Firstly, successful blog owners have a positive attitude, they try to be constructive, cooperative and well informed. They work with the community, not for the community. They understand that the benefits a blog can offer are bestowed by the community, as they are earned. Again, it’s about good attitude. If you’re going to burst on the blog scene all wild eyed, posting reams of comments on every forum or blog in sight – regardless of the subject matter, all tough and authoritative, posting low quality content on your own blog whilst sucking honey out of a bees arse… You’re not going to get far. You need to find the golden middle way.

Don’t get me wrong, in my younger blog endeavours I did do much of what’s listed below, so I’m posting the following to help. Have a comment or suggestion? Add it below.

1) Use the default design template (theme) that came with your blog package.

There’s nothing better than advertising your blog as not important enough to spend time obtaining an esthetically pleasing and inviting interface; with simple to use (and intuitive) navigation.

Remember, readers like looking at crappy designs and they love to spend time treasure hunting for your content.

It’s nice to know that your blog looks the same as all the other soulless blogs.

2) Never ever respond to comments.

Remember that this is your blog. You don’t have time to respond to visitors, your time is valuable, so they will have to wait for someone else to provide an answer. Remember, you’re providing free information and tools so visitors will just have to wait for a convenient time. They don’t mind that you’re not really interested in providing valuable input.

3) Never comment on other blogs, forums or web sites.

Don’t waste your time helping other blogs with your valuable input, after all, your blog that is the priority. Quite frankly, if you have anything of value to say, people should read about it only on your blog. Don’t worry that less exposure makes you harder to find.

4) Post new content whenever the need arises.

That’s right, you’re very busy, you’re a mover and shaker. Post content whenever you get around to it, that way your readers will have to keep checking if new content is posted.

Visitors will always wait for quality content, it’s free and they have nothing better to do. Besides they appreciate that your blog does not address current issues.

5) Repost content you find elsewhere.

Readers like reposted content, that way they don’t have to go to the original web site to find it. Readers enjoy seeing the same Creative Content licensed articles shared over and over again on different sites – Why should you be any different.

If you want to be particularly saucy and daring, try copying copyrighted material. Readers love to find it as it gives them a reason to notify the original author. So what if the author takes legal action – You can blog about it and your readers have something to talk about.

Reposted content clearly shows that you are focused on current subjects but lack the genuine skills to develop original, valuable content.

6) You are the master of your subject.

You know your products, services or subject matter intimately. You don’t need to field information from someone else. Similarly, you should never spend time reading other blogs as that is not worthwhile. Your content is better than any one else and your traffic will prove as much (once your blog gets busy).

You don’t mind that failing to read content can in the long run demonstrate how uninformed you are.

7) Don’t waste time developing quality content.

The content on your blog is free, don’t waste extra time making it worthwhile to read, helpful or informative. Everyone else is talking about the same information, so what’s the point of focusing on quality? These day’s readers want just a line or two of explanation and a few links, they don’t have time to sit and read.  Keeping posts short and curt can show people how low your blog priority is.

8) Smother them with ads and calls to action.

Readers love splogs (spam blogs). They enjoy three lines of content and 500 lines of irrelevant and unrelated advertising. They will return time and again to see if anything has changed. Of course they will enjoy clicking all the ads that have no relation to the information they are looking for.

9) Always lead your readers on.

Make all sorts up promises to your readers. Always tell them what you think they want to hear and read. That way they will be sure to return, time and again. Professionalism and integrity are negatively impacted by empty promises.

10) Never listen to professional advice.

When a professional web developer, designer, blogger, etc. gives you advice, never listen to it. After all, you’ve read all there is to read about the subject. You even attended seminars where the opposite was suggested. You asked someone else and they agreed with you.

Professionals… meh! What do they know about my business? (They just know about web stuff). This clearly demonstrates to readers that you are foolish. Particularly when a blog feature is considered useless or “bloat” or not the best web solution for your industry.

11) Use the cheapest web hosting package you can find.

Nothing is more fun that trying to access a blog and receiving error messages in your web browser. Visitors will keep trying until the problem finally gets fixed.

No harm is done, after all the content is free, so visitors will wait for the site to become available again. You can actually save money by using cheap hosting. For that matter, you can save more money than you may have earned had your blog been available to potential clients. This clearly shows users that your business is cheap and unreliable.

12) Never, I repeat, NEVER participate in social networks.

You read that social networks like StumbleUpon, twitter, etc. are big time wasters. You’re a professional and are wise to that. Social networks don’t provide enough traffic as they are only for hip, savvy web users. Therefore, you don’t mind your blog being less visible.

Google page rank is where the action is, if I could just spend a little more money on advertising, to get a higher ranking.

In my opinion, not participating and enjoying the benefits of social media is probably the biggest factor limiting blog growth! (Or for that matter any type of site). I get the impression that many people don’t realize that the Internet is just as social as the brick and mortar world. In fact, Internet based social media enables blog owners to interact with a larger visitor (and potential client) base than physically possible.

Given the lure of increasing traffic to your web site and the inherent increase in revenue that traffic can bring, it’s no wonder how this seems the priority focus when attempting to increase traffic (and revenue leads). SEO is but one aspect that can benefit any business, there are incredible tools to this effect, one of the most beneficial is to use a blog.

Side note: Don’t know what a blog is? Then, you might be interested in my earlier post “What is Blogging? What’s a Blog“. That post also has a short video showing how a blog performs.

