Are you trying to think outside the box when it comes to spreading your marketing message? Here are 10 tips for creating a more effective business blog.
By Marty M. Fahncke
Blogging can be a powerful tool to launch or grow a business. Businesses of all sizes, from solo entrepreneurs to multi-billion-dollar corporations, are using blogs for everything from marketing and PR, to customer service and internal communication.
However, a business blog is very different from the "what I did today" personal blogs so prevalent on the Internet today. There are different rules, strategies and tactics you must consider if you want blogging to have a positive impact on your business.
We've boiled down the most effective tips from some of today's top business bloggers, and summarized them for you here:
A BUSINESS BLOG IS NOT A BROCHURE
Many companies make the mistake of using their blog solely to talk about themselves and promote their own products. You will never have a successful blogging strategy with this approach. "Blogging is about establishing a relationship with your customers," says Guy Kawasaki, co-founder of Truemors.com, managing director of Garage Technology Ventures, and one of the top business bloggers in the world. "The purpose is not to immediately sell more widgets. If you provide information--and I mean real information, not propaganda--then they will trust you. Then they will buy more."
WRITE RIGHT
Writing for a blog is different than for other mediums. Content and layout are equally critical.
The style and format of a blog should be simple to scan, easy to read quickly and contain no more than one key nugget of information. Seth Godin, who writes the most popular marketing blog in the world, shares this advice:
- Use numbers and bullets. People don't read online, they scan.
- Use pictures. Pictures, properly chosen, communicate quality, as well as large amounts of information. I'm not talking about product shots (which are important) as much as pictures that tell a story.
- Use lists.
- Be topical. Write posts that need to be read right now.
- Have variety. Write about a never-ending parade of different topics so you don't bore your readers.
- Don't promote yourself and your business at the expense of the reader's attention.
- Don't be boring.
- Write stuff that people want to read and share.
IT'S ALL IN THE SUBJECT LINE
Because of RSS feeds, many readers will only see your subject or headline in their blog reader. You have to entice them to click on the headline to see the rest of the post. Therefore, a fantastic subject is absolutely critical. In Journalism 101, "it's all about the headline." Unfortunately, many bloggers never took that class.
TURN ON THE COMMENTS
Your corporate blog should be a two-way communication street, not a one-way. Don't be afraid of what your customer (or competition) might say. Without the open communication of a "comments" section, your blog becomes just another type of corporate brochure. Godin adds, "Include comments so your blog becomes a virtual water cooler that feeds itself."
IMPLEMENT ALL OF THE FOLLOWING TRAFFIC-BUILDING STRATEGIES TO GET YOUR BLOG SEEN
- Put your blog URL in the e-mail signature of every employee.
- Make sure aggregators and social bookmark sites, such as Technorati, Digg, del.icio.us and Stumble, are aware of your site by opening accounts and marking your blog.
- Visit other blogs relevant to your target audience, and leave comments on the blog postings other people have created. Do not make these posts blatant invitations to your blog. Simply add useful, relevant information that adds to the quality of the original post, along with a link to your blog in your signature.
- Add the URLs of other bloggers in your niche to your "blogroll." Then notify them that you have done so. Do not ask them to reciprocate with a link from their blog. If they like what you have to say, they will. If they don't, they won't. But at least adding them to your blogroll starts the conversation.
- Use a blog "pinging" service to let search engines know your blog exists.
DON'T BE AFRAID OF BEING CONTROVERSIAL
Really. If everything on your blog is boring, bland and obviously censored, you're wasting your--and your readers'--time. Kawasaki says, "If your blogger doesn't anger your legal counsel at least once a month, he or she is not doing the job right."
PARTICIPATE IN THE BLOGOSPHERE
When invited to post or be interviewed on other blogs, graciously accept. Provide them with good quality content, which will make people want to read more of what you have to say. Make sure they place a link to your blog in the post. "Oftentimes, public opinion about a company is formed by what someone reads on a consumer-complaint site, an industry forum or some other social media outlet and not the company's blog," adds Janice Thompson, managing director of siteEDGE Agency, an interactive agency specializing in social media. "Companies need to be active participants in these arenas, as well to ensure they are receiving their fair share of voice."
PIGGYBACK ON OTHER MEDIA AND EVENTS
Blog about things that are currently in the news or in the media, but are related to your industry. For instance, one thing that has led to huge traffic on my blog is the TV show "American Inventor." By blogging about the show from an infomercial/DRTV perspective, rather than an entertainment angle, I received a lot of online traffic from bloggers who recommended that people read my blog because of the unique twist. It also catapulted the blog in the search engines. The millions of people who watched "American Inventor" and then went online to search about the inventors or inventions that appeared on the show found my blog and my perspective on business, marketing and new inventions.
THE TOP BLOG DOESN'T HAVE TO COME FROM THE TOP DOG
The best person to write your blog probably isn't your CEO. It's the person in the company who has the vision, understands the rules and has the time. Writing for a blog can be a time-consuming endeavor. Make sure the person handling the task has the time and resources he or she needs. Top blogger Kawasaki adds this colorful agreement: "I'd rather read the blog of a Geek Squad guy's 'tip of the day' than corporate bull shiitake."
BE PATIENT
The benefits of having an effective corporate blog may not be visible overnight. However, if you are patient and follow the strategies above, you will soon have a business blog that will benefit many areas of your company, including marketing, customer service and sales.
Marty M. Fahncke consults with companies around the world about Internet marketing and social media strategies. His blog My Perspective was recently ranked as the eighth fastest growing blog in the world out of 1.3 million on WordPress. You can check it out by visiting www.martyfahncke.com.
