Comments on: 5 Reasons Why Business Blogs Fail

By: ccolell

ccolell — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 05:15:22 +0000

Yes, but what do you think it should be done ? Maybe even having a good CMS and effort to write nice content, the ROI it is hard to see because at this moment, there are so many blogs that it is very dificult to atract visitors attention.

By: ccolell

ccolell — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 00:15:22 +0000

By: Clara James

Clara James — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 13:52:55 +0000

Here are some reasons some of people give for letting their blogs fail:
Not getting many comments, Not enough subscribers, Didn't see any increase in traffic to their website, Too hard to come up with new content every week, Couldn't figure out how to promote their products and service……etc..

By: Michele

Michele — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 10:01:37 +0000

This post although short and precise is a big help to me. But, I’m struggling with creating representative indicators. I’ve outlined the objectives, strategies and tactics being in line with your recommendations. But what would be S.M.A.R.T. enough to establish whether the blog is a success? I’ve all analytical indicators on traffic, comment, feed etc. – is there anything else I could consider?

By: Do Comments equal Conversions? | The Marketing Technology Blog

Do Comments equal Conversions? | The Marketing Technology Blog — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 15:34:52 +0000

[...] IMHO, utilizing comments as the sole measurement of success is common, but leads to the majority of corporate blogs failing. [...]

By: Content Rich - Jon W

Content Rich - Jon W — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 03:46:52 +0000

Excellent advice for all businesses. Blogs take a lot more time that many company execs realize. Goals should most definitely be set in order to achieve success.

By: Jan Simpson

Jan Simpson — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 17:08:34 +0000

Good post – I guess my question would be back to the corporations:

1. One if you are blogging – then you are marketing or adding to your brand awareness and educating your potential new customers.
2. If you are marketing, then you would need to hire full time marketing bloggers that keep up with the posts and you will need to hire full time consultants that help with the strategies, implementation and are liaisons to the rest of the company
3. Why on earth – would corporations not see this – is it because bloggers didn’t identify themselves as marketeers?

Seems like a major oversight – and an identity crisis.

By: 7 essential tips for corporate bloggers who want to offer remarkable content

7 essential tips for corporate bloggers who want to offer remarkable content — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 18:59:26 +0000

[...] Online Marketing Blog: 5 Reasons Why Business Blogs Fail [...]

By: Jennifer Haubein

Jennifer Haubein — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 21:26:55 +0000

Great post! I help small business owners get their blogs and email newsletters up and running and what I’ve found is they are usually abandoned due to lack of time and writing resources. One tip I could give is to repurpose your articles i.e. post them on your newsletter, blog, and article directories. This way you are getting great mileage out of your articles and writing.

Here’s to your online success,

Jennifer Haubein

By: Is your corporate blog on a downward slide? : MediaVision Blog : Search Engine Marketing

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 13:38:03 +0000

[...] to Lee Odden of Toprankblog.com, there are five reasons why corporate blogs fail: • Not planning key objectives for your blog • Having unrealistic expectations and failing to [...]

By: Debra Lothrop

Debra Lothrop — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 16:15:51 +0000

I am a new start up business, so reading this information about blogging is great. Thank you for sharing that.
I am also new to the “blogging” community and only maintained one on on a website called “Cafe Mom’s”. It truly is a lot of work.
Key word, “Delagate”.
Thank you.

By: Douglas Karr

Douglas Karr — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 15:50:40 +0000

I would think the #1 reason would be ‘lack of transparency’. Blogs that sound like Marketing are not effective because they lack the personal interaction between the company’s blogger and the writer. Blogs are for building relationships, not building marketing spin.

I’d recommend that companies that are looking to find resources seek out Compendium Blogware. They have both the strategy and the application that companies need to blog successfully.

By: Avoiding pitfalls to ensure Corporate Blogging success | Bulletpoints

Avoiding pitfalls to ensure Corporate Blogging success | Bulletpoints — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 05:37:46 +0000

[...] Following on from my previous post re the benefits of blogging, it’s also appropriate to point out the pitfalls to avoid in ensuring long-term blogging success. There is no better source to turn to than US Search Engine Marketing and Online PR guru Lee Odden of Top Rank Online Marketing and the excellent Online Marketing Blog. I had the pleasure of meeting Lee at Search Engine Room Australia. Check out his five very salient points in ‘5 reason why business blogs fail’. [...]

