Enter the blogosphere

• By Shopify
• 12 May 2011

When starting an online store the thought of garnering media attention seems daunting. But traditional print publication is slowly diminishing, while the relevance of the blogosphere continues to grow. Our advice? Get in with the bloggers!

Here's our top 5 tips on how to get started.

1. Get blogging!

The best way to figure out how to interact with a blogger is to be a blogger. If you go through the process of finding something you care enough to write about every day, setting up the blog, writing the content, building the traffic, managing the comments, reading the other blogs and building the relationships with the other bloggers, then you will understand the perspective of the blogger, and how to approach them.

2. Read the blogs that you want to target.

This sounds obvious, but many people don't take this crucial step. Be familiar with their subject matter, and find out who they are. Bloggers reveal a great deal of information about themselves, and it will be obvious if you haven’t taken the time to learn about them. If you have, your chances of building a relationship are much higher.

3. Forget the press release.

Bloggers who get a lot of traffic receive these every day. They're usually generic, with no link between the content of the press release and their subject matter. Bloggers will ignore it at best, and openly mock it at worst, which can be damaging. Instead of sending the press release in an email, contact the blogger directly. Tell them what you do, why you want to work with them, and provide contact information for you if they have any questions.

4. Bloggers are not ad space

Magazines and newspapers are formal ways to inform consumers. Blogs are different: they are both the conduit and the consumer, which means it doesn't always work out the same as taking out a traditional ad would. If the blogger writes about you, you can't control the message. So think about what it is you want to achieve: if you just want eyeballs on your link and you want the message strictly controlled, would you be better off buying ad-space on that blog?

5. No such thing as a free lunch

In a lot of cases, bloggers aren't being paid, they are writing out of passion. If you ask them to write about your product to help drive traffic to your site, you're asking for free advertising - basically, a favour. So what can you do for them in return? Discount coupons? Free samples? Backlinks? Access to you or someone you're connected to who can give the blogger an exclusive interview or open a door somewhere?

Shopify helps you set up an online store to sell your products, customise your storefront, accept payment and more - without the hassle of running a physical store.

Written on:

12 May 2011

Categories:

Setting up a Business, SEO and the Web, Marketing