Every enterprise, every entrepreneurial venture has one foundation stone. Your business blog can be the rock that gives your operation a solid base.
If your business doesn’t have a blog yet, a quick look at the numbers will convince you to put one at the top of your to-do list. Hubspot tells us that a business blog:
- Drives people to your website
- Converts visitors into buyers
- Establishes your authority
- Drives long-term results
How Do You Build a SUCCESSFUL Blog?
A blog takes commitment to make it successful. There are no short-cuts.
Your blog posts must solve problems for your readers, or they won’t come back: There has to be something in it for them to make them love you and trust you.
The best company blogs are perceived as being run by one person, ideally, someone who is obviously important in the business such as the founder, CEO or the head of marketing. The person responsible for your blog may delegate the writing or technical sects, but his or her personality must shine through.
- Make a Start
Your first decision is registering a domain. Business blogs are often set up as sub-domains of your main business website, eg. Blog.yourbusiness.com. If you are just starting your business and buying a new domain then make it short, brandable (ie, not in a dictionary or Google search), easy to pronounce, a .com site, and make sure you can get social media profiles that match your domain name.
- Make it Personal
A successful blog gives customers a personal connection with someone who is fundamental to your business. Personality is important because people only buy from people they like and trust. The only workaround to this is to undercut your competitors on price, and you don’t want to get into a price war because there will always be someone who can undercut your prices.
It is essential that your blog has just one voice (yours) and one video personality (you). You can never delegate podcasts or video blogs, though your appointed blogger can prepare a script/questions and be behind the camera.
- Delegate
Your time is precious. You can be the driving force behind your business blog without spending three hours each day writing posts. Ask someone who knows your business inside out to write blog posts and to organize video posts that feature you in your founder’s role.
Expect your delegated employee blogger to spend two or three hours every day on your company blog. Your blog is too important to be shunted into “spare time during the day.”
Target People Who Fit Your Customer Profile
You know the people who need you, the ones whose values are the same as yours. Focus your blog content on those people. Concentrate on serving your target customers because you can never serve everyone except in the vaguest of ways, and not targeting is the same as shouting your wares in the middle of the street and expecting people to buy from you.
Ensure your company rationale and branding comes through in everything you write. Keep it at the front of your thinking, or it will get lost in the daily clutter of blog-related ideas.
Solve Your Customers’ Problems
People will only pay attention to your business blog if it is useful to them.
You must solve readers’ problems. You must share basic knowledge with readers so they can solve any issues they have. This establishes your expertise and authority in your area of operations. Sharing also generates gratitude in your potential customers, they feel a debt to you which makes them more likely to buy your products or services when their problems are too big to solve themselves.
In Brief
A company blog can get you higher rankings in search results and convert browsers into buyers. It will take time and a blog should be part of your long-term marketing strategy rather than a quick-fix marketing tactic.
Make your blog personal because people buy from people rather than vague business entities. Delegate an employee or hire a blogger to write most of your blog posts because your time is n’t elastic and you will be unable to find the time your blog requires. Include video and audio interviews with yourself and ensure that yours is the only face and voice on the blog. Avoiding multiple company personnel decreases confusion and increases buyer confidence.
The first step is the most important one: Register a domain, add a blog sub-domain and make a start.