« 7 Things A Relationship Building Website Should Do | Main | Smarten Up Your Greatest Assets »

Over Half Of All Weblogs Are Abandoned

According to a study by Perseus Development Corporation, over half of all weblogs are abandoned after two-months. Among many reasons, most weblogs loose the interest of their readers or the publisher. As powerful as weblogs can be, they can be much better if you work on these areas.

Other reasons over half of all weblogs are abandoned include:

  1. Lack of audience focus. Survey your audiences desires within the scope of your business, consider who you are benefiting, and what specifically your audience wants to read. Without an audience blogging is useless, solve problems for your readers in ever post.
  2. Unclear media strategy. Within your company determine what purpose your blog serves and whether the media needs to know about it. If you are using your blog as a marketing tool, then your strategy should include regular promotion to media channels.
  3. Not understanding the commitment. Most blogs require daily publishing and effort to develop new content. You'll need the interest of at least one full-time person to monitor your business blogging efforts. Like many relationship tools you must follow through to be successful.
  4. Unfamiliar personal marketing strategy. Your authors reason for blogging must be aligned with readers interests. Establish a few credible experts in your company instead of encouraging everyone to blog. Individuals must believe in what they are publishing.
  5. Weak adoption and promotion. Seek to bond with your readers building a relationship on content that provides for their needs. Give readers a reason to return and encourage them to pass along your site as appropriate to their teams. Again, without readers your blogging efforts are useless.
  6. Low value to reader. As an issue of frequency, quality, or topic, to be of low value is not matching the needs of the target reader. Regularly survey and seek to understand what your reader wants to receive. Clearly identify your reader.
  7. Poor editorial management. Clearly identify the quality standards you have for content. Your existing copy and web development staff must support your company's' blogging efforts. You must have an editorial calendar or model for content development.
  8. Not properly integrated into other company media. A weblog can't stand alone, especially a public weblog designed for customers. Your weblog must support your website, print marketing, and other sales channels. Link to existing company content, related news stories, and provide relevant commentary.
  9. Public launch without private testing. Always test your blogging efforts with a small private audience before launching it in public. Make sure commenting works and other software aspects, seek feedback with target groups, and have some content available before publicizing your efforts.

These reason for abandonment apply for both internal and external blogs. Go through this checklist and make sure your people cover each area-- no sense investing the time if the implementation is wrong. Weblogs can be a powerful tool to glue together diverse information, interact directly with your audience, and build strong relationships with your readers.

/ b2b-websites | business-success /

By Justin Hitt at October 19, 2003 11:10 PM  Subscribe in a reader

275



Home | Featured Articles | Glossary of Terms | Subject Index | Site Map | Editorial Calendar | About us | Contact us

Center for Strategic Relations, Dept IUN,
1123 Spruce St #3123, Martinsville, VA 24115-3123

24-Hour Phone/Fax Hotline: +1 (877) 207-3798

© 2001-2023 JWH Consolidated LLC dba Center for Strategic Relations, All rights reserved. Privacy Policy. Sitemap.