Usually, you start a business, run it for a while, and then start a blog to do the “social media thing”. This is a mistake. If you are thinking about starting a new business, do yourself a favor and start your blog first.
Here’s why.
Most businesses fail because they don’t sell enough products to make a profit and keep the lights on. The business equation is ruthless. No customers=no business. Surprisingly, many business owners start with only an idea and faith that there are enough customers out there. Inevitably, they fail unless they are one of the lucky ones who hit it out of the park on their first try.
But, what if What if you could find your customers, understand what they want to buy, find instant rain-makers without spending a cent?
You can with a Blog
Here are 6 reasons why using low-cost blog to give your business a profitable makes sense.
#1: Inexpensively Find Your Audience
A blog is a search engine magnet. The moment you start posting you will begin getting ranked for keywords used in your posts. Once you do, your future customers will start arriving at your blog. And, if you spend the extra time to write spectacular posts than they will leave clues about their buying habits in their comments. This is where you can begin to create a picture of your perfect customer.
#2 Identify a Real Need
Use your blog posts to offer advice, suggestions, and reviews on topics related to your product or service. In these posts ask your readers to tell you what they think about your product idea. This is great low-key way to doing some covert market research.
#3 Create a List of “Warm” Prospects
Every small business guru will encourage you to start a list of email subscribers. They are right on the money. The easiest way to create this list is by offering a newsletter on your blog.
Use your email list as a way to slowly prepare your subscribers for eventually purchasing your product. Go slow, deliver great information, and listen to what they have to say. This is a goldmine for the patient entrepreneur.
#4 Uncover Your Niche’s Influencers
Over time, your blog will attract “influencers” who can immediately turn your product into an overnight sensation. You can identify them from their comments and retweets of your posts. Once you’ve identified them, reach out to and offer to help them. Be courteous and willing to be a resource to their community.
This tactic alone virtually guarantee your businesses success.
#5 Increase Your Margin of Error
Most businesses don’t get their product right the first time. It takes multiple revisions to find the perfect balance of features, benefits, and value. Use your blog to start a conversation about your product. Use surveys and polls to ask for suggestions during the planning.
This is a smart way to discover bad assumptions on paper before you invest big and make huge (and expensive) mistake.
#6 Get Momentum
With your blog, you will be able to launch with a ready-made community of people who trust you, a list of warm prospects, and a crowd-sourced product that people can’t resist. This is the best environment to get some early wins and testimonials from happy customers.
Want to really “guarantee” your success?
You might want to play it safe and absolutely guarantee that you will get a winner out of the gate. I like that. Here are some advanced tips that I cooked up just for you:
- Comment Your Heart Out: This is the #1 to get on your influencer’s radar screen. Even the topic bloggers are religious about reading their comments. Leave genuinely helpful comments to impress mover-and-shakers and attract future customers.
- Guest Post: If you’ve been blogging for more than a 3 days, you’re already been taught the necessity of guest blogging. Do it. It works. Guest posting allows you to borrow other people’s audience. It’s super effective and a win/win for everyone.
- Join the “Do Follow” Movement: If you don’t already, give your blog commentors a little link love by turning off no-follow. Yes, you will need to spend a little more time monitoring again spam but you also get more quality comments in the process.
Now the deck is stacked in your favor. Start your blog today and start posting tomorrow. Get some momentum and start asking questions as soon as you can.
Once you thoroughly understand your customers, their needs, and expectations then unleash your product on the world.
Tell me, are you using a blog to research your product? How will you use these tips for your business?
Article by Stanford
Stanford teaches passionate people how to lead spectacular and influential tribes at PushingSocial.com.
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{ 48 comments… read them below or add one }
I started out blogging years ago but wish I had started earlier. It has formed a real mainstay of our business and attracts a good following. It can be challenge sometimes to find new things to blog about but I have found getting in guest bloggers is always a good idea also since it keeps content alive with fresh and new ideas and viewpoints.
Joe
Hi Stanford,
Great post. I think many business minded people don’t realize how inexpensive and potentially powerful setting up a blog can be. What a good way to do the groundwork for a successful business.
I know a couple people that were forced into using your idea by accident by having blogs that turned into successful businesses.
Keep up the great posts….:)
I wish I had a time machine! After reading this, I feel like an idiot. You are totally right and everything you posted here makes PERFECT sense. If you don’t mind, I’m going to send some of my clients this link! Thanks for the advice
Lauren Ashley Miller recently posted..Job hunting Stop Looking and Create One
I am agree with you , While you want to start an Online business , first you make a blog , After the success of this blog you can easy promote your product via Blog Post and get easy response
Tej Kohli recently posted..Bing Surpasses Yahoo in Search!
