Why I am holding out on marketing events
- Posted on: August 9, 2007
- Those Who Had Their Say: 11
Lately, I have been pondering exactly how I want to go about marketing the blog. I have thought about doing things like expensive ReviewMe’s and grandiose contests, but I am going to save that for when the blog has reached epic proportions *crossing fingers*. Waiting it out for something like 75 RSS subscribers and higher daily visitor and pageview states seems to me like a better option. Why?
Credibility Counts
I often base the credibility of the blogs I visit on the longevity of their blog, how many feed readers they have, and the quality of their content. If I feel like I am visiting a new blog that is more interested in opportunistic advertising than really giving their readers something useful, I won’t be subscribing. I know I am not the only person out there in the blogosphere that feels this way. On this blog, I will be building credibility and authority through great content, a solid amount of readers, and referrals from credible blogs. Thanks to Christine for linking me btw!
The stronger the readership, the stronger the marketing event.
When you blog, your readers are of utmost importance. Whether it is a church, newspaper, or a blog, the people who participate in your service are your advocates. The effect of a marketing event like a contest at a blog with 500 rss subscribers would be extremely amplified compared to a new blog with under 30 rss subscribers. When I decide to launch my first contest, it is going to be huge. Also, when you do things to reward people that have subscribed over a long period of time, you only strengthen the bond.
Getting noticed on bigger blogs comes with networking and credibility.
Networking takes time. I have been blogging for a little less than a month now, and I know few people on the blogosphere personally. I am still taking in the sites, finding the right blogs, and settling into social niches. Once my name and face have made it around enough people outside of my regular readership, the volume of people that will be interested in a contest will be huge.
Some sound advice I’ve picked up
I have noticed that most blogs take 1-3 months to build up a solid readership (100 RSS Subscribers or so). I am sitting around 10-15 rss subscribers as of right now, but I have only been blogging for about 3 1/2 weeks. I am anxious for the blog to explode with readers, but I will take the advice I have picked up, and wait it out.
I am definitely not trying to say that every event like a contest or Review Me is a bad thing for new blogs. If successful, it can launch you to the next level of readership. I have just chosen an alternate route.
How long did you wait until you held your first event? Have you decided to not hold one at all? Tell me about your blogs and strategies, I am interested in how successful you have all been.
Josh Mullineaux
Nate Whitehill
Great post man. For the exact same reasons I have not tried to hold contests, ReviewMe’s, etc. Quality and legitimacy is the name of the game. Again, awesome post.
Great post and look into someones feelings. I’ve just started ablog that is a little over a week old and am very much in the same situation. Im just focusing on great content at a good pace for my readers and trying to guest blog for others to get my name out
I’m in the process of adding as many free resources and useful content to my site first before I do any monetization or contests, etc. aswell. Another hang up is that I’m clueless when it comes to coding/design.
Well as you know, I posted a Review My Blog post yesterday. Which is quite simple, review my blog and I will link back to you. Although my blog is rather new as well (started in June on blogger and moved over to self hosting in August), I can still benefit from reviews from others on what they like or not and where I can improve etc. Sure a link back from me right now may not be earth shattering but every little bit of recognition helps. Down the road when my blog takes off and it will the chances for a free opportunity such as this will greatly decrease.
Josh, Glen, Graham, and Debo, thanks for commenting! Graham, you can check out some CSS help here. I am still learning to code and design and I’m not gonna lie, sometimes I want to throw stuff at my computer. :p
Debo I agree, you will be able to build some legit links with that idea.
I don’t think I’ll even consider having a contest on my blog until I reach one year. My priority is to build a community. Anything after that is gravy.
Loved the post.
I for the life of me cannot get the Top Commentator to work on my blog. It is driving me nuts.
I’ve been thinking about having some sort of contest, but even after three months, I think it’s too early. I’m sitting on 11 RSS subscribers and I believe the only reason that I don’t have more is because I don’t write enough. I have tons of idea wrote down for articles, but haven’t found the time to write. My blog is by no means fading out and if I have to stay up until 4 in the morning to write, I will write at least one or two articles a week to keep the blog kicking.
I agree with all of your points. Quality is the name of the game. I won’t lie and say that I don’t think about trying to make money from my blog, but I’m smart enough to realize that it wouldn’t be smart move right now as the pennies I would make are worthless compared to continuing to build a solid reader base.
I agree with this post. I haven’t even thought about doing any contests or anything like that until I get much, much bigger (say, 500 RSS subscribers?) When you have more people participating, the traffic alone will pay for whatever prize you are offering.
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