A business blog is one of the most cost-effective and easiest ways to promote your business. Done right, it can drive traffic to your website, increase your sales, establish you as an authority in your industry and also help you to reach new markets. Here are my top tips for writing and building a successful business blog.
Write for your customers
Your business blog, like your website, is not for you. It’s for your customers, so write for them. Ideally, your blog should aim to either solve a problem for your customers or provide fresh insights into your industry.
Start with a good title
Overlooking the power of a blog title is a big no-no. It impacts on how a blog post is found in the search engine. The first thing a potential reader looks at is the title. You need a long tail keyword headline that draws readers in and indicates what the post is about. Long tail key words consist of longer phrases that internet users enter in search engines in order to find out more specific information. Good ways to attract readers’ attention are to use action verbs and questions.
Plan your content
Lack of time and ideas are the most frequently cited reasons many small businesses cite for not having a blog. However, with a bit of planning, you can have enough ideas to keep you going.
The first paragraph of your blog should be an enticing summary for the blog post as a whole. People often skim through blogs so you need to grab them at the beginning. The first paragraph is important for SEO and if your blog is setup to autopost to social media, this summary should make the audience want to click to read more.
Engage your audience
The key to a successful business blog is giving your readers valuable content. That is how you establish your website’s authority in your industry. In addition, if you give your readers valuable content, they will reward you by becoming return visitors and even sharing your blog in their social network.
Frequency
Aim for a frequency that you can maintain. Search engines like fresh content and the more frequently you update your blog (and by extension, your website), the more likely your website will climb up search engine rankings & also gain visibility for your target customers.
Word count
As a guide, a blog post should be about 300 – 500 words. People tend to scan web content, so make every word count.
Make your blog shareable
Links are the lifeblood of the internet, so make it easy for your readers to share your blog. The easiest way to do this is by using share icons. These are social networking icons that make it easy for people to share your post & consequently, drive traffic and potential sales to your website.
Measure your blog’s performance
Make sure you have a web stats tool to measure your website’s performance. The most popular one is Google Analytics. It’s free and literally takes minutes to install. Over time, as you add more posts to your blog, it will give you a clearer picture of how people are finding your blog and, most importantly, which of your posts are popular so you know the kind of content your readers like.
