In a recent poll, I asked readers if their marketing tasks were easier, faster, more effective since publishing a website or blog…
- Half of respondents said yes, significantly better results since doing web marketing
- One-third said yes, but still needs improvement
- 16.7% say, not much difference
My conclusion: half of you are getting results with your Web content marketing, the other half still struggles to see the kinds of results you want. This is a liberal interpretation to a poll that doesn’t lend itself to participants explaining their answers.
This brief poll was hosted on here on this blog, so only my readers would have responded. I don’t reach significantly large numbers to be able to say half of all people using the Web to publish content are dissatisfied.
Based on what I hear from clients and colleagues, I’m going to speculate some of the reasons this may be so:
- Web marketing is complicated: Although tools (blogs, sales pages, shopping carts, audio and video, email marketing) have become more user-friendly in the last few years, there’s a lot more to do (social sites)
- Web marketing is crowded: Ten years ago there weren’t as many businesses in your field competing for readers’ attention online. Competition is fierce.
- Web marketing is confusing: There are so many ways to publish content online, it’s hard to know what to do first and most.
I’m thinking about this a lot. And, I’d love to hear from you in the comments about what you think the challenges are, for using the Internet to grow business.
One possibility that comes to mind is that some professionals are unclear about their goals for their Web presence. They may be measuring the wrong things. Sales isn’t the only measurement, nor is traffic.
And when it comes to things like thought leadership, reputation, credibility and trust, it’s hard to measure in terms of numbers. Branding is another key element that gets reinforced through web marketing, but it’s also hard to measure.
What do you think about the reasons why many entrepreneurs, small businesses and professionals may be dissatisfied with their online content marketing? What have been your own experiences?
Blog Content: Are you personal… or all business?
I got an interesting comment on a post I did beginning of June and I can’t stop thinking about it. The post was about staying on target with your business goals when you create content for your blog. Don’t Jerk Readers Around: 5 Tips for Staying on Track.
First Eileen said she didn’t agree with my premise that you might be jerking readers around if you’re not staying on track with your content:
“I’m not sure I agree with this. My blog niche is arts and crafts. Most of my favorite other artsy blogs do this routinely. One day they blog about what happening at home. The next they may share a tutorial or run a contest or review a book.”
Then Keenan said, “I agree with Eileen. Although you don’t want to be completely all over the map, changing up your subject matter is critical.
“Blogs represent people. They create connections to their readers through their personalities. When a blog stays on topic all the time, it begins to feel white-washed like any on or off-line newspaper or magazine.
“Personality plays a huge role in a blog. Blogging about those things that are part of the authors passions, likes, dislikes, opinions etc. allows followers to connect with the blog. It’s what makes blogging different than reading commercial news. Read More→