(Also called “Blogging for Influence - In The Long Tail“)

I posted a comment on Brian Clark’s post at Copyblogger, which was related to the Read/Write Web analysis on profiting from the long tail.

I wrote:

The ‘long tail’ concept gives hope to infoproduct creators like me who go after such MINISCULE niches - because the low cost of digital delivery and Internet access drop customer acquisition and product fulfillment costs to rock bottom… making it possible to make reasonable profits IN THE LONG TAIL.

Which led me to think…

Can you blog for influence in the long tail?

Is it worth doing?

The answer to both questions is “Yes”. Here’s why.

Chris Anderson’s “The Long Tail” is not just about the economies of aggregating massive quanta of ’stuff’ to meet individualized desires, and profit from the collective demand of these ‘minority’ interests.

It is also about KNOWING that such small markets exist, so you can supply the demand in a cost-effective way - and benefit/profit even from tiny markets that were earlier not worth going after.

In an era where publishing and printing a book or newsletter or magazine cost a lot of money, audience size controlled the decision to enter a potential market. Not any more.

Digital publishing and blogging slashed the cost of reaching that audience - lowered it drastically, until today there is literally no barrier to entry. Anyone can have a blog up and running within minutes - for free!

What does this mean to a niche blogger?

Let’s say you have a very tiny niche with an audience measured not in millions, not even in tens or hundreds of thousands, but in hundreds.

Assuming no more than 1% will buy anything you’re selling, you could hardly justify creating and mailing even a printed brochure - unless your profit margin was very high.

But by blogging, you can afford to reach even the few hundred potential buyers, even when they are scattered around the globe - and still be profitable.

Your ‘cost’ is measured more in time you invest in blogging, rather than in dollars. Optimize (or outsource) that and you win.

And because the long tail is so long, you could have a process running to create MULTIPLE blogs for each component of it - or even play in many long tail markets with different blogs for each one of them… and come out being profitable, even with small numbers.

And that’s because your cost is so low.

And because you can achieve influence in these small marketplaces simply through your blogging.

From the point of view of a small business owner considering blogging as a marketing or branding tool, that’s the exciting bit about ‘The Long Tail’.

Sure, aggregators can get massively rich. But you can do it on a smaller scale too - and gain influence in your niche market that won’t be easy to rival.

Blogging will give you influence - in the long tail!

EDIT:

Oh, but don’t get me wrong. You’d better have something to SELL after you’ve gained mind-share and brand benefit from your ‘blogging for influence’ strategy!

Relying on ‘advertising revenue’ or ‘commodity content at commodity pricing’ to pay the bills (as you can afford to do in the ’short head’ of the marketplace) won’t work well in the long tail.

It also negates all the benefits of going after specialized niche markets anyway. Specialized content tailored for niche markets is often worth premium prices. And the market knows it - and will usually pay it without a fuss.