Brilliant Business Blogging

Blogging has long evolved from just being an ideal platform for enthusiasts and budding writers to share their thoughts and opinions. Incorporating a blog into your company website makes a great addition to your online marketing arsenal – give you an opportunity to communicate with your customers in a more informal, interactive way.

In fact, when you consider the following benefits to running a well executed business blog, you might wonder why you haven’t started earlier. The advantages of publishing a blog for your business include:

Helping to gain more web traffic from the search engines
Enable you to correspond effectively with existing customers
Serve as a hub for your social media activities
Provide an opportunity for you to establish yourself as an expert
Put a human face to your business
Convey your enthusiasm for what you do
Create a Dialogue with Your Customers

As you set out your plans for blog ‘world domination’, you may find you have more than one of the above objectives – the key is to establish appropriate measures that will enable you to identify what is working and where you may need to improve. Here’s how to go about it.

Make it Part of the Team
This is a vital first step. Your blog needs to be aligned to – and compliment – your existing online marketing activities. Starting a business blog without establishing your objectives or coordinating your efforts with what you are already doing will soon become an unwanted distraction and likely fizzle out without making any positive impact.

Knowing What to Say
Next, work out how you can keep your blog regularly updated. Plan a content schedule by setting aside time to research content (using RSS feeds, social media alerts and more) and write your posts (keep in mind it’s more about quality than quantity).

Knowing How to Say It
Okay, you know what you want to achieve, what it is you want to say, now you are ready to ‘choose your voice’. It might be a business blog, with company objectives in mind, but this doesn’t mean you need to adopt a stuffy corporate tone.

Quite often the most successful blogs are the ones that mix business with a little pleasure. Keep in mind people like doing business with people.

Share the Love
Once you get your blog successfully under way, don’t be afraid to recognise and link to fellow bloggers. This will not only help demonstrate your ‘finger being on the pulse’, it will also very likely result in other bloggers linking to you.

Staying on this theme, keep in mind to be helpful. Providing genuine advice and ‘best tips’ is a great way to establish your expertise and will often result in your blog being recommended to others.

In conclusion, as consumers and professionals become more familiar with social networking and comfortable with taking the ‘conversation’ online, your business blog will place you in an ideal position to participate as part of the web community.

What are you finding successful for your blog? What areas are you struggling with? Comments appreciated.

If you would like help implementing a blog for your business, call us on 01454 261111 or get in touch via Facebook, Twitter, or e-mail. Why not take a look at a package we have put together that includes all aspects of blog set-up, Click Here to find out more.