Blog + Email =  Success

We're always recommending that clients complement their new web sites with marketing strategies that will drive traffic. With online marketing talk focused mainly on the realm of social media, well, call me old school, but it's inspiring to see impressive returns using good old fashioned email.

One of our clients, Rebecca Shambaugh of SHAMBAUGH Leadership, came to us last summer to redesign her company's site. She was open to the idea of blogging. She had just written a book and was no stranger to getting her ideas and experiences in writing. However, her core audiences aren't guaranteed blog readers. So what better way to reach more traditional corporate audience members than by email, a tool they're comfortable and adept at using?

So, whenever this CEO publishes a new post on Becky's Blog, she also sends out a quick email to about 2,500 contacts. The email is usually just the first paragraph or two of the blog post with a link to read the rest on the site itself. Since she started this process in March, she's averaged a 37 percent click-through rate of those emails that were opened; meaning that of the 20 percent (500) or so who open the email, nearly half (250) click through to read the rest of her posts online. 

That's about 250 readers who likely don't have RSS readers and who almost certainly would not have received her blog content otherwise.

Email catches flak with spam abounding, but it's still a viable, core component of business online.