We are often asked about the benefits of having a blog. And whilst there are many valid answers to this question, it’s always good to be able to use facts to back them up.
So it’s great to see some research from web platform Hubspot in the US, which reveals that blogging can increase traffic, inbound links and the number of indexed pages on a website.
By analysing data from the company’s 1,531 customers, Hubspot found that those with blogs had on average 55% more website traffic. Of course, this could be down to other factors as well but the figure is so high that there seems to be credibility here.
In addition, when it comes to search engine optimisation, the websites that contained blogs had 97% more inbound links (a measure of how many other pages or sites are linking to a particular website) and 434% more indexed pages (a measure of the number of pages that show up in search engines).
These last two statistics are hardly surprising, they just confirm what we would expect; because blogs are essentially creating valuable (we hope!) content – and lots of it – there is more content for visitors to read (and link to) and more content for search engines to crawl and rank.
Of course, establishing the blog is only the first step and it takes time and effort to keep it updated, making sure the content is both appropriate to your business and ‘valuable’ enough for people to want to read.
If you think a blog might be good for your business, let us know…
Spotify has well and truly become the new darling of the new media world and with it’s US launch slated for Q3 or Q4 2009, it is just about to get a whole lot bigger!
And two news stories out today suggests that the future looks even brighter for the music streaming service.
Firstly, there are rumours that Apple has finally approved the long awaited Spotify iPhone app (see video above). Why is this important? Well, it really adds the finishing touch to the Spotify proposition.
And, if it is true that users will have to be premium subscribers to use the application, then it will also be a very important part of the company’s business model and profitability efforts.
The second story doing the rounds today is equally as interesting, if slightly less accurate in terms of concrete facts!
Writing on Trusted Reviews, Gordon Kelly cites rumours from Techcrunch suggesting that Facebook is looking to acquire the service:
“We’ve heard that Facebook has been talking with the European startup about a partnership for well over a year (about the time the Facebook music rumors heated up), but that the talks have intensified dramatically in the last week.”
Now a link up between these two companies makes perfect sense. Facebook has always lost out in the music stakes to Myspace and a strategic acquisition like this would radically change that. This could also be seen as a move against Apple and iTunes, which is even more interesting when you consider that Apple is just about to approve the Spotify app.
After the Friendfeed acquisition earlier this month, it seems that Facebook is taking steps to assert its authority and acquiring Spotify would be a massive statement of intent. Valuing the Swedish music startup might prove tricky however.
Venture Beat has an interview with Twitter founder Biz Stone in which he reveals that commercial accounts are on their way:
“Twitter will still be free for everybody and we’ll still tell them to go crazy with it. But we’ve identified a selection of things that businesses say are helping to make them more profit. We want to build statistics or analytics that let users know — ‘How am I doing on Twitter?’”
This approach makes perfect sense, however as Venture Beat suggests, there is a danger that Twitter will begin to step on the toes of some of the third party APIs that are already offering similar features, such as Wildfire-favourite CoTweet.
Until know, Twitter has stayed true to its more ‘basic’ roots, providing a simple service that is free from the complexities found on other networks. These have, up till now, been left for the third party sites and services that have sprung up.
But the need to develop a revenue model has made Twitter examine ways in which users would pay for additional services.
Newsnight ran a report yesterday on the internet craze that is Twitter. The 10 minute slot (see below) covered a range of different issues, including a long interview at the end with founder and CEO Ev Williams.
Whilst the report ranged from the interesting to the downright stupid (beware publicity seeking Archbishops and celebrity-obsessed media), there were some highlights, especially in the interview with Williams, including the part when he said:
The national press and online media were awash with stories this month that Morgan Stanley had published a report written by a 15 year old intern. The subject: teenage media consumption habits
The theme of the note was that traditional media are of little interest to teenagers and that Twitter is not a social network that they engage with. Neither of these points came as much of a surprise if you follow social media trends. What was revealing, was that an internationally renowned investment bank was turning to a teenager for insights into the youth audience.
The teenager in question may not be truly representative of your average 15 year old but the process of getting your audience to tell you what they think is of enormous value. Rather than commissioning a disinterested party to write the piece (the alternative being a 30 something Oxbridge graduate with an MBA and little true insight into the daily life of a spotty youth), they went directly to the source. This approach is equally applicable for delving into just about any other audience.
Research projects with large sample sizes and sophisticated modelling techniques are an invaluable tool for establishing high level trends, yet can conceal as much of the valuable nuance as they reveal. Having a technique that provides you with the “colour supplement” can often complement and enhance the research process, and deliver a compelling insight or actionable data.
By way of example, there was an interesting insight delivered through the research note. “Teenagers do not use Twitter,” he wrote. “Most have signed up to the service, but then just leave it as they realise that they are not going to update it (mostly because texting Twitter uses up credit, and they would rather text friends with that credit).” The fact that they don’t use Twitter is well established. The reason why is harder to establish.
This opens up a whole range of interesting thoughts and opportunities – both in terms of what other things teens are not doing with their phones because it chews up credits, as well as what their level of price elasticity is across a whole range of potential offers
Interestingly, one of the things that the ‘youth’ value less than the rest of the population is their personal data, which they are prepared to trade in exchange for free services. What are the implications for database building, and through that, relationships with the mass of consumers of the future?
We would encourage businesses to consider what value can be obtained from getting a client or customer to keep a diary, or write a piece on how they are consuming media and why. You may be surprised by what you find out.
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