Hi Stanford. Great post! You are right about blogs being “search engine magnets”.
Looking forward to your next post.
Dennis Camacho recently posted..What do Fish and Your Prospects Have in Common
Great post! This is what I’ve been contemplating on for the past few weeks. One thing I can’t figure out is whether it is matter that the blog should use the same name (blog title) as the business brand (for ones who are planning to go into the business for sure) or the names do not need to be relevant? I’d love to hear your thought on this.
Mike, Great post you’ve written here. I do agree with you that blogging is the way to go to build a relationship with your followers before developing some form of a business relationship. It can create quite a lasting following which is beneficial in the long run for your business.
bryan recently posted..Engage Your Visitors By Blogging More Effectively
Twitter: CoachNotesBlog
August 18, 2010 at 9:00 pm
Stanford, you really present some neat ideas for starting your blog before you start your business. I have run several offline businesses, but I’ve only been blogging for a couple of years. What I find works is to share information around my passions which happens to be the same kinds of advice, tips, help I’ve been giving to customers for years.
That “sharing” is the content of my blogs. New ideas for products and services come from that sharing; so do requests for assistance (contracts, paying work).
I don’t worry so much about giving too much away. Something good always comes from it.
Vernessa Taylor recently posted..Are You Looking for eCommerce Solutions For Your Offline Business
I love this post.
This is exactly what Mark from Lateral Action did when starting out his blog to the best of knowledge. From there he built out his Entrepreneur Roadmap course with Brian from Copyblogger.
Ian recently posted..Viral Marketing Strategies – Master Viral Marketer Reveals 3 Things You Need To Know
Absolute smartest way to go about it. From his blog he already knows how to pinpoint his audience with laser acuracy.
Twitter: z3olyte
August 15, 2010 at 7:45 pm
great post, Stanford… nothing wrong with asking people around your niche to review the product you are selling to have a consumer point of view.
Cindy recently posted..Scott Pilgrim Now on iPhone and iPad
Excellent read Stanford. It really makes you think of the hell that was “market research” before the Internet, and exactly why marketing and advertising budgets were always in the multi -millions.
Dennis Edell recently posted..Welcome To The All New DennisEdellcom!
That’s a great point. Market research was actually about asking real customers what they thought. If you read alot of the biographies of early ad pioneers, they spent a ton of time researching the product with customers. It’s only been in the last 20 years that we’ve started “guessing” at customer intentions with focus groups and polling.
Social Media brings us back – belly-to-belly with customer.
True enough, but I think we should still poll customers one by one. Either by email or snail mail depending on your business model.
Dennis Edell recently posted..Update 1 – What DEDC is About
I completely agree with your point. Before start a online business we should famous our name by doing blogging. It is strategy what the famous blogger do.
Great point you mention here. Blogs can be extremely useful when starting a business. You only need to be careful not to be overly promotional of your products. The key is presenting people with great information and then saying “here is our product which does just that”.
Twitter: saraharrow
August 13, 2010 at 10:07 am
We use blogs to try out new aspects of business, we measure the performance of the blog as to whether we should provide that service or not.
We came late to the idea of list building for business off the back of a blog but it works and it tells us whether the market needs what we are offering, as well as being backed up with offline research.
Thanks Stanford, a really good read
Sarah Arrow recently posted..Ebay Sellers, why you need cheap Ebay couriers
Awesome points! Techalite was a technology blog before I turned it into my web consultancy.
Liza Shulyayeva recently posted..Elevator Pitch – I Need One
Twitter: TJ_McDowell
August 13, 2010 at 8:09 am
The only thing that I can think of that you should consider before using a blog to form your business is that other business owners in your field will be able to see the path that you followed and the reasoning behind your decisions. In many ways, this may be make your blog posts more link-worthy, but also consider that if there’s any part of the process that you want to keep to yourself, don’t blog about it.
TJ McDowell recently posted..Photography Startup – How To Price Sessions
Hey TJ
I don’t want to get to “airy-fairy” here but if you have a true passion for your business, it won’t matter if your competition tries to copy. For example, Copyblogger and Problogger have hundreds of posts on their viewpoints and strategies – has anyone really beat them? No.
Of course you have to use your discretion, but I think this concern is overblown.
If you are working a full-time job and starting your business on the side, I think that is a great plan. You can test out the waters. Sometimes you think you want to start a business with a certain direction, and once you have been talking about it and testing out the interest on the subject, you may find you are better off going in a slightly different direction. You may discover a need you weren’t aware of and wouldn’t have found without your blog feedback.
