Establishing an online presence

Used well, blogs are an increasingly important tool to increase awareness, build customer confidence in you and your brand, and to indirectly drive increased sales to your business.

How though, do you take a blog for a niche special interest subject and generate a worldwide audience, TV, radio and press coverage in just 21 days? 

That’s exactly what 21 Thoughts have achieved with Chess Tales, a blog about the world of chess, and it illustrates ideas that all online retailers can benefit from. 

Chess Tales was inspired by a Google query used by a visitor to Chess Online, an experimental eCommerce shop in the United States.  The query highlighted a question that the visitor wanted answering, and was used as the basis of the first post on Chess Tales, which went online on March 3 2007.

This process is something that any retailer who wants to be successful online should consider adopting.  In an increasingly commoditised world, future success and brand loyalty will depend on the quality of relationships we build with our customers.  A blog (separate from your retail presence) gives you a great area to talk about developments with your customers, and build trust in a non-sales pressured environment.

Once you’ve established a blog though, you need to attract an audience.  Chess Tales is already pulling in a global readership on a daily basis.  The UK, United States, Canada and mainland Europe feature highly, but the blog is also getting regular visitors from surprising locations including the Far East, India, Russia, Africa and South America.  21 Thoughts expertise has helped Chess Tales maximise it’s search engine rankings and establish presence on social networking and bookmarking sites (another key tool for future online marketing), which in turn drives traffic to the site.

21 Thoughts also handled the PR that helped Chess Tales gain slots on ITV Tyne Tees Television, BBC Radio, and on the frontpage of regional newspapers, when it associated with a young chess star in her bid for success at the European Championships.

Call +44(0)845 094 3321 and arrange a no-obligation chat to find out how 21 Thoughts can help your business build a complete and cohesive online strategy.