11 Reasons for Booksellers to Blog
Finally, the much promised post. I will elaborate on some of these individually in later posts, but for now, here are eleven reasons. Can you think of more?
- Google loves blogs
It’s true — the best way to get to the top of Google is to provide excellent and relevant content. And the more often you post, the more content there is for Google to index. Again, this is an entire post (or series of posts), but know that if you write about your store and its location frequently, you will be found by the person searching Google for a bookstore in your town. Whatever your store’s strength and expertise, if you write about those things, you will see your Google results improve. - Put a human face on your business
People want to do business with people, not faceless companies. When you post regularly on a blog, your readers will come to know you as the people behind the bookstore.Your relationship with those customers may change, as they learn more about you and what you do. They will start to feel invested in the success of the store. - Spotlight your booksellers’ expertise
So many independent stores have the most amazing people working there, whether it’s the one person on staff who knows everything about the mystery category, or an entire staff of passionate handsellers. This expertise is valuable, and by highlighting it through a blog, you can bring that expertise to the wider world. - Keep your store at the front of your customers’ minds
In an earlier post, I wrote about the importance of RSS feeds, and how they allow people to subscribe to your blog. This means that, unlike email newsletters, you can post as often as you like without the risk of spamming your customers. And of course, the more often people see you post, the more often they think of your store. - Promote your in-store events
This deserves its very own post in the future, but for now, let me say: a blog allows you virtually unlimited space to promote your events calendar. It also allows you to incorporate collateral information to help your customers know if an event is right for them. You can link to reviews, post videos of the author speaking at another event, and anything else that will help “sell” the event. - Promote your store’s e-commerce site
So many bookstores have e-commerce websites but don’t really do much to promote them. As a result, customers and prospective customers do not know what you have to offer. Can a customer order a book at midnight and pick it up the next morning? Will you include a personal hand-written gift card with a book ordered and shipped as a gift? Do you offer discounted or free shipping with an order over a certain amount? Whatever your online services, a blog allows you to remind people again and again that they exist. Any time you mention a book on your blog, a link to a “buy now” page on your e-commerce site is a must. - Show how you are different, or the same
A recent article in Shelf Awareness told of one New Age bookstore whose customers didn’t know they could order any book regardless of category. We may think it’s an extreme example, but I suspect that your customers may not know as much about your store as you think they do. They may not realize that you can get a book for them the next day. They may not know that you have a loyalty program. And I am almost certain that they don’t know that every book in your store is hand-selected based on your community, by someone who lives and/or works in that community. A blog gives you a place to tell them that, and more. It may seem obvious to you, and perhaps your customers do know those things — but prospective customers do not. Tell them.
- Be part of the community
You are already a part of your local community, I know that. But by being part of the online community in your area, you are expanding your presence. If you have a blog, it is a natural place to promote the community organizations that you work with, the causes that you support, the other local businesses that make your city or town the special place that it is. Promoting others through your blog can bring many benefits, and can help spread the word about important issues. If you are a drop-off point for a food bank, promote that on your blog. The food bank will appreciate it, people who wouldn’t have known otherwise will appreciate it, and your customers will see that you are an active part of the local community. In addition, those organizations will link to your blog, where others may learn about you and your store. - Let new customers discover you
When is the last time you used the Yellow Pages? Around here, the big yellow book goes directly from curb to recycling bin. If I’m searching for a business, I use Google. Your store is likely listed there (because you checked after reading my post on The Importance of Listening, right?). But beyond an address and phone number, I like to learn about a business before I visit. A blog gives you the opportunity to “preview” your store for the prospective customer. You may have some of this on the front page of your existing website, but a blog allows the “voice” of the store to come through in a way that a static website just can’t do. - Inexpensive market research
Once you’ve built a blog following (and yes, it may take awhile), you’ll find that you have a community of customers willing to interact and engage with you about all sorts of issues. You can ask questions, get feedback — and often your readers will provide it without even being asked. It’s a valuable tool that doesn’t cost much more than time. - Because your customers want you to blog
OK, it’s not a scientific survey. But a few months ago, we asked our readers at Books on the Nightstand, “Does your local bookseller have a blog?” — we got 11 comments. You should take a look at what our readers had to say.
Are these ideas helpful? Can you think of others? Please leave a comment. Thanks.
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Kassia Krozser says:
November 30th, 2008 at 8:57 pm
You’ve hit all of my favorite things, but I’d like to expand upon number 3: share your passion for your favorite books. You know those little handwritten cards your employees post in the store, guiding people to favorite reads? Why not use your blog for a similar purpose? In this insanely busy world, the more opportunities you offer your customers to talk to *you* about books, the more you mean to your customers. Think of your blog as a way to handsell on the Internet.
Oh, and the importance of using your blog to help you connect to your community at large cannot be overestimated. Unless your store has the world’s easiest to update content management system, blogging software is the fastest, easiest, most Google friendly (!), way to get information online quickly.
