Back in January I published an article entitled Social Marketing Optimization. That article gives some background for what I'm writing here and I believe it is a very important aspect of blogging to keep in mind if you are to create blog success.
Blogs have been referred to as next-generation marketing tools because of their powerful influence. The Church of Customer published and excellent article on citizen marketers who generate media on behalf of products and services.
These citations refer to aspects of market conversations that mark the new online marketing landscape.
It is important to note that a blog is another type of web site but it is not just a web site. Blogs are social tools and I don't think that term "social tool" has been overused just yet. Without the social characteristics of a blog, you don't have a blog...then you have just a web site.
Blogs social content at the technology level through live content updates and blogs socialize content at the human level through consumer generated media.
When I'm asked about how to get traffic to your blog and I respond by saying link and make friends it is certainly an unusual response...at least for now.
My point here is that the context for getting traffic is no longer about what the current search engine uber strategy is for high rankings. The context for blog traffic discussions now includes and social context that doesn't always fit will with a software script or server application used to trick search spiders or enhance page appeal for additional attention.
In fact, blogs don't need tricks and gimmicks to rank well in the search engines.
Quite simply people aren't entities that can be manipulated with technology programs and the key to next-generation marketing is "people generating marketing" on your behalf. So what is needed is a slight shift in thinking when it comes to getting traffic to your blog. In this respect I guess I'm a bit basic and fundamentalist.
There are many strategies that blogs can be mixed with for online success but when it comes to traffic I break it down into to simple categories:
Search Engine Traffic and Social Traffic.
The real secret on how to create blog traffic success is WORK. There are bloggers out there that are much more successful than I in generating visibility and they will tell you this...blogging is work. I'm not talking drudgery. I'm talking commitment. That is why you never hear me pitch gimmicks or tactics that promise traffic will very little effort.
Let me qualify this statement about work also by saying that blogs as publishing and content management systems are much easier, time efficient and cost efficient when compared to standard web sites. Your work and labor involves your commitment to relationship building and socializing your message to a niche. Now this may be a bit disappointing to some marketers who want use blogs as brochures and sales pages. However, if done right you can use your blog to driving traffic to any page you like for added revenues and business profitability.
SEO versus SMO
Search engine traffic is vitally important to your blog success. No question about it. Those who are committed to publishing with a blog are experiencing great success in search rankings. These people know the only secret is the work of being committed to serving the wants or needs of a niche market with great information. That is the key to revenues with a blog.
Let's talk about a few comparisons between Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Social Marketing Optimization (SMO).
Keywords vs. Community
Content vs. Conversation
Content Consumers vs. Content Creators
Search Engine Optimization = How well you pull traffic from high ranking content
Social Marketing Optimization = How well you pull traffic from high ranking reputation
By examining the comparison above I want you to realize that no successful blog thrives on search traffic along. Also, volume of traffic is the best indicator of success either. But successful blogs do get significant search traffic because they tend to have a lot of inbound links and relevant content.
To increase traffic to your blog you must have a definite aim of cultivating social dialogue with your blog and from your blog. This can seem like a bit more human work but it isn't as labor intensive as you might think.
The Art of Social Marketing with Blogs
There are three focal points I would like to pass to you as helpers for you in building traffic to your blog. These three points should be used deliberately as social marketing components.
1. Rank Well
2. Link Well
3. Sell Well
Rank Well. This focal point is more about reputation that about search engine traffic. I have a more specific article about search engine rankings and blogs in an article entitled Search Engine Marketing for Beginning Bloggers.
Your ranking well focus should identify what you want to known for. Now this might sound obvious to some but this is important because in this age of bloggers and citizen generated media, links are just points to your content. Links represent word of mount, opinion, influence and they say some about you. Links now carry with them conversations. You need to decide what you want your reputation to be like and drive content into your market that will get links (and lots of them!) pointing back to you and sending traffic to you based on this reputation. Your Rank Well focus is about reputation and expertise.
Link Well. This focal point is both the way of the blogger. Blogging is still about linking your audience to information that matters most them and establishes you and their expert.
Remember this: Who you link to is just as important as what you link to.
Don't be gun shy in pointing your customers and prospects to other content. Demonstrate that you are the newsmaster for your brand and niche. Your audience will thank you for it with repeat visits and referrals. Bloggers absolutely love to refer their audience to any source the have examined and trustworthy, informs their audience and builds their reputation in the eyes of their audience. It's the exact same thing I'm stating you should do.
