Blogging for dollars
Remember ‘Bowling for Dollars?’
If you said yes, I have an idea of how old you are…. 
If you said no, I wish I were as young as you. Lucky birds.
Bowling for Dollars was a t.v. show, produced by local t.v. stations, that had contestants from the area, you guessed it, bowl for money. A game show.
So today we’re going to blog for dollars, what do you think? I knew you could dig it. (It’s a day to remember the 70’s…)
The reason why we’re going to focus on blogging for dollars is because many blogs don’t have much focus at all. How many times have you been surfing and come across a blog that has absolutely nothing to do with the business website that contains it? I know I see quite a few.
Blogs written by the boss that cover his hobbies, fishing, family, sporting events. Whatever. Everything except the business that it should be covering.
The other day I was on a marketing blog. I won’t put up a link, but trust me, the actual name of the blog url contains the words “marketing blog”, ok?
Anyway, I was on this blog by accident. It’s not one of the marketing blogs I ordinarily read. What I was actually searching for was some stuff about the presidential candidates. I’m not sure if I was searching for McCain or Barack, and it’s really not relevant here. What is relevant is that one of the sites I landed on was a blog about marketing. Not politics.
Now either this blogger is a genius, or a fool. You decide. Because what this blogger did was this. He wrote a super long post about how one of the candidates could not lose and the reasons why. (In his opinion) His reasons were controversial to say the least, and they had sparked quite a good debate in that blog’s comments.
But here’s the deal. It’s a marketing blog. Setup to sell marketing products. A business. An online business. Wishing to attract new customers.
I don’t know about you business people, but this business person doesn’t care if those customers are a member of the Republican Party or the Democratic Party. Or whatever party (insert your party here….).
Nope. I welcome customers of any political preference. I love them all equally. Because I have three children in college that would really like to keep going. So the political affiliation of my clients is about the last thing I’m concerned with.
But what I am concerned with is alienating my customers and would be potential new clients. In the case of this marketing blog that is really trying to sell it’s books and services, how well will they fare this day with people who don’t agree with them politically?
Do you really think that people are going to respect him for his political opinion and then buy some of his services? Perhaps they are so impressed with his political knowledge that they just must possess his e-book?
I kind of doubt it.
So why would you, in essence, attack a good half of your readership? On your company blog? For no apparent reason?
It confuses me sometimes. Because your blog is supposed to be about your business. About promoting your products and services to ALL perspective clients. And definitely not making a conscience effort to send a good portion of them away.
Yes, he’ll get a lot of traffic. But remember what we’ve covered in previous posts. Untargeted traffic does not convert well. It does not mean you will gain more sales. Especially in this circumstance. In my opinion, your blog should not be about your political, or your religious beliefs.
My grandfather said that there are two things you should not discuss in public. Religion and Politics.
I do believe it holds true when it comes to blogging in public too.
So here’s the skinny, my friends. Blog for the dollars. And keep blogging for them. Keep your blog focused on the business at hand. Remember that there are actual readers on the other side of that ’submit’ button. Also remember that you really want them to be a new customer, no matter what their political opinions are.
Tags: blog, Blog Writers, blog writing service, bowling, democrats, dollars, politics, republicans