How to integrate the business in our blog (10 posts)

Topic tags: Blog, business, promote
  • Dear friends,

    We have been blogging about the spanish island Ibiza for almost a year now. We never ever talked about our service because we first like to build trust and we wanted to be a authority on the subject. 
    Now a year further we feel we are ready to start promoting our business. We help brands and people with their stay in Ibiza. What is the best way to start talking to our followers and friends without scaring them away.. All tips are welcome..
    Marisa & Virgil

  • @virgilbrewster One thing you can try doing is making your posts a little more promotional in nature. Not by turning them commercial or making them an overt pitch about your service. Rather, mentioning that you do have the experience and service to help people enjoy what you’re talking about.

    For example, let’s say you write a post called, “Five Movies You Didn’t Know Were Filmed in Ibiza.” As you talk about those five movies, you can say something about your being film scouts. Maybe you scouted the location for one of those films. You can mention it. Maybe you can use a statement like, “As movie location scouts, we have visited each of these places on Ibiza,” and link to your About Us page, or a page about your location scouting services.

    And of course, you should put a call to action at the bottom of your blog post: “If you’re interested in learning more about the island of Ibiza for filming or corporate retreats, you can visit the rest of our website or contact us for more information” and link to the appropriate pages.

  • Thank you Erwin for this helpful post… we will start to experiment with this…

  • @virgilbrewster  Read this post over at Duct Tape Marketing:

    http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog/2011/11/07/sell-me-something-damn-it/

  • @virgilbrewster  It’s okay to write a blog post about what you do.  It’s a good practice to sell yourself in blogging/social media on average 20% of the time.  Rather than focusing on what someone can do, maybe write a post every month on what someone did there and how you helped them plan their vacation.  Kind of a soft sales approach, but its still a good story to share.

    Definitely add a strong call-to-action.  On the right or left sidebar have a big button “Need help planning your trip? Contact Us”

    Don’t be afraid to tell site visitors what to do next.  “Plan your trip to Ibiza today!”

    @adamgottlieb – Love Duct Tape Marketing!

  • Instead of incorporating the business into the blog, how about incorporating the blog into the business? Marketing today is all about content and what better way to direct people to your business is through the honest, helpful information you provide on your blog.

    Not sure but it looks like you are using Wordpress for your blog but not your business. Either way, it’s really a matter either adding business pages to your blog or bringing the blog over to your business.

    Continue to demonstrate your authority with your blog but don’t be afraid to include a call to action at the end of your post or direct the reader where you want them to go.

    And of course, make good use of the side bar space to let the reader know you do more than blog. Don’t make it cluttered but use the space.

    Hope this helps.

  • @virgilbrewster  I don’t know if you have an email list or not (I tried going to your blog, but it wouldn’t open for me), but a great way to begin doing a soft sales pitch is to make a low-ley offer in your weekly or monthly e-newsletter.  I was just going through an email marketing course from a couple of years ago written by Sonia Simone of Copyblogger, and she suggests putting a soft sales pitch into email newsletters beginning with the 3rd or 4th one you send out, and from there on, to get your audience used to hearing/seeing a sales pitch from you, which makes alot of sense. Something similar could work on a blog, but I’d be careful to give lots and lots of killer useful content surrounding it.

    I know people who have success selling from blogs, but in my estimation, you want to take readers of your blog into a deeper relationship, and you can do that with an email list.  A blog can be part of your sales funnel/sales process, but I don’t think it should BE the sales process.  : )

    Good luck to you!   

  • Jim  @jim-lodico  is spot on here. Bring the two in to one location. This is a must. Instead of splitting your traffic, or adding layers to your funnel, make them work together. SEO for one is the best reason to have them together. More people will find enter your site through a blog they found on search, than will type in directly as a result of a business card that was handed to them. You open you business to the world, instead of those you come into contact with daily. 

  • Thank you people for the great feedback we are going to work with your suggestions.. and we are going to share the results with you … Thanks again 

    Marisa & Virgil

  • @virgilbrewster It all depends on how much information you have about your website visitors.

    If you know what they are willing to pay for, you can design an offer tailored to that.

    If you don’t know what your visitors are willing to pay for, then consider creating a “free consultation”.  Maybe like a free 15 minute skype call with you and your wife.  You can talk with prospects and see what they are interested in.  Then you can create marketing material that aligns with that.


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