There is a real disconnect when I come across a business professional that doesn’t have an active blog on their site. It’s not that I don’t respect them as business people; they have a right to manage their business any way they wish. It just seems to be counter-productive to have a website and NOT offer content to their visitors. When there is no blog, I lose interest fast. Unless the business employs video, an array of eBooks or some other “reason” to explore their site, I am simply moving on to a competitor of theirs. When people come across your site, the same will happen to you.
Blogging for business is not about letting everyone know what you had for lunch, it is about telling compelling information that interests him or her and wants them to get to know you better. It’s about sharing information so that something you offer them helps make their lives better in some way. Besides, business that blog regularly (minimum 3 times a week) get 5 times the number of leads than those who choose not to have a blog or bloggers.
The core truth about blogging is that the search engines locate your site when new content is posted. This may not sound compelling, but it is. Getting found by search engines will help in search rankings, which help those searching for a particular topic or keywords come across your well crafted blog. Getting found is the key to success, so blogging is the key for the search engines, and the search engines are key to your business. It isn’t an overnight process, so get started and get going.
But I Don’t Write…
If I had a nickel for every time I have heard that excuse, I would have already sold my business and moved to Tahiti. You don’t have to be Ernest Hemingway or John Joyce, you merely have to put on paper in what you think your ideal customers would have interest. As long as the sentences are sensible, the grammar acceptable and there are no punctuation bloopers that change the meaning or context, you’ll be fine. It’s the information that is important; it will carry the day. Write as you talk, and talk as if you were coaching a student. Everything else will take care of itself.
The smart businessperson would be learning and teaching blogging to their entire customer support and sales teams. It is said that everyone is involved in the sales process, so everyone should be actively blogging for the sake of the company. Sure, you may need someone to administer and govern the content. So what? You can hire someone if you cannot find a suitable person on staff. The easiest way to locate a pro is to contact an inbound marketing agency like Zen Marketing. What is important is to remember that lead generation is the all important goal, and each time new content is generated, your search rankings improve over time, and so will your readership; it is a do it to yourself project.
Simple Solutions
Blogging two to three times a week may sound like an insurmountable task, but it really is not. There are more ways to skin a cat, so to speak, than just one. You can start by contracting with an inbound marketing agency than can provide sufficient content, or by locating and contracting a freelance writer. You should quickly build an inventory of 15-30 blog entries or articles, covering specific industry related keywords or key industry phrases. In the “business” we refer to them as keywords, so identify those keywords and key phrases (long tail keywords) and establish a rotation schedule. Once the foundation is prepared, find staff members that can contribute to the TEAM (together everyone achieves more) effort and simply double check their output. You could even supplement existing staff with a contract copy writer; we can show you how.
Obviously, choice number one is what I recommend, but if not Zen Marketing, find an inbound marketing agency to help get you started.
The above information is merely a glimpse into the world of effective blogging, so don’t think it is as simple as I make it sound. Next time I will attempt to delve deeper into the topic of effective blogging, so please check back. If you have yet to do so, please sign up for our RSS feed or leave your email address so you don’t miss a single post.
Happy Marketing!
