Content Mastery Guide

Editor and Ghostwriter

Read This Before You Set Up Your Blog: An Interview with Scott Gingrich of Piggybank Technology, Part Two

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Welcome back! We’ve been talking to Scott Gingrich. Scott owns Piggybank Marketing, a web design and marketing firm devoted to delighting their customers with marketing websites that deliver measureable results. In Part One of this interview, we discussed why a blog is the only website you’ll ever need.

Linda: Do you have any cautionary tales about the mechanics of setting up a blog?

Scott: Many. Here are two.

  1. We had one client who came to us about 4 months after they launched a simple WordPress site with an off-the-shelf template. Their plan had been to start simple and grow the site over time, which is a perfectly valid approach. However, now they wanted to do things with the site that would be really over-reaching what WordPress can do well. They incurred a substantial cost to remake their site with Joomla.Lesson: Understand the vision for what you want your website to be over the next couple of years and make sure the platform you choose handles that two-year vision, not just what you want to get started with.
  2. A client with a very popular blogsite had been hacked and there was malicious code throughout his articles and elsewhere. He had never thought twice about securing his WordPress site or keeping it updated. It was a very laborious and expensive exercise to rescue his site.Lesson: You may be able to install WordPress in a couple of minutes, but without securing it you may be looking at some extra costs and time down the road.

Linda: What advice do you have for someone who has an existing website and wants to add or transition to a blog?

Scott: We’re doing a lot more website conversions these days. Generally, it’s relatively easy to take an established website and put in a content management system such as Joomla.

We prefer to convert the whole site to be run on a Content Management System like WordPress or Joomla instead of tacking on a blog page to the site. Here’s why:

  • Once someone realizes the power in being able to add and edit pages themselves, they’ll want to do that for all pages of their website.
  • We can integrate the blog content into the rest of site, making it more dynamic and interactive (for example, by displaying the most recent blog posts in the sidebar of other pages).
  • You’ll get a consistent visitor experience across all sections of the website, which is better for the marketing flow of the site.

Linda: What are the pros and cons of having your blog integrated into your site versus on a separate site?

Scott: This is a big debate. I don’t think there’s one right answer that covers all cases. For most of my clients it comes down to one question: Can you afford to properly set-up and maintain two sites? The answer for most small businesses is NO.

Yes, it’s quick and easy to setup a blogsite. However, to set it up so that it converts visitors into leads (not just followers) is another story…a story that becomes trickier if we need to get visitors to a second site!

As I answer this, I am in the midst of planning a separate blogging site to act as a lead generator for our business and to expand our business model into new revenue streams. In doing this planning, we have considerations such as:

  • Building in lead capture devices (like email opt-ins and Facebook “likes”)
  • Keeping the brand consistent with our main site
  • Developing the “voice” for the new site

If you can handle doing two sites well, great. For most local small businesses, maintaining one is more than enough of a challenge!

Linda: Thanks again to Scott Gingrich, and his wife and co-owner Jennifer Gingrich. I really value the connection we’ve made since I moved to Barrie in September 2010. You do great work in helping local business owners set up a website right the first time, or rescuing them from situations where they had a bad start.

Why a Blog is the Only Website You’ll Ever Need: An Interview with Scott Gingrich of Piggybank Technology, Part One

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Scott Gingrich owns Piggybank Marketing, a web design and marketing firm devoted to delighting their customers with marketing websites that deliver measureable results. Scott and his wife and co-owner Jennifer have been marketing their own businesses on the Internet since the early 90’s and now bring those years of experience to every web marketing project they do.

Scott says, “Before we created websites for other people, we were running our own web-based businesses to put food on the family table and we learned very quickly that our web marketing better work!”

Linda: Welcome, Scott! So what are some of the benefits of having a blog as your website?

Scott: With content management systems such as Joomla and WordPress, your site can be more than just a blog. By adding the extra elements that these systems offer, your “blogsite” (combination of blog and website) truly is the only website you’ll ever need.

