Who Needs A Blog Anyway?

We sell books online, but to be most effective, we need to put company news online as well. Much of the internet is full of users who are surfing for “infotainment.”They aren’t necessarily looking to buy a product, but looking for updated news regarding products, services, media, or the industry they are familiar with. To capture this group of users, why not start featuring press releases, white papers or informative content every once in awhile for viewers via a blog? Publishing content online in an industry where no one else has can often times mean becoming an authority in that industry. How many other book sites can you say has a blog?

If you can think of one, is it successful? No? Good, capitalize on their mistakes and make it work. It is successful? Good, let’s figure out what they’re doing right and make a better one. A blog also serves as an important medium for B2B or B2C business. Because people enjoy reading news about their field of work, or articles/studies related to it, by featuring our own blog we can post pictures/videos to it, creating new channels of communication (Flickr, YouTube), which can rake in its own traffic. Featuring messages in videos or graphics on our blog can serve as a commercial for a product or service, provide highlights of an event, or display a message from Bookbyte’s President/CEO. By writing compelling articles and using appropriate graphics, we can capture the reader, allowing them to associate the company with the specific images - further assisting the company in its branding efforts.

To further build Bookbyte’s web relevance, if each article or press release we publish features 1, 2 or 3 out-bound links linking back to Bookbyte, BookbyteDirect, or BestPriceBooks.com, we establish relevant link-building and create better positioning in search engine results.

With big corporations or any company now doing business behind the “closed doors” of the internet, (not necessarily a bad thing, although scams prove this to be true) browsers are comforted by seeing the faces of people operating behind websites. This can be seen on EXIT Real World’s site (Exitrealworld.com) – where they have a “Staff,” (where I used to be listed =]) and “Team” section on their website which displays a picture and one line biography for all the staff and the people on the skate and snowboarding teams. This is just one example of one company being transparent on the internet. I don’t think this would be the most effective way for any company to be transparent, but serves as just one example.

A blog (as the new “rules” of social media indicates) will show that we aren’t solely “pushing” our products and services into the marketplace, but in turn acts as more of a “pull” as we provide relevant content to the user, and let them make their own decision about purchasing. A majority of the time people buy from a) places they’ve bought from before b) places that are well-known and have authority…places they are starting to trust, and c) places that sell the niche product or service they are looking for. It’s hard to pretend like we don’t care about a sale, but as we continue doing business on the ever-changing internet and provide informative and interesting articles with our brand & logo on it, people will start to recognize our business and will come back later. Whether that be for news or to purchase a book doesn’t necessarily matter as much as that they do visit the blog again, helping to show that the blog, indeed, is becoming more established & news-worthy.

One thing has proved to be sanely static in a very dynamic internet for quite some time: people aren’t in buy-mode while browsing, and “content is king.” How do we capture the attention of users who ignore banner advertisements, e-mail marketing messages, and manage to evade our Google PPC Campaign? By creating a “pull” medium, where we practice letting the customer come to us by writing compelling and exciting content that applies to them.

1-2 postings a week on a blog using this new “pull” method even within half a year can generate thousands of unique visitor hits, plus leave an impact on the industry that we are now on the map and provide services and products, as well as quality news. Plus, with the ability now to link our Social Media Networks back to our homepage/blog (remember: Facebook has an Alexa ranking of 2 in the U.S. – meaning it’s the nation’s 2nd most popular site) creates links that Google indexes that will only boost rankings for all our sites, as well as showing customers that “We have A LOT more to offer than other textbook stores,”…we have news and infotainment - which is the main reason people use the internet.

A blog would work perfect for our site, as is. But considering we are entering a new realm into the video game mainstream and industry media, we can participate that much more if we start a blog and write articles and press releases that pertain to the “buying and selling video games online” niche, as well as our loyal book-buyers and –sellers. I’m suggesting a new “P” to add to the core P’s of Marketing – product, price, place & promotion. What’s become hugely apparent in only the last couple of years as social media sites continue to increase in popularity is the 5th “P” – which stands for participation. Our value as a participant is judged by the value we provide to the community as a whole (on Bookbyte.com or social media sites). If we choose only to “push,” or to be “glory hog’s,” we’ll garner little attention. Share freely, and we’ll be a respected member.