There are hundreds of reasons to start blogging for your business. If you already have a blog, then there are as many reasons to try and improve. Not only does blogging regularly result in an up to date online presence, with multiple posts featuring your key words and improving your SEO rankings, but it also provides you with better visibility on multiple platforms. Each post you share provides a unique and personal insight into your services or products, and frequent blogging can make sure your product is fully understood. Blog posts can also be shared across social media platforms, which is a great low cost marketing tool. For your posts to be effective though, they need to be high quality and frequent. The following tips can help you see a massive increase in the efficacy of your business blogging.
Never Forget Your Purpose
Whenever you sit down and write, you should always ask yourself why you are blogging in the first place. Whether it’s for marketing, to improve SEO, to create better relationships with clients, or to establish yourself as an expert in a field, you should always know why you are writing. You should then review your post and make sure it meets your purpose. Don’t publish irrelevant information – every single blog post should be linked to the reason you are blogging for your business.Always Plan Your Posts
Your business blog posts should not be chaotic and unorganised. As you are representing your business, your should endeavour to make sure you appear organised, streamlined, and cohesive. This will make people think your business is also organised, and you are instantly more trustworthy. You could post a series of posts on a particular topic, have a weekly feature, or simply make a note of what the next post will be. While you don’t want to appear predictable, you do want to be organised, and this planning will help you keep on track with the posts you’re publishing.Remember to Schedule and Strategy
After your first few weeks of blogging, you will be able to track your success using google analytics, or whatever monitoring system you’re using. This means you an find out when your posts are the most likely to be viewed and shared by the widest audience, and schedule your posts. This makes them effective, but also means you’re more likely to stick to a schedule and post regularly. You should also strategize to make sure your posts are shared across relevant social media platforms. Posting frequently, and ensuring that your posts are likely to reach your target audience makes you much more visible, and can also dramatically increase your search engine ranking.Keep A Spare Post
If you find yourself finishing a post in less time than you expected, or with extra time on your hands, use it wisely. Rather than taking this spare chunk of time for a coffee break, instead write a few extra posts. This means that should the circumstances arise in which you don’t find the time to write, you can still publish something and stick to your schedule. Some business bloggers may write posts a whole week or month in advance, and simply upload them when the time is right, while others simply have one or two posts as back ups in case something goes wrong. This is a great idea as missing one or two blog posts is a slippery slope, and to benefit from business blogging you do need to do it regularly.Check Out The Competition
If you are blogging for your business, you should be aware that your competitors are probably doing the same. You should read their blogs – not in the spirit of rivalry, but to get a sense of what kind of posts are relevant for your business. You will be able to judge for yourself what works and what doesn’t, and learn from any errors they’re making. Reading other blogs helps with every single type of blogging, and interacting with other bloggers can be an excellent networking tool. You should absolutely read and comment on blogs related to yours, learn from them, and build relationships with other bloggers.Share Your Enthusiasm!
You should write when you are full of energy and really feeling passionate about your business. It’s hard to fake excitement as you express yourself in writing, and the results really are better if you write while in a good frame of mind. You want your reader to finish your blog post feeling enthused about your product or service, and keen to seek out your business. The best chances of spreading enthusiasm about your project is for you to be enthusiastic too.Stay Away From Jargon
Avoid jargon as much as you can. While it may make you sound intelligent and qualified, it will completely eliminate the purpose of your blogging. You blog about your business to increase your audience, and connect to your customers. As your customers are unlikely to be industry experts, using jargon will alienate them, and they will lose interest in the content. Using clear and concise language that everyone will understand will make your content much more accessible. This will result in more views, shares, and comments.Always Keep Your Audience In Mind
While you are writing for your business, you are writing to your customers. Consider them in all of your posts, and never forget them when you are creating content or content briefs. Listen to feedback and comments, and provide them with information they are interested in. One really amazing way of generating ideas for blog posts is by making a note of questions your customers ask. Chances are, if one customer asks the question, many more are wondering the same thing. Working the question into a title and answering it in a post will help to create some great quality content that is tailored to your audience. Asking questions is your customers’ way of telling you what they want – for a successful business blog, you should really listen to them.Take Steps To Maximize Your Blog’s Potential
There are several tried and tested techniques that make all blogs more successful. For a business blog, this could include inviting guest bloggers from your industry to share their points of view, or using infographics to explain dry and difficult topics. E-mail lists are always useful in creating a solid customer base, and making sure you have access to your audience. Checking on the SEO and keywords in your posts can make your blog more visible, and improve the search engine rankings of your website overall.Don’t Be Afraid To Outsource
If you are business-minded, you probably have a whole host of skills, and are able to adapt to many situations. However, those skills won’t necessarily include eloquent writing. While you may be able to express yourself well, if writing isn’t your talent then you may need to hire an editor. They will be able to expand on your points, and rephrase your language to make it engaging to your audience. There are many different tools available for someone with the wisdom to know when to delegate. There are several marketplaces such as UpWork, along with Freelancer where you can communicate with an editor and have a little more control and flexibility over your project. An additional advantage is that it is possible to arrange long term services over these websites too. Another valuable resource could be Scripted, which is an online website offering writing services specifically aimed at online marketing, and who specialize in business blog posts.Bonus infographic:
Blogging Best Practices: The Ultimate List
Source: Onblastblog.
While there is no easy way to success, and no foolproof plan to a successful business blog, these tips can make your business plans so much easier. Properly using a blog can be an invaluable advertising tool, establish you in your industry, and expand your client base. When there are so many benefits, it is worth putting in the work and following these tips in order to make sure your blog is as successful and efficient as possible.
Author's Bio:
Sharon Conwell has been a content manager and ghost writer at over 20 online projects, now she is a part-time educator and an editor at Big Assignments. She’s specializing at content creation and optimization. She loves coffee, tulips and her Shih Tzu named Bobby.
