The business of blogging, part II
I just got out of the New Business Summit in Nashville, TN, in which I spoke to (and with) a bunch of crazy marketing people about the why’s and how’s of blogging as a business. I say crazy because there was a banking seminar next door, and we definitely rocked the house.
If I’ve learned nothing else in the year and change that we’ve been blogging about starting a brewery, it is that blogging, when executed correctly, really is a powerful medium. Especially when you’ve got time. And since we are keeping our full-time jobs for the moment, we don’t need to worry about turning a profit just yet. Which is good, since we’ve only lost money thus far.
Here’s a shot of me looking especially authoritative (AKA handsome):
Is it just me, or does blogging as a business always bring up associations of Bob Loblaw’s Law Blog. It’s just me? Oh… Cool.
Jonathan, Joel & Jeff
February 7th, 2008 at 5:57 pm
My brother introduced me to, and installed the code, for Google Analytics. Its been exactly one month since installing it, and we are quite impressed by the daily turnout to my blog.
The information is very easy to use and read, and its fairly detailed. Finding out where in the world (specific town) each hit comes from is fascinating. How many pages viewed with how long that person spent on my site, as a result of entering specific search terms into a search engine is all really helpful. It allows me to know what people are looking for.
I’m sure there are numerous analytical/traffic-tracking programs with greater informational detail out there. Not sure if knowing someone’s IP-address would do anything for me.
If I set my blog as a profit generating business site, this info would be critical to generating even greater traffic with fine-tuned writing and linking. With all of this “insider” information, a blog could serve as a powerful promotional and profit generating tool.
I would bet that you are already tracking traffic to your site. I wonder how much comes as a link from mine? I know a handful of visits were directed from yours, and I thank you for that.
February 7th, 2008 at 7:37 pm
Google Analytics is great for aggregate data. I also love Statcounter (www.statcounter.com). Statcounter seems to give much greater depth, but the aggregate data isn’t as robust. And for tracking RSS hits we use Feedburner, which is equally awesome. I know we get some traffic from your site too. It’s a two-way street, this “interweb” thing.
February 8th, 2008 at 9:42 am
Baker those photos have to score you at least a couple of dates in the coming weeks. Authoritative, indeed!