Kim Werker says:
November 30th, 2008 at 9:28 pm
I think there’s a great opportunity through blogging to build community within your store, too (as contrasted with becoming more involved in the greater local community). Customers love to get to know about the real people who run and staff their local shops, but they also like to interact with them. Blogging allows for conversation that otherwise might not be possible in a busy store, and it allows for conversation between customers themselves—customers who might then enjoy spending time with each other in person in your store. Think of the power of your store becoming a hub of local book-centred activity, simply because people not only feel connected to you, but to the community that exists in and around your business.
Ann Kingman says:
November 30th, 2008 at 10:12 pm
Kassia and Kim, thanks for your great ideas.
Kassia – the topic of “handselling” via blogs is an important one, and while I alluded to it in my post, I think it probably should have had its own slot on the list. I think my next post may be devoted strictly to that topic. Thank you for your comment!
Kim — Fantastic observation! I hear over and over that “the same 6 people” attend every author event, and I’ve always thought that those 6 people should sit down and have a cup of coffee together. I think you’re right in that the blog could be just the impetus to get them together. Thanks for your contribution!
Ann
Kat Meyer says:
December 1st, 2008 at 10:32 am
Ann – fantastic list! I concur with Kassia about number 3 being of utmost importance. Mike Cane has said, “The problem with the Internet is there are no bookshelves.” Bookseller blogs are the bookshelves of the Internet – and it’s so wonderful to be able to handsell via the web, while also demonstrating to so many people at once the rich diversity of book knowledge that exists in the book selling community.
Can’t wait to see more bookseller blogs showing up online in the very near future!
sawinkler says:
December 1st, 2008 at 10:42 am
I think the hidden nugget in point number 10 is the most important: feedback. Booksellers can not only get feedback to their questions, but also on things they didn’t know they needed feedback on. Passionate book readers will most likely supply their local bookstores with no end of suggestions. Not all of them may be implemented, but if we know they’re listening and engaging, we’ll be less likely to take that 20-40% discount from the online bookseller who shall not be named.
Levi Stahl says:
December 1st, 2008 at 10:59 am
I think you can’t overemphasize the importance of making clear that the blog is written by real people with real personalities and individual tastes and enthusiasms. By having an employee or two blog as themselves, essentially talking about books and the store they way they would to a friend, you invite the reader (and potential customer) to feel at home in a way that a generically written post never could. And the freedom to employ that tone is an advantage that independent stores will always have over the necessarily more cautious and staid corporate stores. {The same, for that matter, for publisher blogs–one of my favorites is the Hesperus Press blog {http://hesperuspress.wordpress.com/}: it’s not updated often enough, but the updates are always lively and human, and they frequently give readers interesting insight into the decision-making process at a tiny press.}
Laura Christianson says:
December 1st, 2008 at 12:28 pm
Many authors have their own blogs as well, and are quite willing to write a guest column or do a Q & A on bookstore blogs (for bookstores that stock their books, of course). Blog book tours are a great way to virally promote a particular book, series, or author. It’s a win-win for the bookstore, the author, and the blog’s readers.
Laura Christianson
Co-founder, http://www.HeBlogsSheBlogs.com
Taking blogs from “potential” to “influential”
david says:
December 1st, 2008 at 10:04 pm
Blogs can be a strong point of focus for local bookclubs that are held or organized through the bookstore.
Blogs also allow booksellers to video and share author events.
As a blogger who often has authors participate on my site, I can attest that many authors are willing to promote their book in innovative ways. Most are also huge fans of independent bookstores, and will do whatever they can to help them out.
Ann Kingman says:
December 1st, 2008 at 10:25 pm
Everybody, your comments are simply fantastic. Thank you. Each one deserves its own post and expansion. Thanks so much for participating and sharing your thoughts. I do believe that the comments in this post will go in the Booksellers Blog hall of fame. How can any bookseller *not* want to blog after reading this???
Aggie Zivaljevic says:
December 2nd, 2008 at 1:21 am
Ann, your blog is fantastic – thank you! Our store Kepler’s Books in Menlo Park, California has three blogs! Book Flap for our in-store events, the BookBind for Children &Teens, and the Well-Read Donkey I just started for Kepler’s Writing Group (http://wellreaddonkey.blogspot.com/).
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Barnaby Porter says:
December 3rd, 2008 at 5:51 am
Please take a look. Much of what you have to say about blogs we strive very hard to incorporate in our website. We include a lot of personal information and behind the scenes stuff to give our visitors a sense of who we are and how we operate. And because we live in a wonderful community in a very beautiful part of the world, we feature community goings on and many photographs that reveal what life is like here, and we have a new webcam which has quintupled the number of visitors to our website. All of this is kept fresh and updated each month. Our customers seem to love it.
Ann Kingman says:
December 3rd, 2008 at 7:33 am
Aggie,
I’m very intrigued by what you are doing with your different blogs at Kepler’s — thanks so much for sharing! I’ve added them to the blogroll here.
Ann Kingman says:
December 3rd, 2008 at 7:44 am
Hi Barnaby,
Maine Coast Bookshop has a fantastic website — thank you for sharing it with us. I am very curious about the webcam, and would love to hear more about it. Would you consider writing a guest post here about it, how you use it, and what the response has been?
