I’ve really struggled with this post – even though it’s one of the shorter ones I’ve written.

I’ve never been good with “Good-byes.”  I’m much better with “Hello’s”, “See You Later’s” and “Y’all Come Back Now, Y’hear?”

But the time has come for me to say good-bye to Business and Blogging.  I am leaving to focus more on my own blog and other writing commitments. Even though it was my decision, it is still hard to let go. I will miss being part of the b5media network.  I will miss my co-blogger Laura who always has such enthusiasm and insight.  And I will miss sharing with you readers.

All businesses should have a succession plan and a contingency plan, and that includes their communication strategy and blog.

So my final post is a reminder to you as you design your business blog, to develop contingency plans for vacations, illness, and employee turnover.

• One approach is to have multiple bloggers so that they can cover for each other.
• Another is to have posts written in advance to allow for disruption in schedules.
• And a third is to build a network so that you can find a new blogger to transition quickly and smoothly.

B5media has a huge network of bloggers and a great reputation. I see on the problogger job board that the open position for this blog has been closed. I don’t know personally who will be taking my spot at businessandblogging but I know they will be of high caliber and will bring their own enthusiasm and unique perspective to the blog.

I will be back from time to say “Hello” and to see how the blog is developing.  I hope that you will too.

So for now, instead of “Good-bye”, I’ll just say “See you later” and “Y’all come back now, y’hear?”

Post from: EveryJoe

Saying Good-bye or How to Plan for Blogger Turnover

I received 9 responses to the survey. The original scholarly research that prompted this survey was only done on 15 respondents so I think this was a pretty good result for a less formal analysis.

Of the 9 respondents, 6 were female.  Three were in their 20’s, 1 in their 30’s, 2 in their 40’s, 2 in their 60’s and 1 declined to give an age. They all read blogs daily and are bloggers themselves.

Most read between 3 and 15 blogs daily, although several had over 100 blogs in their readers that they monitored.

89% said that they felt a personal connection with one or more of the bloggers that they read, and that they consciously look for a blog when researching a business’ website.

100% said they would be more likely to buy from a business with a blog, all other factors being equal.

And 100% said that there was at least one blogger who they trusted for advice.

When asked what made them keep coming back to a particular blog, the most common response was content: with interesting, relevant, and fresh being most important, and a few respondents who also appreciated humor and a sense of the blogger’s personality.

When asked what prompted them to comment on a post, most cited a feeling that they had something to say and could add something of value to the conversation, whether it was their own opinion, their experience or a different point of view.   

To me, the most significant point for business bloggers to take from these results is to remember that they represent your customers, many of whom are bloggers.  More and more, customers are reading blogs – to get to know you, and to get to know your current customers.

Remember: 100% said that all things being equal they would prefer to do business with a business that blogs – because they get a better sense of who you are as a person, and develop a real connection to you……before they ever walk through your door or put an item in their shopping cart.  

And now, I’d like to thank the readers who responded to our survey:

Ren Garcia , Jean Murray , Breanne Potter , Miranda, Wisequeen, Josh Solar, Laura Spencer , Gavin Heaton, and Linnette  

They are all great bloggers with interesting content and engaging personalities – I’ve added them to my regular blog reading and when you check out their unique blogs – I bet you will too!!

Post from: EveryJoe

Results of Business and Blogging Reader Survey

I have a website for my small business.  I like the idea of a blog as a marketing tool but I just can’t commit to updating a regular blog right now.  Any thoughts on how I can still take advantage of blogging to increase my business’ visibility?

Signed,

Busy in Bizmark

Dear Busy,

If you don’t have time to maintain your own business blog, I recommend that you look for opportunities to write guest posts on other people’s blogs.

There are several guidelines for doing this effectively:

1) Seek out blogs that serve similar target markets as your business. You obviously don’t want to blog on direct competitor sites.  Instead look for affinity businesses:  

• a home decorator and a realtor
• a veterinarian and a dog groomer
• a nanny and a maternity-clothes store

2) Read the blog to get to know the blogger:

• does the blogger currently use guest bloggers? (not required but good to know)
• does the blogger have a compelling writing style?
• does the blogger have an active community and commenters?
• do you like the blogger’s personality?
• read the about page – do you understand the blogger’s goals and background?

3) review the blog’s content

• what topics does the blogger like to write about?
• what gaps do you see that you could address?
• what topics seem to get good response from the readers?

4) After you have done the above research, you are ready to contact the blogger:

• send an email to the blogger letting them know that you are a reader (even better if you have been leaving comments on the blog)
• mention a few posts or series that you have particularly enjoyed
• describe your background and what you would like to write about
• request to do a guest post, offering several topics you could write about

5) Most bloggers who accept guest posts will find the following terms agreeable:

1. unique content that you have not published before
2. their review and approval of content prior to publishing
3. a general word count that’s consistent with their posts  
4. your byline on your post with a link back to your site 
5. a short bio at the end, with a link to your site
6. your picture with the article if you send one 
7. if you do have your own blog, a link to the article on your site   

Be sure to thank them for the guest post and respond to any comments that your post gets on their site. Once you have successfully guest posted on a site, they will probably be happy to have you back again!

