Does Blogging Lead to Direct Sales?

{Image from Nic McPhee on Flickr}

Have you ever been overloaded with so many good ideas that your head spins? This past weekend rocked my world. I’ll be sharing more about it throughout the next week, but before I move on let me just leave you with this: I danced on stage with Marie Forleo and Laura Roeder. Yep, danced.

Back to blogging.

While I was away, I received a comment/question from Audrey that I’ve been asked over and over, so I thought it would be super helpful to write up my answer as a post.

Audrey’s Question

I have a question….I had a blog when I was in real estate, and it did not really help. Do you see direct sales as a result of your blog? I don’t want to be discouraging, but I want to use my time wisely.

Thank you for your incredible counsel. Well appreciated. Take care, Audrey.

My Short Answer

Yes, I’ve seen direct sales as a result of my blog.

And, My Longer Answer

Blogging is not a short-term answer to getting more sales. It’s a long-term game.

If you want to use your blog to increase sales, you first have to build your readership. While you’re building your readership, you have to develop trust. You also have to figure out how to monetize your blog.

If your real estate blog is still up, I could look it over and give you more specific feedback on why it didn’t work. Here are some reasons why blogging won’t lead to sales:

1. You don’t write for your target market.

I don’t know much about real estate, but I do know that you’d want to write for an audience looking to buy a home. This would mean articles on finding a real estate agent, what to look for when you first step into a new house, how much money you should have saved before you even look at homes, and how long it takes to close on a home when you’ve found one you’re in love with. You’d also want to write locally based articles. For instance, if you’re in Blacksburg, Virginia, you might write a blog post on the best location to live with small children or areas to stay away from if you want to avoid the college scene.

You want to position yourself as the expert in your field. And, you also want to give your audience a way for them to get to know you, like you, and trust you.

I see this mistake over and over in the handmade community. An artist wonders why her blog doesn’t lead sales. I’ll take a look at it, and the majority of her posts have nothing to do with art. The readers she’s bringing in to her blog aren’t coming there art. Therefore, they aren’t going to buy it.

2. You don’t provide useful content on a regular basis.

You don’t have to blog every day to build up a readership that’ll buy from you. You just have to provide your audience with useful content consistently. This could mean you publish one kickass article a week.

Many creative entrepreneurs think that they must have a blog, so they start one without any real direction or goals. They blog every time they add something new to their Etsy shops, and wonder why no one comments or cares. They’re just adding noise to the internet. They’re not adding anything valuable.

If someone wants to see what’s new in your shop, they’ll look in your shop. This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t blog about your new products. But, it shouldn’t be the majority of your posts.

For instance, if you sell jewelry and blog once a week, one of your posts per month could be pictures of your new products and writing about the inspiration behind those products. The other three posts might cover a basic jewelry tutorial, pictures of your work space, and a post on tips for buying jewelry on Etsy.

3. You don’t provide your readers a simple way to give you money.

Someone shows up at your blog and loves your posts. She takes a minute to look around for a way to get to your shop or find your products. She gives up after looking for a couple minutes, because she’s busy and has other stuff going on in her life. And, she didn’t see the small link to your shop labeled, “sunshine lovelies” on your sidebar.

You have to make the buying process crystal clear for your readers. If it’s not easy, they’ll give up and move on.

4. Your location isn’t obvious.

If you’re a local business, I need to know where you’re located as soon as I click on your blog. It should be obvious to me. Like I mentioned above, you also need to write blog posts for your local, target market.

5. Your blog looks unprofessional.

Your website/blog is your online home. You’ve got to take good care of it.

If someone comes to your blog and it looks a hot mess, they’re much less likely to buy from you. Amp up your professionalism by:

• Getting your own domain name. Anything with .blogspot.com or .wordpress.com at the end doesn’t look professional. It’s a great way to start blogging, but if you want to take it to the next level, you need your own domain name.

• Cleaning up your blog. If something looks funky, don’t keep overlooking it and saying to yourself, “I really should figure out why my newsletter opt-in form doesn’t line up with my sidebar.” Figure it out now. Also, make sure your blog is easy to navigate. If you have a five page blog roll, blog badges, and tag clouds on your sidebar cluttering stuff up, get rid of it.

• Consulting with someone. Even if you think your blog is easy to navigate and you make your location clear, someone else might not think so. I recently had my website/blog reviewed by Laura Roeder, and it was eye opening. She spotted things that I had overlooked, because I see my website/blog on a daily basis.

6. You don’t generate traffic.

Even if you’re providing useful content, you have to get that content in front of people. And, I believe that you need to focus on relationships in order to do that. I’ve already written a post about that topic—you can check it out here.

7. Your blog isn’t spicy.

Personality people. When your blog lacks personality, it’s vanilla. And that’s so not good. Your personality needs to shine through in your blog posts. Give me a reason to hire you by standing out from the crowd.

Don’t Expect Miracles Overnight

With my first blog, it took six months before I saw any results as far as a direct link to sales. I needed time to learn how to write for my audience and to develop trust with my audience.

When I started Blacksburg Belle, I already had close to three years blogging experience under my belt, so it only took me two months to see direct sales from blogging. But, I see it as three years and two months—not two months. If I hadn’t learned all that I have from blogging in the past, it would have taken me much longer.

Many bloggers give up within a few months of starting, because they don’t see any results. If you continuously provide your readers with useful content without giving up, you’ll see results. It might take six months or a year, but you’ll get there.

Eventually, Blogging Can Lead to Lots of Sales

If you do it the right way, a long-term blog can generate a lot of sales. Even though there are a lot of blogs, many creative entrepreneurs still don’t blog. And many people who do blog, put out crap—not useful content. So, if you publish useful content, it’ll stand out in your niche. When you stand out in your niche, your sales will automatically increase.

Bottom Line

I whole-heartedly recommend blogging. But, it’s not for everyone. You have to decide if you’re willing to put in work for months without any gain. If you do, it’ll be well worth it. The internet opens up many opportunities to handmade entrepreneurs that they never had before if they’re willing to accept the challenge.