The Impact of Blogging

When I ask people what social media tools they are implementing (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, blogging) universally, the one people are using least is blogging.

I think it’s because they see blogging as a big thing.

They have to setup a tool. They have to stylize it. And then, of course, they have to write it. (That last one is probably the part that scares them the most.)

They incorrectly think that Facebook and Twitter are easy. They are only easy if you are doing them wrong.

First, you should understand that blogging isn’t nearly as hard as you think.

Setting up a self-hosted WordPress blog is usually a one click process now at most hosting companies. Or you can use a variety of other tools (such as SageRock Places).

Stylizing your site can be as easy as selecting a template offered by the tool.

Then from there adding content can often times be a breeze. You can write as little or as much as you would like. My only suggestion is to write on a schedule. You will get a much bigger impact if you write regularly. I write here 3 times a week.  Sometimes it is a little hard to get it in. But I always enjoy writing it.

I want to show you the traffic on the SageRock site for September. I also want to show you how it compares to August. The reason for this is because I want you to get a feel for how important blogging is for my business. And how important it could be for your business.

I’ll past some stats here and we’ll talk about them below.

OK. I will totally admit that took me way longer than I anticipated. Creating that table was a real chore. Sometimes blogging will be like that.

What you are seeing there are my top 25 most viewed pages. I am comparing traffic from September with August.

It is very important to remember to always compare data to something else. Data by itself is completely meaningless. Who knows if the numbers are good or bad.

The first thing I want to point out is, of the top 25 pages, only 4 of them are not my blog. 21 of the top 25 pages viewed are from the blog!

I want you to also notice that 5 pages in the top 25 are completely new for the month of September. I know that because the got 0 views in August.

Our #1 page: http://www.sagerock.com/blog/title-tag-meta-description-length/ is older. It was written on August 5, 2009. So it’s over 2 years old.

You can see that both new content and old content generate traffic. It’s not like only the new stuff gets traffic. It’s a mix.

I can also tell you this: I made a commitment in the last couple months to write this blog religiously 3 days a week. I don’t know if it’s the economy or a shift in the force, but I am here to tell you that I can’t remember the last time I have closed so much new work. My business is like night and day.

I can’t tell you that someone said, “Hey Sage – I was reading a blog post you wrote and now I want to hire you.”

All I can tell you is this: Our company is ridiculously busy. And that happened during the same time I started writing this blog 3 days a week.

I can also tell you that Jason Calacanis http://twitter.com/jason just started following me on Twitter this morning. He is a highly regarded angel investor and Internet entrepreneur. (thanks Jason!) It’s probably not because of my good looks.

Consistent blogging will:

• Get you free traffic from the search engines related to your industry.
• Make you stand out as an expert in your industry.
• Allow you the time to think more deeply about your specialization.
• Pre-qualify you in the eyes of your prospects. Your blog will show them you know what you are talking about.
• Be better advertising than the shiniest direct mail piece you could ever make.

The benefits go on and on. If you stick with it, blogging will do your business a world of good.

Most recent posts by Sage Lewis

• The Discipline Of Blogging - May 16th, 2012
• Afraid of the Book - My Phobia - May 15th, 2012
• Social media consulting for a 30 to lifer - May 13th, 2012
• Search engine optimization - 21st Century Public Relations - May 11th, 2012
• A Big Opportunity with U.S. Airport Paid Search - May 10th, 2012