Over the past eight years, Darren Rowse has established himself as one of Australia’s most influential bloggers.

His site ProBlogger is a how-to guide for users wanting to establish and monetise a blog, and its popularity has seen Rowse host ProBlogging seminars around the country.

We recently caught up with Rowse to chat about the local blogging scene, and how he thinks brands can use blogging to connect with consumers.

How it began

When Rowse began ProBlogger in 2004, the market was dominated by personal blogs. Today, the rise of social media has meant the landscape and opportunities have changed dramatically.

“Since 2004 a whole industry has sprung up around blogging. Thousands of people are now full-time bloggers, blogging conferences are being held around the world and thousands of companies have sprung up to service the needs of bloggers,” he says.

How brands can benefit

Rowse sees a change happening with Australian company’s approach to blogging.

“Brands are now also realising the power and influence of bloggers and we're seeing significant resources and increasing amounts of money being targeted at the blogosphere both in terms of PR efforts and Advertising.”

In addition to the rise of blogs, Rowse says that companies and media outlets are now increasingly producing their own blogs to support existing publications, such as membership newsletters.

Should brands have a blog?

While Rowse doesn’t necessarily believe every brand should have a blog, he sees it as an important way of extending and supporting different communication channels.

“A blog can be useful for branding, PR, marketing, crisis management, internal communications, customer service and much more. This in itself presents a challenge – try to achieve too many things with a single brand blog and you could end up confusing readers.

“One alternative is to have multiple blogs for different purposes or to use social media to achieve some of the above purposes.”

Local leaders

The Australian blogging scene may be a little behind the US is terms of blogger profiles and readership, but Rowse sees the local scene quickly catching up.

“There are many examples of Aussie bloggers who are moving forward quickly. One of the biggest is Mia Freedman, but on a smaller level there are a variety of bloggers in different niches who are kicking goals.

Some examples that come to mind include Chris Hunter from Bike EXIF, Phoebe Montague from Lady Melbourne, Jules Clancy from Stone Soup, Christina Butcher from Hair Romance and Nicole Avery from Planning Queen.”

Rowse also notes that an increasing amount of companies such as Nuffnang, The Remarkables and Social Callout that connect bloggers and brands. 

Content marketing growth

A key to good blogging is story telling, something that Rowse says brands can benefit from in the form of content marketing. 

“If done well content marketing is definitely worth doing. The key is to tell authentic, relatable and engaging stories. Brands that do this will be well received – but brands that take a marketing 'spin' approach will be met with skepticism and could hurt their brand.”

The evolution of brand blogging

In Australia we're still seeing the blogosphere maturing, similar to what we've seen particularly in the US over the past few years. While the market is much smaller here, a number of bloggers are emerging as influencers and more and more brands are looking to work with them.

“In terms of changes in the technology – we're seeing more and more social mediums emerging. This presents bloggers with both opportunities, alternatives and distractions. Newer sites like Pinterest are moving social media away from a 'stream' of messages but are giving people more opportunity to curate content around a niche topic.

“This is an opportunity that many bloggers and brands could do well to pay attention to.”

ProBlogger's next training event will be held in Melbourne on October 12 – 13.

To learn more visit the ProBlogger website here. 

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