I think the big question any business owner should ask before starting a
blog is Why bother? It can be a lot of work keeping it up - and posting
regularly is vital to a successful blog.
Well, not being a reader of or believer in blogs (I much prefer real
journalism, which I suspect some blogs have, but...). And your response
to my question is an example of why.
Otherwise, the blog should either drive traffic to your site, create
community, or push sales.
I was hoping for at least the latter.
books, has a blog that serves a just one more component in its marketing
campaign to get people to its web site. Other elements of that campaign
include Internet advertising and national print advertising.
Great if you can afford those things. I should be so lucky.
That one's okay for someone who likes book reviews, I despise and
disbelieve all reviews, including this one by me.
Most small merchants probably don't need to create a community on their web
site, so pushing sales may be the best reason to do a blog.
Yep.
Among antiquarian booksellers, Forrest Proper's Foggygates is the best
example I know of a blog that pushes sales by offering interesting
descriptions of books for sale.
I think this format shows real promise for booksellers who could upload the
most interesting book they catalog each day, perhaps before it goes online
elsewhere. It would give customers a reason to visit and would not require
much extra work.
Agreed and to some extent I've been doing that with articles on my
website's home page. A couple of weeks ago I had one about F M Ford and
more recently about John Betjeman.
I would suggest using a service like FeedBlitz to allow
customers to sign up for email updates, thus turning your blog posts into an
email newsletter as well.
Yes, newsletters is something else I've been giving thought to. I'll
look into FeedBlitz.
If you want to explore the world of book blogs, I'd start with J. Godsey's
round up of news and her extensive list of links:
Funnily enuf that's one I've found before and liked. Maybe it helps
"knowing" Godsey.
Many thanks
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