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About Mert Erkal

He left his full time job as of 1st August, 2008 to earn his living from blogging and freelance Internet projects. He also shares his 10 years of experience he gained in a giant multi-national company for Small Business companies and builds Corporate Identity. Read more about him!

Mar
18th

How to Apply Starbucks Experience To Blogging

By Mert Erkal in Blog, Marketing PR, Small Business

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Starbucks

I have recently read The Starbucks Experience: 5 Principles for Turning Ordinary Into Extraordinary How to Apply Starbucks Experience To Blogging . It was one of the greatest books i have ever read. You should seriously consider having this book in your personal library.

The book was so inspirational that I intended to apply these 5 principles to blogging. Here we go:

Why Starbucks Is Successful?

Starbucks’ success lies in:

  • Its ability to create personalized customer experiences
  • Secure customer loyalty
  • Stimulate business growth
  • Generate profits
  • Energize employees

Above are also key components of a successful blog. Top bloggers are using the full advantage of Web 2.0 technology to create customized experiences for their readers. They know what their readers are looking for, and they prepare regular content to satisfy their needs. Business growth and profit generation follow after they secure reader loyalty.

PRINCIPLE 1 - MAKE IT YOUR OWN

1.Be welcoming

You should offer your readers a sense of belonging. Create a blog where your readers feel that they are a priority and where their day can be brightened for a moment.

Comment Relish is a great serving for this purpose. It increases your readership and RSS subscription rate by simply sending a short ‘thank you’ message to users when they first comment on your blog. This is a good way of welcoming your first time visitors.

2.Be genuine

Connect, discover, and respond.

- Connect. Your blog should create unlimited connection opportunities for your readers.

- Discover. Discover each reader’s needs and individual situation.

- Respond. Not only listen to your readers, but also take immediate action based on what you hear, and learn from these experiences for your future reader interactions too.

3. Be considerate

Simply look beyond your own “selfish” needs and consider the needs of your readers. Give before you get. How can you contribute to your readers?

4. Be knowledgeable

Always enhance your expertise in blogging. Value will always be added to your readers as you gain blogging related knowledge. Sharpen your writing skills. As you become more informed, your value to blogging, self-confidence, and the impact you have on your readers all increase.

5. Be involved

Actively seek participation opportunities in Blogosphere, improve your mentality, think about impossible, always aim high.

PRINCIPLE 2 - EVERYTHING MATTERS

Blogging is detail. When details are overlooked, even the most patient readers can be frustrated. Do not forget small details can make the difference between success and failure in the Blogosphere. i.e. Do not forget to spellcheck before you publish your blog posts.

PRINCIPLE 3 - SURPRISE AND DELIGHT

Your readers expect the predictable and the consistent, while hoping for an occasional positive twist or added value thrown in. Reader delight comes from a good combination of surprise and predictability. Be innovative, use your imagination, surprise your readers!

PRINCIPLE 4 - EMBRACE RESISTANCE

There are two types of loyal readers, readers who really do want their problems resolved, and those who simply want to complain about your blog posts. For some problems, your posts are enough, but for other types of resistance, your direct action is required. You should know when your posts are simply not enough.

PRINCIPLE 5 -LEAVE YOUR MARK

Successful bloggers realize that a key component of their success is leaving a powerful and positive mark in blogging communities and Blogosphere. Bloggers want to cooperate with, and invest in socially conscious bloggers.

Do you want to add something to above principles ? Please visit Internet Business & Making Money Online section of Search For Blogging Forum and post a new topic.

Popularity: 34% [?]

Comments

Anne-Marie March 18th, 2008

This is wonderful. I think you’ve struck gold with these concepts and applying them to blogging.

bloggingzoom.com March 18th, 2008

How to Apply Starbucks Experience To Blogging…

I have recently read The Starbucks Experience: 5 Principles for Turning Ordinary Into Extraordinary. It was one of the greatest books i have ever read. You should seriously consider having this book in your personal library.The book was so inspirationa…

Raymond Chua March 18th, 2008

Nicely put, Mert.

Those are very important element to take note.

Jan-queenofkaos March 18th, 2008

Thanks for the great advice. I love the comment relish tip, I am installing it now. It was very nice that you not only told us what, but gave us a tool to do it with!

blkjck March 18th, 2008

So great!
Thanks for share.

PetMono March 18th, 2008

good advice! thank you! it is funny, the thing that triggered of my response is i have started revisiting starbucks again mostly a result of the relationships i have with the employees there.

Prand March 18th, 2008

the comment relish is a good tool, thanks for letting others know about it. what they do is nothing new. but they make the effort to do it.

????? (Jason) March 18th, 2008

These are simple enough that anyone can apply them to their site. I’ve certainly tried to do the very same with a few of my sites and it has paid off in some cases.

I hadn’t considered using anything like Comment Relish, but I’ll give this a go. Anything that will promote people to comment on my site after their first is a good thing.

Thanks for the tip :)

Rod Eccles March 18th, 2008

This was a great article. It is true that passion is important but you have to be able to relate that passion to your readers in so many ways so that they feel it and want to experience it over and over and keep coming back to your blog. Excellent.

BK March 19th, 2008

Thanks for the great tips always!

Starbucks is a great model to emulate. I was incredibly impressed when they shut down all of their stores for an entire evening to retrain employees. That shows a real commitment to customer service and quality.

Robert | reason4smile March 20th, 2008

Hi Mert,

It’s a very interesting analogy, with some effort we all can turn our ordinary blog into extraordinary.
I believe blog is also another type of business where we need to learn from the businesses outside. Starbuck is really a good model, keep on learning and we all can build starblogs =)

Thanks for the message,
Robert

Anna T March 20th, 2008

Thanks for sharing!

I think that your first principle - making it your own - is really key, especially for bloggers. What is it that makes one blog different from another? We’ve had an ongoing discussion at my blog about all of the regurgitated garbage in the blogosphere these days. People just want to see something original!

Great post!

Barry Ochsner March 21st, 2008

Great post.

You left out a very important connection. Starbucks is peddling a very addictive substance called caffeine. Blogging is also very addictive. As a matter of fact, most bloggers, including me, couldn’t blog without the help we get from the caffeine delivery system we know as Starbucks.

Coffee Break March 30th, 2008

[...] Mert Erkal at Search For Blogging, How To Apply Starbuck Experience to Blogging. Can you take experience from the “real” world (in this case, Starbucks) and apply it [...]

[...] How to Apply Starbucks Experience To Blogging [...]

[...] How to Apply Starbucks Experience To Blogging (559 hits) [...]

Susan Coils April 4th, 2008

Great advice and thanks for the ‘comment relish’.

kristine April 7th, 2008

can i apply to your store..
how to apply?
what are the requirements that you needed?
tnx,

Cihan December 26th, 2008

Great article Mert.

Also “comment relish” is a good advice.

Thanks.

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