While you are linking to great content you must also link to key bloggers in your niche or bloggers that have traffic that can especially benefit from your message. In an article published by Steve Rubel called Scoble's Law of Five, Steve writes about Scoble's tip on getting your product noticed by strategically mentioning their names in posts to play to their egos. This tips makes a good addition to what I've mentioned here before and most serious bloggers know. Bloggers watch their reputations and citations vigorously. Any mention of them or link to them get's their attention.
When you link to another blogger as well and mention them you are helping to socialize your message. When your message gets picked buy another blogger that increases your traffic and exposure.
Remember this: Your traffic potential is always exponential.
Any blog that has been published decently for a time has a social network that can grow your traffic by a factor of (n). The growth factor is potentially exponential yet unknown because you cannot predict the exact multiples of growth with have a full accounting of the exact readership of each blog. Suffice it to say however that even if a blog has just one reader you and that blog cites your blog you just gained traffic with a multiplier of two (the publisher and the one reader). You don't know how many people they in turn will reach on your behalf.
Your linking is important. Key citations and links can explode your traffic literally overnight and that's the truth. You don't have to link to everyone to get traffic and everyone you link to won't send you traffic. That nature of blogs is that they are link magnets period. You just don't have the visibility into all the eyeballs you can reach simply by linking to a few key blogs which in turn refer you to others and so on. But also remember that each person influences and unknown number of people. The result is that you starting getting all kinds of back links from places you never thought point to you on the basis of your reputation and expertise which is dictated by the content you publish.
Sell Well. This focal point centers on a solid plan to win revenue through reputation. When using blogs in your marketing mix it is best to use blogs in the way in which they work best for you. Socializing. Selling well with a blog includes your content as much as you communication. It is as much about your quality of your information as it is about your conversation.
A simple blog revenue roadmap is this: relationship -> reputation -> revenue
Blogs excel at publishing information as digital conversations for the purposes of establishing relationships, building reputation...and driving revenue. Your money is in your message and what you come to be known for through your blog.
Next Generation Marketing
Here are some of my thoughts on next generation marketing as social markets.
Marketing Now Has A Conscience
Next generation marketing is marketing that is associated with conscience and humanity. Marketing is more self-ware than ever before because formulated marketing no longer as powerful or influential as it used to be. Citizen marketers are now creating their own campaigns and socializing their preferences according the community interests.
Marketing Becomes and Social Discourse
Marketing now becomes more effective when is resembles community. As a social discourse, marketers must communicate humanity and personal in their dialogue and on behalf of their businesses. Embracing consumer marketers and collaborating within communities on product and service features and offerings inspires consumer evangelism and embraces demonstrates respect for voice of consumers. This builds brand loyalty and multiplies business reputation "exponentially".
Citizens Are In Control
Citizens are the new media. Every voice counts. Democratized power of opinion. I said something in another article that bears repeating here:
"With blogs the power of the people IS the power. You have to recognize where the control is and what your people want."
Citizen marketers are the new disrupters. They are the alternate channels of communications that millions are using (namely, blogs) to get trusted, unmediated and unfiltered messages. Business can no longer escape the influence of bloggers.
Participation and collaboration will be new disciplines for online marketers.
Next Generation Traffic
Because of the rise of social marketing, reputation will be the best driver of highly qualified traffic because social traffic will be just as important if not more important to some business for building business revenues.
Social traffic is more powerful than search traffic because of social traffic is driver directly through referral sources that are trusted. Social traffic is highly optimized and qualified because of the referral. If I trust you than I trust your referral. I go to the blog or site you recommend and my mind is already open to certain messages when I arrive. Simply because I got a referral. That's powerful. Don't mistake this as being on par with search traffic that finds you based on keywords.
Lastly, social traffic builds your inbound links which helps you get good search engine rankings which in turn increases your search engine traffic. SEO + SMO = Blog Traffic Explosion.
Conclusion
The truth is that in order to create blog traffic success for any blog site using any blog software you need to compliment your SEO strategy with a good social marketing strategy. Again, the secret is that there isn't secret. Just make friends or socialize within your niche markets and link well.
When you optimize your reputation through great content and linking which increases your visibility within your community, you blog with automatically attract inbound links. Keep in mind that each blog in of itself has a social network of readers that it pulls. That is why social traffic is so powerful. When the social networks start plugging into you for expertise with all those links, it isn't just the blog publisher who will reading you. Their social network is plugged into you also.
These are but a few ideas about increasing traffic. It isn't sexy or glamorous but it does work and it is worth your time and effort to develop a social marketing strategy fits your blog topic and niche.
