So how does a small to medium business (SMB) “monetize” a business blog?

Handshake 2.0 posted a query on Peter Shankman’s Help a Reporter (HARO) for answers to that question.  (We had a very fine experience with HARO when Handshake 2.0 was quoted in The Huffington Post.)

We were very grateful to hear from Dan Haubert, co-founder of TicketStumbler.com:

On TicketStumbler.com (think Expedia for sports and concert tickets), our four blogs have not only been an effective way to increase organic traffic from Google, but have also led to significant amounts of sales as well. For example, in December 2008 and January 2009, our presale password and ticket blog (where we publish ticket news, on sale information, and presale passwords) led to nearly $100,000 in Ticketmaster sales.

We are a Boston-based company and launched in August, 2008.  We have been profitable since week two.  We receive a percentage of sales from our partnerships with ticket markets and brokers (see the list on About Us) but the prices found on TicketStumbler.com are the same as if you went to those sites directly.

We've been featured on TechCrunch, Financial Times.com, and The Boston Globe.

For small to medium businesses seeking business results from their blogs, my advice is to make sure you're writing about something of value. It doesn't need to appeal to everyone, just cater to your niche and provide content that either is difficult to find or no one else is doing.

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Thanks, Dan Haubert, for sharing your experience with readers of Handshake 2.0.