Melinda recently posted..Combat stress by tackling the mess
Twitter: azblogtips
August 13, 2010 at 6:13 am
Agree on your ideas and I blog to test my capability and find new opportunity for business
This can save a lot of time rather than starting right away business without any knowledge and information about what you are intended to do and opportunity to gain success
Tinh recently posted..Affiliate Links Cloaking Is Ethical to Your Readers?
Right on Melinda,
Better to take the risk with $0 dollars than jump ship and risk everything with the “hope” that you have a buying audience.
Great points Stanford. Coincidentally, I was speaking with a friend last night who is starting a fishing/hunting tours business. I explained to him much of what you have mentioned here. Generating business before the business is started is a sound principle.
Colleen recently posted..LIGO Offers Tours to Public Every Second Saturday and Fourth Friday
Did he take your advice
We’ll see. I kinda got the impression I was speaking on deaf ears! I guess we’ll see what happens over the next several weeks.
Colleen recently posted..Barnard Griffin Winery’s 5 for $5 at 5:00pm
Hey Stanford – Catchy title!
I think that before starting a blog or a business, you should really think through how you’re going to pay the bills and bring in revenue. Once that’s done, a blog can be your first great marketing channel. It’s not a cake walk though. In fact, I think anything that’s destined to bring great rewards (like feeding your family or paying your bills) takes an investment of both time and money.
That said, I agree wholeheartedly that a blog is one of the least expensive (in terms of money, but not time) marketing channels out there for new business owners.
Tia Peterson recently posted..How to Write Without Being Overly Promotional
Twitter: mani0993
August 12, 2010 at 4:06 pm
I agree with these points. A quality blog will always bring you good traffic & ultimately get visitors to your products.
Mani Viswanathan recently posted..BlackBerry Messenger’s future in India to be decided by the Government today
Exactly. I just made the point myself. Nice!
Colleen recently posted..LIGO Offers Tours to Public Every Second Saturday and Fourth Friday
I’m agree with you too Mani. I’m trying make the point for myself
Hieu Martin recently posted..5 Tips to Use Digg to Drive Blog Traffic
Hi stanford
If you have a business idée can you with a blog get a hint if you are right on it or not without say to much to the readers. Directly when I was reading this post, did I remember a good proverb;
A stupid man does not learn from his mistakes!
A wise man learns from his mistakes!
A wise man learns from other’ mistakes!
Absolutely, You don’t have to blog directly about your product. What you should do is build your blog around answering questions and commenting on the problem your product/service solves. Your blog will then attract people looking for answers to the particular problem. From there you have a platform to monetize the traffic.
All fabulous points made here. I like the idea of using what you discover via social media to change your business. Definitely a good idea.
And you’re right. Every company needs to begin with a presence on the internet. Otherwise its almost impossible to compete, let alone dominate, in your industry.
Laura Davis recently posted..What You Didnt Know About Wall Street Reform
I think it really depends on your business… I just do not understand how you can start a blog without knowing your market. What will you blog about??? And lets pretend you start a blog and what your readers really need are airplanes. Will you start producing airplanes?
I think you need to be a bit more prepared when starting the blog. You need to know your market beforehand and use your blog to extract a few more ideas, but the general business concept must be in place to begin with.
AJ recently posted..Turn WordPress Into A “Digg-Like” Website
I have nothing against starting the blog early as long as you know your potential customers first and if you have some crazy, awesome and unique business idea – don’t share it on your blog before you start selling it. People will steal your idea and ultimately all your blog readers.
AJ recently posted..Turn WordPress Into A “Digg-Like” Website
On one level I agree with you.
But I also can’t think of a BETTER way to truly understand your market’s pain points. Blogging allows you to get true feedback above and beyond simple demographics and such…
Hey Stanford,
nice to see you here – I agree, starting your blog before your business is THE WAY TO GO.
NOthing beats the potential reader/customer interaction from your blog, when you are really heavy into community building.
Interaction is the golden magic of the new digital revolution – and a blog allows you take that to a whole new level. THis is especially true for small businesses, because it gives you the client the opportunity to become an important part of your service/product creation !
Mars Dorian recently posted..4 Creative Ways to Make Money Online
Right on.
Blogs are the silver bullet for many small businesses. I can’t believe that more aren’t using them effectively.
Twitter: heydevesh
August 12, 2010 at 12:18 pm
Hey Stanford,
Great Post man. You’ve made some awesome points.
I think creating the list is the most important part. As i always say “List building is something that no blogger should miss.
Guest Posting and blog commenting are my favorite ways to generate targeted traffic, build relationship with other bloggers.
