As a follow up to my last post, I'm going to put together a response for each of the questions I heard during the Blog Potomac conference last month.
I'll start with this question because it's the one I get most excited about:
How can I track the impact of corporate blogging?
Easy. Are you currently tracking the impact of your website? Are you tracking the impact of your Pay Per Click campaigns, email marketing, and any other online activities?
Good, I thought so. Then you can most definitely track the impact of blogging. There are a few key things:
1. You must have a goal when you start your blogging program. If you have no goal, then how will you measure against it?
2. You must have a call-to-action or conversion point accessible from your blogs. Take a look at the sidebar of my blog. Notice those conversion points? It's no secret that I want to build a relationship with you. So of course I need to provide ways for you to express more interest in my business.
3. From that conversion point, drive the visitor to a landing page that a) is specific to the blogging program or b) includes a tracking string so you can trace conversions back to that URL
4. Use your CRM system. To use Compendium as an example, we use a hidden field named "blogging program" as a source for prospects that come from our blogs. We also use Campaigns in salesforce.com so that we can track how a prospect from our blogging program progresses into a client opportunity for us. Campaigns in salesforce are great because they will automatically calculate your ROI!
I'll end my response with a pretty powerful snapshot of how blogs will change your business.
Compendium's blogging program generated $15K in new business over the last two months, is our second best online activity from an ROI standpoint (we assume that we would pay for our own software when we calculate ROI), and has a new client close rate of 35%.
The beauty of blogging is that it's online, trackable, and...it works.
I'll start with this question because it's the one I get most excited about:
How can I track the impact of corporate blogging?
Easy. Are you currently tracking the impact of your website? Are you tracking the impact of your Pay Per Click campaigns, email marketing, and any other online activities?
Good, I thought so. Then you can most definitely track the impact of blogging. There are a few key things:
1. You must have a goal when you start your blogging program. If you have no goal, then how will you measure against it?
2. You must have a call-to-action or conversion point accessible from your blogs. Take a look at the sidebar of my blog. Notice those conversion points? It's no secret that I want to build a relationship with you. So of course I need to provide ways for you to express more interest in my business.
3. From that conversion point, drive the visitor to a landing page that a) is specific to the blogging program or b) includes a tracking string so you can trace conversions back to that URL
4. Use your CRM system. To use Compendium as an example, we use a hidden field named "blogging program" as a source for prospects that come from our blogs. We also use Campaigns in salesforce.com so that we can track how a prospect from our blogging program progresses into a client opportunity for us. Campaigns in salesforce are great because they will automatically calculate your ROI!
I'll end my response with a pretty powerful snapshot of how blogs will change your business.
Compendium's blogging program generated $15K in new business over the last two months, is our second best online activity from an ROI standpoint (we assume that we would pay for our own software when we calculate ROI), and has a new client close rate of 35%.
The beauty of blogging is that it's online, trackable, and...it works.
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