As for your website vs. a blog, you’ve battled much of the Google problem by posting your monthly newsletter online, so that Google can find and index it. The one thing missing for me (and only for me, I stress that this is just personal preference) is that there is no RSS feed, so I can’t subscribe to your site in a feed reader. By subscribing, I am alerted when anything changes on that particular page — I don’t have to remember to keep going back and checking. I think it would be especially interesting to have RSS feeds for each bookseller’s staff picks — I love how you highlight your booksellers, but I would definitely be interested to get a notification when my favorite booksellers add new choices to their staff picks. There may be an easy way to add RSS feeds to those particular pages.
I do see that you briefly started a blog at one point, and I’m curious as to why you felt that wasn’t working for you. I found your first post over there very interesting, and think it gave an important sense of your interest in sustainability.
Barnaby, thank you so much for coming over and joining in the conversation.
Barnaby Porter says:
December 4th, 2008 at 6:32 am
Hi again, Ann: To answer your question about our webcam, that came about because I happen to be a big webcam enthusiast, finding the technology that enables me to leap around the globe from the North Pole to the Antarctic and all points in between, in real time, irresistable. I can see the arctic ice melting, watch animals at an African water hole, check out the weather in London or Athens or Delhi, and visit very nearly any place I might be curious about. One day I found myself on the high roof of the building the Maine Coast Book Shop resides in and was blown away by the spectacular view of our picturesque town and harbor on the Damariscotta River. It is a view that very few have ever been able to appreciate, and my immediate thought was “what a perfect spot to place a webcam.” Knowing full well how sentimentally attached people are to our remarkable little town, many who cannot be here year round but who would like to be, I knew that a webcam would be an instant hit. And it took certainly no leap of genius to realize that by incorporating “CAMERASCOTTA” into our new website (mainecoastbookshop.com) that it would greatly boost our visitor traffic. And that it has, virtually overnight! From 900 or so per month to over 4,000. People love it, call us, write us and email us to thank us profusely for providing them with their daily visual “fix” of good, old Damariscotta, Maine. The picture refreshes every 30 seconds, around the clock, so everyone gets to see the town in all its moods, weathers and lights. By putting the webcam on our Home Page, amid other tidbits and lures, it has greatly enhanced the traffic on all the other pages on the website. Because we live in an especially beautiful area and because I find endless pictures of bookshelves rather a bore and because I am our website manager, you will notice that most of the images around the website are of many things other than our bookshop – they are a celebration of the character of this place, and by virtue of our role in this community, the Maine Coast Book Shop & Cafe and our website (with camera) have become a very popular touchstone to something very dear to people’s hearts. As for your question about our short-lived blog, I will confess that I personally, perhaps through ignorance, find blogs a collossal bore. And since I didn’t have the enthusiasm or time to keep one going, and since no one else seemed to have the time either, we’ve let it drop for now. Perhaps that will change. Right now, just as everyone else is these days, our whole crew is doing a lot of scrambling with a very sharp focus on getting through this winter and all the unknowns of our current economic downturn. We have an excellent and very devoted staff with a great sense of humor. We are family . . . and we are all in this together. -B.P.
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Shanna Swendson says:
December 5th, 2008 at 11:17 am
Something that I would love to see in a bookstore blog, from the perspective of a customer/reader, is the chance to ask for recommendations. Sometimes questions along the lines of “I’d like to find something that’s kind of like this, but not like that” aren’t that easy to field on the sales floor. They require research, digging through inventory or asking around, which is hard to do while the customer is waiting and the business of the store is also going on. But a blog inviting these questions from customers would allow booksellers and other readers to provide input in a less time-constrained setting. It expands customer service, shows off the expertise of the staff, builds a community among customers and, most important, probably results in a bigger to-be-bought list for the next store visit.
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Ann Kingman says:
December 6th, 2008 at 6:08 pm
Shanna,
I think that most independent bookstores would welcome these inquiries now through email, but a publicizing this would certainly be a great thing. Excellent suggestions, thanks!
traurrymymn says:
January 30th, 2009 at 4:12 am
Hello, I can’t understand how to add your blog ( booksellersblog.com ) in my rss reader
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February 3rd, 2009 at 11:25 am
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Dave says:
June 18th, 2009 at 6:09 pm
I think #2 is important. Many people want to support local businesses because they are supporting people in their community so developing a larger personal identity helps people feel closer. Giving them updates on your blog can help people feel more invested in your business and keep them coming back
Ann Kingman says:
June 18th, 2009 at 7:46 pm
Dave, I agree 100%! Thanks for posting.
Launa McNeilly says:
September 17th, 2009 at 2:54 pm
I have read your comments on booksellers doing some blogging and I totally agree. I think because the Amazons, the Barnes and Nobles, Borders, etc. are so big and are generally the first to come up in Bookselller searches that independent stores need to keep their names in the search somewhere near the top. I am a new author and I know that one of the first things my publisher wanted me to do was start blogging and build my website. I guess it’s getting the name out there and making it interesting. So here I am adding a comment. I hope to see my book, Lies in a Season of Tribulation in my local independent bookstores soon. Best Regards, Launa McNeilly