Thanks for sharing this awesome point man. Keep up the good work.
~Dev
Devesh recently posted..Is Blogging Meant For Only Intelligent People
Spectacular Content is critical too. Content attracts subscribers and guest post opportunities. Both lead too moolah
AJ seems to have a valid point if you are using your blog as a way to sell your product. I think that you can use a blog in a few different ways and the way Stanford was suggesting was as a tool to identify, define, and understand your potential client base and then interact with them to gain credibility so when you are ready to release product, they are expecting it with heightened anticipation. We launched our website and blog together, and in hind sight, it may have been better to begin the blog a few weeks or a month earlier to begin forming relationships and establishing credibility. Either way, really good article and great discussion.
Trevor B. Reed recently posted..Nofollow Vs. Dofollow-A Nofollow Link Solution
Right on the money – couldn’t have said it better myself
Twitter: azblogtips
August 12, 2010 at 11:38 am
Blog can equip us with a lot of experiences that can contribute to the success of your business online. Great article friend
Tinh recently posted..Affiliate Links Cloaking Is Ethical to Your Readers?
Thanks, the best part is that a blog allows us to test before we invest – critical to a small business.
Stanford recently posted..Why Most Bloggers are in the Wrong Business
Twitter: azblogtips
August 12, 2010 at 7:33 pm
You are right. And the money back guarantee is a MUST for mny programs
Tinh recently posted..Affiliate Links Cloaking Is Ethical to Your Readers?
The thing I would worry about is that you are telling everyone about your proposed business but you don’t actually sell anything, so your readers might try to find where to buy it elsewhere. Then someone like me would see this opportunity and start selling the product/service while at the same time creating the blog (assuming it is something unique).
I think it is important to start both your blog and corporate site at the same time. You would be losing out on potential sales by blogging about a product/service without actually offering it!
I also have a small problem with this:
If you area creating a blog without understanding your niche first, then your blog is going to fail. You should understand who your readers are going to be before you start your blog and if you know your readers, then you know your customers.
It is also very important to understand that a lot of people looking for a product/service are not necessarily avid blog readers. For most online businesses the percent of customers who follow your blog are going to be very few compared to your actual customer base (if you want to make money).
You also mention blog commenting and dofollow strategies to help increase sales…but from what I have seen people are more concerned with getting backlinks from dofollow blogs more then anything else. I assume you take a certain amount of time a day to comment on other sites? From all the comments you have left on any given blog and from all the comments you have received on your blog, when has a product been sold as a result?.
Ultimately it really depends on what you are trying to sell…Your strategy would work really well for an e-book but maybe not so much for something else. I say get your business and blog up at the same time – no point in waiting for the later and you should already know what you are going to do, otherwise you will have a giant list of customers and readers but no money.
Aj recently posted..Turn WordPress Into A “Digg-Like” Website
Hey AJ, I understand your points – and thanks for such a great comment.
My thought is that you only get a true understanding of your future customers through engaging them through your blog. Initially your blog will not generate sales, that’s fine because that’s not it’s initial purpose. It’s purpose is to:
1. Identify the needs of the market
2. Find influencers that have credibility within your niche
3. Give engaged prospects the opportunity to hear more (via subscriptions)
4. Get a feel for the viability of your product or service.
In the old days, this was called due diligence. Now we can accomplish this quickly with a well thought out blog.
Also to be clear, commenting doesn’t drive sales. Commenting and do-follow strategies encourages dialogue and creates contacts. This is valuable for jumpstarting a business.
The big question is: Wouldn’t starting a blog, engaging with an audience, learning their needs, identifying influencers, and building a list be valuable BEFORE spending precious capital investing in a business?
Stanford recently posted..Why Most Bloggers are in the Wrong Business
I don’t totally agree with what you saying
From my own experience, I have watched a business started a blog before they publish their products. And what I have seen is the blog takes too much time, too much effort to build and generate some helpful comments to build the products.
I don’t think any firm would want to do a market research in a blogging way, for following reasons:
1 – Waste too much time and effort while they can go outside and do surveys, pay for CPA network to ask readers, etc.
2 – When it comes to determine the need of the market, you need a research firm to determine who targeted audiences are, what their profile look like, etc. Blog is not a typical platform to deal with this.
I agree with AJ you should start a blog at the same time with your business. About the research part, people should plan for their products before they market it. If the product fails, I think they have done a poor job in researching.
I do think a blog can boost sales, create conversation and a place to find out more about your potential customers so that you can up-sell the products to them.
Mike recently posted..All in one guide to increase your blog backlinks with CommentLuv
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