Most people recognise the value in writing a business blog. If done well, a business blog can help drive traffic to your website and establish you as a voice of authority in your niche. Unfortunately not all small businesses bother to keep a blog. This is a real shame because business blogging is effective and cheap, so if you have yet to start a business blog, here are some tips to ensure your blog is a success.
Who Are You Writing For?
There are lot of blogs out there that are personal journals. The authors use their blog as a place to spill their innermost thoughts. This is all well and good but it won’t work in a business blog. Instead of writing for yourself, you need to target your content to a specific audience: i.e. your customers. Think about who might read your blogs and write content accordingly.
Killer Headlines
Headlines draw the reader in and make them want to read further. Creating a killer headline is your chance to capture a reader and build a following. If you are not sure how to write a strong headline, look at the tabloids or popular news websites to see how they format their content. When you see an article that grabs your attention, analyse it to see why the headline is so successful.
Create Useful Content
Blogs need to be useful. So if your customers come to you to buy plumbing supplies, write blogs that teach them how to do simple plumbing tasks or give them insights into what’s happening in the world of plumbing supplies. It doesn’t have to be ground breaking stuff, but it does need to be interesting. You can take a look at competitor websites for ideas for blog posts, or even set up a Google news alert to find out interesting happenings in your industry.
Write Consistently
It isn’t enough to write a business blog once in a flood. You need to update your blog content regularly. Search engines prefer fresh content and the more you update your blog, the more the search engines will crawl over your website. The key to success is consistency. Try and maintain a blogging schedule – perhaps every one or two weeks.
Be Authentic
Blogging is a relatively informal style of writing. Dry, corporate text won’t work on a business blog, so save it for your brochures. Instead write with real feeling and emotion. Be authentic and engage with your audience. Blogs can be challenging, entertaining, funny, and passionate. Anything less is not worth reading – and if it isn’t worth reading people won’t come back.
Maintaining a business isn’t easy, but it is worthwhile. All small businesses need a website, so once you have sorted out the best VPS web hosting and created a winning website design, start thinking about creating a business blog. It may take a while to get into the habit of writing content, but your effort will pay dividends in the long run.
One comment
Pingback: The Small Business Guide to Reducing Spending