Blogging Your Small Business
Small business owners are constantly competing in an overwhelming market of corporate collateral. Their competitive edge is often the personal touch they are able to offer vs. the aloof persona of a chain or large corporation. The website of a small business owner can be a strong tool for making connections with potential and current clients or customers - - especially those who like having personal relationships with their community service organizations or retailers. It can be an even more powerful tool if you use a blog on your website to draw traffic, and to create a sense of community between your customers and you.
The first thing to be sure of is your target audience. Who are you trying to reach with your blog? Are you trying to create a line of communication between you and your current customers, or are you trying to grow your business and get the word out to a wider audience. Or maybe you are trying to do both. Knowing your audience helps you create better content for your blog posts, and makes sure that you have goals for them.
The next thing to focus on is providing quality content. If you aren’t a natural writer, find someone else within your company, or even hire someone to write your blog. No one will visit your blog if it is poorly written, and doesn’t contain useful information. Use your blog to go in-depth about your field of expertise - - this is the time to pull out all the stops and write something that people will be eager to visit your website for. Good writing draws traffic, and traffic increases business.
Another priority for a small business blog should be keeping it updated. An up-to-date blog is a sign of an engaged retailer - - one that focuses on customers, and knows them well. The worst thing a business can do with its website is create it, and then forget about it. This says to potential buyers that you don’t make your customers and their needs a priority. By writing consistent, current blog posts, your website visitors know that you are interested in them, and willing to go the extra mile to meet their needs.
Lastly, you should learn how to promote your blog. You can start by inserting your blog address into newsletters, business cards, bulk mailings, and anything that you use for printed advertisement. But to go a step further, it is important to learn how to promote your website and blog online. Online marketing opens the door to expanding your business beyond your local venue. Many small businesses have become large companies just by knowing how to market themselves across the world wide web. By understanding search engine optimization, keywords, and content strategies, you can go a long way toward bringing in traffic for your blog, and ultimately for your business.
To learn more about blogging, and how it can benefit your small business, you can sign up today for one of our introductory blogging courses. Our free online Get Ready To Blog course will introduce you to the basics of blogging terminology, platforms, and promotion. This course will fully prepare you for our eight-week instructor led course, Blogging 101. This course will guide you every step of the way through setting up your first blog, designing it, writing your first posts, and growing your readership. Blogging your small business can be a key aspect of your small business marketing strategy, and we are here to help you get started.
Until next time,
