There’s a new debate in town. Blogs are overtaking newspapers. And bloggers are overtaking journalists. Well, in America at least.
According to The Times, local newspapers in America are dying. Across the country, established titles such as the Rocky Mountain News in Denver and the Post-Intelligencer here in Seattle have stopped the presses after printing their final issues. Recently Maxim a long established UK magazine closed its print version in favour of going completely online.
I’ve been thinking about why the trend of blogs taking over print publications is occurring and here’s my take on it.
Blogging is power – Sites like BT Tradespace, Wordpress, Blogger.com, etc have given the man on the street power to speak his/her mind. We all like to have our say, so given the opportunity who wouldn’t take it up – it’s like looking a gift horse in the mouth right?
Having a blog is having a dialogue – The one thing that blogs have over newspapers, is that it involves the user. If I see a blog I feel strongly about (positive or negative) – I can comment. This creates a dialogue with the blogger and a relationship is established. Contact is made and conversation can continue.
A good blogger can become a strong influencer – One example of a blogger turned influencer is the BBC’s business editor, Robert Preston. Robert is pretty much a blogging god and regularly receives hundreds of comments from his readers. BT Tradespace had its own mini success when our feature on how to use Twitter drew in the comments. Within a week we went from 550 followers to 770 followers. Pretty compelling stuff huh?
A blog is cost-effective – Print is expensive and time-consuming. There’s no two ways about it. Think of all the time, effort and money you put in to a flyer for example. There’s copywriting, design, production, printing, distribution, analysis. With a blog, it’s all at the click of a button. No cost involved apart from a bit of time and yet, you can reach a bigger audience, it’s free and you can do it as you want and when you want.
So here’s the deal. If blogs have the power to shut newspapers down, are you using your power? Are you blogging on your Tradespace? Are you establishing a dialogue with your customer? Are you building trust and influencing your audience? Are you saving your business money? If the answer is no – you’re missing out.
Your Tradespace is your tool – use it as you will.
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The blog vs newspaper debate
Tags: blogging sites, blogs, BT Tradespace, The Times
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Small businesses missing out on millions of pounds in potential sales – are you one of them?
We love our stats, here at BT Tradespace. That’s why we recently commissioned the Voice of Small Business report to find out how small businesses conduct their business on and offline.
Being the ‘webheads’ we are, it came as a surprise to find that 56 percent of small businesses still prefer face-to-face interaction to interacting via the web. But that’s not all, we found that while a huge majority of respondents we surveyed (300 UK businesses) have their own website (80 percent compared with just 60 percent last year), only 3 percent believe it’s important to interact with their customers through it!
But the main shocker was that nearly two thirds (60 percent) of small businesses do not sell their products and services online and are therefore missing out on billions of pounds (£20 billion-a-year to be exact) being spent online!
Journalist Helen Loveless of the Daily Mail, recently reported that ‘in a tough economic climate, experts believe it is increasingly important that small firms look to the Internet to help sustain and expand their business.’ The same article quoted Stephen Alambritis, chief spokesman for the Federation of Small Businesses, who explained security as being one the main reasons for this lack of take up. He also urged small firms to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the Internet.
Luckily, the news is not all bad! The Voice of Small Business also reported that one in five small businesses now use social networking websites. And websites are playing an increasing role in communication and marketing strategies for small businesses.
The stats reflect a definite shift in the trend towards social networking and media – with 18 percent of businesses blogging for business. However, there’s still a gap when it comes to using online for business vs online for personal use. 67 percent did not believe they would find customers online even though more than two thirds (69 percent) shop online at least once a month!
So… are you one of the businesses missing out on billions being spent online? Or are you still wondering how to interact with your customers via the web?
Change the way you work your business online -
- Sell your products and services on BT Tradespace at little cost.
- Update your blog to begin talking to your customers.
- Find new customers by keeping your Tradespace alive with new content and be found on Google
- Use the communities to grow your leads!
Whatever your choice, whichever way your look at it – with 32 million UK consumers shopping online by 2011 (source: Forrester, UK eCommerce Forecast 2006-2011, March 2007) – your customers are headed online but are you?
Read the full press release and download the report.
Tags: blogging, blogs, BT Tradespace, sell online, Selling online, shop online, small businesses
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Featured Tradespacer: Aromabar
Glaswegian Cathy Grant set up Aromabar six years ago, after her friend introduced her to aromatherapy. Last year, she was searching for ways to promote her company – and she received an email from BT recommending BT Tradespace.
“It was so easy to set up my free account, and being listed on BT Tradespace has really boosted the traffic going to my own website,” she said. “A small business network like BT Tradespace is ideal for those who want to get their brand out there.”
43-year-old Cathy has since taken full advantage of the services offered to her by BT Tradespace. She explained: “I use the blog to tell people about my products. Each new post attracts more traffic, and customers can buy directly from BT Tradespace through its PayPal capabilities.”
Cathy particularly likes the way, unlike other sites, she is not charged for listing her products, “with Tradespace being free to set up, it’s great for both promoting and selling my products. I also have Facebook, Bebo and MSN sites for the company, but none of those have increased traffic to my website like BT Tradespace has.”
Now Cathy, who also uses BT Tradespace to upload photographs and link to other companies, is encouraging more small businesses to join the network: “I’ve recommended BT Tradespace on various online forums, so people can benefit from it like I have.”
In the future, Cathy would like to produce wedding favour packages to sell, “I know they’ll get great promotion – and sales – through BT Tradespace.”
Tags: blogs, BT Tradespace, PayPal, sell online
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