Blog Marketing Tips

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There are numerous blogging platforms on the market which are free to access and use; including WordPress, Tumblr, Blogger and Posterous, to mention a few. Creating a business blog site increases the businesses inline presence and visibility by having another portal by which potential clients can find the business. By providing informative content in the form of articles, businesses can create a loyal following by individuals and business who find added value in regularly reading the blogs content.  With the ability for visitors to post comments on blog articles, you can open up community discussions and present yourself as an expert in the specific field on operations. Furthermore, creating blog articles that focus on keywords and topics are great for SEO.

Create a Business Blog
As mentioned above, there are numerous platforms to choose from. They are all very similar in their functionality and ease of use and it simply comes down t personal preference. Blogger and WordPress are two of the most popular platforms, with a range of templates that can be used to create the feel and brand of your business. Furthermore, premium templates can be purchased and uploaded to your wordpress and blogger sites which gives you the ability to create a custom blog (with many templates looking as good as websites). One not to be looked over is Posterous; it is my choice of blogging software for its ease of use and sharing functionality.

Have a Consistent Presence
Like all social media platforms, do not simply set up the blog, fill in the profile and post a few articles – then forget about it. For a blog to have real benefits for your business, it requires new content to be published at a minimum of twice a month. If the site is not updated, there is o reason for people to revisit. Additionally, the SEO benefits of the content on the blog will become static if new content is not added on a fortnightly basis. If you are looking to create credibility in the industry and a perception of being an expert, make sure you maintain your blog presence regularly.

Provide Content that Is Topical in Your Industry
People will only visit your blog if you are proving content that is considered valuable to that community. When writing your articles, consider what your current and prospective clients information needs are; and provide this content in an easy to read format that is relatively brief. If more information is required, provide them with links to external sources of information such as your company website. Use Google Alerts to pick up on topics that are related to your field and publish content around these topics in a timely fashion.

Provide a Personal Context
As well as being a great source of information, blogs also have a reputation of being personal. You are able to create a personality behind your blog by writing in your own style, sharing personal experiences about the business’s operations and being involved in the industry. Write in a conversational tone and tell interesting stories. There is nothing worse than providing content that is dull and written in such a formal manner that it is simply hard to read. Being personable builds trust with your audience.

Provide Quality Content
Success in social media depends on the quality of your content. It’s about engaging people and the key to engagement is good content. In social media, people are creating, reading, saving, tagging and sharing content. If you don’t publish content that is of high quality, or is not of interest to the markets you serve, it will be not be read, shared or re-published. Good content not only sparks conversations, it also builds links. People will share the content and they’ll link it from blog posts and tweets. This can raise your search visibility and drive lots of traffic to your content, wherever it is hosted.

Create a Content Schedule
To assist you with the writing of quality articles, each month or two, create a content schedule which lists the keyword, topic and date that the article is due to be posted on the blog. From my experience, without setting this schedule and sticking to it, the blog can become neglected rather quickly.

Incorporate Multimedia into Your Blog
Every blog platform has the ability to hold images and video; with some being linked to Scribd and enabling the presentation of PDF documents that can be scrolled, enlarged and downloaded. The modern consumer wants to be entertained and informed at the same time; embedding interactive content in the form of images and video will increase the appeal of your blog, and the time that visitors stay on the site.

Don’t be Afraid to Make Offers
The many articles on the principles of engagement in social media, as well as the principles of blogging warn against selling on your blog. I disagree with this somewhat – I agree that you should not oversell; but the occasional offer, product pitch or marketing message is ok. The problem with not mentioning your products and services here and there is that you are not leveraging benefit to the business of delivering quality content and developing trust within the community. However, the warning is do not oversell – if you do, people will simply stop visiting the blog.

Develop a Customer Service Tool
A blog is a great platform to provide resources to current and potential customers in the form of support. For example, you can embed instructional videos, operating and how-to manuals, as well as providing a forum for the answering of customer questions and queries. Not only can this be seen as a proactive action in providing easily accessible resources, but the comments and responses on articles can provide you with valuable information pertaining to the customer and their needs.

Share the Blogging Load
It is very easy for one person to become bogged down with creating content for and managing the blog. If you business has a number of employees, share the responsibility around for creating content. When you create the content schedule, allocate a different individual to complete the article (approx 400 words) each time. This fosters a team effort to the development and promotion of the blog, as well as minimising the necessary work of each individual in providing the necessary high quality content.

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