All business  blogs, especially new ones, need to be marketed if you want people to read them.  Here are a few of the things you need to do:

1.    Promote your blog on your website – obvious isn’t it, but you would be surprised how many times we have seen even large corporate businesses fail to mention their business blog or link to it from their main website.

2.     Add your blog address to your letterheads, business cards, compliments slips and email signatures.

3.     Like Yourself! – Don’t forget to ask all your staff to ‘like’ the company blog (and the company website) on their Facebook pages and also to ‘Follow’ them on Twitter.

4.    Promote your blog by posting about it on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and your other social networking sites.

5.    Submit your blog to the blog directories.

6.    Include links to your blog in any press releases or articles submitted for publication.  By using services such as PR Leap,  Marketwire or PR Web, you can get your blog link placed in the search engines including Google, Yahoo! and many more

7.    Post regularly.    The more you blog, the more opportunity you have to be found.

8.    Post on other relevant blogs.

9.    Put your blog URL on company invoices as well as other correspondence to customers.

10.   Showcase your employees on your blog. Your staff are your most important asset, putting them ‘in the spotlight’ adds value and humanises your blog.

11. Develop an opt-in Newsletter out of your weekly blog posts.

12. Talk about your blog when you attend networking and other business events.

13. Listen to customer issues raised on Twitter and other social networking sites and respond including links to blog posts that answer their problems.

14. Be human. Don’t talk like a company, talk like a human being. Write in your own voice.

15. Use the blog as your customer FAQ.

16. Focus on information that your customers really need. Provide valuable, relevant and compelling content and your chances of success are good.

17. Use the right keywords in your Blog Posts –Leverage Google’s keyword tool to find the terms that your customers are looking for.

18. Post your blog on social bookmarking sites like Digg, Reddit and Stumbleupon.

19. Show your RSS button. If prospects like your blog, they might want to subscribe via email or RSS, so make it easy for them.

20. Comment on other blogs. It’s hard to be a blogger if you don’t share.  Demonstrate your expertise on other blogs and leave valuable feedback.

21. Link to your other posts within your current post.

22. Review your older posts and add new links to current posts as appropriate.

23. Define your niche. Focus on an area where you can present yourself as the ‘leading expert’.  If your topic is too broad, you will find it harder to get noticed

24. Keep on Blogging! People will start to expect to see your blog posts – don’t let them down.  The key to a good blog is a regular flow of communication.  Engage with your readers and you will enjoy online success.

Tomorrow we will continue this series of posts with part six which will be the first of two posts about “Search Engine FriendlyBlogging”. 

If you would like more information about how blogging could help your business please leave a message below or visit WSI IMS – WSI Internet Marketing Services for UK Businesses.