Blogs have come a long way since their introduction in the 1990s. The earliest recorded blogs were personal in nature, almost diary-like. Today, there are millions of blogs online, many owned by small businesses and corporations who have seized the power of the Internet and grown their businesses to new heights with nothing but the power of words. If your company doesn’t have a blog, you could be losing business to your competitor.
What a blog can do for you
Effective marketing: Blogs generate new sales leads every single day. Big name businesses from Amazon to Kodak are connecting with potential customers via the blog world.
Insight: Leaving comments open on your blog lets readers give you feedback and suggestions. Getting free insight from those interested in your product is priceless!
Connection: Through blogging you’re able to connect with people in an entirely different fashion. Suddenly you go from a huge corporation to someone who cares if Jane Doe from Washington wasn’t pleased with her latest order from your company.
The investment
There’s little to no cost to start up a blog. Odds are good that your business already has a domain name. If you’re a pizza business and your website sits on IMakePizza.com, you can create a free subdomain and blog away at Blog.IMakePizza.com.
The only real investment in blogging is time. You will need to set aside time to write and interact with your readers.
How to run a successful blog
Blogs are a dime a dozen today, even in the business world. Make your blog stand apart!
Lay down the framework: Decide what you’ll blog about and what you won’t. Stick to that formula.
Be relevant: Give readers information relevant to their lives. If you’re a distributor of eggs in the United States, don’t just write about what’s going on behind the scenes at your factories. Offer readers new egg recipes or fun ways to color eggs at Easter and you’ll give your customers information they can use.
Be irreplaceable: With so many blogs online, you need to make your website the one spot people want to go every day. Give readers new solutions to old problems. There are plenty of car maintenance blogs that will tell you how to change your car oil, but how many can show you how to change the oil in less than ten minutes?
Keep readers wanting more: By providing informative tips and helping readers solve problems, you’ll gain a faithful following. People will want to learn more and they’ll tell others about you, too.
Update regularly: Set a blog schedule and follow it. Whether you blog once a week or seven days a week, be consistent.
A business blog is a low cost, effective marketing tool that has the potential to help you earn new clients and customer loyalty. What are you waiting for?