Why does a company have a blog? Why would a company pay someone thousands of dollars to publish random articles with no traditional ‘call-to-action’? What is the point of taking money away from straightforward advertising?

The one thing that is common between anyone who uses the internet is that they desire content relevant to their interests. People who are interested in something as simple as finding a new camping spot, for example, generally have to sift through a sea of distractions to get what they want: information. Let’s say that a group of friends and I are going on our yearly camping trip, and want to find a new spot to explore. I want to find out a little information about some spots first, so I start searching around. I Google the word camping, and my first results are advertisements from REI on buying a new tent, offers to register to some anonymous newsletter about American camping, or I’m looking at the hottest RV lodges in town. Not exactly what I’m looking for, and I dismiss this entire search as clutter. This doesn’t mean that I might not be in the market for some new camping gear from REI, but that isn’t the content I’m trying to find RIGHT NOW.

This presents a window of opportunity for any company that’s willing to go after someone in this stage of planning their trip. Let’s say I get a little more creative with my searching, and Google great camping spots in Flagstaff, Arizona. Here we find the websites to a few national park websites and locally ran niche sites that will champion one of their spots as the best. Once again, I don’t want to be advertised too, and I still cannot find the content I need. Hmm…I smell an opportunity.

Obviously, this is the kind of consumer that an on-line camping supply company (henceforth referred to as Jim’s) would salivate over. Unfortunately, Jim’s only exposure is in the first Google search, and it’s screaming through the monitor BUY! BUY! BUY!, not exactly attractive unless a person is only looking to buy. This is where Jim’s has the opportunity to provide a customer actual value. What if Jim’s publishes a blog about 10 great local campgrounds, and invites site users a chance to write about their favorite camping spots, comparing and sharing memorable experiences worth writing about? This opens a dialogue between Jim’s online marketer and his consumers about a common interest, and is directing traffic to his website via blog. As Jim’s blog gains readership and people start hosting links through their comments, suddenly Jim’s store is becoming a hotspot for the best camping information around.

This is a great way for Jim’s to provide another level of service to their customers by not only providing the tools for their trip, but a place to reminisce, explore and connect with others interested in the same thing. Jim’s on-line shoppers are going to start subscribing to their blog and probably shoot some of the articles over to their camping buddies at work. Slowly more and more people are being exposed to this conversation, and thanks to new blog posts have something else to discuss every couple of weeks. Jim’s has started to create an on-line community about common, genuine, interests; common interests that have serious buying power in Jim’s niche.

Let’s say I start my search again, and this time, Jim’s blog about the top ten local camping spots pops up on my search. After scanning through the article and looking at the comments people left about these particular camping spots, I have access to an open discussion on a topic that I’m actually interested in. Holy relevant search content, Batman, I’ve finally found something worth clicking on! I’ve also happened to land on Jim’s website, which not only has provided me the value of some riveting camping content, but has me visualizing my next camping experience, and now I’m getting excited about it. Here’s where new readers are going to think about the details of their trip and remember their past experiences, and luckily for Jim’s, I just remembered my tent falling out of my truck coming home from last year’s trip. Looks like I’m going to have to pick up some new gear for this year. Good thing this blog I’m reading has a store less than an inch away from it, let’s see what they got…