Create a successful business blog for your company and the results will be hugely rewarding: think online fans who are not only likely to use your product or service themselves, but also actively promote it to their networks.
However, as with everything, there is a right and wrong way to go about business blogging. Avoid the five classic business blogging mistakes detailed in this post, and the chances of winning those all-important evangelical followers will be much improved.
5 business blogging mistakes to avoid…
Mistake1: Treating your company blog as a press centre
A company blog is most definitely not the place for press releases. Blogging is a conversation and an opportunity for rich engagement with your customers. Press releases, by contrast, are impersonal, one-way communications directed at your audience without options for them to feedback.
What to do instead:
Try to use your blog as a platform to share original thoughts, trends and tips extending beyond your company and out into your sector. You can still announce new products or company news via your blog, but do so using a casual voice and style.
Mistake 2: Failing to post regularly
Think of your favourite blogs and the chances are that they serve up fresh content at least twice a week and at regular intervals. You’ll need to consistently offer quality content to keep your audience returning time and again in order to build a community.
What to do instead:
Blog burn-out is a common condition, so try to create a content schedule as far ahead as is possible. Aim to write posts the day before they will be published, and share the blogging load between more than one person in the company.
Mistake 3: Not encouraging communication
Blogging is a conversation, yet far too often readers who bother to comment on posts are left hanging, or worse still, not responded to at all. Often, blog creators fear what they see as public criticism coming in the form of comments.
What to do instead:
Business blogging offers an unmatched opportunity to connect with potential customers, and clients, so ensure you enable commenting on your company blog. Monitor and respond promptly to any comments with quality feedback. Try to also become an active blog participant yourself, commenting on other industry blogs to help establish your own blogging brand.
Mistake 4: Making new content difficult to find
There’s no point in investing resources in a blog that isn’t easily discoverable. You also need to ensure that your blog followers know whenever you have posted fresh content.
What to do instead:
To make your blog easy to discover, link to it clearly from your company website and include your blog URL in your email signature, on business cards and all sales and marketing materials.
Harness social media like Facebook and Twitter to notify your social media followers of new blog content and make it easily shareable.
Use blog SEO by first determining a keyword strategy and then using it as you write about the things your customers are searching for.
Mistake 5: Expecting overnight success
Establishing a business blog is more of a marathon than a sprint, so for the first few months it might feel as though you’re writing for nobody. If you allocate sufficient resources, you will in time build a readership and a regular community of people who will participate.
What to do instead:
Set attainable goals and you’ll be far less likely to quit your blog after a few months. Give it at least one year of generating quality, original content – or consider outsourcing content writing if you’re likely to struggle to find the time.
Above all, ensure your blog is easy to find and share, and that your readers are easily able to comment and get the conversation going.
