Earlier, Blogs (or Web Logs), was what one turned to in order to either, nurture the budding writer within, rant about world problems, educate the masses, work as a stress buster, or even to simply provide people with a little ‘light reading’. Needless to say, it helped bring about writers by the dozen.
Recently, however, businesses have taken to Blogging as well, but not for the same reasons. They use this medium as a way to interact with the audience. With the growing popularity of Blogs amongst the general public, using it for marketing was quite the brainwave.
Blogs, don’t just provide an informal platform of expression, but also allows businesses to provide the audience with a deeper insight into the workings of an organization…or ‘paint a picture’ of its general working environment.
There are various tips that one should bear in mind, when creating a business Blog.
Know your audience
It may be a clichéd line, but it’s a good one. Without knowing the target audience, one will fail to generate interest through their Blogs. Using the right tone, for the right audience, is therefore highly crucial.
Make it captivating
Your Blog shouldn't be a ‘snooze-fest’. By making your blog's content unique and catchy, you should be able to grab your consumer’s attention, and induce them to convert.
If possible, your Blog should be maintained by someone inside the organization, to ensure a personal touch.
Should ooze ‘enthusiasm’
Dull spells will make your audience lose interest in your Blog. It is therefore important to update it on a regular basis. True, that may be hard considering one’s busy schedule, but even if it is so, you should make an effort to update it at least 2-3 times a week.
Enthusiasm to maintain a Blog, reflects off on it, and reflects in an equal response from the audience.
Competitions/Promotions
This is an ideal platform to promote ones products/services. You could either use it as a reminder for your audience, of an existing product/service, or you could publicize the launch of a new one.
In order to generate a larger audience, one could conduct competitions. This will also get existing consumers to pass on the word to others.
Other tips
1. As informal a platform as it may be, remember to maintain a certain level of professionalism, throughout. Also, one should handle criticism in the same manner. Reacting strongly will throw a bad light upon you.
2. Answer your consumer’s questions. Don’t ignore them
3. Don’t only talk about your products/services. Talk about other events that take place in or around your organization, like funny stories at work, latest news…et al.
Apart from good content, one should also ensure to tailor them around ‘Search Engine Optimization’ (SEO) techniques, so as to generate traffic towards their Blog
Keywords
‘Keyword’ your posts in a smart manner, so as to ensure maximum visibility on search engines.
They should be unique, but at the same time, cater to a general audience - fancy or complex words won’t aid you in drawing in a large crowd.
Original content
Your content shouldn't be copied from elsewhere. It’s called plagiarism, and is frowned upon.
Backlinks
Generate quality backlinks for your Blog, as they help boost your ranking on a ‘Search Results’ page.
In order to generate backlinks, one could post as a guest on other Blogs, and link back to your Blog, with their permission.
Also, you could mention your clients, who may, out of loyalty, link your Blog to theirs.
Social Networking Sites
Provide options to share your Blog’s content, on various ‘social networking sites’. If it’s catchy enough, your consumers can help promote it by sharing it amongst their circles.
Blogs can help boost your business to mind-boggling heights. Cleverly maintaining one, will work wonders. It’s all just a matter of knowing how to go about it. By employing these tips, you’ll find yourself on the path to success automatically…Just remember to keep at it.