You may be asking, what even is a business blog?! A lot of us connect this term with a personal blog, which is owned by a blogger who writes about different topics close to them, similar to a diary entry of their day, holiday, or a recent experience that they've had. This was seen as a great opportunity to communicate information to a wider audience.
Since then, businesses have taken on this idea as a great way to improve customer satisfaction and to improve brand awareness, because the more people that see your blog, the more exposure and trust your brand gets.
The blog isn't a static part of your website, like the home page or about us page, but it's updated frequently with new topics.
How to use it for your business? More and more we see businesses promoting their blogs as part of their content marketing strategy. The blog will be the part of the website which houses all of your written articles, and will be about all the things that matter to your business, and in particular all the things that your audience would be interested to know more about.
Here are some great examples of industry blogs
- Food blog: Greedy Gourmet
- Fashion blog: Who What Wear
- Beauty blog: Cult Beauty
- Health blog: My Fitness Pal
- Finance blog: American Banker
- Business blog: Forbes
... and as shown in the examples above, you don't necessarily need to name your blog a 'blog'... but as with any aspect of your website you have the potential to brand, name and style it however you want. So get creative!
So, why should you add one to your company website?
1. It builds your credibility so you can gain trust from your audience
Who better to buy a car from than someone who's taken their time to educate you about cars by providing free, unbiased content. Or you can buy from someone that you've never met or spoken to before in your life. What one would you choose?
By producing content that helps answer questions for your target audience, you're building a trusting relationship with your potential customers.
2. Drives traffic to your website
In other words, every time you write a blog post it's another chance for someone to find your business and learn about who you are.
[Coming soon: Ways to Promote Your Blog]
3. Improves Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
A.k.a gets you on first page of google. To make your website a valuable marketing asset you need people to see it. Other than people typing in your URL (which is pretty unlikely for most businesses) there are lots of whys people can see your website, and being found on search engines like Google are one of the most valuable ways.
There more pages your website has the more likely it will be found on search engines, but at the same time you don't want to throw up random web pages all over your site as that would give a terrible user-experience. By adding new pages housed under your blog, you won't unnecessarily clutter your website.
4. Provides company updates
It's a great platform to also promote your company updates for example new trade shows or exhibitions you're attending, a new company address, or reasons why you are expanding your business.
[Tip for creating a blogging schedule: Give yourself a deadline on how many new pieces a week and always research what the audience want, why not do a friendly poll on Instagram]
5. Increases sales
Which, simply put, is the whole point of any of our marketing efforts. Make sure that you include a clear Call To Action (CTA) at the bottom of your article where you provide more details on how people can get in touch or hear about about the topic you are educating on.
Once you've published a blog, it sits indefinitely on the internet bringing in new traffic and leads. So even when you post articles several years ago, people will still find those insights on search engines or on social media.
Lastly, don't forget to stay personable as apposed to writing a lot of technical jargon that you're audience won't connect with. Good luck!
S A Y M O R E O N L I N E helps businesses reach more customers online by utilising the online marketing platforms that your exact target audience can be found on.
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