Can Small Sites Still Compete in a Big Blog World?

The early days of Internet 2.0 were an underdog’s dream world where the smallest blogs competed with massive corporations on a digital playing field that was fairly level.
Those golden days are in the distant past now as big business has figured out the basics of effective blogging.  But does that mean that smaller blogs are doomed to the fringes of success? Not necessarily.
In a recent posting in his Quicksprout blog titled, How Any Small Business Can Compete with the Big Boys Using SEO and Social Media, content marketing guru Neil Patel addressed this very issue. Here are a few of his tips.
Social Media is Your Friend
Social media remains a venue where small voices can be heard in a big way. If you’re looking for exposure and an opportunity to build your brand, social is the space you want to be inhabiting.
For maximum effectiveness, small players need to fully understand their target demographics before launching a major social media play. If you know who your potential customers are, and what they’re doing in the social space, your chances of making a big impact will be greatly enhanced.
The Long Tail Lives
Patel, quite properly, points out that your small audience blog doesn’t stand much of competing with the big boys for terms like online poker and casino bonuses. You can, however, compete for more obscure terms like, online poker sites for mid-range players.

That said, you can still compete for long tail terms and niche markets.
Identifying the long tail search terms that draw the audience you’re looking for will definitely take, and don’t even bother starting a campaign if you’re not willing to back it up with high quality content.
Finally
Make no mistake, it’s hard out there for a small-time blog. You’re competing with corporate entities with massive marketing budgets and staffs bigger than your whole neighborhood. But hard doesn’t mean impossible. If you’re willing to grind, opportunities still abound.