Blogging survey by award winning small business blogger sheds some light on the impact of blogging as a small business marketing tool
(PRWEB) September 9, 2005 -- It seems that the recent hype surrounding blogs and blogging has made the average small business marketer aware of blogs to the point that many have even dipped their toe in the blog water. What's not so clear is the benefit many of these bloggers are receiving.
In a survey conducted by award winning blogger John Jantsch, 75 percent of respondents shared that they indeed knew what a blog was. Another 46 percent admitted that they regularly visited from 1-5 blogs weekly. 13 percent stated that they visited more than 20 blogs per week.
However, of this same group, only 37 percent actually published a blog and, of those that did not currently publish a blog, 57 percent claimed they had no plans to in the near future.
Many small business bloggers bought into the hype surrounding blogs and never really took the time to fully understand how to use it effectively as a marketing tool and that's a shame, said Jantsch, publisher of the Forbes favorite small business blog, Duct Tape Marketing.
Adding to this claim is the discovery that 27 percent of those that do blog post less than once a month. Given this fact it is no wonder that 36 percent of the respondents also claimed that their blogging activity had done nothing" for them in terms of marketing.
A telling fact came to light however when considering only those who said they posted to their blog anywhere from 3 times a week to once a day. In this group the marketing benefits soared. 39 percent claimed that search engine traffic grew, 18 percent stated that leads were generated and 11 percent could attribute sales activity directly to their blog. Another key point made repeatedly by this group in open ended responses was the fact that their expert status" in a chosen industry was enhanced.
Jantsch added, The benefits of blogging are immense and those that get that, and take advantage of it, will win long term."
While the marketing benefits of blogging may be questioned in some circles it is clear that those who approach marketing as a serious business building tool and commit to blogging on a regular basis seem to gain the most from this technology.
Source: Survey results were based on responses from 488 small business owners who responded via email.
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