Following on from my first and second posts in this series on the marketing mix, I would like to introduce the Second ‘P’ of the 4 P’s.
Price
It is very unlikely you are charging for the privilege of reading your posts. Price is easily defined when we talk about real products, for that scenario, price influences peoples perception of the product. A high price can suggest quality, a low price may suggest it is an inferior product. Ultimately it is up to the consumer to decide whether the product is good value for money. This will influence repeat sales.
In terms of a blog or website this can be seen as analogous to new visitors gaining the information they want. If they come to your blog hoping to find useful information and leave having not found what they are looking for, the visitor will perceive their visit as ‘poor value for money’ and may not return.
On the other hand if the content is better than expected, the visitor is more likely to return and spread the word.
Two major points arise from this-
- Don’t over sell your content
- Display it as well as possible
Over selling your content includes search engine optimization (SEO). So many people try different SEO techniques in order to gain traffic. But if the content is poor you will get a high bounce rate, therefore unlikely to convert in to loyal readers. Same goes for trying to get a post stumbled, the traffic may be good, but how many will return / convert in to loyal readers if your post is a load of rubbish?
Second point is to display your ‘goods’ so it entices visitors to read more and possibly return. A well layed out blog with poor content can easily compete with a poorly designed blog with great content. Ultimately you want both design and content to be the very best. But if you struggle with your writing skills you may benefit just from an aesthetically pleasing design. Always try to avoid the temptation to clutter.
Finally if you sell advertising on your blog, you will have to try and set a price that accurately reflects the value of your blog, too expensive and no one will touch it, too cheap and everyone will want a slot. This is why systems like Project Wonderful and Adtoll are good as the price is set by the market, although this tends to devalue the price that should be charged.
Just remember, Price is only one of the 4 P’s, the 2 remaining (Promotion, Place) will follow later in this series. Price is an essential ingredient but it must also be blended with the 3 other P’s in order to gain the maximum effect.
Best of luck,
Martyn.