I have worked with a few different blogs/bloggers over the past couple of weeks and it has opened my eyes to tragic problem that seems to be affecting businesses that are new to blogging.
Over the past 6-12 months there has been a big uptake in blogging by businesses looking to build their brand online. This is largely down to the blogosphere dictating that businesses NEED to have a blogging presence if they want to succeed online.
I firmly agree that businesses need to have a blogging presence, but simply having a presence is not enough.
Make Your Blog Work For You
It takes time to keep your blog up-to-date, posting new content and maintaining the blog is a job that is usually assigned to a member of a marketing department. The problem is that businesses have someone working on the blog, but they don’t have the blog working for them.
The most common sin that I see these businesses committing is that they simply send out marketing messages, or promote their own products.
I have blogged many times about the importance of providing value, chances are that these marketing posts are only valuable to 10% of your audience, they are also usually not great at attracting new customers as they are aimed at existing customers.
The same can be said of non-business bloggers as well, I have seen many bloggers who simply structure their blog posts around affiliate products that they are trying to sell, this makes the post read like a marketing pitch. This is not a great way of building your blog and attracting long-term readers.
How To Make Your Blog Work
There are a few easy ways that you can add content to your blog that offers more value to your readers. Here is a snapshot of the advice that I give businesses looking to start blogging:
- Latest News – People love to be up-to-date with the latest happenings in a certain niche. Lets say you are a company selling computer hardware online. There is a discovery in nano-technology that will lead to better hardware being produced in the future, this is news that is likely to be of interest to your customers, so blog about it. Weeks/Months down the line when this technology comes onto the market, the user may remember about you blogging about it and come back to buy it.
- Funny Stories – How many times have you seen your friends sharing a funny story around the Internet? Chances are you have shared many yourself. Lets say you are a company selling soccer equipment online, you hear about a match in Brazil that ended 99-99 (Just an example!!), blog about it. The more this post is shared the more exposure your company gets to potential customers.
- Competitions - These are often over-looked on business blogs in favour of Twitter/Facebook. But the blog can be a much better location for them as you can drive all your social media audience to a single competition post on your blog. This helps to build brand a lot better than just posting them on Social Media sites where interaction with your brand can be limited.
These are just a few of the insights that I give to businesses looking to get their blog working for them and not just becoming a waste of time.
I would love to hear your ideas on how a businesses can make their blog work for them? Do you think that many businesses are not making the most of their blogs?
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I think many fall into the immediate gratification trap and get overly frustrated when success is neither easy nor as fast as they would like. Lay out a reasonable schedule that allows for mistakes and detours and the frustration should subside. I think the learning curve in blogging and the amount of competition isn’t understood or appreciated by the newcomer.
Riley
Twitter: davidshawblog
April 1, 2011 at 7:36 am
Some great thoughts their Riley.
I guess it al depends on what you want to make with that blog. Every person with a blog that doesn’t die in 1-2 years gets something out of it, not necessarily money.
I have a blog on which i post some translations and have no intention to monetize it, because it just feels good helping people.
Maria Pavel recently posted..CNA Training In Delaware
Twitter: davidshawblog
April 1, 2011 at 8:16 am
Great to see there are still bloggers that do it for love not money.
Hi David,
Exactly like you said, I agree – it takes time to keep your blog up-to-date, posting new content and maintaining the blog is a job that is usually assigned to a member of the staff, that’s very true but also, it is very important to keep yourself motivated. In order to keep your blog up-to-date, post new content and maintain the blog, it is very important to keep yourself motivated so you will keep working. Take it easy, take your time and write great articles, don’t rush because you may ruin the whole post but also, don’t be lazy because you will annoy your readers because you don’t update the blog and they will start reading your blog. Thanks for the article!
Bye!
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Twitter: davidshawblog
April 1, 2011 at 8:17 am
Thanks for stopping by Adrian
Twitter: allcelebrityblo
April 1, 2011 at 9:41 am
Another things which businesses can and should blog about is the specific known problems/bugs in their product which they have been able to fix or have a specific timeframe to get it fixed. This way, they can increase the customer satisfaction, at the same time, driving more customers to buy that product.
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Twitter: jwongjk
May 17, 2011 at 4:05 pm
Hey Dave, you’ve put out the 3 basics of driving traffic to blogs so simply. Well done
I would just add that commenting and / or guest posting on other blogs can bring about more readers, too! After all, it’s all about giving value on social media. The more you give, the more you’ll receive!
janwong recently posted..Social is the New ‘E’
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