Utilizing Blogging as a Marketing Strategy - Reflections on our 1 Year Anniversary

How does a small business start marketing when many people who may need services probably don't know your occupation exists, what it is called, or how it can benefit them? Newspaper ads? Yellow Pages? Target Mailings? How do we get visible on the internet? When we googled for our company name - it didn't even appear on page one. And if you googled for "home stager Salem Oregon" we weren't there either. If I couldn't find our business - I was convinced no one else would!

This was our company's situation a year and a half ago, and these are questions most small businesses face as they attempt to market effectively to their target market without "breaking the bank". It was a year ago today that I joined active rain and entered into the world of "blogging". I had no idea of what "utilizing blogging as a marketing strategy" could mean to our business, but was convinced that we had to find a way to market online so clients could find us!

Would anyone read my blogs? I am not a marketer or writer - was this a waste of time and efforts? These posts took time and energy that I wanted to direct elsewhere. But - I blogged on. I won't claim to be an expert blogger or social media expert - but lets fast forward one year of consistent blogging.

When I goggle for our business name our company shows as nine out of ten listings on page one. When I google or yahoo search for "home stager or home staging in Salem Oregon" we are shown four times out of the first ten listings.

Success? Yes - our clients can find us if they are looking for us! It isn't enough to set up a website and think traffic will find it. When we analyze our website traffic, much of it comes as a result of searches, or as a direct response to blogs we have posted on active rain and other sites. This traffic has resulted in new clients and jobs that would have passed us by if we had not found a way to obtain an internet presence.

Our blog has brought us many opportunities -- from radio show interviews to model homes jobs in other cities. Additionally, it has helped us present our work, ideas and portfolio to home sellers and real estate agents in the comfort of their home! Real estate agents got to "know" us before hiring us - and felt comfortable recommending us to their associates and clients. We now work regularly with so many of the local agents that first learned of us from our blog.

While it's been a turbulent real estate market during the past year, our business has thrived and grown - and we think we owe much of our success because we took the time to utilize blogging as one of our marketing strategies!

Creative Concepts and Contracting provides professional home staging and redesign services for Salem Oregon and surrounding areas. While we love learning about social media and blogging - our expertise is helping home sellers prepare their homes for the quickest and best possible sale. Contact us at 503-881-0886 for ideas on obtaining the competitive advantage in any market!