Content Creation

Who Is My Industry Blogging For?

CopyPress

March 27, 2013 (Updated: January 26, 2023)

I am in the SEO and Internet marketing industry and we do a lot of blogging. I constantly write about businesses needing to blog and focus on their targeted audiences to make sales (and I am not the only one). Essentially, you blog about what your business does and create a need for the services you provide. There must be a subtle sale that educates the reader for a piece of content to be effective.

I have said several times that educating and informing begins the “trust” process and without trust there is not a sale. Trust is critical. Is your blog creating trust or is it way over the heads over your potential clients? Sometimes I wonder this when reading my favorite blogs.

Reading Blogs from My Industry

When I read blogs from very smart people in this industry, I see blog articles that will attract and inform other people in my industry. I totally get that this industry can bring in substantial traffic with these articles and traffic is needed for a variety of reasons. I am also happy that the articles are there, because I learn a lot from them and I am happy to read them. However, the blog/business isn’t making any money off of me. I do know that people from my industry send referrals to people they trust, but my point is that most of a company’s income comes from sales.

So a big question for me is – are bloggers in my industry seeing an ROI beyond an SEO standpoint and social shares?

What About the Customer?

I know many people prove their knowledge and skills with blogging and this can create trust. We keep telling people to create content to target audiences to “make sales”; is your company/blog doing targeting audiences effectively when you are proving your “knowledge and skills”? It is possible to do both things at the same time, but I am wondering if people are remembering the potential clients. Does your blog offer anything that would attract potential clients and then make you money?

My industry is slightly different in that you have to prove that you know your stuff to the industry itself while also working to make money to survive. In the end the income comes from clients and they should not be forgotten.

Who Are You Appealing To?

There are many great articles out there that can be helpful to potential customers and also people in our industry, like this one on Embedding Twitter Testimonials. This article would be great for a business that sells social media and blogging services, because it could appeals to multiple audiences – including potential clients and our industry.

My question to those in the SEO and Internet Marketing industries is who are you appealing to in your writing/blogging? I know how hard it is to create a respected name in this industry and I also know how hard it is to simultaneously work all day and make a living. Blogging aimed at potential clients is important and proving you know your stuff is important as well.

Some Possible Discussion Questions – Please Comment Below

• Who or what do you blog for – your industry or potential clients?
• If there was no SEO or ranking to be concerned with, would your blogging strategy change?
• Has your blog brought in clients?

Melissa Fach

Melissa Fach has been in the SEO industry since 2007. She created her own agency, was the Managing Editor at SEJ, worked as an editor for Moz with their community team, she worked at Pubcon as the Community Manager for 5 years, and is an editor for SEMrush US Blog.

More from the author: