I always think about the “gold rush” when I think of web marketing and client expectations.

As soon as the word is out that gold is being made there is a big rush, despite the fact that the main bulk of the gold has already been taken… it doesn’t stop that rush of anticipation.

And so, expectations of return from web marketing also tend to be equally unrealistic. Why? Because most of the big profits are made at the beginning when there is little competition and lots of opportunity.

But they did it…

The initial gold rush is what gets the press attention, showing what is possible, setting the average Joe’s expectation to an opportunity that has already passed.

Google Adwords is becoming saturated, E-Mail marketing doesn’t deliver the results it used to. Unfortunately, this is what people are looking to for their web marketing now but not getting the expected results.

Try a Different Commodity

Some online marketing and advertising, such as pay-per-click, is very tangible: You paid ‘X’ and you got ‘Y’.

But, the measurement is usually focussed on the wrong thing - mainly visitors, rather than an actual tangible result, ie. sales leads. Costs are becoming higher and higher - the gold is getting scarcer.

My belief is that there is one clear-cut way of creating long-term, sustainable web traffic that adds value to your business… and that, is quality content.

• Content-rich sales pages with customer benefits
• White papers, articles, industry commentary
• News and views, regularly updated
• Useful, relevant tools (budget permitting)

It won’t deliver immediate traffic, but, if you continue to build it, they will come… and natural listings of your quality content, after the initial investment, is free.

I updated an article on The Escape website last week - Top Ten Blogging Tips - so I reworded the previous “intro” article and thought it would be worth posting…

Blogs allow people to communicate regularly, quickly and easily, through the web and you could be using one for your business to allow quick and easy reach to your existing clients and potentials.

By using special blogging website software, no programming knowledge is required, enabling you to start your own Blog, often on free platforms, such as Blogger, or Wordpress (Wordpress does take some setting up).

In general, Bloggers tend to fall into one of four camps:

1. The personal Blogger, using their Blog to communicate to family and friends, or impress their general views of the world onto an audience (usually a small audience at that).
2. The Blogging professional, who makes money directly from their Blog either through advertising, affiliate marketing, attracting very large audiences along the way. This is a numbers game.
3. The knowledge Blogger, usually on a niche subject, attracting an audience (or fan base) by sharing their
   knowledge. Some knowledge bloggers create knowledge products (books, videos, etc.) that they can then sell off the back of their knowledge.
4. The corporate Blogger. Usually an influential person within a company, blogging about that company, it’s services or products, and generally interacting with the customer community. There is sometimes a cross-over with knowledge thrown in.

The benefit for you and your small business is number four.

The advantages of Blogging

To get a benefit from any marketing, it is important to have a goal - something that you want to achieve. Blogging can take a large investment of your time and energy (or budget if you outsource) so it is important to remember that you want something back.

This goal may be to raise your profile within an industry, or to communicate with your customer-base. It is very unlikely that you will make money directly from your Blog (no.s 2 or 3 above), unless you have some unique, expert knowledge and spend a lot of your time researching and creating articles, and participating in online communities to create your audience.

That said, a basic business Blog is a great way to communicate with your existing customers and to raise your industry profile, as long as you keep to the basics. Keep it interesting, on message, always with the thought of what you want back, under-pinning any posts you create.

Example posts

I often get asked “but what will I write about?”

I tend to use my daily interactions with clients, suppliers and the industry in general. Sometimes that yields a couple of posts a day, other times I go a couple of weeks before something worthwhile comes along.

It is hard work, but the more you notice things and create your posts, the more you… well… notice new things that are worth writing about.

The result can add to increasing your website traffic funnel.