Everyone says it. These days prospects are more educated and further along in the buying cycle by the time they talk to you. You need to get your name out there, and show your expertise, where those prospects are doing their research. One of the best ways to do that is with blog posts.
Good blog posts are not easy to produce. So when you and your team spend the time to write that content, you want it to be seen by as many people as possible.
You could put the blog post on your own website. Or you can put it out on the larger group blog site where it can be seen by more people.
Plus, if prospects see posts from your competitors on the group blog site, of course you want to be sure they see your content too so they know that they have options.
That all makes sense but how can you actually prove the value of your group blog membership in 2020?
1) Referral Clicks to Your Website
When you check the analytics for your website, you can see which sites are sending traffic to your site. These are called “referral sources”. Everyone loves referrals. Those are people that read a blog post, liked something they read, and wanted to know more about us. If we had paid for those clicks it would have been thousands of dollars. (Check out referral stats from other members.)
One thing I love about blogging is that I can still get referral clicks from blog posts I wrote years ago. Those blog posts are still working for me. Every click to my website is proof that blogging is worth it.
2) Getting Found in Directories
I realize that not every company can publish so many blog posts. But even if you haven’t posted in a while, you are still listed in all the directories. Prospects can find you based on location and industry expertise. We promote those directory pages and they get a ton of traffic. You want your company to be listed there. You want your company listed in as many places as possible.
For example, check out the ERP Software Blog: Directory by Location, Directory by Name, Directory of Add on Providers, Directory by Product, Directory by Industry
3) Participating in Group Programs
In 2019 the group blog sites published 3 group white papers.
ERP/CRM: But Really…What is Dynamics 365?
Every blog member was given the opportunity to participate, free of charge, and be featured in the white paper as a contributor. These white papers are downloaded thousands of times. That is another way that prospects are reminded that your company is an expert. Plus, blog members can use personalized versions of those white paper as their own marketing piece. This is valuable because white papers are expensive to produce.
4) Third Party Credibility
It is one thing if you post an article on your own website and say how smart you are. But doesn’t it seem more credible when someone reads about how smart you are in an educational post, on a site that allows multiple experts to share their content? Think about it, when you are researching a purchase, where do you do your research? Likely, not just on the seller’s website.
Did you know that our sites are constantly promoting out members on Twitter too by tweeting and retweeting? That is pushing your brand name out to more people.
5) Prospect Feedback
This year at the User Group Summit I met more than one blog member that told me they had prospects call them and specifically tell them they had read their blog post and picked up the phone. Of course, this is the ideal scenario. These blog members have no question in their minds at all that blogging is worth it. But this type of value is harder to track. When a prospect contacts you, remember to ask them how they found out about you. Their answer may surprise you.
Next Steps….
Membership to the ERP Software Blog, ERP Cloud Blog and CRM Software Blog is simple. We don’t have a lot of confusing membership levels or long term commitments. It is one, low, monthly fee that hasn’t changed since we started the site 10 years ago. We want to make it easy for ERP/CRM VAR and ISV Partners to be able to prove the value of blogging.
Are you ready to join a group blog? Download the PDF here to learn more.
by Anya Ciecierski, Collaboration Works Marketing
Follow me on Twitter: @AnyaCWMktg