Free Traffic Tips

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There’s a study out now saying that most bloggers do not see measurable increases in sales from blogging.

My personal opinion is that anyone who has a blog, and hasn’t seen an increase in their sales and a reduction in their costs either

• isn’t blogging correctly, or

• shouldn’t be blogging in the first place.

And yes, I know that people in the group who are able to use blogs to increase their income are in the minority. But I’ve spoken to many of those in that minority, and I’m also one of them. My observation is that it boils down, again, to two things.

• We draw traffic into other parts of our own sites where the path to a sale is likely to begin, and,

• We understand blogs as communication and promotional tools.

For one thing? We link to the parts of our site that do the selling, rather than attempting to make sales directly in our blogs.

For another? We understand that blogs aren’t meant to make sales directly. They can increase trust, shorten the sales cycle, get us into greater spheres of influence where we have more opportunities to make more sales, bring us wider audiences, etc. But within the blog? We provide information that brings the reader back again.

Sometimes that information is free. It’s a little like dating - very few people get married on their first date, though it’s been known to happen. The blog material is part of a courtship period. You meet me. You test me out. I pass or I fail.

Maybe it will take 52 dates before you click through to the site and see how else I can help you even further. Maybe it will take seven for you to Google my name, research me, test the information on my blog and see if I really know what I’m talking about.

If I am blogging every day, those 52 dates might take place in two months of a person being subscribed to my feed, instead of the year it would take from sending out my weekly newsletter. If I’m blogging several times a day, maybe a seven-date threshold could take place in three days instead of seven weeks of newsletter mailings.

And yes, there are times when a first time visitor will click through a link on one of my pages and buy that very same day. The fact that you can tell just by looking at my site, and doing some quick research, that I’m available frequently and have earned a good reputation makes this far more likely.

I get into how this works a little in the Traffic Edition of my Rescue Your Blog series. It’s focus is mostly on increasing your search engine visibility in the way most likely to help increase your sales.

Now I’m working on an edition called “Blogs that Brand, Blogs that Sell”, as well as “The Art of Speed Blogging.” If you want to know the day they come out, just send a blank email to blogtips@aweber.com, and I’ll be sure to make sure you’re among the first to know.

Tags: blog traffic :: blog promotion

Resources : The Traffic Edition of my Rescue Your Blog goes into some detail about how you can blog to increase your sales, but is focused mainly on how to configure your blog to capture more search engine results, as well as other ways to increase your blog traffic.