Business Blogging Basics
This business blogging basics article will help you understand why your business needs a blog & how to correctly deploy business blogging so it truly helps your business.
What is Business Blogging?
Blogs can be an entire website featuring a person’s interests, stream-of-consciousness writing, and more. But for businesses, the blog typically is one section on a business website that features self-published articles & informational content related to that business’s products or services.
DID YOU KNOW:
Business blogging is the 3rd most common content marketing strategy in use today.
(Source: Hubspot)
How Does Blogging Help Your Business?
Here are the top reasons why you need a business blog:
Reason 1: Internet Visibility
When you post a blog on your business website, you’re meeting the number 1 ranking factor of the Google search algorithm. News Alert: Google introduced a new version of its search algorithm in May 2021. As part of this updated algorithm, the number 1 ranking factor is to add fresh new content to your website. Search bots scan your website each month to see if new content has been added. If the search bots find new content, you get bonus points that help your website’s position in the search rankings. One of the easiest ways to add fresh new content to your website is to write and post an informational blog. In addition, when the blog is properly optimized for SEO, each blog will help your business website show up in searches for the targeted keyword phrase and help drive traffic to your website.
Content Alert! – For more information on Search Engine Optimization, access our expert article on SEO Basics.
Reason 2: Stronger Customer & Prospect Engagement
The purpose of a business blog is to provide helpful, informational content about your products and services, in a non-sales-y fashion. So, a blog is a great way to legitimately “ping” customers & prospects with helpful content that teaches them something and reminds them that you’re there.
Reason 3: Educate Customers & Prospects About Your Specific Offerings
Since a blog is self-published content, you get to talk about your products or services, and teach & explain what makes them better than the competitors.
Reason 4: Generate More Website “Inter-links”
A website “interlink” is a link from one page on your website to another page on your website. When you write a blog about your product or service, you can set a link from the blog to a page with more information on the topic you’re covering. One of Google’s ranking factor is the amount of relevant interlinks that are set on your site. When your website meets more of the Google ranking factor requirements, your website can rise in the organic search rankings.
*Learning Point: When your website rises in the search rankings, you typically get more site visits – and more leads!
Reason 5: Generate More Interest On Social Media
Once you’ve posted your blog on your website, you can post promos about the content with a link that drives traffic back to your website (which is another ranking factor). When you post alerts on social media of available new content that teaches people something new, you have a good chance that the content will be shared. Content sharing of your blogs helps generate awareness & interest in your offerings, drives website traffic, and, ultimately, helps generate business leads.
What Content Belongs In Your Business Blog?
Ideal content for your business blogs include:
- Informational, expert articles on topics related to your products or services
- Case studies
- How-to information
- Photos that tell a story about your product or service
- Alerts on new podcasts
- News of new customers or product / service offerings
- Q&As
- Descriptions & links to new videos you’ve produced
- Highlights of new white papers
- Announcements of trade shows & conferences you’re going to attend
Where Does A Business Blog “Live?”
Your business blog lives on your website in a BLOG section that’s easy for site visitors to find.
One of the biggest mistakes I find in business blogging programs is that you can’t FIND the blog on the website. In those cases, the blog is “buried” in an About Us section or a Resources section.
Another big mistake is to only position a blog link down in the footer. This requires a site visitor to scroll all the way to the bottom of the website page to find it. A secondary link to the blog in the footer is fine – as along as the link to the BLOG section is prominently featured at the top of the home page, preferably in the Nav Bar.
How To Set Up A Business Blogging Program That Truly Helps Your Business
Here are the steps involved in setting up an effective business blogging program:
- Step 1: Determine which products or services you most want to sell at specific times of the year (based on business cycles unique to your industry).
- Step 2: Brainstorm ideas for articles, podcasts, or videos that highlight aspects of your products & services…in an information, educational mode vs. a sales mode
- Step 3: Build an annual content calendar so you know what topic or theme you’re covering each month in the blog.
- Step 4: Generate a business blog each month, and then post them on your website.
- Step 5: Promote the new content on your social media feeds with a snappy, high-energy description of the new content & post a link to the blog on your website.
Common Business Blogging Mistakes
We routinely get asked to start a business blogging program or take over a business blogging program for our clients. When we take over an existing blogging program, here are the top 3 mistakes we typically find:
Blogging Mistake 1: Blog Content That Has Nothing To Do With The Company’s Products or Services
If you’re going to spend time & money blogging about topics that have nothing to do with your product or service, you might as well put that money in a Weber kettle & burn it. Business blogging content should always relate to your company, your products, or your services.
Blogging Mistake 2: Inconsistent Blogging
If you post a blog and then don’t post another one for 3 months, your customers & prospects won’t be looking for the next great, insightful article. Once you commit to blogging, you need to do it consistently each month.
Blogging Mistake 3: Blogs That Are Not Optimized for SEO
You can write about your products & services till the cows come home. But if you don’t also conduct keyword research, apply a targeted keyword phrase to the blog, and then incorporate the targeted keyword phrase into the content, you’re shooting your blogging program in the foot. Keyword optimization of your business blogs is a MUST.
When you review statistics about business blogging, it’s a content marketing strategy that’s getting stronger every year. According to Statista.com, the number of bloggers in the United States alone increased by 10 million between 2014 and 2020.
Contently.com reports the following business blogging information:
- Consumers prefer blogs under 1,000 words in length.
- However, articles longer than 1,000 words generate higher rankings & website visits because they’re more comprehensive.
If you have a business blog, make sure you’re deploying your business blogging program correctly. If you DON’T have a business blog, it’s in your best interests to get a business blog going.
Need help starting or deploying an effective Business Blogging Program? Contact DeWinter Marketing & PR help you build a blogging program that truly helps your business.
