Creating a successful business blog that provides engaging content and converts readers into clients is a scientific process. In this article we break down this process into a few easy to follow steps. Follow our ‘Ten Best Tips For Business Blogging’ and greatly improve your percentage of converting reader into paying clients.
1. Write For Your Audience
Every blog post needs to illicit the interest of its intended audience. If your business is in construction, then writing about sports or marketing is not going to position you as an expert in the building trade. Each post should inform your target audience on an aspect of your business that might be of benefit to them. When writing about the benefits of your industry or trade it is very important that it not boastful or not trying to push a hard sell. A good blog post should be informative, helpful and put you in a position where the reader is aware of your expertise on the subject.
2. Plan Ahead
It is very important to have a long term strategy for your company’s blog. Planning out blog posts that mirror seasonal trends, consumer needs and upcoming events can help you create a focused blog campaign. It is recommended to most businesses that they at least update their online blog once a week. The most important thing to remember when creating a strategy is the purpose of the blog entries. Do you want to get more newsletter subscribers? Sell a service or product? Position yourself as an expert? Improve SEO?
3. Engaging Titles Are Paramount
Engaging article titles are vital in order to gain the attention of a browser. Short titles which describe the article in five or less words is ideal. The article title should never aim to misinform or consist of a salacious click-bait title. Keeping the titles short, honest and relevant to the article is the most effective way to engage more viewers.
4. Content Is King
Good content is essential in building an online audience for your website. It is recommended that your article should be at least three hundred words (SEO), have headings that break up the content into easily digested chunks and if possible, to avoid grammar mistakes. By nominating a point, illustrating it in universally understood terms and explaining these terms as simply as possible you will allow a wider audience to understand the articles topic. The main point here is to make sure that you are understood and in turn you clearly inform interested viewers.
5. Be Consistent
Consistency in blogging is the key to building an audience. If you give the reader a constant stream of information they will have a reason to return to your website. By having a lot of returning visitors on your website, you have a greater opportunity of impressing your brands service or product in the viewers consciousness. Consistency in blogging is like physical exercise. You will only see gradual results over a sustained period of time.
6. Get Everyone Involved
When posting quality articles on a consistent basis, it is easy to exhaust any new ideas for articles. If you are finding it hard to come up with original content, it is always a great idea to delegate the writing to an employee or colleague. By doing this you have a fresh or different perspective on a topic that you might have touched on before.
7. Use Customer Feedback As Fuel
Most businesses receive numerous queries regarding their services or products on a daily basis. A great way to respond to these queries is writing informative articles on each subject. This method saves time on answering individual responding to common questions and also shows a potential client/customer that you are extremely knowledgeable on the subject matter.
8. Use Pictures
Using pictures in articles helps deliver the message quicker, break up monotonous lines of text and reinforces the article after it is read.
9. Respond To Comments
Most CMS websites have a filtering system that allows you to approve or disapprove of viewer comments. This allows you to publish constructive feedback and censor spam or trolling comments. It is essential that most websites should respond to constructive comments as it allows you to engage with the public and reinforce your expertise on the subject matter.
10. Share Your Content
Every website blog should have a strategy to get your blog posts noticed. Using Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin to post links to your articles can greatly increase the traffic to your website. Each business should formulate a strategy for sharing content. For example if your business is mainly B2B (business to business) then Linkedin might be more suitable to reaching your target audience rather than predominantly B2C (business to customer) orientated platforms like Facebook and Twitter.
Bonus Tip: Analyse Your Blog Performance
The best indicator of how successful your blog is your website analytics. By looking at how your audience engages with your articles, you can get an indicator of the best times to post, the most successful topics, etc.
For any more information regarding the Ten Best Tips For Business Blogging or to avail of our services call Opus Creative on +353 (21) 242 8689 or email us on hello@opuscreative.ie
