Blogs, Evangelism, and Word-Of-Mouth

As referred by Charles Heflin:

The Truth About Creating a High-traffic Blog:

"I want to suggest that very highly trafficked single-author blogs are knocking the ball out of the park in at least two of the following three core areas:

* Search
* Social media
* Evangelism"

Some points to note:

1. Search is playing catch-up to social media.
2. A blog is a part of social media.
3. Evangelism is word-0f-mouth (perhaps on steroids).

My underlying question is - "Why do you blog?"

To blog, you either do it as a hobby/therapeutic outlet (and have a day job), or professionally (this is your day job).

If you do it professionally, you are monetizing it in some fashion. Meaning, what you post and how you post and how often you post is connected to some product or service you offer as an exchange for that commodity called money. (Unless you swap stuff for your bandwidth - or live off a rich relative.)

So - success in this blogging venue is either
1) Top rankings and bragging rights. (Still got that day job?)
2) Clickthroughs to PPC, affiliate links, or your own ecommerce site. (What day job?)
3) Constant requests for paid speaking gigs - and more bragging rights (plus a captive audience to listen to your bragging).

Social media marketing means you are using blogs (and other media) to get qualified leads and buyers to your paying links.

Sequence is:
1) You post great content - on your blog and/or other social media.
2) Search engines find these and send you even more traffic.
3) People clickthrough to your monetization links.
4) You deliver your product or service to them and then post some more content. (Repeat and rinse - your mileage may vary.)

Good content and good products give you word of mouth - great content and great products give you evangelists.

Monetization and evangelism cross - and it's called joint ventures (mutually profitable back-scratching).

Blogging is the tip of an iceberg. And unless you sail a Titanic, you can navigate these waters quite profitably as a single-author blogger.