My clients are mostly local businesses and their main reason to have a website is to generate qualified leads. To accomplish that objective, the website must serve two key functions:

  1. Attract qualified visitors (i.e., people who live in their area and are looking for information relevant to the company’s offerings)
  2. Convert those visitors into leads (prospective clients or customers)

Well-written blog content can certainly attract the qualified visitors. But when it comes to converting those visitors into leads, we’ll need to bring in those additional elements I mentioned earlier – additional pages with:

  • Overview of services
  • Portfolio of project samples
  • Testimonials from happy clients or customers
  • Biographical information about the business owner
  • Background information about the business
  • Sales/order page with shopping card/payment buttons

Let’s look more closely at two scenarios:

  1. Visitor hears of a business and goes to their website. Perhaps they were referred there by a friend or found the website address on a business card. This potential customer is going to the website to “check out” that business. Looking at website statistics, we know that these visitors will often first check out pages such as Portfolio, Services and Testimonials before going to the blog.
  2. Visitor finds a blog post article through a Google Search. If this visitor is to wind up as a lead for the local business, we know that the visitor must take an action (e.g., read more about services, sign up for a mailing list, contact the business owner directly) before leaving to browse the next site that came up in the Google Search.

In both scenarios, the blog article attracts visitors and builds trust and credibility. However, without pages like Services, About Us, etc. there is a much smaller chance of conversion. You need both.

Linda: What options does Piggybank Marketing have for someone who wants to launch their web presence with a blog?

Scott: We work with both Joomla and WordPress. Whether starting out with a simple blogsite or launching a more sophisticated site that also incorporates blogging, we have packages that suit.

We also build in best practices from the start, which can have a huge impact on a site’s results. Important things like:

  • Enhanced security protocol
  • Coded to be search engine-friendly
  • Built-in social sharing and RSS feeds
  • Marketing intelligence based on your goals (for example, if you want people to call you, we’ll make sure your phone number is prominently displayed on every page)
  • Choosing stable, secure extensions (third-party applications and plugins) that have a good track record for upgrades and support

Business owners can call us and we’ll have a conversation about your objectives, so we can put together the best plan for your budget and goals.

Linda: Thanks, Scott! Stay tuned for Part Two of this interview series, Read This Before You Set Up Your Blog. In the meantime, here is another blog post with some simple writing tips for your blogsite pages.

Do You Want a Lot of Comments or a Lot of Calls?

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Do you ever gaze wistfully at the comments section beneath your blog post, wishing there were more? You might be missing the big picture.

I used to feel this way as well. While I appreciate (and respond to) each and every comment I’ve received, let’s face it, they tend to be few and far between.

I’ve learned to consider these three crucial questions when it comes to comments and community:

1. Who are the members of your target market?Shy-thumbs-up

Are they comfortable with technology? Are they confident about voicing their personal opinions publicly? Or do they prefer to express their support more anonymously?

2. What is the nature of your business or service?

Is it something people would naturally rally around and want to publicly declare that they’re a part of? One of the main reasons I transitioned the Content Mastery Action Club into the Content Mastery Magic Packages was that I realized people may not necessarily want to advertise that they’re using an editor and getting help with their writing.

Some businesses are more of a natural fit for building community, such as:

3. What results ARE you seeing?

Research from the inbound marketing specialists at HubSpot revealed that blog articles play a role in every aspect of the buying process. And while community and “social proof” is part of that, it’s only part.

In the end, what’s most important is whether or not you’re making the connection with the individual readers who are meant to become your clients. Are they calling? Are they emailing? Are they responding to your efforts to reach them?

And are you bringing in the funds you need to continue providing your helpful services to those who need them?

Is it nice to get a lot of comments? Definitely! Is it the only measure of success? Definitely not. So instead of judging your blog by how many comments there are, get your focus back where it belongs – consistently publishing helpful, valuable information to the ideal clients you are trying to attract.

