3 reasons why 30 blog visitors are better than 300 website visitors
It has been going around that “blog visitors don’t click on ads”; blog visitors come for information, so they read your post (sometimes they just subscribe to your feeds!) and then off they go. I personally think this is true… to an extent. It all depends on what area you are blogging about. If your blog is very related to Internet Marketing, or is targeted at tech-savvy people, your ads will probably not perform well.
At least, that is what Problogger said, a couple of days back.
Why then, are there so many people blogging? Why don’t they just start a Joomla! site, or just upload some static pages?
Let me give you 3 great reasons, why I would prefer 30 visitors to my blog, than 300 visitors to a normal website.
1. Blogs invite participation
When you go to an informative website, you will probably be presented with an article. After your read the article what do you do? For myself, I would either (1) bookmark the article if it is bookmark worthy (2) click on a link that takes me elsewhere (3) leave the site altogether.
When people choose option 2, that is probably when an ad click is recorded.
Contrast that to what happens when you read a blog post. A powerful blog post is one that relates to your target audience, and often, it ends with a question! What is your first instinct when a question is posed to you?
You answer! Yes! Exactly!
Blogs invite readers to comment, critique, interact and clarify. When that happens, you have essentially engaged your reader in a conversation!
2. Blogs have more returning visitors
Let’s say you bump on a normal website with a very interesting article. Would you come back the next day, expecting more articles? Probably not.
What about a blog? The frequency of the posts presented on the front page of the blog shows how active the blog is. If the frequency shows that a post is made almost every single day, this will draw the reader back the next day, expecting a new post! So, then, you automatically get returning visitors for a blog!
In fact, this becomes even more interesting when the reader has previously left a comment. He will not only check the main page for new posts, but also get back into the previous posts to see if anyone else can added on to his comment!
3. Blogs let you get to know your readers
Very often, on a website, you don’t know who is the person behind the website… and you don’t really bother anyway.
The power of blogs are in building relationships. Because of the conversational style of writing in blogs, we intrinsically know that there is a person behind the blog.
Let me give an example using this blog! Over the last couple of months, I have made over a hundred and fifty posts on this blog, and in the process, I’ve also gotten to know quite a number of people - some very big names in the business blogging industry, and even several book authors! In fact, I’ve never gotten to know so many people outside my own country before!
I could have built this same information that I have published on this blog over into a website with over a 150 pages, but I’d bet I wouldn’t know as much people… because there will be no conversation!
When people think about online marketing - the first things that come up to mind is contextual ad system, affiliate links and selling your products online. Its true, blogs may not be the best platform to do that. However, I think blogs are the best tool so far for you to really build a relationship with people in your industry (whom you can collaborate with in the future), your customers (to give them the lastest updates) and your prospects.
Don’t limit yourself to just Adsense. Think wider. Think about business. Think about relationships.
If you enjoyed this post, Sign up for the free Blog Marketing eCourse.
Tan Kian Ann is blog marketer based in Singapore. He now works with individuals and small businesses reach out to the world using blogs. 
January 12th, 2007 at 8:57 am
Visit Char
Outstanding! I have been considering moving two of my static sites to blog/traditional mixes for this reason exactly - I love the interaction that a blog provides.
January 12th, 2007 at 9:28 am
Visit John
Hi,
Yeah I surely prefer blog then static site. It is a way that we can build relationship with the reader and it is important that we do so if we have an online business. Sometime I feel that blogging can be an art. At times there may not be people actually comment on your blog.
January 12th, 2007 at 10:17 am
Visit The Hairy Beast
Blogs may not be as polished, but they are very often just more FUN than a website.
Unless there’s mini-golf. Nobody can compete with that.
January 12th, 2007 at 10:35 am
Visit Kian Ann
Hey Char, well done! Me too! When I found out how to use the pages feature in WordPress and how to effectively use WordPress as a CMS (i.e. with the static front page plugin) I was thinking of how to revamp all my existing sites, because the blog platform makes the site so easy to update!
January 12th, 2007 at 10:35 am
Visit What Happened to My Alexa Ranking
[...] I have been tracking the visitors using MyBlogLog and also my server’s AWstat. But, there is not really such a big jump in the numbers - no so many unique visitors. So it must be repeated visitors and very likely from Kian Ann’s Blog Marketing blog. And this is a good thing. Thank you Kian Ann. [...]
