Bob Bly Takes Another Swipe at Blogging

Saying blogging works by pointing out that you sold people blogs (or blogging products or services) is hardly an argument in favor of blogging. Show me someone who has made just 1/10th the amount of money my clients make in email marketing from the blogging stuff you do for them, and then I will be impressed.

Ms. Ochman-
Another aspect of blogging that Mr. Bly doesn't see is how it connects a direct marketer with an immediate, responsive audience.

Testing headlines or copy has never been easier (and more immediate) with the use of a blog.

I'm very new to blogging, so can't gin up the quantitiative results Mr. Bly is intent on proving. But I can say that I've learned more about what pulls in my 2 short months of blogging than I have in the past 2 years of direct marketing.

If I want to know what kinds of headlines create interest, I just review my blog stats to see which posts are being opened.

Blogs provide a conduit to the market, and immediate feedback on what's working and what isn't. I'm surprised a veteran marketer like Mr. Bly doesn't see this.

I'm not a marketer, nor an MBA, but I would certainly like to know if that "one" direct marketer who Mr. Bly references is indicative of "most" DM campaigns. At my household, any mail that I do not know to come from a legitimate source is immediately ripped up and dropped in the trash. And I know exactly who sends me bills and personal correspondence, so don't think you're getting to me, let alone getting me "to respond" by purchasing anything in response to the annoying mail (or email) with your DM efforts.

To put it differently, one marketer makes $40M on their efforts. What's the rate of other DMers that Mr. Bly works with? I would guess, not that hot, nor very effective for ROI, so I'll reserve judgment until more and better stats are available.

But that's just me. As I've taken to saying around my place of employment, a lot of people thought Henry Ford was a crazed fool and that no one would give up their horses for a car.

We know how that ended up, don't we? Bought any shoes for your horse lately?

Bob, you've written a very disappointing article.

After all the discussions on many blogs, including mine, how can you still be "highly skeptical about blogging"?

Ok, I certainly wouldn't expect to see your follow-up piece suddenly all lovey and rosy about blogs. But haven't all the various discussions helped you see the measurable value any company can gain from a blog?

And I thought we'd managed to separate out the ROI argument. Continuing to harp on that "not one blogger could produce evidence of a blog generating significant, positive ROI" is inevitably going to maintain an argument that is unwinnable for anyone.

I think the comment by Scott Thompson in a post you wrote on your own blog says it all -

"Bob - I’m one of your biggest fans – reading your books and articlaes for years. I think you are underestimating your time doing a blog. As a Bob Bly fan, I’m glad I just found your blog – I did it accidentally, doing a google search on something specfic I was looking for about marketing and copywriting. My point: your blog showed up (and I wasn’t looking for you..ha). Ummm, but the fact this blog came up on search, had I not of known of you, I might have well visited your web site promoting your services. Proof positive: blog efforts work – you show up on web searches that you might have not otherwise. That’s worth the time (whatever time you can afford to put into – 10 minutes a week for a fresh post?). Blog on, Bob Bly."

As I mentioned in a comment to you on my blog, I bet you will get a client from your blog, sooner or later.

Bob Bly is certainly generating a lot of free publicity with these contentious, though generally unimportant statements.

And boy, did he get pissed when I said a week or so ago that he wrote his first anti-blog DM News article to drum up an audience for his own blog. :>)

BL: I got pissed off BECAUSE IT WASN'T TRUE! :)

Blogging can be great way to market your business but it depends on what business you are in, how well-written the blog is, and whether or not it contains any information of interest. (Who wants to read a boring blog?) So I would be careful about making blanket statements about blogging.

By the way, I have read Bly's blog, and I think it's terrible. It's ugly. It has no title other than "Bob Bly Copywriting." (He might as well call it Bob Bly's Blog or Blah, blah, blah.) I could care less about any of the entries.

What's more, Bly seems to feel that he has to end every single post with a trite question. It's as if he thinks you need to actually ask a question to get readers to comment.

If Bly has this much trouble writing his own blog, why would I want to read a book on blogging by him? The guy doesn't get it.