Making use of a blog.

mexham · #1 (**Link to this post**) 20-03-10

Hi there. We've had a hammock blog running for nearly a year now, and while it was originally started to garner more traffic and help with SEO we are now getting monthly hits well into the hundreds.

It is not something we have really paid too much attention to, other than to ensure we always blog regularly.

I wondering now though if I should be re-evaluating it to make better use of the traffic volumes.

- Should I consider monetising it somehow? I've totally avoided ads, but maybe?
- Should I add a shopping cart feature to it to take direct sales?
- How to improve click through rates to the website?

If anyone got any ideas of how I could make better use of this I'd love to hear.

Thanks a lot,
Mike

MatthewKeath · #2 (**Link to this post**) 20-03-10

Hello,

Because the blog is attached to your hammock business site, I would not be a huge a fan of trying to monetise it another way rather than just promoting your own products, although I know many businesses do it anyway.

It to bad your blog is not on it's own domain, like thehammockblog.com or something, then you could monetize it in other ways, as well a promoting your won products. Of course that was not the intention when you started it as you have mentioned.

Cheers

Ali Dark · #3 (**Link to this post**) 21-03-10

What Matthew said.

Hundreds of hits a month won't get you far with advertising. And if you want to take sales, do it via your website.

Meanwhile, improve your blog by showcasing more of your personality. It's pretty focussed on driving sales at the moment. I'd expand into topics associated with hammocks, such as backyard and deck life... and blog on anything to do with them at all.

Try a couple of list posts... 'ten uses for your hammock you wouldn't have thought of' etc

That's if you've got the time... I'm looking for pilot testers for my business blog coaching program if you're interested.

Ali.

Melinda B · #4 (**Link to this post**) 22-03-10

Quote:

Originally Posted by MatthewKeath

It to bad your blog is not on it's own domain, like thehammockblog.com or something, then you could monetize it in other ways, as well a promoting your won products.

I think it's great it's on your main domain rather than on it's own as you're getting the benefit of the blog's SEO and traffic to your main site to increase your rankings.

If you separate the blog from the main site you're going to lose all that.

Chris Bates · #5 (**Link to this post**) 22-03-10

There can be benefits to having a blog offsite, both for sales and for SEO.

WebMarketeer · #6 (**Link to this post**) 22-03-10

Hi Mexham,

Yep i'd have a a crack at monetizing your blog.

Try a square banner in the top right corner and just see what happens.

Try it for a month or 3 and if it's making a negative impact on anything just remove it.

If it's too prominent to place it in the top right corner, try adding a long banner instead, just before your post comments section and see what happens there.

At the end of the day every market is different. The only thing that really counts is results so test test test.

I have a feeling though you may be pleasantly surprised.

jBasket · #7 (**Link to this post**) 22-03-10

It's quite a good blog that you have with lots of contents related to your products. If you want to add a shopping cart feature so you can make direct sales from the blog, you might want to change the layout of the blog so that it has the same theme with the home page. At the moment, the blog doesn't look like a children page of the main product page.

In regard to monetising the blog, you first could insert Google Adsense between your posts and see if you got good CTR.

That's my two cents for now, good luck.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mexham

Hi there. We've had a hammock blog running for nearly a year now, and while it was originally started to garner more traffic and help with SEO we are now getting monthly hits well into the hundreds.

It is not something we have really paid too much attention to, other than to ensure we always blog regularly.

I wondering now though if I should be re-evaluating it to make better use of the traffic volumes.

- Should I consider monetising it somehow? I've totally avoided ads, but maybe?
- Should I add a shopping cart feature to it to take direct sales?
- How to improve click through rates to the website?

If anyone got any ideas of how I could make better use of this I'd love to hear.

Thanks a lot,
Mike

mexham · #8 (**Link to this post**) 23-03-10

Hey guys, thanks a lot for all the comments and advice, I really appreciate all the feedback.

I think there are some things there that I can look to change and apply.

Ali - I like your thoughts on adding more personality to it, there is only so much product blogging you can do. Your pilot program sounds interesting if you need some testers let me know.

I might leave the advertising for now, I don't really want to encourage people to leave the site. Would be nice to maybe setup my own adverts on it to help with click throughs though. I'm not sure if that can be done though.

Chris Bates · #9 (**Link to this post**) 23-03-10

Quote:

Originally Posted by mexham

I might leave the advertising for now, I don't really want to encourage people to leave the site.

I'm SO glad you have come to this conclusion yourself. AdSense is the worst possible idea for a business website.

Continue funneling people back to your shopfront - that's where the money is.

Gordon Akman · #10 (**Link to this post**) 23-03-10

Blogging is a great way to build content for your site, generate traffic, and get sales.

I think you should definitely integrate your blog with your website. You can either link to your blog from your website or place your blog on your own domain in a folder.

As far as monetizing it why not include a prominent link that links to your product/store landing page.

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Making use of a blog.