BlogWritingCourse

I did NOT jump on the bandwagon of the Julie and Julia craze during the book stage of the process.  I was one of those pop culture Cinderellas who arrived VERY late to the ball and didn’t know anything about this story until I saw it on a movie trailer.  But WHAT a trailer!  I was immediately hooked and simply knew I HAD to see this movie when it came out.

I’m a movie theater snob, however, so I did not go see it at the multiplex, but rather waited until it was showing at my favorite fine arts theatre where you can order wine and dinner with your movie and enjoy every last delicious morsel in the most leisurely of ways.  What better way to watch Meryl Streep and Amy Adams create on-screen magic??

What is really interesting is that even though I had the general idea that this movie was about blogging, I in no way realized just exactly how blog-centric it was going to be! It was a delightful surprise - - especially because the story seemed to take place during the germinal stages of blogging when growing a blog audience was probably even more exciting than it is today.

But the best thing about the movie?

It reminded me that there is no subject too specific - - too specialized to blog about.  And that is great news because it means that ANYONE can start a blog. 

That’s right.  You have a rubber band collection?  Blog about it.  You dream of becoming an opera singer and you are tone deaf?  There’s a blog in that.  You are Jimmy Hoffa’s biggest fan?  Go for it!  You knit booties for kittens?  Hey, so maybe it’s not my thing, but I’m sure there are plenty of kitty-lovin knitters that are anxious to hear about your exploits.

Bloggers aren’t born, they are made.  From the diversity of the human spirit.  From the melting pot of ideas that swirl around our heads and are aching to get out.  Maybe you don’t need to blog through Julia’s entire cookbook, but I’d wager there is something on your mind. 

Today could be the day that YOU become a blogger.  Why not???

Until next time,

If you would like information on how to start your own blog, check out the free online blogging course at BlogWritingCourse.com.

I read the most interesting article today!  Over at WebProNews, Chris Crum writes that: Blogs Can Still Drive Big Traffic

Here is what Chris said:

You would almost think blogging was dead, the way headlines are dominated by Twitter, Facebook, and social media in general. I’ve always considered blogging to be a part of social media anyway, as the commenting factor lends to engagement between author and user. But blogging is so five years ago right? It’s all about microblogging and status updates now isn’t it?

If you think that’s the case, think again, because blogs can still drive big-time traffic to websites. An example of this has been illustrated by the launch of e-commerce site Alice.com. How much traffic are you getting from blogs? Let us know. If you are not familiar with Alice.com, it is a site where consumers can buy everyday household items like toothpaste, toilet paper, laundry detergent, diapers, etc., right from the manufacturers, rather than through middleman retailers. It launched in June, and by July it had doubled its traffic to 387,000 unique visitors, according to Compete. Alice.com Guess where the majority of that traffic came from. According to Compete, it came from word-of-mouth from blogs. In fact, its number one traffic source was Blogger.com. Not Twitter. Not Facebook. Not search. Although each of these no doubt played valuable roles as well., Blogger.com has been the biggest factor in driving traffic for this site, and from the looks of things, that traffic is showing no signs of slowing down.

So that got me thinking about the differences between Twitter/Facebook and blogs.  Twitter and Facebook, I think, are probably more useful for fluid content.  In other words:  promotionals, sales, site updates, new product additions and news.  Whereas blogs are perfect for highlighting static information.  Product details, explanations, human interest stories, behind-the-scenes info, letters from the president, and editorials.

That might possibly mean that Twitter/FB has more appeal to bargain-hunters and promotion-junkies, but that true potential, long-term customers might be more persuaded by the more substantial content of a blog post.  It also might be true that blogs have more weight for SEO purposes.  After all, tweets generally link BACK to blogs!

So if you are a business owner, and are trying to decide how to best integrate blogs, Twitter, and Facebook into your marketing scheme, remember to save your in-depth copy and strongest content for your blog, and then drive traffic to that copy via the microblogging avenues.

For more information on blogging, and how to start a blog, check out our course offerings at BlogWritingCourse.com.

Until next time…