In this blog I will share some ideas that will give you 101 different ideas about how to find things to blog about as a bonus if you do it right it will get your more people to your blog and hopefully more sales!

I was reading an ebook about inbound marketing ;from a guy with a name which a first glance, I didn’t ;know if his name ;was a joke. Marcus Sheridan runs a website called the Sales Lion. ;A section of his book ;inspired me and made me look at how I think about blogging.

The concept is this:

Blogging is the answer to your customers questions

Write a list of every ;question your customers and prospects ask you. If possible do this in a group with colleagues and associates.

Focus on the things other supplies (your competitors) are less likely to write about such as costs of the products and negative phrases your customers might use while considering your product. These are the things people are looking for and searching for when considering buying you products. Although this approach may scare some people off if there are negative things around your product you are better to tackle them head on and give your side of the story and not wait for your competitors to tell the story from their biased perspective.

The Marcus Sheridan started a business called the River, pools and spas. He ;practised exactly what he preached. ;Now, when searching for ;questions about a fiberglass swimming pool, he pops up on the first page.

If you don’t believe me click here for the search ; “how much does a fiberglass pool cost” or “pros and cons of concrete swimming pools” and see where he comes up. The pricing page has had over 54,000 views.

If you were to come up with a list of 52 questions that you get asked by customers and you blog ; twice a week you would have half a year’s worth of content. If you were to carry on at this rate you would soon become the top result for every search term your customers are ever looking for.

Page views equal sales!

Marcus talks about how he analysed how many times his customers viewed his blog against his closing ratio. The industry standard closing ratio was around 15%. He also says that most swimming pool websites ;have about 20 ;or so pages. ;His website has a huge amount ;pages and high volume of traffic. He found that with customers who had viewed more than 30 pages of his website his closing ratio went up to 80%! When people had viewed the website and visited 30 or more pages they had built up a great deal of trust ;in his company which converted ;into sales. The approach he takes ;in generating content by talking about the good, the bad and ;the ugly helps to build ;trust.

In summary

  • Write down every question your customers ever ask you about your product
  • Convert every question in a blog post
  • Make sure your customers and prospects read as much of your content as possible

For more information on his free ebook click here

This is an interview he did for the social media examiner website

Marcus Sheridan is “The Sales Lion”

@TheSalesLion

http://www.thesaleslion.com/

How have you used you blog to generate sales in your business? Have you noticed a correlation between the amount of your content a customer views and your sales?

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12 Comments

  1. Good advice Marcus. I’d add to that, if somebody is going to blog, then at least blog SOMETHING. Blogs that have 3 articles, the last one 18 months ago, are more negative than positive.

  2. Thanks for your comment Martin and Marcus.

    Marcus your story is very inspiring. I am evangelising your thoughts and ideas to everyone and anyone who wants to listen and a few people who don’t! You have made me rethink my own personal strategy. I will come back to you in 12 months to see if your ideas have served me as well as they have you!

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