January 12th, 2007 at 10:39 am
Visit Kian Ann
Hi John!
Blog comments will come naturally as you write more and leave more comments around. I think a blog site is not as effective for selling things like affiliate products, but it definitely works superbly as a site that complements all your sales pages!
January 12th, 2007 at 10:46 am
Visit Kian Ann
Hey “The Hairy Beast”!
Minigolf! hahahaha!!!
Nobody can beat my site now!
Thanks for dropping by! I love the title of your latest post soooo much!
January 12th, 2007 at 11:12 am
Visit The Hairy Beast
THIS is the good one!
January 12th, 2007 at 11:16 am
Visit Kian Ann
Hahaha… alright alright, I lose.
Heh.
Now everybody knows why I will not be able to complete my blog posts as scheduled today.
Mini-Golf is more important!
January 12th, 2007 at 12:21 pm
Visit Essential Keystrokes » Friday Hit Parade - My Top 5 For The Week
[...] Kian Ann has just about convinced me to convert two of my "static" sites over to blog/traditional site hybrids thanks to his 3 Reasons Why 30 Blog Visitors Are Better than 300 Website Visitors post. [...]
January 12th, 2007 at 6:52 pm
Visit Mike Sansone
Kian - Three great thoughts here! “The power of blogs are in building relationships” And you’ve shown that here and elsewhere. I sure appreciate the power you bring to the blogosphere. Thank you.
January 12th, 2007 at 9:01 pm
Visit Doris
Never thought about it that way. Infact, I sometimes underestimate the power of blogging. And I do agree that blogging is a fantastic way to build relationships, as compared to building websites.
January 13th, 2007 at 5:52 am
Visit Terry Starbucker
Hi - I’ve arrived here courtesy of Mike Sansone’s link to this post. I think blogs are all about relationships - that’s really why I do it now. I’ve discovered communities of like-minded people that share my joy of learning and the “Glass Half-Full” philosophy - and the rewards have been immense. I’ll take this over hundreds of “hits” to a website anytime. Thanks, and all the best.
January 13th, 2007 at 7:00 am
Visit Kian Ann
Thanks Mike, Doris and Terry,
The blogosphere is indeed powerful for building relationships, and if you drill down into any successful business and examine its keys to success, the bottomline is always the organizations’ relationships with their customers.
Thanks for dropping by!
P/S: Mike, thanks for the link love, and referring Terry
January 13th, 2007 at 10:09 pm
Visit Michael Libbie
Yes! I’ll be giving a seminar on the power of Blogs…and this, once again, confirms our message. We have seen a dramatic increase in traffic. By the way, is it best to have a Blog stand alone or have it as part of your website?
January 14th, 2007 at 12:11 am
Visit A Meeting Place for All Home Office Women » Don’t stop blogging!
[...] I agree with Kian Ann from Blogopreneur that blogging is an effective way to “really build a relationship with people in your industry (whom you can collaborate with in the future), your customers (to give them the lastest updates) and your prospects”. That is why it is better to have 30 blog visitors than to have 300 website visitors. He has reaffirmed my efforts and time spent in building blogs in the last few months. [...]
January 14th, 2007 at 12:35 am
Visit Kian Ann
Thanks Michael. That’s wonderful, we have another one spreading the love of blogging.
I think the decision whether or not to make a blog a part of a website is really up to the individual - what do you want as the highlight of your site? Usually the configuration of having blogs integrated as part of a website happens because the blog needs to tap on the branding of the original website that it is affiliated to.
January 24th, 2007 at 12:29 am
Visit Get Them Blogging! » Small traffic blogs still make sense
[...] blogs may seem like the easiest way to build buzz but it’s not always the best way. Blogopreneur speaks to the value of lower traffic blogs in this entry. We have to agree with his points. And [...]
January 24th, 2007 at 12:13 pm
Visit Doug Karr
Great article. Thanks!
July 31st, 2007 at 10:35 am
Visit BusinessBlogWire’s Benefits for Small Business Blogging
[...] one of my earlier posts, I mentioned why 3 reasons why 30 blog visitors are better than 300 website visitors. A hundred dollars in Internet advertising can bring you hundreds of web visitors, and the same [...]
August 17th, 2007 at 3:13 am
Visit jo
I have been hesitant to use blogs and have no good reason. I love the lively discussion with people who care to spend more than a few moments on a topic.