Thanks Derek,

I’m not sure we disagree necessarily, but I don’t think it matters what you are selling, blogs either generate leads or they don’t. The best examples of B2B content marketing (see my post for 150+) are all generating leads from their blog. Typically it’s in the form of lead forms on “offers” like e-books and whitepapers or webinars. Or it is simply in the form of email addresses.

Having run the blog for SAP where our average selling price was $180K, we found that NO ONE ever read a blog and then “converted” on our website. We tested dozens of ways to do that and in a million pageviews, we had 11 “conversions.”

But once we added subscriptions and offers, the leads flowed in. 1,000 in the first year. Those leads converted into more than $540,000 in sales revenue. So yes, blogs either generate leads or they don’t.

While that maybe true if you’re selling a $47 dollar eBook on “getting better abs,” it’s not the case for high priced consulting services, for example. Then, in most cases a great result is leading readers to your website (maybe for opt-in materials). But it’ll take more than one post to get them to go for Free consultation. Probably a few good case studies too.

Also, repurposing your content can both extend its lifespan and make it available to different audiences.