Gimzoo

Blog topics running low: Let your readers help

Have you ever experienced that brief moment of panic, when you thought you had nothing to write about?

You wanted to post, but no ideas would filter into your brain, to escape through your fingers. No topic time had arrived, and there was no way out.

The endlessly entertaining and creative Sugarmama has solved the problem.

By taking the obvious step of using "audience-driven blogging", Sugarmama has taken the obvious step of asking her readers what they want to see on her blog.

Consulting with your readership is simply good marketing.

In most progressive businesses, the management will survey its customer base, to discover what products and services they want to buy. In less customer oriented companies, management simply decides what products to offer, and attempts to create a market for them.

Often these attempts to create demand are futile and expensive failures. Customer needs are not met by the business, so the consumer votes with their feet and shops elsewhere. People will buy from businesses that are responsive to their needs and wants.

It works that way in blogging too.

Sugarmama has responded to the wishes of her readership. She asked them what they wanted to read and responded by providing it.

Blogs that fail to provide content, that is interesting to their readers, will soon find themselves without an audience.

By asking your readers what they want, you can solve two problems at once.

You solve the problem of not having any topics, as they are provided by your regular visitors.

You increase your returning visitor traffic as you are providing the posts that they want to read.

It's simply good marketing

Market other blogs to market your own

Marketing other people's blogs may sound counterproductive to many people.

Think about it for a second first, however, before dismissing the idea out of hand. I believe that helping other people achieve their goals, will help you with yours.

The ever imaginative David St. Lawrence at Ripplesl has now added publicizing some other blogs to his growing repetoire. David has so many great ideas, he should begin to export them, to help the balance of trade.

David's latest concept is called "Friends in Far Places". He will be highlighting some of his favourite blogs every week, in that special feature.

It is my belief that David's generosity, shown by his selfless desire to share other blogs, will return to benefit him as well.

You can do the same thing as David St. Lawrence. You can feature your favourite blogs too.

Tell others about your favourite stopping off spots.

You may be reading a blog that many of your current readership has overlooked.

Perhaps a new blog has caught your eye, that you would like others to read too.

Maybe you added a new blog to your list of blog links, on your links directory or blogroll.

Be generous in your linking to other blogs, and readers will find their way back to your blog too.

Blogging and the future

Few people write as optimistically about the future of blogging as my friend Trudy Schuett of WOLves.

Her prediction of a bright future for blogs isn't just some dream world type thinking either.

In her brilliant blogging future essay, entitled "The World Beyond Instapundit", Trudy demonstrates that blogs have already grown beyond their roots in personal diaries.

As I have long been recommending, Trudy also sees the business blog as a viable medium for any business's message. For immediacy with potential and existing customers and clients, the blog serves as a simple yet powerful vehicle.

Trudy continues with another part of one my usual themes as well. She doesn't believe that if you build it, they will come. I certainly agree with her there.

A blog has to be marketed and promoted, to develop a new and steady visitor base. Without that promotional effort, a blog or a static website will be lost in the literally billions of documents already indexed on the internet.

As for the future, Trudy has this to say:

"The next wave of well-known citizen journalists who come after today’s “A-list bloggers” will have gained their eminence due to a careful combination of diligent promotion, search engine optimization and solid writing."

In other words, the blogs will have to be good and well marketed to their potential readership audience.

That is simply good business practice.

No one would start a magazine or any other offline business without some degree of marketing and publicity. Blogs are no different.

If you market them, and provide a strong product, with regular updates and comments to act as the customer service function, your blog will be succesful.

Just like anything else, you get out of your blog what you put into it.

Carnival of the Capitalists Is Up

Fans of the weekly business and economic postings series, found at Carnival of the Capitalists, will find this week's stop at Admiral Quixote's Roundtable.

This week's array of capitalist knights comment on political economy, business, marketing, and economics. As always, there are many pages worthy of a knighthood. I know that was bad, but with the Carnival at the notable political and economics blog Admiral Quixote's Roundtable, I simply couldn't resist.

In the spirit of chivalry, get thee over to Admiral Quixote's Roundtable and enjoy Carnival of the Capitalists.

A few windmills need a jousting lesson.

From Bloggers to Magazine Columnists

British Blogger Lawn Greengrass of Straford Upon Avon-The Truth, writing in The Blog Herald suggests that some enterprising publisher start a blog magazine.

In Lawn's business model, the publisher would pay a selected group of bloggers as freelancers, to provide magazine content.

The question would be about a market for such a publication.

There are many weekly Carnivals that collect many of the best posts of the blogosphere for display at the moment. Lawn's concept is a larger market version of the same thing.

Since not all of the potential market is internet connected, not everyone is familiar with the bloggers and their writings. Even many internet savvy individuals, know little about the high calibre of writing and idea generation, that occurs among blog practitioners.

Perhaps such a magazine would gain a modest market. It would certainly have to aggressively sell advertising space to make any money. At first, the subscription base would almost certainly be small.

In fact, there could be many specialized publications, utilizing the knowledge of bloggers. An entire stable of magazines could be created.

What would be needed is a patient publisher, who can afford to wait for a market to develop. The publisher would also have to be patient as to possible advertising sales, which might be very slow in developing.

The upside for bloggers is the fact that they would be paid for their writing efforts. That in and of itself might make the concept very appealling for bloggers.

Whether such a blog magazine, or cluster of magazines would ever be profitable remains to be seen.

I am available as a writer for anyone who wishes to tackle the concept.