We’ve talked before about
why you need a business blog and just how that can power new business to your company. Now, let’s talk about how to take that blog to the next level.
Read other blogs
Don’t spend all your time plunking out new blog posts. Invest some of your week into reading other blogs both in and out of your niche. Keeping tabs on what’s going on outside of your domain is the best way to stay on top of trend spotting—those major swings in new interests online. If you blog about Software A, but have failed to read that Software B has been released, you’re old news.
Extend your reach online
We’ve touched on
the importance of social networking your way to the top before. If you’re already participating on Twitter, Facebook and Digg, that’s great, but don’t stop there. There are
hundreds of social networking sites online today and all of them can work in your favor. It’s impossible to be everywhere at once, so multitask with websites like
ping.fm, where you can submit your posts and publicize your thoughts on multiple networks at the same time.
Promote your blog in the real world
Spend some time advertising offline. You can get people interested in your blog with little or no money.
- Put your domain name on t-shirts and wear them or give a few away to readers of your blog. Everyone loves freebies!
- Hand out your business cards to people you meet.
- Add your domain name to your letterhead.
- Put up flyers (for free) in local grocery stores and on college campus bulletin boards.
- Join a MeetUp group locally and connect with likeminded people.
- Help sponsor a local library sale or charity event. For a few dollars your domain name will be mentioned in local papers, on advertising flyers and by word of mouth.
Write smarter
You can advertise all over the city and online, but if your blog isn’t readable you’ll get nowhere fast.
- Be the go to guy/gal. If you blog about your own brand of eco friendly laundry detergent, be the one place that readers go when they need to know about getting a coffee stain out of their favorite shirt. You can do this by providing informative, current, trendsetting posts every single day.
- Focus on quality. Quality is always more important than quantity. If you can’t write five days a week, don’t. Make a blogging schedule and follow it. If you blog Monday through Friday, provide five quality posts each week that your readers can’t wait to see.
- Blog with authority. You can tell people that obesity rates are climbing, but unless you have some evidence to back up that claim, you’re only giving an opinion. Blog with authority by citing sources and using outbound links to back up your words.
- Find your voice. If your business blog focuses only on inkjet printers, don’t get off track and tell the world that you had a flat tire on the way to work this morning. On the other hand, if you blog about inkjet printers and also sprinkle in personal stories to illustrate a point or connect with readers, keep it up. Finding your own unique voice is the single most important step to successful blogging.
Running a business blog doesn’t have to be hard work. In fact, the most well loved bloggers are passionate about their posts and look forward to writing and interacting with readers. Keep that passion alive and you can take your blog to the next level.