P.S. Still bummed out because you’re not getting enough comments? Check out Michelle Shaeffer’s slide show, “Top 10 Reasons I Haven’t Commented on Your Blog (Yet).” Thanks to Melanie Kissell from Solo Mompreneur who shared this resource via Denise Wakeman’s Online Visibility Boost for Entrepreneurs group on LinkedIn.

Five Ways to Spot a Potential Blog Post Series

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Five-fingers At a recent blogging workshop in Barrie, the room was alive with excitement as beginner bloggers were brainstorming in pairs about potential topics for future blog posts.

As I tuned in to one conversation, I suggested that one of the ideas I heard could actually be a potential series of four or five posts.

Wow! From no blog to your first five blog posts – all from one idea!

And just imagine if you were using my Weekly Blogger method. That series of blog posts could serve as your monthly articles for FOUR OR FIVE MONTHS! Then you would simply add some connecting posts each week that link back to each feature article.

Sounds pretty sweet, but how do you know if an idea will work for a series?

  1. You have different clients with similar problems. For example, a relationship coach might be writing about how to compromise, and realize this is just as relevant for business partners and friends as it is for life partners.
  2. You’ve made a list. Maybe you’ve already come up with a Top 10 (or 5, or 3) list and now you want to delve deeper into each point.
  3. Your writing is overflowing. You start writing and as you get into the flow, it turns into a long post that is no longer focused on a single topic, but is now a collection of related ideas.
  4. They’re asking you for more. You’ve received several frequently asked questions that are similar but don’t have exactly the same focus.
  5. Things are getting heavy. Sometimes you’ll want to teach your readers a deeper, more complex system or explore aspects of a theory you’re working on (e.g., this series I did about the stages of content marketing).

Another approach for generating a blog post series is to convert a longer piece of writing (e.g., a book chapter or longer article) into several blog posts.

So when you get your next great idea, why stop at just one post? See if you can get a whole series out of it!

Four Myths That are Stopping You From Blogging, and One Good Reason to Wait

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I’d never tell anyone they MUST blog – that’s a personal decision that has to be right for you and your business. But I’m also hearing some myths and I’d like to set you straight about them.

You say you can’t blog because:

  1. You’re too new in business so your ideas aren’t well enough developed. Guess what? None of us have it all figured out yet. Sure, the ideal scenario is that you launch your blog with a clear plan, thoughtful categories and an editorial calendar. What’s more likely is that you’ll get clearer as you go, and your ideas and audience will grow and solidify as you blog, get feedback, and blog some more.
  2. You’re only looking for local clients, so you don’t have to bother with any online marketing. Even locally, most people these days will check you out online before deciding to do business with you. And the inbound marketing specialists at HubSpot reported that blog articles play a role in every aspect of the buying process.
  3. Your ideal clients don’t read blogs. They may not know they’re reading a blog, but as author and blogger Dr. Marcia Reynolds pointed out in this blog post about how blogging can make you more money, they’re probably online reading information ALL THE TIME! And so are others in their life who may pass your information along. Blogging has other benefits as well, even if no one ever reads what you write!
  4. You’re not convinced it will work. Content marketing takes time, but if you stick with it and do it well, you may end up like my client Val (he didn’t warm up to blogging and social media right away, either, but now he’s really excited about it).

Yellow-light-means-wait On the other hand, here’s a good reason to hold off on blogging:

If you see blogging as an “extra” activity you can do when you have time and drop when you don’t (check out how much it cost this company to stop blogging after they’d started), without any planning, commitment or support services in place.

If this is you, I’d hold off until you’re really convinced about the benefits of blogging, how blogging can make you money, why consistency is so important and why blogging beats other more expensive forms of marketing.

Only then will you be prepared to make the time for content marketing, even when that means putting it ahead of your client work.

Think this isn’t the right time for you to start blogging? Why not? Listen closely to your answer because it may be one of these myths, or it may be a good reason to wait.