If you're a regular reader of blogs but haven't taken the time to dive in and start writing, consider the career paths of several people who have taken that plunge. Each of these individuals is involved in the recruiting space, and that industry has done well with recruiting blogs, but marketing, small business, PR, finance, product marketing, legal, and technology also have good stories.
This sample is not going to focus on companies that have done well with blogs, but rather the career paths of individual bloggers. You want to know the ROI? Here are some figures.
Recruiting:
Joel Cheesman: Joel, who writes the popular Cheezhead blog, runs his own business as a SEO consultant for recruitment marketing. Joel has been blogging just two years, but now says most of his new business leads come from his blog (not his website). Joel speaks at conferences, starts contests, and just recently signed a sponsorship deal with JobCentral to pay him $100,000 over the next two years.
Harry Joiner: You'll recognize Harry because he's one of the authors of this blog, but he also writes for MarketingHeadhunter, his blog on his business as a, you guessed it, Marketing Headhunter. Harry is a friend of mine, and we talk about the impact of his blog on his business - I'll leave it up to him to quantify the amount - but he counts on his blog to bring in qualified candidates for him to place with his clients. At $20,000-$30,000 (and up) a placement, any candidate that finds Harry through his blog is someone he didn't have to proactively solicit.
Paul DeBettignies: Paul writes for MNHeadhunter, his blog on technology, recruiting, and Minnesota. Using his Typepad Platform, Paul brings in leads and posts his jobs as an independent recruiter in the Twin Cities. Last year, Paul made three placements he could attribute to his blog. That's somewhere in the neighborhood of $30-$50,000.
Chris Hammond: Chris Hammond is not a recruiter, but he is a DotNetNuke Developer, a skillset that is rare, but hot for many companies. Chris writes on his ASP blog, as well as several other web properties, and when the principal of a local St Louis company found his writing, the principal tried to recruit him. Chris has been ducking headhunters for years, but the knowledge that an owner knew enough about what he did and wanted him to work on DotNetNuke was enough to get the ball rolling. He is now employed with the new company.
Jim Durbin - Finally, there is me. I was an account manager for a large staffing firm when I started my recruiting blog in 2004. It was my fourth blog, but it was the first I applied to business. Over the course of the next 18 months, I started writing for Recruiting.com and built up my audience for StlRecruiting.com, and was invited to speak at a trade show as a panel speaker. The success of my blogs led me to leave my cushy corporate position and join my wife in her interactive marketing firm, where, today, one year after leaving the company, we can trace over $100,000 in billings to blogging and blog-related projects. Blogging led my transition from corporate salesperson to successful entrepreneur. This year, we expect to see the total billings from blogging to double (with a far greater return for our clients).
What's the ROI for individual blogging? For recruiting, I'd suggest checking with one of the individuals above.
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