search engines. Searchenginewatch.com summed it up in one sentence, “Your favorite thing about having a blog is that they naturally attract search engine traffic to your website.” The editors at WebSearch.com put it a little more succinctly, “Blogs attract more search engine traffic to your web site, period!
For example, Sydney Johnston the owner of Cyberweb Solutions depends on the Internet to sell her training course about ebay auctions. A friend suggested she try creating a simple blog for ebay enthusiasts. In less than a year, visits to her Web site jumped from 11,000 to 45,000 a month.
Why do blogs attract potential new customers? Most blogs are presented as static HTML pages in standard compliant designs. In short, they provide keyword rich content and are extremely easy for search engine spiders to access.
The most recent findings from Pew Internet & American Life tracking surveys show that about 60 million American adults are using search engines on a typical day. PhoCusWright claims three-fifths of online travel shoppers cite search engines as a top resource to research their vacations. Forrester Research found that 53% of business travelers use search engines to find information about a destination.
A blog can help you outsmart your competitors who are out-spending you in search engine optimization. For example, Tony Rothwell, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Creative Hotel Associates was born and raised in the UK. His blog provides first time British visitors with friendly advice, travel recommendations, shopping tips and restaurant recommendations. He also promotes his full service and mid-priced properties located throughout the US. As a result, Tony is viewed by his readers as an industry expert and advisor and not as a marketing professional trying to sell more rooms.
Bernadette Ruby, regional vice president of Sales for Extended Stay America Hotels, recommends that extended stay properties create a local blog for their long term guests enabling them to easily share information on neighborhood shopping, sightseeing, where to find cheap gas, even provide movie reviews.
Meeting Planners are attracted to the blog of Bill Todd who is both a motivational speaker and best selling business author. Over 200 tips and trends for meeting and convention planners can be easily accessed. This blog positions Todd as a partner, thought leader and advisor not simply another speaker promoting his services.
Kevin Brett, President of Hat Marketing, represents many of Orlando’s most popular theme parks and sightseeing venues in Europe. His blogs steer European visitors to his clients by providing insider tips on car rentals, lodging, advice on what to pack, when attraction lines are short, and where to find the best American food.
Blogs help you create a relationship and communicate effectively with clients. With very little effort these three bloggers build trust with clients before they arrive. As a result, they have tremendous advantage over their competition and have begun to strategically shift market share.
The least appreciated, yet most profitable reason to blog is it gives you the capability to communicate with and gain quick, honest and affordable feedback from your guests.
There is too often an assumption that because you have serviced a client in the past that they will gladly return to your hotel on future trips. Sergio Zyman, former chief marketing officer for Coca-Cola said, “If you don’t make the effort to tell your clients exactly what you’re doing, why you’re doing it and why they should continue to buy your product, they will ignore you and take their wallets to someone who will tell them those things.”
This new, powerful way of communicating with current customers will allow you to create customer evangelists. In his best selling book, “Blog Marketing”, Jeremy Wright tells us that, “… with blogging you’re engaging your guest who is reading your blog by choice. Every reader is choosing to interact with you and every reader wants to hear from you. This new communication tool empowers customer evangelists in ways that were impossible before blogs existed”. In short, word of mouth advertising is still the most affordable and effective tool you have. Blogging allows you to kick it up a notch.
Your brand is not just a logo brochure, advertisement or tag line. Your brand is the impression you leave with each guest you serve. Malcolm Gladwell, in his recent best seller, The Tipping Point states “… that even the small, very small changes in the way guests perceive you can have radical effect on your bottom line.”
The good news is, launching a professional looking blog can be completed in less than 30 minutes. So what are you waiting for? For easy, step by step instructions on how to launch a blog for free please visit www.BTodd.com.
About the Author
Bill Todd is a high energy, entertaining, speaker, motivator and sales trainer. He focuses on helping business to drive sales, generate more profits and quickly shift market share. Hundreds of leading sales and marketing professionals have adopted his powerful ideas and proven tactics. Pick up FREE articles, audio excerpts, sales tips and marketing ideas at http://www.btodd.com/ or call 301.633.5856
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