Post from: EveryJoe

Dear Business and Blogging – How to Guest Post

Despite the fact that there are over one million blog posts created every day, blogging is often a solitary pursuit. It’s nice therefore to take a look at some statistics that give a glimpse of insight into how others are faring in the blogosphere. 

In case you’ve missed any posts, I thought you might like the entire list all in one convenient place. 

So, without further ado:

• How Do You Compare to Other Bloggers?
• Where has Blogging Gotten You?
• How Well Do You Blog?
• What Do Top Bloggers Make?
• How Do Bloggers Make Money?
• How Much Does the Average Blogger Make?
• Do Bloggers Affect Your Brand?
• How Do You Attract Visitors to Your Blog?
• Are Male Bloggers More Successful than Female Bloggers?

Let me know  – What surprised you most about the research?

Post from: EveryJoe

Technorati Research Roundup

It’s hard to imagine how that could be, but let me give you the statistics and see what conclusions you can draw.

Overall, there are almost twice as many male bloggers than female ones:

•  66% male vs. 34% female

There are fewer younger female bloggers (18-24):

• 15% male vs. 9% female

As compared to male bloggers, female bloggers are more likely to be personal rather than professional bloggers (83% vs. 76%); they tend to talk more about personal musings (66% vs. 47%)  and family updates (36% vs. 16%).   Their goal is more likely to be to keep family and friends updated (45% vs. 25%) or to meet and connect with like-minded people (75% vs. 59%).

On the other hand, female bloggers are twice as likely to sell through an affiliate brand (16% vs. 7%), and more likely to have affiliate links (41% vs. 32%).

Female bloggers are also more likely than male bloggers to have participated in a blogroll, linked to other blogs, gotten listed on a blog directory, and produced content for other blogs (all activities designed to drive traffic to a blog).   

Interestingly – more female bloggers have converted business leads from their blog versus male bloggers (36% vs. 27%).

When it comes to the high revenue earning bloggers, women are even more scarce:

• 4 out of 5 of the bloggers with the top 10% of earnings are male.

To put it on equal comparisons:

• 4 out of 20 female bloggers are professional bloggers
• 5 out of 20 male bloggers are professional bloggers
• yet – 16 out of 20 high revenue earning bloggers are male

So – my question is why is there such a difference in the ways that women and men blog?

Blogging would appear to be an equal opportunity activity.  Anyone can blog with very little barrier to entry. And the choice of topic is a personal decision.  Women seem just as aware or even more aware than men of the ways to make money from a blog, and drive traffic to a blog.

Overwll the research implies that while women might be slightly more inclined to blog in support of a business (driving leads), they seem less inclined to blog as a business, and significantly less successful when they do. 

 So – why do you think women are less likely to blog and less financially successful when they do? 

Post from: EveryJoe

Technorati Research: Are Male Bloggers More Successful than Female Bloggers?

But how do you get the readers to find you in the first place?

In Technorati’s recent research on the State of the Blogosphere 2008,  they explored the ways that bloggers attracted readers to their sites.  The assumption was that once the readers came to the site, and discovered the great content and the engaging personalities of the bloggers, they would bookmark the site and eagerly return.

The following are the top ways the surveyed bloggers chose:

• 83% listed their blog on technorati (all blogs surveyed had been registered on technorati – so this number may have some bias)
• 77% comment on other blogs
• 73% list their blogs on Google
• 66% tag their blog posts
• 64% link to other blogs and hope for reciprocity
• 54% participate in a blogroll
• 52% get listed in a blog directory
• 24% produce content for other blogs or websites
• 4% pay for online advertising

It’s interesting to me that the following activities were not included in the list:  

• participating in forums
• participating in carnivals
• hosting contests
• networking with other bloggers via email or twitter
• networking with other bloggers via live events
• participating in a blog network (like b5media or blogher)
• working with print media
• offline advertising of the blog (business cards, brochures, flyers)
• online articles and press releases
• writing articles or providing quotes for print media
• leveraging digg or stumble
• creating a viral post or video
• opening up the blog input to readers
• creating a reader forum on the blog site

What ideas have you used to increase readership of your blog? How successful has it been?

Post from: EveryJoe

Technorati Research: How Do You Attract Visitors to Your Blog?

The contest is easy – but it ends tomorrow just before midnight EST!

I have an Epson 600 and have been really impressed with it.  Since I live in a small (600 sq ft) apartment, I really appreciate the all-in-one features – it works as a printer, a copier and a fax machine.

Also I really hate all the wires that seem to accompany the many electronics we have in these two small rooms!

Since the Epson is wireless, there were no new wires to worry about tripping over!!

It prints quickly and quietly.  Recently when we have had company staying with us, they were able to log onto our wireless network and easily print maps, theatre tickets, train schedules, and more to enable them to get around Manhattan on their own while I was at work.  They were even able to print photos from their sightseeing adventures.

Now, Kristen mentioned that the printer had almost magical qualities – that the pages were waterproof!  She said she printed a picture of herself, ran it under water for a minute and it didn’t smudge!!

