7 Essential Business Blogging Tips
Posted by Jennifer Young on Wed, Jan 25, 2012
Blogging has changed from a novel business marketing device into a necessary, mainstream method of communicating with past, present and future clients. The success or failure of a blog can be directly linked to a number of factors which affect the way the business is perceived.
These factors can be broken down into a list of 7 essential business blogging tips.
Perfecting the Presentation
The way that you build and present your blog to the world will speak volumes about your business. Your marketing plan should be carried over and included in the design aspect of the hosting site. Make sure your logo and colors are utilized to convey a consistent image. The site should be professional, uncrowded and easy to navigate. Test your site to ensure that everything is in perfect working order before implementing your blog. Once established, maintain this perfect and polished image with regular reviews and design tweaks.
That Is A Blog Post
A blog post is not a new way of writing. It is a short article with a few basic components. When you sit down to write blog content, start by drafting a general outline. Your outline should include a topic, introduction, problem statement, solution, details and a call to action.
If these steps are difficult, start by thinking about a topic and jotting down some notes. Review your notes and plug them into the basic component areas. Link your notes and thoughts together into complete sentences and your post will be written.
Less is More
Blogs posts should not be more than three to five hundred words. They should get to the point quickly and provide information that is useful to your customer base. Try and keep all blog posts short enough to be seen on one page and include industry regulations, changing legislation and current events. Use reputable sources, quotes and interviews to liven up your content, add credibility and link your site to others for increased visibility.
Content is King
Individuals will not be visiting your website to look at the professional and fancy design. They are visiting your website to research information about your business or because they are interested in blog content on your site found through referrals or search engines. Regardless of how they came to your site, you want to keep them there, prove you're an authority on your subject matter and entice them to do business with you.
Your content should be original, accurate and up to date. Check, check and re-check all of your entries for proper grammar, spelling and punctuation before publishing any blog content.
Three Important Words
There are three important words that will make or break a blog. The words are search, engine and optimization. Put together they refer to SEO, or improving a page in order to make it more popular on search engines. Raising SEO ratings can be accomplished by using keywords and links in your post which refer to your business and the products or services it provides.
Brainstorm a list of words or word strings that represent your business. Use these in the body of your blog posts and titles as much as possible without interrupting the flow of your content. Conduct a search on similar businesses and look at their blog posts to gain ideas on additional keywords you can use. If you are finding SEO difficult, you can learn more by reading Google's Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide.
Communication
Blog hosting platforms typically include an area for questions, comments or suggestions. This is a perfect avenue for building relationships. Respond quickly and regularly to any entries. Keep an open, friendly and helpful tone on all of your responses. This may be the first impression a potential client has of you and you want to make it great. Expand on blog posts as needed and provide additional information that can be beneficial to individuals as an added value to their blog participation.
Meeting Your Expectations
Business blogs are used to gain more customers. If you have good content you will build a following. So, give your blog time to develop! Once you start blogging, don't give up. It may be difficult to come up with new topics day after day or week after week, but blogging will be a rewarding endeavor if executed properly. Consistently add more blogs and allow the search engines time to see your blog content. It usually takes a blog two or more months to build a solid following.