Is this thing on? If you are starting to feel like you are blogging to an empty room, or your posts are accompanied by the sound of crickets, it’s time to start focusing on whether or not you are reaching your audience. There are a number of methods that can be used to determine whether you are getting hits, but this does not provide the true picture. When it comes to reaching your audience, this pays off in terms of new site visitors, more sales and better word of mouth. So, how you can tell if you are reaching your audience? How can you improve your blog to accomplish this? Let’s take a look at some great techniques.

1. Measure by sales.

One of the best tests to see if you are reaching your audience is to create a test post. For this example, we’re going to use a corporate blog that has an online store that sells cordless phones. The test post is going to cover the differences between phones with 5.8 mhz, and 3.0 mhz. Inside the post is a link to discount cordless phones with the appropriate link title.

Float a post like this out there and monitor the reaction. If you move a couple products, you’re starting to get there. If nothing happens, you need to figure out what is going wrong.

2. Measure by reader participation.

When you create an emotional connection with your readers, they can’t help but want to communicate with you. Are you getting more emails after certain blog posts, or more comments? Figure out which kind of posts evoke the most response from your readers and then stick with the format that works. It will make a big difference in how you reach your audience.

3. Measure by traffic.

While you can’t use this all the time, traffic spikes can help you determine how well certain posts do and what may be wrong with others. For example, let’s say that you do a post on the top ten reasons why cordless phones are useful. You put it up and notice that you have a lot of traffic coming from Digg or Reddit. This means that one of your readers thought enough of the post to submit it to these sites and that it is garnering attention.

If you don’t have analytics softaware installed on your blog, you need to add this right away. You can use this software to find out where your visitors are coming from as well as which posts perform better than others. Once you have this down, you can begin focusing on what your readers want to read.

When it comes down to it that is the whole point of this exercise. To reach your audience, you have to give them something that they want to read. To do that, you’ve got to do a little testing to see what will work and what will not. Once you know, you will start to see a big change in the amount of traffic you get and the amount of reader participation.

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Originally posted 2008-09-22 05:00:21. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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When you first start your corporate blog, it can be pretty exciting. You’re all charged up about the benefits you’re going to be reaping and the sales you’ll be making. After a few weeks of this however, this newness tends to wear off. If you didn’t luck out and gain instant success with your blog, it can feel like it’s just you and the crickets. While no one wants to waste time and resources, it is important to give your corporate blog enough of a chance to make it, and that means sticking with it, even though you may be completely fed up. Here are some tips to keep you going.

1. Set up a posting schedule and stick to it every day.

Once it becomes routine, and you realize that posting really only takes a few minutes, it is easier to keep the habit. Try making your morning coffee time your corporate blog time too, or find ways to combine your posting time with something that you enjoy. If necessary, set up a reward system so that you treat yourself for every post you make. Your blog won’t stand a chance if you abandon it, so you’ve got to keep at it until something happens.

2. Set realistic expectations.

Very few blogs make it overnight, and less than 2% of all blogs are actually runaway hits. It is vital to go into this project knowing that the returns may be smaller than you expect. You will need to give your blog at least six months to develop a steady audience. If after that time you have not seen any measurable results, it will be time to reevaluate your options. Until then however, stick with it.

3. Find new ways to get excited about posting.

Every single post you make on your corporate blog does not need to be a well thought out missive. Try putting up polls instead, or reference an interesting article that you saw. By finding new things to talk about that are related to your industry, you can keep that forward momentum going.

4. Put a face on your audience.

Corporate blogging is all about putting a personal face on your business, but this works both ways. It can be pretty difficult to get excited about posting when you feel like you are talking to a brick wall. To keep your energy up, imagine that you are writing to a friend. Envision this person and write your posts as though you were having a conversation with them.

This has the added benefit of making your posts more reader-friendly and more engaging. Try it and see if you don’t notice a difference in your attitude.

5. Don’t set yourself up to fail.

If you find yourself grumbling about “no one is going to read it anyway,” stop right there. Defeatist talk will only get you defeat. You’ll need to keep a positive approach going and give yourself time to succeed. It will happen, if you apply yourself.

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Originally posted 2008-09-29 05:37:55. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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