How a Blog Turned into a Million Dollar Business Completely By Accident – You Can Do It Too
June 22nd, 2007 by Mike Reining Read more about ArticlesBen Hunt blogged and blogged and blogged and out of his passion emerged a booming business, and how did it happen? I hear you ask . . . completely accidentally!
A blogging strategy can kick your competitors in the nuts and leave them gasping for air while you reap the rewards.
Let's let Ben tell his story . . .
"I’ve used a similar blogging strategy, but totally accidentally! And I can vouch that it works."
His Strategy
I have a small web design & consulting business in the UK, called Scratchmedia. I started writing stuff I knew about web design & usability on a site called “Web Design from Scratch†about 3.5 years ago. I was just writing stuff that I’d learned but hadn’t ever found in books on web design, and that I thought people would find interesting and useful.
Over 6 months, I wrote dozens of free articles and tutorials, and just let people find it.
Now, the site is visited by up to 9,000 people per day. I think they come because they find the content applicable and fresh. Recently, I have started writing articles specifically that I think people will link to, but not always. I just write what comes naturally, and because the site has a strong personality, it strikes a chord with folk, I guess.
The great thing is . . .
- Web Design from Scratch is now my company’s only marketing channel.
- Pretty much all our work now comes to us through this site. We spend nothing on sales or marketing, other than the hosting costs and time to manage the site.
- It has been so popular that we have had to take steps to reduce the amount of email traffic we get.
I didn’t know this would be the outcome when I started (which is maybe one of the reasons why it turned out so well!)
The keys to success, from Ben's experience.
1) Write unique content (i.e. write honestly and openly, let your personality come out)
2) Be specific: choose your niche and own it. 3) Be prolific 4) Don’t hold back, out of fear that if you write everything you know, people will take it and run!
That last point is absolutely crucial! I think of it like this:
1) People who are going to read your wisdom and apply it to their own situation were never going to hire you in the first place.
2) People who are specifically looking for an expert in your field are more likely to find you through your blog/site. And they’ll instinctively trust you if you talk plainly about your experiences… much more so than if you stood there and ‘marketed’ at them.
3) Another group of people may not need a consultant right now, but if they read your stuff and love it, come the time that they *do* realise they need to bring in an expert, who’s going to be the first guy that pops into their head? Exactly!
Here at Mind Valley Labs we'd like to thank Ben for sharing such a great story with us. You should take some time out to see the results of Ben's story and just see how he did it. His blog is a compelling read!
So how should you go about this great blogging strategy? We discussed using Blogs as a source of competitive advantage to crush your competitors in a previous post, why not read Using Blogs as a Source of Competitive Advantage over your Ecommerce Rivals.
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About the Author
Prior to MindValley Media, Mike was the Head of New Ventures Strategy at eBay where he conceived of the strategies that led to the investment in Craigslist, the launch of Kijiji.com and the acquisition of Skype.
Mike has an MBA from Stanford and previously worked for the Boston Consulting Group. He is also a certified Google AdWords Professional.
Check out other posts by Mike Reining
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Vishen Lakhiani
I initially found Ben through http://www.webdesignfromscratch.com. While working with him on an engagement, I had the good fortune to take Ben to dinner in Boston during the An Event Apart. His experience, friendly open manner, creativity, passion and eagerness to really serve his clients is exemplary. Ben and his team are absolutely brilliant. Everyone should be so fortunate as to work with a designer like Ben.
His strategy has indeed been successful. The indirect sales method, if you want to give it a name, can be even more effective than standard approaches to business marketing on the web.
Number 2.5 above could include the folks that
1) start to do it themselves,
2) benefit from the information provided and
3) later determine that they really are better at running the business and
4) give up and turn to call for help to complete or re initiate the project that they started.
The client chooses when to engage the trusted authority.
Hat tip to Ben and to you folks for blogging about it.
Jim.
It worth a lot to me reading this post...Thanks
I wonder where it stats that his business makes millions. As far as I know he only sells a book, a CMS and runs a web design shop with his wife. Don't see any mention of a million.
And it can hardly be called an accident. Quality content doesn't come by accident and it is no surprise it kicks in, sooner or later.
Extremely valuable information! We will be implementing this strategy with our pet business. Thank you very much! You always provide extremely insightful and cutting-edge information! Thank you.
These are all general tips. Heard of them dozens times. A lot depends on luck and hard work.
I have to say this is true, any business who wants to deliver a long term ROI has to include blogging into there sales and marketing stratergy.