I had one of those moments earlier, where something suddenly clicks into place. I figured out that Jims Marketing Blog is not actually a blog.
Yes, it’s built using blog software, but it’s not a true blog. A blog (short for web log) was originally supposed to be an online journal. That’s why everything’s presented in date order; with the latest ‘news’ at the top. This format works brilliantly for news blogs or those offering time-sensitive information.
However, this blog (like most other business blogs) doesn’t typically offer time sensitive information. For example, yesterday’s post about managing your reputation, could have been written next month or 2 years ago. If you need to know how to write a great marketing letter, who cares if it was posted in February or April?
The typical posts I offer here, are far more like marketing articles or short marketing guides, than chronological, blog updates. And herein lies the challenge for content providers using blogs to publish their content.
Like most blogs, if someone shows up here today for the first time, they will see this post and below it, excerpts of another dozen or so posts in date order. The thing is, there are hundreds of marketing articles here, covering thousands of ideas.
Yes, people can use the “search” box on the right to look for specific marketing information, but most people don’t! They start reading the current post and then follow links within the post or maybe one of the related posts at the bottom of the post. This really isn’t an ideal format and it means a lot of people miss the key marketing answers they need.
I’ve seen other bloggers try workarounds, like having a “the best of” section – but the READER decides what’s the best post – Based on what THEY are looking for help on, not the blogger! These “best of” sections simply make popular posts more popular. Great for increasing the blogger’s page views, but lousy for the reader!
A possible solution?
I’m working on a way around this, which will be based on developing a small number of dedicated sections, each themed on a core area of marketing. This will be similar to the way categories work on a blog, but hopefully easier for people to find and navigate around. Those who like the current format will notice no real difference, but those who want to be able to find targeted information more quickly will.