Anyone using a blog on their site?

[gigalot]

What do you do for content and how often do you post?

We just started a blog on our site for a few reasons. The biggest two being spiderable content and natural links that we don't have to actively pursue. Besides histories, and how-to's which are not really appropriate for our site, what other types of information do you post?

We want to start a conversation with our current and potential customers.

[Matt Probert]

We did, and then dropped it. It took up a lot of time, and for no tangible benefits.

Matt

[gigalot]

What did you talk about on the blog?

[hannamyluv]

For an ecommerce site, customer profiles are always good. Pick a customer, call them up and ask them a few questions about their lives (people always have a story) and ask them how they like your product (which is hopfully positive) and then write about them.

One needs only to look at the popularity of reading blogs and reality TV shows to see that people like to peek into other people's lives. Especially when the other person has something in common with them, even if it is just shopping at the same store.

You may also find that your customers have something in common that has nothing to do with what you sell. While I did not maintain a blog, I have maintained several email lists. For one of them, we found that our customers went ga-ga for recipes. Food had nothing to do with what we sold but our customer base was of an age group that liked to swap recipes. So once a month, we sent them a recipe. It kept them interested in the email and they forwarded it to their friends. Think about your customer base and see if there are some "how-tos" that they would like that may or may not have to do with your product.

[Morgenhund]

hannamyluv:

What a great post!

We have a blog also, but till now I think it mostly scared customers because the last record was posted there about a half year ago.

We started it, then I did not know what to write there, and stopped posting.

You gave me great hints, thank you!

[ganderla]

I started a blog on a blogger account totally separate from my main site, but on the same subject about a month ago. I average one 100-150 word entry every two days.
I have just recently seen some very good search engine traffic and I think it will be totally worth it. I am also planning on selling in a year and I am doing everything I can now to raise the price in a year.

[seonick]

I run a blog on a seperate domain as well. We review products that are related to our industry - some we actually sell and some we don't. We also review stores and events within the area. The blog has generated a following of it's own and that only adds to the credibility of our online store.

[skipfactor]

>>It took up a lot of time

I do a web diary instead of a web log on one commerce site (dated posts without the option of comments by users).

[Dogza]

We have a blog on our site. Just started it about 6 months ago. We mostly use it to make our company look good. A few examples are: We posted a few pictures of our new display rooms, we posted about donating to Katrina Relief and some other charities, etc.. We also have some articles about our industry.

Read blogs from Big companies like Go Daddy and AdBrite, that should give you some ideas.

[gigalot]

Thanks for all the input. Hannamyluv, that was extremely helpful. I also like the idea of promoting company stuff. Thing is we are pretty small and we don't have much company stuff to talk about.

I am very open to any other ideas. Keep 'em coming.

[RailMan]

i keep meaning to set up a blog, more as a personal diary type thing - prefer it separate from my business stuff - but would drop the odd link or two in for the link value only .........

it'll happen one day .......