Business blogging is now widely acknowledged as being one of the most effective marketing tactics around when it comes to showcasing your industry knowledge or expertise.
For a little regular effort and minimal cost, a great business blog will also enable you to:
Increase your visibility on search engines
Search engines such as Google love blogs as they judge original, high quality blog content to be of interest to many online searchers. Google also loves fresh content, so the more often you post, the more often you give Google a reason to come back and index your site into their search results. In effect, a good blog can end up becoming one of the main drivers of search traffic to your website.
Promote your expertise and opinions via social media
Blogs can easily be linked to your social media posts. As a result, they enable you to share more meaty content with your followers and fans, and as with search, a tweet or post can provide a link back to your business website. It’s also worth noting that people like to link to blogs much more than they tend to link to other website pages on social media. And whenever Google sees lots of links back to your website, it will reward you by improving your search engine position rating further still.
Attract more media and event opportunities
Journalists and event organisers may become keener to interact with your business if they respond favourably to your blog. For example, on the back of your blog you may be invited to write guest pieces for more high profile websites and magazines or you may even be invited to speak at a trade event or conference.
Having said all this, I still find that people often struggle to get a business blog up and running. For many it all boils down to not knowing what to write about.
If you find yourself in this category, I suggest you take some time to review the following blogging exercise as a way to kick-start your next blog post.
Questions to ask before you start to write your next business blog post:
- What on-going business issue is your customer trying to solve and what top tips could you suggest to help overcome this issue?
- What mistake or false assumption is she making on a regular basis and how do those assumptions negatively impact her business? Is there a story from your experience or your research that you could use to illustrate this case?
- What new development could make his life easier?
- What new legislation could make her life harder and how should she best respond?
- What lesson can you share from your experience of working with a client in the recent past?
- Have you discovered a new way of dealing with an old problem? E.g. a new software, service or technology that helps save time, money, effort
- Is there a tried-and-tested maxim that you could remind your customer of? E.g. fail to plan, plan to fail, and have you got a real life story from your experience that helps to illustrate the point.
At the end of your mini-brainstorm, pick the topic that feels strongest to you, or better still canvas your ideas with colleagues to see which one gets the best response. Then you’re all set to get writing. In a few weeks’ time I’ll also share more hints and tips about picking the best key words for your business blog to ensure your search engine results end up right at the top of the page.
Good luck with your blog idea brainstorming and if you need further help with your business blog strategy you can contact me via susanne.curid@lgba.co.uk or call me on 077 3006 1829.