That got me intrigued – I had to try it for myself!

I printed this picture:

Cute, isn’t it?

Then I ran it under the faucet in my bathroom sink – and it didn’t run….of course to be really scientific I’d have to print the picture on another printer and compare…..

But magical or not, it’s a quick, quiet, inexpensive printer that can handle all of your business needs (including printing entries from your blog) without taking up much room, making much noise or causing you to trip!

So – hurry over to the contest , and leave a comment telling her what kind of printer you currently have – so you can have a chance to win!!

And if you do win – please let me know!!

(Now can anybody tell me what I should do with this picture of a wet dog??)

image source: darkpatator (flickr)

Post from: EveryJoe

Urgent!!! Two Chances to Win a Brand New Epson 600 Workforce Printer!

Bloggers frequently write about Brands. 

Specifically they found that:

• 82% post product or brand reviews
• 89% post about brands they love (or hate)
• 63% post about company information or gossip they hear about  
• 79% post about every day experiences in stores or with customer care

This is consistent with experiences that Laura and I have discussed in which bloggers have written posts about their experiences with Steak and Shake, Target, and Dell, among others.

This is important to Businesses because Bloggers influence customer’s perspectives.  Bloggers have credibility because they themselves are customers.  And in this day and age of increasing skepticism about big business – customers are going to trust bloggers more than they trust your own PR department.

BusinessWeek recently released its report on the top 100 Global Brands for 2008.  At the top of the list is Coca-cola, with a brand worth $67 Billion. And at #100 is Visa, with a brand worth $3 Billion.

Despite their large size, all of these companies need to pay attention to their reputation and the potential impact of the blogosphere. 

Now, your brand may not be worth $67 billion or even $3 billion – it’s worth more, because it is worth your business and your reputation.  

What effect have bloggers had on your brand?

Post from: EveryJoe

Technorati Reserach: Do Bloggers Affect Your Brand?

You may have heard the expression:  “There are lies, damn lies and statistics”

That’s because while statistics sound like facts (all those numbers!) they can be misleading if you don’t pay close attention to what is being said.

For example, statistics commonly talk about “the average”, as in “the average blogger”.

In this context, “average” usually means the statistical mean. In other words, if you want to find out how much the “average” blogger earns from his or her blog – you add up all the revenue a bunch of bloggers make, and divide that amount by the number of bloggers you asked, right?

Here’s the problem with that – the “average” calculated that way tells you very little if there bloggers on the very low end and/or the very high end of the scale.

For example, Technorati states that the “average blogger” makes approximately $6000 per year from advertising revenue.

However, Technorati is also quick to point out that this average is skewed by a few bloggers who make a lot of money.  In fact, there were bloggers surveyed who make $350,000 per year from advertising.  

When you add those high earning bloggers  into the pool of all bloggers surveyed – the average income gets inflated - and you’re left with the impression that if the “average” blogger makes $6000 from their blog – then most bloggers make $6000 from their blog – so therefore, I could and should make $6000 from my blog.

But, Technorati also provides another statistical calculation – called the median.

The median is important because it is the exact middle of all the responses that the survey got.  In other words, 50% of  the bloggers who responded to the survey made more than the median and 50% of  the bloggers made less. 

And what is the statistical median for the advertising income by US bloggers in the Technorati research?      $200.

That’s right – half of the bloggers surveyed made less than $200.   

But – half made more, and 1 in 100 made over $200,000 per year.

Technorati also looked specifically at bloggers who have over 100,000 page views per month.

The average (mean)  income for these bloggers was $75,000.

But you’re asking (I hope) – What was the median income? 

And Technorati provides the answer – $22,000.

In other words – half of all bloggers with 100,000 page views per month make less than $22,000 and half make more.

And now that you know – Are you surprised by the revenue that bloggers make?  Is it higher or lower than you thought?

Post from: EveryJoe

Technorati Research – How Much Does the Average Blogger Make?

I thought you might be interested in learning more about how professional bloggers make money.

The answer is: (drumroll please!)……………………………… advertising.

Bloggers use any combination of the following:

• Search ads  (38%)
• Display ads (28%)
• Affiliate Marketing Links (20%)
• Paid Postings (6%)
• Rich Media Ads (4%)
• While 46% of bloggers don’t have any ads, 28% use three or more methods of advertising.

Of those who use advertisments, two out of three have contextual ads and one in three have affiliate ads.  Only one in five negotiate directly with advertisers and only one in ten sell advertising through a blog ad network or post reviews of products online. And only one in twenty has a dedicated sales force to sell ads on the blog.

Bloggers who chose not to advertise on their blog gave the following reasons:

• I don’t want my blog cluttered with ads (24%)
• I am not interested in making money on my blog (24%)
• I don’t have enough visitors to my blog to make it worthwhile (21%)
• I don’t want to appear less impartial or less credible by including ads (14%)
• I don’t know how to set up my site to accept advertising (5%)

 Is your blog your business? And if so, do you make money from advertising?  Has this given you any insight or encouragement to do more advertising on your site?

Post from: EveryJoe

Technorati Reserach: How do Bloggers Make Money?