Think about it, you’ve worked so hard to get that visitor to your site. You’ve designed, edited, optimized and submitted your site ’til it’s just right. Now that you’ve ‘got ’em,’ you need to keep ’em, right? You gotta convert ’em! And the last thing you want ’em to do is leave your site for the competition. Hence your website becomes like an island where you want visitors to land, but not leave. Am I right?
Well, that’s the perspective of many ‘so-called’ web marketing experts. And it’s certainly the perspective of most small business owners I know. A perspective that isn’t without merit if you’re struggling to get traffic to your site in the first place. That includes almost all traditional small business websites.
Then along comes the blog. And it blows out of the water many of the traditional marketing approaches. Now, not only is it not necessary, it’s not even wise for your website to be an island that keeps visitors from getting off.
Blogging changed everything. Now you get rewarded for linking to your competition with more visitors, higher search engine rankings and greater readership.
And you get to build mutually beneficial relationships. Yes, with your visitors. But also with your ‘competition.’ You comment on and link to their blogs and it’s likely that they’ll comment on and link to yours. That extends your blog’s reach into ‘their market.’ And even if they don’t link to you, you can leave a link to your blog in the comments you leave – which will reach other commentors. That, in turn, can increase your readership.
I know, I know…I hear it from my marketing friends too…’It just doesn’t make sense to send people elsewhere when you want them to buy from you.’ Yet considering thinking about it not as ‘sending people elsewehere,’ but as adding benefit to your visitor’s lives/businesses through your own website. Isn’t that why you’re in business?
So you can see that blog marketing has changed a lot about how we use the internet. It’s also changed how we think about and market out businesses. And this is one of those times where the change is a good one.
If you want to read more on this topic, take a look at these articles:
- Jack Humphrey’s, Give Links to Gain Authority Status
- Brian Clarks’s, Why Linking to Other Blogs is Critical
- Chris’s, Link the Competition for More Blog Traffic
- Kevin O’Keefe, Linking to and Blogging about Competitor’s Blogs is Smart
- Tris Hussey, Have We All Stopped Linking?
Hey thanks for the link! Yeah, linking to and even congratulating your competitors is a hard thing for people to get at first. But in this new world it shows that you’re fully into your space and watching what others are doing.
You know, it’s funny how corporations try to harness the organic potential of something grassroots and turn it into astro-turf so quickly. For years, blogs have been the thing for the politically and socially sonscious, and then one day, some VP of Marketing said “Why aren’t we using this?” Next thing you know, so many people are using an initially altruistic medium to turn a profit, and they’re ignoring the very aspect that gave it so much power in the first place. Too many business bloggers aren’t blogrolling, aren’t linking, and aren’t leaving the comments open. It just kind of defeats the whole purpose of it all…
I’m feelin’ ya.
I’ve helped a number of independent business owners find success through their websites. It’s been great. And the strategies I’ve used are not incompatible with blogging, except in a few instances. This linking question is one of them. And it needs to be resolved in people who are blogging.
Truthfully, I’m finding myself holding back a bit on who I blogroll. There’s a couple of really good blogs I read that offer the same services I do – and they’re not in my blogroll yet. I’ll overcome fear soon, I know, but it’s interesting to watch it creep in and make decisions for me.
This has to change. Linking and, hence, the relationships that get built are one of the truly unique benefits of blogging. And if done freely and openly, it seems everyone wins – blog owners, readers, businesses, and the whole blogosphere.
Time to let it go – fear that is.
I’ve just added the two blogs I talk about in my comments above – Flyte & Solostream. May we all gain even great success.
Yeah, I get that. And I want my blog world to be an open one that freely shares and gives. It’s just getting over my own inner process that’s necessary. I know I’m not alone.
And, you’re welcome on the linking. I really like your blog so you’ll probably see me often.
Dawud,
I think you are on the right page. I personally think your site speaks for itself. It’s colorful, graphically rich, the font style and type are crisp and nice looking, and the pages load quick! To be honest, linking to your competition shows confidence in your ability to provide an excellent service..
The discussion reminds me of Progressive.com where they state that our rates might not always been the cheapest…etc.. etc…
Keep up the great work, and I am glad to have met you and found your site. Adding you to my blogroll and adding your feed to my reader.
– Garry
Thanks Gary. Great point on Progressive. Caring for my clients is as Most often that comes across in my initial consultations – which is usually what closes the deal.
Thanks for reminding me of this. I’ve worked quite hard to create a successful business myself with Healthy WebDesign. It’s so interesting to watch my reactions around wanting to protect it. Yet there is no growth without risk.
I’m already getting your feed and I just added you to my blogroll.
As the blog that was the example of this in Kevin and Brian’s post, I have received several extra links to me – for the linking that is, not just the original content.
So, in some ways, that’s proof that “it works”.
I know. I’m seeing it too. Not just in comments but also in email contacts, feed subscriptions and links from other blogs.
This open, sharing atmosphere was one reason I wanted to begin blogging in the first place.
Thanks for comfirming ‘it works.’
Thanks for picking up my post on linking to competitors. The subject has gotten a lot of traction the last week.
You’re right that blogs have blown traditional marketing ideas right out of the water.
Kevin
Your welcome.
Judging from the responses I’ve gotten, this seems like quite a hot topic. And one that’s not clearly understood. Yet with results brings conversion.
LexBlog Blog (Kevin again)
I read your post. Thought it was great. Thanks for including me. Seems like this topic needs a lot more air play.