As technopedia quotes, A business blog (b-blog) is a blog of published, informal online articles that are either included in a company’s internal communications system (intranet) or posted on the Internet for the public to read.
Blogs started as a personal online publishing system which allowed individuals to express their opinion about a variety of topics and put it on the internet for others to read. Although, they are still described as online diaries of experiences and opinions, blogs have grown as a scalar marketing tool – simply because social recommendations about a product or service make them look better than advertising.
A business blog may or may not have any actual bloggers signing the posts. It could be a combination of professional blog writers, thought leaders or subject matter experts creating different kinds of content, that’s pertinent to the nature of business and promotes it.
Among the serious advantages of having a business blog is that it’s a low-cost alternative towards having a profound internet presence. For a small business, you do not even need very expensive tools that will help you get a blog. And you need not even need the help of a professional web developer to help you create one. And once you get started, you can regularly update the content of a blog and create excitement for your visitors. They are an opportunity to help you exhibit your expertise on a variety of topics and over time, you can prove yourself to be a reference on many topics, if your content is original and accepted by people reading it.
Here are some of the reasons why you should be having a blog for your business.
Blogging is simple
It is an easy-to-use platform for connecting and sharing relevant and timely information with your customers and potential clients.
Blogging bumps up your SEO
Many customers funnel through to your website from search engines. Blogging helps create visibility for your business by getting keywords your write about to float up higher on search engine results, hence increasing traffic.
You do not have to be a professional designer to start a blog
Most platforms like WordPress or Blogger are relatively simple to get started with. Over time you can seek professional help to manage your blog, but it is not tough to get started.
According to a Hubspot survey, 60% of business that blog acquire more customers.
Your blog can serve as the central repository for all the content that you share via social media, example, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin etc.
It talks about your expertise. When you blog about your expertise and market positioning, you are able to share more knowledge with people, who will respect you and come to you for advice or solution. Any traffic coming your website because of the content shared in the blog, is good traffic and capable of generating conversions.
It’s your voice
Whenever you have new products or services on offer, a blog helps create the buzz in the market. It helps you show to people what you are talking about and makes your brand brighter among the rest.
Avoiding the pitfalls
Blogging has become so common, most people believe and fall into a trap thinking it’s easy. If you are blogging for your business, this could be immensely critical.
A blog can be one of the most effective marketing channels for your business. The most successful brands use blogs to drive traffic to their websites, and push users through their marketing funnel. Here are a few pointers to avoid pitfalls while blogging for your business.
Blog frequently
In order to make your business blog work, you need to develop a content schedule – perhaps a calendar. And you need to do it in a way, so your readers know what to expect – keep them hooked at all times. Consistent blogging has a “compounding effect” on the traffic that your blog can generate for the business. It has been noted that over 90 percent of the traffic that gets generated through your blog, comes from posts that were not made in the present month. So, keep building your blog with evergreen content that users can reference at a later date and make way to your website or marketing funnel.
Use the proven formulae
Many bloggers choose to be offbeat about their blog – as a means of liberal expression or social revolt. We admit, the passion of blogging and the art of expression go a long way into making a personal blog unique. But this formula does not work well for business blogs. Business blogs are more popular when you share business-like content, in business-like formats, keeping up-to-date with the latest trends and techniques. Make your content definitive, provide people with lists and work-arounds, share information and graphics in the form of infographics, and get experts to write articles for you, based on the nature of your business.
Do not create boring content
If your blog becomes increasingly factual, it will not stand out among the crowd. The key to keeping your visitor engaged is to provide them with creative content. For example, if your business is about coffee mugs, creating posts around “how to bake edible coffee mugs” might be a good topic that will be creative, and have your user engaged. If the user learns something from your blog, it will ensure they keep coming back. A returning visitor is good for your business blog.
Do not use boring or inaccurate headlines
Apart from boring content, do not use boring headlines for the content on your blog. Most blog readers will avoid content they do not feel interested in. At the same time, do not create blog headlines that mislead visitors about the content in your blog. A misleading headline (created in the wake of attracting readers) may lead your blog to have a bad reputation and overall decreasing the credibility and hence reduced traffic to your website.
Engage Influencers
This is one of our favourite methods of telling people, how to make your marketing funnel scout ahead of the lot. An influencer can prove to be a worthy wingman for your content, and your search visibility will improve multifold when you have popular internet influencers send traffic to your website. In fact, one of our newly launched programs at Blogtrumpet for influencer marketing talks about just that, and we help you manage your influencer marketing strategy.
Use visuals
It is said, and we repeat, that a picture is worth a thousand words. Pictures can be of many kinds – graphics, visuals, photographs, art and in the internet age, infographics. All-in-all, visuals keep your visitor engaged. They make your blog look interesting and give more meaning to your content. Also bear in mind that it takes time to create content and people like to consume content in different ways. You can repurpose your content into different formats (graphic, video, pdf, audio, slides, etc..) and publish it along different social media channels. That way you get more bang for your buck, and it breathes new life into old content.
Promote your content
Needless to say, you need to invest a great amount of time in promoting your content. The most successful of bloggers have said, that they spend 20 percent of their time creating content, and 80 percent of the time promoting it. Create ads across social media, and repurpose your content to suit different channels, and then publish it in different places across the web to drive traffic to your website or blog. Promote, promote, promote and you won’t go wrong with getting more traffic into your marketing funnel.
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