SEO
06-23-2009, 10:46 PM
Hi everybody, Our small SEO team is launching few B2B blogs. We don't expect too much traffic in first 6 months, but we still intend to make a buck :-). May be not $1M, but... :-) So, I wonder if any of you tried advise by Max Kowalski that he was giving in his article "5 Easy Steps: How to Make a Million From Your Business Blog in a Year?" Here I am copying the article: ________________________________________ So you run somewhat successful blog – you have a decent traffic and generate few dollars here and there from AdSense, but it still looks like a hobby, not a real business. Can it be changed? Can you find better ways to monetize your publication if you don't have an army of advertising sales agents selling your ads, and affiliate network ignore you since no ad network really runs B2B offers? As you know majority of advertising networks focus on consumer market while your blog targets business professional. If your blog is still generates limited traffic, running CPM probably wouldn't pay off, neither pay per lead programs, since reputable companies that pay over $50 a lead would rather advertise with more established publishers. Feels like you don't have many options, right? Well, wrong! Here is how you get retired within 3 years: Step 1. You locate an affiliate network with B2B merchants that run PPS offers with VERY high payoff. It's easier said then done, but I've found one for you. Actually it's the only affiliate network that has technology and infrastructure to serve B2B advertisers, even those that don't close their sales on-line. You would think that there is no way to track a sale if payment transactions are not process on-line, but those guys have it all figured out. You will see status of each lead that their forms capture on the advertiser's landing page. You can login any time to the system and see how leads move through the sales pipeline, how sales milestones are reached by advertisers' sales force (contracts are signed, PO placed etc.) and what is your revenue forecast for next 6 months (since you are selling a product with a long sales cycle, don't expect the campaign's performance in a first week). So, IdeaMama Ad Network. (bookmark it – http://IdeaMamaAdNetwork.com). You can try to find other suitable networks, but I didn't find any, zero. So. Let's go with it for now. Step 2. You select few merchants with very high pay out, $5,000-$10,000 per sale. It could be IT or consulting companies that market to multinational corporations, law firms, you name it. Their average order exceeds $50,000 per client and they easily can pay 10-20% commission on each sale since their margins usually pretty high. Step 3. Develop content that presents benefits of your advertisers, give them generous editorial content to pre-sell their offers to your audience. Keep the language very professional, deliver your point with minimum words, add facts, case studies, white papers. Remember, you target professionals that know their business. They are looking for a real content on your blog, give it to them. Add 5-10 articles per advertiser, it won't take long. Step 4. Start driving traffic to your advertisers' corporate web sites (client showcase section, case study section, white paper library). Choose the page that really sells as none of your advertisers have a real “landing page” since they don't sell on-line. Log in to IdeaMama IdeaMama's affiliate interface once a week to check the status of your leads and estimated income from each advertiser in next 6 months. Step 5. Drop merchants that have lousy sales team. If you see that they don't move your leads through the pipeline, and no deals seem to be any close to be signed with your prospects, fire them. Go back and check for new offers on the network. There will be always some better companies. But don't drop merchants too fast, give them at least couple months to prove their ability to make money for you. Let's do a math now. You selected 10 advertisers. Their average sale per client is $50,000. Your average commission per sale is 20% ($10,000). You generate 50-100 leads for each merchant a month. They close only 1 deal a month from your leads. You make $50,000 for each merchant monthly. What does it mean for you? It means 10 deals a month that is equal $10,000*1*10= $100,000 a month >> $1,200,000 a year. Can you accomplish the same result with pay per impression or per click campaigns if your blog or magazine generates not more than 10,000 a month? Well, good luck with that thinking even if yoru are an award winning writer! May be you won't make your million in a year, may be it will take 3 years, but the road map is very straightforward: choose companies which deliver great value and write about them, share your passion with readers, profile the entrepreneurs behind the enterprises, promote their service and product, expose them. Create a very niche publication, don't spread too wide. Deliver real value in your content. Be real and build a real business where others can't. Share your knowledge and wealth with others. There is no other way to happiness than sharing. _________________________ I am interested to hear from those who tried this blog monetization alternative. I also would suggest everybody to post in this thread other alternatives for B2B blogs that you think can do better jobs that CPM/CPC since we won't expect too much traffic initially. Thank you in advance, guys.