Promoting your business has become easy thanks to the internet. With a click of a button, you get to reach out to a large number of customers. A business blog is one such way. The fun part of blogging is that anyone can write a blog. It’s not a difficult task to accomplish when you learn how!
However, take caution; a business blog just may make your business venture a success.
Successful businesses today have one common feature. They have an established online presence. They recognize that the internet offers them a chance to advertise to a wide market. Blogging about your products, what’s new, and basically anything and everything with regards to your business is an effective way of communicating with your clientele.
A business blog is a platform for expressing opinions. Managing a business blog can prove to be a very effective technique of connecting with your clientele as well as strengthening and enhancing your brand awareness. Blogging isn’t restrictive; anyone with a desire to blog can do it. The problem is, when done without being fully aware of what to do and what not to do can have some negative implications. Read on and learn what do you do to ensure your business blog is a success and will work to promote your business.
These 5 steps will show you just how it is done:
Step 1. Create Valuable Content
The internet is filled with so much junk. Learning how to filter out what’s important and what’s false is becoming a real burden to readers. Before proceeding to post stuff, ask yourself these questions: How relevant is your content?
• Does it respond to the needs of your audience?
• What value will it add to your readers? / Is it informative?
• Is it appropriate?
• Is it worth your readers’ attention and time?
This is probably the keys to a successful business blog. You get to make your statement through the quality of content your site bears. If you give your customers good quality content, you will benefit from their return visits.
The best business blog sites are very keen on the kind of material they post. Posting high-quality content is a magnet for big audiences. Do extensive research to be able to get content that is credible and can benefit your readers. There are instances when the information we collect on the internet is incorrect and misleading. It’s always a bummer and it will have an adverse impact on your popularity. Therefore, be keen on posting information that’s authentic and valuable to your readers.
If you have a bit of a tight schedule, you can always outsource this task to a professional blog writer. You can find a talented blogger on Workhoppers.
Step 2. Frequency
Create a schedule for your blogging. Random blogging is not as effective as c having a schedule for your business blog. Readers like consistency and a schedule, it is a way of ensuring that you will always have something for your audience. With blogging, it is more effective to post frequently. Frequency means that your blog will always contain fresh content.
When it comes to how many times you should post, it is up to you to figure out which frequency works best for you. Plan it out well and analyze all the challenges you might face. Having time and resources to devote to your business blog is the biggest challenge of all. Plan something that is feasible. Once you’ve established your routine, stick to it and see it through.
A successful business blog should be frequently updated with new content. This is an excellent marketing strategy that businesses should take advantage of. When visitors to your site see that the business blog has regular updates, it’s a sign that the business is keen on their audience and reflects the right image. The majority of legit businesses have a habit of consistent blogging.
When you continuously post, your blog gets updated and more appealing to search engines. The more frequently you update it, the higher it will rise in search engine rankings. As a result, you will gain more visibility. Set aside time dedicated to creating quality content, posting it, and then reading and replying to comments. Set a specific time for each task and stick to the schedule.
Step 3. Precision
Your business blog post is not an essay! As much as everyone is capable of writing a blog, there are factors which distinguish professional bloggers from the rest of the crowd. Something most people are unaware of is that blogs are supposed to be brief. Don’t bore your audience with unnecessary information. There are two things to have in mind when checking your post’s precision:
1. Is it straight to the point?
2. Is it the right length?
Every single word in your post should serve a purpose. Let it be organized in terms of the flow of ideas. Therefore, you’ll need to ensure that you invest in proofreading. This is for the purpose of preventing errors that may distort your message. Avoid using unnecessary words and describing unnecessary detail.
How long should your business blog post be? If you are really interested in communicating better with your audience, then focus on keeping it at a minimum, around 500 words. . Readers tend not to have the time to read excessively long posts.
Impress them with few words and worthwhile information. An exception to this is tech content or reviews that may require more details and longer articles, 1000 words and more. Use your discernment when it comes to word count. However, if you’re just starting out, stick to 500 words!
Step 4. Measure Your Blog’s Performance
Through measuring your blog’s performance, you’re able to learn a whole range of parameters that are the basis of your blog’s effectiveness. These tools are a must have for any pro blogger out there. You will never be able to know how your business blog is performing without looking at your traffic and analyzing trends.
Most of the tools that perform this task are free and open source with 24/7 availability online. The number of tools to explore are unlimited. But we use and recommend the Google Analytics tool. This is by far the most effective set of tools that you can use in the measurement of your blog’s performance. Google Analytics is great at tracking the various performance indices of your website. You’re able to see which of your blogs is attracting the highest traffic and which topics your audience prefers and visits most frequently.
By doing this analysis, you will be able to identify which topics to post on more frequently and which posts attract the least traffic and to avoid.
The most significant milestones for a business blog are:
1. The pages visited volume
2. The amount of stay time
3. The references from other sites
4. The number of shares generated on social media sites
5. Lead generator
Step 5. Respond To Comments on Your Blogs
Blogging is all about conversing with your audience. When you post, you initiate a conversation. When the reader comments, it’s a response to your conversation. Not responding to comments is considered rude and unprofessional. Every time you post some content, invite your clients to leave comments. Respond to these remarks in a warm, civil, and polite tone, especially if a comment is airing a complaint. Even if some of your customers talk in a rude and inappropriate manner, try as much as possible to keep your calm.
It is also important to uphold some level of class in your responses. Your image is your business image, or it affects it very profoundly. By maintaining class, it will be translated to your business as well.
When you respond to comments on your business blog, you increase the level of interaction with your site. This is accompanied by several other advantages including more return visits, longer visit duration, and more references to your site. When you leave a satisfactory comment, your readers develop some liking towards you. This will also be translated to your business making it more appealing to them. They will trust your brand more when you address their concerns promptly and consistently.
The most common mistake that people make in business blogging is having someone else reply to comments. It is not a smart approach. Stand behind your post and judge how it’s received for it is you who wrote and published it.
Another common mistake to avoid is having automated responses that are vague, ambiguous, and irking. You will drive away your audience as they will feel not valued. When you personally respond to your customers, they feel appreciated.
Think about commenting on other blogs. Making intelligent comments in industry blogs can be a good strategy to raise your own visibility and bring awareness to your company and business blog.
Conclusion
Business blogging can be very slippery and unpredictable. This is a sensitive field that requires your undivided attention for it to bear the desired results. The techniques mentioned above are a few selected from a multitude of guidelines and tips for successful business blogging.
Selling your idea through blogging is a meticulous process that needs a lot of care because of the many variables involved. You must simultaneously take into consideration a combination of factors that can ensure the success of your blog.
When you have maintained successful business blogs, you will understand the value they can bring to your business. Have these tips here inspired you? Can you relate to them? Do you know of one more that can be of value to us? Drop us a comment, we appreciate your input.
Written by Lori Wade; A freelance content writer for Thriving Writer who is interested in a wide range of spheres from education and online marketing to entrepreneurship. She is also an aspiring tutor who is striving to bring education to another level. If you are interested in her writing, you can find her on Twitter or Google+ and across other social media. Read and get inspired from Lori’s useful insights!
Great article and tips. I run a weekly real estate blog and our biggest challenge is finding content and reliable writers. We recently reached out to our clients for “guest posts” and received a few great articles but are still looking to hire a new writer. Thanks for the great post!