Blogging generates more traffic for your website, and encourages customers and sales, and who doesn’t want that? For those of you that don’t know, ‘blog’ is an abbreviation of ‘web log’, an online publication that is updated regularly, often containing links and the writer’s opinions. Think of it as the journal your business would write if it were human. Search engines love blogs with dynamic content and relevant keywords, so make sure you have these to boost your search engine rankings.
Blogs can establish you as an expert in whichever field you write about; if for example your company makes oak furniture, your blog can provide information about design, furniture care and links to further information, this tells your customers you know what you’re doing.
However blogs are key because they provide free promotion. You can keep your readers abreast of new developments, products or events in your business or industry simply by blogging about them.
We’ve compiled a list of our top 10 tips for a brilliant business blog to help you get started:
Give your opinion
Your opinion is the reason people are reading your blog, so give it to them. Blogs also invite opinion, and this creates an active online community. The more people discuss your product, the more likely they are to buy it, so encourage conversation among your readers.
Be brief
Less really is more when it comes to blogging. Say what you need to say and get out of there, job done!
Bullet points
This makes the information easier to absorb and readers can pick out the information they want quickly.
Links
Readers like links to additional information and related topics so include a few in each post. Links also improve visibility on search engine results pages, making your site easier to find. If others discuss and link you on their site your visibility will increase, meaning more promotion with minimal effort!
Write what you know
By writing about your passions you’ll convey your personality and this interests your readers. Make sure you upload fresh content regularly as this allows your site to be ‘crawled’ more frequently by search engine ‘spiders’. This makes content searchable more quickly and improves your ‘expert authority’ image.
Short paragraphs
As well as bullet points make sure you write short paragraphs and use headings and subheadings so readers can access information quickly.
Use images/videos
Images catch the reader’s eye and videos can be used for many things such as short adverts, ‘how to’ guides, and demonstrating how your product works.
Proofread
Readers want a good standard of writing so make sure you spell check and verify your facts before publishing your posts. No one wants to be known for incorrect spelling or dodgy facts!
Use effective headlines
Grab your reader’s attention with thought provoking or catchy headlines. For example something like ‘The power of the press!’ might be a good headline if you’re going to discuss using local media to help advertise an event.
Maximise keywords
Search engine optimisation (SEO) is vital. If your company sells shoes in larger sizes keywords such as ‘large size shoes’ and ‘large shoes for women’ would help boost your search engine rankings.
Your blog should become an essential part of your marketing programme as it is free and keeps your customers up to date with what’s going on in your business. The bottom line is more readers mean more customers. You don’t have to be a creative genius or video whiz kid to start a successful blog. Perhaps you’ve been thinking about including images or videos in your blog, but you just don’t know where to start? Talk to us! We’re here to help you make your business blog the best that it can be.