Blogging For Business 

1. Content is King

You’ve heard this many times in connection with blogging, and there’s no doubt that it’s true! Give people interesting stuff to read and they will return to your pages over and over again.

2. Highlight Your Services

Write about a particular problem that prospective clients may have, and without actually “selling” your services, suggest solutions to that problem.   Blogging allows you to be seen as an expert in your field, the “go-to”person in your local area.

3. Be Interactive

By allowing comments on your blog, you enter into a dialogue with prospective clients. Always reply to comments and encourage more.  It goes without saying that you should be polite in your replies even if someone disagrees with you.   If you include social sharing icons on every post, this makes it very easy for visitors to share your content

4. Deliver Fresh Content

Blogging needs to be done regularly.  There are no hard and fast rules.  Find your own level and do whatever works for you.  I tend to write a post once a week; others may find it easy to write daily, or less frequently. The main thing is to be very consistent and not go for months without an update.

5. Talk About Current Topics

If you can work current news topics into your blog posts,  and relate them to your field of interest, all the better.   For example, during the UK riots this summer, many authors (myself included) were blogging about the role of social media in the organization and policing of the disturbances.

6. Speak In Your Own Voice

Write as you would speak to someone.  Imagine you’re talking to them at an informal event and simply be yourself.  Don’t try to write in complicated or technical jargon -  not all your readers will understand.  In blogging, short sentences are best to get your message across.

7. Build Authority

By writing with in-depth knowledge of your subject, you will begin to build authority in your field and be seen as an expert. Blogging regularly also helps with this.

8. Grow Your Traffic

Blogs are loved by search engines and are excellent in terms of SEO. They are (or should be) updated frequently, demonstrating that the website is active.   Using social sharing also helps to drive traffic.   I find that, at present, a high percentage of my traffic comes from Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

9. Low-Cost Investment

A blog costs very little to set up.  If you already have a hosted domain, then it should not cost anything on top of your existing costs.  I really do recommend using WordPress (free, open source software) on your own domain – anything else could be somewhat risky because you’re not in total control.  Also, make sure your host is in the UK.  Overseas hosts may not be adequate in terms of support when anything goes wrong.

10. Easy To Manage

Modern blogging software makes it really simple to produce an excellent quality website.  If you can type a text document, then you can use WordPress (or Blogger, TypePad etc).  There is excellent support available for these blogging platforms and a great deal of expertise freely available.   What’s not to like?!

I’ve proved with my own blog that these points are important.  My website is on page 1 of Google for 4 targeted keywords.  Since launching this site in the first week of April 2011, I have been consistent with my updates, and  I use social sharing icons on every page and post.  I also optimise each page and post for search engines.  The Yoast SEO plugin, and prior to that All In One SEO, has been a great help.  More proof that WordPress makes it easy

If you watched the video above, you’d have heard a few additional reasons to blog – let me know if you have any more in the comments!

Need help or advice to set up your own business blog? Contact me on 01777 249075
or by email at info@naomijohnsonsocialmedia.co.uk

you can also TEXT

INF SOCIALMEDIA or INF SOCIALMEDIA + your email address  to 60777

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