No blogger, including me, wants to toil in obscurity.
Those of us who work under the marketing umbrella adhere to this twist on the “Field of Dreams” adage, “If you build it, people won’t necessarily come.”
It’s now time for an update with a fresh wrinkle:
Specifically, many RELEVANT people still won’t come.
When it comes to blogging, it took me several years to figure out that the “product” is only part of the equation. More than just marketing, the channels for reaching your target readers have a major say in how many people touch your storytelling.
I hate to say this, but I’m convinced that strong marketing and channels of distribution will bring readers by the busload to a mediocre blog. On the other hand, storytelling with fresh points of view in a blog with weak amplification results in a modest readership.
Something happened last month that hammered this point home.
A little background –
Traffic to my blog jumped 29 percent in November 2013 thru January 2014 compared to the same period a year ago. While I’d like to think I continue to hone my craft, this has zero to do with more people finding their way to my neighborhood. The increased traffic is largely a byproduct of varied channels flinging my posts to more people. For example, thanks to an arrangement with friend and colleague Steve Farnsworth, shares on Twitter have gone through the canopy.
All in all, I was feeling good about the progress … until January 31.
That’s when I looked at the social shares for a post on how to optimize LinkedIn that PR Daily republished.
Nearly 700 shares!
Obviously, I don’t have access to PR Daily’s analytics. Still, combining the social shares with the traffic numbers to the media property tell me that the post on PR Daily enjoyed at least 10X the readership of the same content on my blog.
That’s the clout of distribution.
Given our quest to be an advocate and even an evangelist for the communications industry – not monetize clicks – it makes no difference where people read our takes.
We just want to be heard.
Note: This post riffs on comments from the Frank Strong post, “Reflections: 5 Lessons Readers Taught Me in 2013.”