By: Fione - internet marketing asia

Fione - internet marketing asia — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 04:23:53 +0000

Yes, sometimes the team or person in charge of the company’s blog might not even know or be aware of the reason behind starting a business blog.

Most will just end up reporting on company products and then not giving in valuable information in their blog articles.

Lee, your example of “Ferrari” out of gas haha, that’s funny. But maybe some companies just like to display their Ferraris without driving it. Therefore ending up with bosses who are proud to say that “Hey we’ve got a company blog too” (even though it’s not been updated for 8 months)

Regards,
Fione
http://www.eOneNet.com

By: George

George — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 00:07:39 +0000

Not to mention that most people (myself included) just get so busy sometimes and don’t update it as often as they should. Great post!

By: Lee Odden

Lee Odden — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 22:25:43 +0000

Thanks for the comment Chris. Who blogs and resource/content allocation are real issues for organizations with staff that are spread thin and unfamiliar with the nuances of blog writing and interaction.

Even after you remove most or all technical barriers to entry, there are still execution issues to be dealt with or the blog ends up like a Ferrari out of gas.

By: Lee Odden

Lee Odden — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 22:21:47 +0000

Thanks Peter, that case study was VERY useful, well done. Too bad they had to stop.

By: Peter Gold

Peter Gold — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 22:18:00 +0000

Lee

We set-up an internal blog for a large high street UK retailer as the CEO wanted to ‘connect’ with his 20,000 employees. Although he did not initially see a blog as the answer he agreed to give it a go and we agreed on a 3-month pilot with some clear measures and objectives.

Within 6 months they had 1,000+ visitors/day (record was 3,500) and the blog split into ‘Business’ and ‘Staff Q&A’. It was a real success and they have even added a 3rd blog for a specific (large) part of their business. All 3 blogs are ‘linked’ and promote each other sharing data etc.

The CEO would not be without his blog; even ringing in to ask why Typepad was down (rare), how many visitors etc.

WHY DID IT SUCCEED

The CEO owned it.
They listened and shared even the ‘negative’ questions.
They were honest i.e. recognised the issue and were prepared to say they could not fix it – yet.
They delivered i.e. fixed problems that were staff issues e.g. we’ve been waiting 9 mths to have our air con fixed; they fixed it in weeks.
They asked for ideas and suggestions on product launches etc.

The bottom line was that the employees saw a real difference so interest grew because it was worth it.

The PA and her team spent 1-2 hours/day managing the blog but they also felt it was worthwhile and enjoyed seeing the activity grow. Unfortunately, it was called Fred’s Blog (not his real name) so now he has left, it has stopped for the time being. They do plan to start again but maybe with an internal social network.

Hope this is useful.

Peter

By: Chris Baggott

Chris Baggott — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 19:32:22 +0000

Great comments, Perhaps there are two other points here that have not yet been made.

In your opening paragraph you mention IT setting up a blog. We see that as roadblock number one. Pick a SaaS vendor so that all right tools are in one package and don’t require any IT resources standing between desire and success.

You are spot on with regard to goals. SEO and Conversion are the easiest to measure and what’s great about blogging is that you can track your effectivness. The issue about who blogs (creates content) should be moot by now. The idea of one blogger or a top down C-level blog is giving way to the model put forth by Richard Edelman in this years Edelman Trust Barometer:

“It’s clear that when it comes to traditional authority figures – whether they’re chief executives or heads of state – people trust them less,” says Mr. Edelman. “Employees are the new credible source of information. We have data that shows an employee blog is five times more credible than a CEO blog – and I say this as a CEO blogger.”

By engaging widespread employee participation. You spread the content creation burden and thereby generate more content…and the best part according to Edelman (and my experience) is you get the kind of content that visitors want and trust.

Chris Baggott
CEO
Compendium Blogware
http://www.compendiumblogware.com

By: Lee Odden

Lee Odden — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 19:11:13 +0000

Plenty of great feedback on the post, thanks and I am glad it was useful. Jumping after every new “shiny object” marketing tactic without planning dooms the effort to failure. Then the marketing channel gets a bad rap because “it doesn’t work”.

I’m working on the follow up to this post and it should go live Tues am, “5 Reasons Why Business Blogs Succeed”