Although blogs seem to be taking over the internet you should still consider starting one on your business website. Websites with blogs have been proven to draw much more traffic to their site than those without blogs. The frequent updates that they provide for your site and the keywords added on a regular basis will bring you closer to the top of the search engine rankings. They are a very effective marketing tool. In fact in a recent survey of business technology marketing executives by research firm MarketingSherpa, blogs were voted the No. 4 tool for generating sales leads.
Besides drawing more traffic to your website blogs also offer the following potential benefits.
• A blog allows your business to interact with your current and potential customers in an informal way. This no-pressure tactic helps you communicate your expertise and the benefits of your product or service in ways that traditional marketing and advertising can’t. You will have a better chance of gaining customer loyalty and trust.
• Because of its interactive nature with blog comments and feedback you can get a better understanding of customers’ needs. People are much more likely to give you constructive criticism in this type of forum than to call you on the telephone or send you an email. Leaving feedback on a comment board is really easy for customers to do. You can use this information to come up with new ideas or to tweak your products and services to satisfy your customers.
• A blog can make your company appear more approachable and personal.
• Blogs cost little, if any money. They are also easy to set up and update with little training required.
Now how can you make your blog successful?
• A good starting point is to set goals and the tone of the blog. Decide what the tone of the content that will go into it. Also if your blog will have more than one author it is good to set some rules. Get someone who isn’t writing the articles to proofread for grammar and spelling.
• Nothing will make you lose credibility like a blog riddled with spelling and grammar mistakes.
• Keep your blog relevant and personal. Readers will want to know what your company thinks about trends in your industry. For example if you have a music website, readers will want to know about record sales, awards and such.
• Use related keywords throughout the content. This will help your blog climb to the top of the search engine results.
• Keep readers wanting more. Updating on a regular basis and writing exciting content will bring readers back to your site over and over again.
• Keep it a blog. Don’t use the blog for traditional advertising methods and press releases. Readers don’t want to be bombarded with advertising.
• Be consistent and stick with it. When you begin blogging make a commitment to continue it. It won’t give a good impression of your company if you abandon your blog.
• Check out the competition. Before you begin do some research online and find out what other companies in your industry are doing in their blogs. That will give you a good indication of what readers are looking for.
The bottom line is that a blog can be an extremely effective marketing tool that can bring many, many more potential customers to your site. Blogs can also help keep customers coming back time and time again. If you follow the above advice you can be a successful blogger. It only takes some time, commitment, planning, creativity and some quality content.