In another earlier post on this blog (Quality Content is Not “the” Key to a Blog Success), I suggested focusing on the intangible elements to help further increase traffic. It may logically follow therefore, that one of the biggest benefits blogging can provide business owners is the opportunity to develop a personal rapport with blog visitors. Like any business relationship, purchasers like to get to know their suppliers or providers a bit before investing in products and services. People are more likely to spend if the garner an inside peek – it’s a personal exchange. It builds confidence and trust among other things. Think about it for a moment… A web site, in essence is like a multi-page brochure. While that’s good to describe services or products, it does relatively little in terms of interaction, rapport building, social networking, and so forth. There’s really no Call to Action as each visit shows the same old content. Blogs on the other hand, encourage interactivity, communication and repeat visits as content is added on a regular basis.

A web site is one way communication. A blog is two way (actually it’s multiway communication). The blog owner (that’s the business) can talk to the visitor, who can respond AND visitors can communicate with each other as well.

For business owners, that content can include product or service updates, notifications, announcements, videos, personal introductions, podcasting, contests, guest writers, and the list goes on. Think of the scenario this way:

A potential client enters your business, you give them a brochure, they say nothing and leave. They may or may not return. That’s a web site.

No let’s look at the same scenario, from a blogging framework:

A potential client enters your business, you provide them the specific content they require. If they need content you don’t have, it’s a snap to add. The client communicates with you, and you respond. Both of you respond to another client, who replies. That sounds much more like the way things are supposed to be. Dynamic, interactive.

Over the years, I’ve seen time and again how blogs are able to better garner the traffic business owners are looking for. Why? That’s what they were designed for over the years – to be a social platform that allows people or businesses to communicate and build their connections. It’s one thing to read a book (or web site), but much more beneficial to communicate with the authors and visa versa.

To use an example, about a year ago one of my clients launched a web site and a blog a few weeks apart. To this day the blog is obtaining almost double the traffic of the web site. Statistically that seems to be supported in my opinion, when observing all of my clients sites and blogs. All of the blogs are at the top of the list traffic wise, with the sites trailing behind.

Obviously, due to privacy, I cannot divulge specific statistics of clients, I did take a look for some stats, to see if some of these observations are mirrored elsewhere. I found some pretty interesting results. Expansion+ (an Internet Marketing PR site) reported on a Business Blogging Survey. Did you know that “…Almost 89 percent of U.S. respondents and nearly 83 percent of U.K. respondents believe blogs are an important digital communication…”?

Also from their site:

“Ultimately, what this survey revealed was a need for communication professionals in both countries to step up to the plate and start integrating blogging practices into their strategic approach,” said Jacki Vause, managing director of Peppercom’s London office”.

While the survey they were discussing was specifically about “Business Blogging Survey Reveals Corporate Attitude to Social Media” and was intended to “…compare and contrast blogging communication practices in the U.S. and the U.K. and identify best practices…”, I couldn’t help but note some of the prevalent points.

I also looked at another site, which was more targeted to the subject of this blog post. Neville Hobson’s post “Blogs drive business opportunities: UK survey” where some of the key findings he noted included:

• 50% of companies undertake some form of blogging, either having a blog, or encouraging employees to comment on blogs.
• 80% of blog users visit blogs within work hours. Most blog users visit blogs at lunchtime (31%), or first thing in the morning (29%).
• 66% of businesses believe that blogs are becoming more influential as an information source.

Visit the link to his post (above) to see all his other noted findings (as they’re a good indicator of how business owners seem to deal with blogging).

Statistics aside, blogging is a great way for any business to increase traffic. It’s an interesting point to note, that when I conduct training seminars, a fair number of people seemed to have visited both my blogs, already garnering some feel for my business and my professional background – And it makes communication much more effective when I meet with them!

For business owners (actually for anyone) considering launching a blog, I’ve mentioned in other posts, but it’s apt here – Make sure you focus your blog towards a specific niche and target audience (within that niche). Obviously conent from my other blog (a Linux blog) would not work in this blog as it’s not of interest. Therefore, by using a blog, you’re able to provide an added benefit by targeting very specific audiences and therefore garnereing traffic that in many mays could be considered as “qualified leads“, since they may already be looking for what you’ve got.

What do these blog visitors want? I also found (via Google) the results of a German study about corporate blogging. For those who do not speak German, some of the key findings were:

• 95 % of respondents found it important that the blog they read be updated regularly.
• 91% of blog readers expect a fast, relevant/appropriate reply to their questions and comments.
• 90% of readers thought it was important to indicate a difference between commercial and private content.
• 58% of readers, read them to find news and information they can’t find elsewhere.
• 57% of respondents were interested in the personal opinions of the authors.
• 54% of blog visitors formulate their opinions about products and companies from blogs.
• 51% of readers visit product and/or corporate sites as a results of reading blogs.
• 43% of visitors were interested in the blog discussions.

Those are some eye opening numbers, that show how important blogs are to business owners. For example, would you like visitors to find out more about your business, it’s products and services elsewhere or from your blog directly? – A blog that can help them formulate an opinion about your business and it’s offerings.

I should note that one point not addressed in the site I reviewed was ROI. All business owners should be aware that the cost of operating a blog is drastically less that a traditional web site. You don’t have to spend the time to learn web coding or invest in designers and developers to update your site content. Using WordPress, it quite easy after the engine is installed. It’s very much like typing your content in an online editor and then clicking publish – Easy!

In conclusion, given the above, it appears that blogging provides the following key benefits to business owners.

• Targeted audience.
• improved PR (public relations).
• Enhanced pre-sales.
• Increased traffic due to social interaction.
• Community building.
• Cost effective ROI.
• Improved brand awareness.

In my opinion, businesses that want to compete for attention and traffic in today’s online arena could best leverage the value of their investment by using a blog.

After all, do you want to be communicating with interested people and building your business or would you rather be standing on the corner handing brochures out. In my opinion, the choice is a no-brainer. ;)