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  1. #21
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    You see, this conversation - interesting as it may be - is an example of how confusion arises. The constant reference to a blog being something different, whether it is actually located on the same domain as a 'site' or located somewhere else, cannot be true. My understanding is that a blog is a webpage or a series of them. A forum is a webpage, or a series of them. A website is a page or a series of them. And, in truth, the pages of a website do not have to be on the same domain - a website could be spread over many domains, for that matter, as long as the pages link together by navigation links.

    I can see both points of view - if a visitor is tempted to go to a non-commercial portion of a website, they are distracted from buying something. If the non-commercial portion of a website is on the same domain as the commercial portion, the traffic to each section will be combined as the traffic to the whole site. There may be some advantage in that. But what does it serve having two separately functioning sites operating as one, just to combine their traffic?

    I suppose Ford and Chrysler could join their websites under a single domain - fordandchrysler.com - just to be able to say their site gets more traffic than gm.com, but will they sell more cars?

  2. #22
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    We talked about this a couple of pages back, but it is hard to define what a blog is. I know one when I see one, but when trying to pinpoint specifically what makes it a blog it breaks down because there are many exceptions to every rule you try to use in the definition. I really think the best way to understand what a blog is, is simply to subscribe to a few different ones and read them.

    As far as a site losing a sale because someone left a sales page to visit a web page. If someone leaves your sales page without buying it's because they weren't ready to buy at that moment or something on the sales page wasn't able to convince them to buy. That person could leave and go to an infinite number of different places.

    If you can get them to visit your blog that's a good thing. It means you've kept them on your site instead of letting them go to another site. If your blog can then interest them and get them to come back you now have more opportunities to sell them at a later time. If you didn't have a blog that person was still leaving. The difference is they weren't coming back. A blog isn't going to distract people from visiting your sales pages again.

    You can make the argument that giving people fewer options on a sales page is more likely to result in them making the choice you want. That's why you see those long sales pages with everything highlighted in red having no navigation. They leave the user 2 options, buy or leave. However if someone leaves your sales page to go to your blog it's not quite the same thing. A blog represents a way to keep someone coming back again and again.

    If the suggestion is that any page that isn't a sales page is distracting people from buying then you're suggesting all sites be reduced to the single sales page. And I don't think anyone here is suggesting a website should only be a single long sales page.

    People are more likely to buy from you if they know and if they trust you. That's a big benefit of a blog. By bringing people back day after day and interacting with them they get to know you and they come to trust you. A blog can be a great sales tool. If for some reason people no longer want to buy from you after reading your blog, it's not because you have a blog. It's because you did a poor job of running a blog.

    An example that has nothing to do with websites. Imagine you run a sporting good store in Dallas. On the sign in front of your store you write in big letters. Cowboys suck. Redskins rule. I'm guessing your sporting goods store isn't going to be a success. Openly rooting for the Washington Redskins in Dallas is not likely to endear you to Dallas residents. The conclusion shouldn't be signs are bad. It's what you wrote on the sign and your lack of understanding of the market that led to failure.

    Similarly with a blog. If your blog turns people away it's not because you had a blog. It's because of the things you published. If your sales page has bad copy the conclusion isn't sales pages are bad. The conclusion should be you did a poor job writing the sales copy.

    Blogs do not distract people away from the commercial pages of the site. If someone lands on your sales page and doesn't buy something it's not the fault of the next page they visit. It's either they weren't going to buy at that moment under any circumstance or the sales page did a poor job getting them to buy.
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  3. #23
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    my blogs and web are intertwined...and i doubt if most people mind or would even notice if they were more imbedded...
    i read blogs on one site and leave it for another all the time....hopping all around and often forget where i started....thats half the fun of blogs and links .... its even got a word...blog hopping.......
    im suprised you say blogs dont distract people from commercial pages of the site.....i think it happens a whole lot....its risky to put blog links on i think....but they are also such a draw .... on facebook people thank me for the fun links which i sometimes p ut on in the form of blogs or other spots.......but i know it takes them away from my page....same with the links on my blog..
    ann at greenoak www.greenoakantiques.com

  4. #24
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    First we're specifically talking about blogs that are on the same domain as the sales pages of a site, not leaving domain.com to go to blogger.com and then over to wordpress.com.

    I say blogs don't distract people away from sales pages because it's not the blog. It's the sales page that didn't do it's job to keep the person's attention and lead them to take some action. If the blog is distracting that person then so is your about page, your contact page, your privacy policy, or any other page you link to. You can't say a blog distracts without also including every other page on the site. If you think you shouldn't include a blog because it distracts then you shouldn't be including any page that isn't directly selling something and you'd be left with single long sales pages. The kinds of pages everyone here would look at and call spam.

    If you're enjoying hopping around for page to page and site to site I think it's a false assumption to assume you would have bought something had you not clicked away from the sales page. You weren't going to buy. You left the sales page because you weren't interested in buying anything at that moment.

    Unlike pages like an about page or contact page, a blog does a lot of work to convince you to come back to the site. For one it has a mechanism to let you subscribe so you don't even need to go back to the site to be kept aware of the site. Also the way the content is written it's more likely you're going to want to read the next blog post than to revisit the about page and read it again.

    Most people landing on your sales pages are not going to buy something at that time. If they leave to visit another site they probably aren't coming back. If they leave to visit your blog there's a much greater chance they will stay connected with your site in some way, giving you more opportunity to sell to them later.
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  5. #25
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    i hear you.... i dont sell online so i dont have a sales page....my site is more to tempt them to come to the store in person......
    i dont realy connect my fun on blogs with buying..... to me its more for my personal entertainment, info and eye candy..... i dont actually buy online except for amazon and zappos...with a very few exceptions...
    ann at greenoak www.greenoakantiques.com

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    And not all blogs are meant for commercial purposes. And not all blogs with a commercial intent are meant to sell to every reader they attract.

    This just occurred to me. I'm assuming that you end up chit chatting with some of your customers. You'll talk to them about things that aren't specifically about something you sell. When you do you get to know them and they get to know you more and those conversations probably get some people to come back more often or get someone who's thinking about buying something to actually buy it. Those conversations aren't about directly selling anything, but they help the customer know you and trust you and as a consequence make them more willing to buy from you.

    A blog can work the same way. You can't exactly have those conversations with people visiting your site. Blog posts though are one way to have something of a conversation. Visitors to your site can get to know you better and come to trust you more and as a consequence are more likely to buy from you. Not everyone who reads your blog is going to buy from you the same way every person in your store you talk to isn't going to buy from.

    The net result of the talking or blogging is usually more sales.
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