Blogs and... sales?

Would it be possible for these famous blogs that increasingly attract internet user’s attention (28 and 45% of them regularly read blogs, figures relate to age group [1]) to act as sales tools?

We can easily imagine their application from the perspective of a company’s internal or external communications, economic intelligence, public relations or event promotion, but sales?

Why can blogs sell?

A blog has the ability to attract internet users naturally. Through its technical nature, the importance it attaches to content, the quantity and rate of its modifications and because it often belongs to a group or network of blogs, this form of Web publication enjoys being able to position itself easily and well in search engines. As we know that these are often the main source of site traffic, it is a huge advantage to have a blog on your site. Furthermore, search engine produced traffic is usually more relevant, which translates into purchases and actions taken by these visitors.

Secondly, we can say that blogs have the power to attract attention and inform. Two characteristics common to the majority of blogs are the informal tone that they often use (compared to the expert one used by traditional websites), and in a more general way, the passion felt evident therein. Bloggers love their subject, and it shows. Internet users also feel it and as they find them easier to read, they linger there more often and…longer (internet users who read blogs use the Internet nearly twice as much, that is to say nearly 23 hours per week compared to 13 hours for other users [2]).

Finally, blogs are able to influence. In fact, when a blogger recommends a product or a service they use, or the customer experience they had, they create negative or positive publicity for the company or product concerned. When they simply post contextual advertising on their blog (e.g. paint adverts on a renovation blog), this also has a large impact because blogs enjoy greater popularity than the manufacturer’s or distributor’s site that talks about their services and/or products.

How can blogs sell?

A company can leverage sales on a product or range of product by communicating all its passion through a blog. Take, for example, GM’s Fastlane blog written by Bob Lutz, GM Vice-President, who is shown to be a high-powered engine enthusiast in his blog. He shares his passion and blog with a growing number of Internet users, obviously interested by the exchange platform controlled by the manufacturer. As this well-referenced blog enjoys much traffic and feedback, it is the ideal place to launch targeted product promotions, at a much lower cost than using large portals. This strategy therefore consists of using the passion of your company to create rich and flexible content for a blog that will enable you to discreetly promote your products.

Another example, ice.com, is an online jewelers’ that uses a blog that’s not associated with their name, sparklelikethestars.com, where a blogger simply shows the stars wearing jewelry similar to that on sale at ice.com. This created significant traffic, by completely new methods compared to other jewelers who use mass mail which only really attracts current customers.

Do I have to have my own blog?

Not necessarily. Other people’s blogs can also be a source of traffic of potential buyers. How?

There are several possible strategies. You can post comments on other people’s blogs and talk about your products and services. This is difficult, as your comments will probably be erased if they are obvious advertisements. Easier, but more costly, is to follow Marqui , a Web software company, who pay recognized bloggers to talk about your products, completely transparently. You will get the same anticipated results in terms of public relations, notoriety and, ultimately, sales. A variation on this theme is to send product samples to some well-chosen bloggers; ask them in return to pay a small percentage of the usual price, mention the product and create a link to your site on their blog in return.

You can also simply sponsor a blog, a straightforward strategy which is being used more and more often at big and small companies alike.

Blogs continue to bring us into the age of transparency where the client is king: is your company there?

[1] CNN, USA Today and Gallup, Mars 2005

[2] Comscore Networks, Août 2005