Using a blog to increase business visibility - tips on business blogging

When you own a business in the 2.0 web world, business blogging is a very important way to reach current AND potential customers. What is a blog? A “blog” is an abbreviated version of “weblog,” which is a term used to describe web sites that maintain an ongoing chronicle of information with news such as this post! Blogging is basically an online journal. It can be on any topic and many people have a blog just to write or share knowledge.

Blogs are frequently updated web pages made up of short (well, mostly) posts of information on a variety of topics. They are typically archived in chronological order with the most recent news on top. Businesses can use a blog to share all sorts of information about their company, its goals, new products, events, charity support and much more!

So, what is Business Blogging?

Business blogging is centered around the company and its goals and is an inexpensive way to share your expertise and showcase your knowledge about your niche. It can be added on to your main website and is a way to highlight and showcase specials, new products and company news. It is also a way to communicate with current AND potential customers about your company and an opportunity to talk about your company online and control the message. Blogging also helps build search engine optimization by building a library of content and gives you content to share on your social networks as well as within your email newsletters sent to customers (you do send one of these at least monthly, right?)

So why should you have a blog?

Your blog is your opportunity to reinforce that you know what you’re talking about and can be trusted. This is critical to developing a long-term relationship with your customers.

“The idea is that companies create or curate valuable, compelling and relevant content on a consistent basis. Usually it’s to maintain or change behavior, and attract or retain a customer. If you’re a small business, you’re creating content because you ultimately want to sell something. You’re not necessarily making money directly from the content, but sales are coming in a later form or you’re growing relationships with people who are then more likely to buy from you at a later date.”

–Michael Stelzner, publisher of SocialMediaExaminer.com, a top blog for online and social media marketing.

So what’s the #1 rule in blogging? Well, as Nike says, Just Do it! In order to have a successful blog, there are five key things to look for:

Educational and Informative
People and Community Focused
Locally Focused Calls to Action
Social Integration
Consistently Updated

Here are a few ideas of things you can include on your business blog:

Customer questions asked of your sales teams. These could be great ideas as they answer questions directly from the mouth of your customer.
New product announcements
Benefits of your product
Knowledge-based articles. Publish content that’s useful and interesting & helps them solve their problems.

Ex. 1: How to tune up a car

Ex. 2: How to care for your pet

Ex. 3: Best ways to use the product

Ex. 4: Industry related questions