Having an informative blog is an extremely powerful marketing tool for any business.  Done well, blogging will change the way you communicate and engage with your customers and prospects.  Blogging is not about a one way broadcast it is about encouraging a two way flow and exchange of information between you and your audience.

Your business blog should be personalised to look like your other branding so that your customers will more readily recognise the blog as yours.  Good blogging requires effort and some knowledge.  Here we give a few tips to get you started, but for more detailed information please read our recent series of 8 posts about Better Blogging for Business in 2011 starting with this one.

Commit the necessary time to your blog

Just to make it absolutely clear…good business blogging takes time, commitment and dedication to make it work.  If you want your blog to be noticed you need to post regularly – at least three times a week, every week and ideally daily.  You should set aside at least one hour each day for researching and writing good quality content for your blog posts.  If you cannot do this yourself then use a professional such as WSI IMS to do it for you.  However you do it, it has to be done.

How do I decide what subjects to write about?

We recommend you spend time reading other blogs and forums which are relevant to your business niche. By reading and researching these blogs you will not only see which topics are of interest you will also begin to understand how other successful bloggers present their content to their readers.  The more you read other blogs, the better your own blog will become.

The devil is in the detail

Make sure you really understand the topic you are writing about.  Know each and every detail about the products, services, products and information that you will broadcasting on your blog.  By taking the time to research your subject thoroughly you will establish yourself as an expert in your field and quickly build your online credibility.  This is one of the most important benefits to your business from your blog.  

Communicate effectively

Blog Content isn’t king – effective communication of that content  is king!  That is not to say that content is unimportant, it is – in order to establish good communication with your readers, you need to write informative and relevant posts that will add value for them.  Relevancy is the key.  Blog readers want to see original, valuable and remarkable content, not something that has been written before by others.

Use RSS to ensure as many people see your blog as possible.

Blogging should be part of your social media marketing strategy and by having a RSS (Real Simple Syndication) feed in place more visitors will find your blog quicker.  RSS  is an excellent way  to easily distribute details of your post titles and updates to a wide number of people and RSS aggregators.  By linking your RSS feed to popular RSS aggregators like Technorati, your content will be quickly found by readers of many social media sites.  Make sure to add a “subscription” link on your blog that points to your RSS feed.

Social Bookmarking

Include social bookmarking links in your blog posts.  Social bookmarking is a way of saving your favourite bookmarks to a public website and tagging them with the appropriate keywords used in the content of the page (post) you want to save. People search social bookmarking sites to find the most popular websites dealing with almost any subject.

Blogging will make a real difference to your business

In your blog you will be writing to engage with your visitors and attract a following of readers who will visit your blog regularly to see what you have to say. After you have been blogging for a while, using your web analytics program you will be able to see which topics attract the most readers.  Once you know what your visitors want to see you can give them what they want.

If you ensure that you post only good quality content that is relevant to your readers more and more people will be attracted to your  message and your business. 

If you would like to learn more about business blogging please leave a message below or visit WSI IMS – WSI Internet Marketing Services for UK Businesses.