Case Study: A Friends Small Business Blog

Three or four months ago at a joint friends birthday party I was discussing with my friend Tony how a blog might help him in driving traffic to his online web store.

The problem Tony had was that along with many others he was a reseller of products from a company called Neways. Along with those others who sell that product they paid for a hosted web store solution. Which if you ask me is a rip off, but hey ho it's not my money.

Tony went off and set up a blog on blogger. Which was great, or so I thought. When I visited the blog  Tony seemed to have missed the message I had been trying to get across.

Where do I think that Tony went wrong?

Content

The first thing I think Tony did wrong was his content. It wasn't by him, it is reproduced articles (which I am assuming are from Neways). So there was none of Tony's personality coming through the writings that people could warm to, and like. Even with commercial blogs I think that there needs to be that personal touch that gives it that feel that it is not just a place for the hard sell.

I'm also not sure how expert Tony is in this area, but he needs to be able to demonstrate his passion and expertise in this area. Which frankly re-posting some-one else's words does not do.

 

Marketing Opportunities

I think Tony is missing a trick or two with his blog by not making it easy for folks to get a little free sampler pack from his blog. But this all ties in with the next point as well on contact details.

He should also be running a competition each month to win some of the products he is selling. This gets people trying his stuff and hopefully liking it enough to buy some from him in the future. It also has the benefit of giving folks a reason to return to his blog, apart from the great content he will be posting.

Contact Details

There is a mailto link hidden away on the profile. But this needs to be more prominent on the main page. 

The sort of contact page they should have on the blog in my opinion is more like the page they have on their web store. Which has a their address, phone number, and an email form for request further info etc. But this is not an easy thing to do in Blogger.

Book, blogger, and expert will tell you time and time again that people should be able to contact you easily.

Online Communities

To my knowledge Tony doesn't participate in online communities that are based around the products he is trying to sell. So Tony needs to get out there commenting on blogs, posting on forums etc. But what he must not do is just try and promote and sell stuff. Making it obvious in any profile who you are and have a link to the blog. But all the posts should be adding something to the conversation going on. Eventually folks will get to know him, and respect what he has to say. Which will hopefully mean they will read his blog, and from there down the road buy from him.

Free Tools

For Tony stats are important, they allow him to see how much traffic he has, and if it he is passing traffic on to his website. He currently uses Google Analytics, but he should also be using Feedburner for his RSS feeds. Which will allow him to gain some stats about those that subscribe to his feed.

There is also another free tool from Google Webmaster Tools, which will show him how people are finding his blog, which he can tie in with his Google Adwords. This will then allow him to fine tune the Google Adwords he uses.

Improve His Knowledge

I think also that Tony should visit Amazon to get some of the books I listed in my previous posting Blogging/Web 2.0 Reading List. He needn't spend a fortune on these if he uses the Amazon New and Used section. This often works out cheaper even with postage than the Amazon price. Particularly I think he should be concentrating on the Web Analytics books and the Google SEO one, with maybe the Problogger book as well.

Following the right people on Twitter and reading the right blogs will also help Tony get up to speed fast on an ever changing area. If he starts following Jim Connolly on Twitter and reading his blog also, Tony won't go wrong. Jim has a great blog full of help information, and on Twitter is a great networker, helping folks connect with each other. Jim gets Web 2.0 and Social Media. So Tony should be learning from Jim. From there Tony should look at who Jim follows on Twitter and pick out ones that look interesting and follow them, and also add those blogs to his follow list. But Tony needs to remember he needs to put back into the community as well (see above comment).

Move The Blog

Considering the needs of Tony, my final recommendation is probably the most radical of them all. I'd kill off the blog on Blogger and go for a self hosted Wordpress blog. Yes it would cost him a little bit of money each year, no more than 30 GBP if he shops around. But this has the advantage of the fact he has more control over the blog. He would be able to utilise plugins that could give him a contact form, add polls, track blog stats, add advertising links to RSS feeds, etc.

Over To You

So what do you think of my advice for Tony? What have I missed? Am I totally off the mark? Leave a comment with your thoughts on the matter. Please nothing about the products or the company. I understand how they work, and where the real money is made in this sort of "opportunity". But a friend is a friend, and I would like to see him succeed.