How do you feel about your blog? Is it a dynamic place for the cream of your sector to enjoy compelling content and share lively, topical debate? Or is it a lifeless archive of articles which might be interesting enough but lack sparkle and relevance? Nobody likes a boring business blog, so here are a few ideas and tips to breathe fresh life into a stagnant blog and keep it bang up to date:
1. Your customers
Your customers (and potential customers) are the reason you launched your corporate blog. They are your target audience, your reason for doing business and thirdly – they should always be the inspiration behind every post written. Therefore, it makes sense to listen to them and draw from their questions and challenges as a source of blog topic ideas.
Collate questions as they come in, either by phone, email, face-to-face or through social media, and address the most commonly cited issues your customers face in useful blog posts. This approach applies to any sort of business, from landscape gardening to selling fashionable clothes. Say a gardening business is continually asked by its clients what kind of shrubs to plant in certain soils, the business could respond with a “5 Tips for matching plants to your soil type”. A clothes boutique owner who is asked daily how to put outfits together could write “How to Pair Old and New items in your Wardrobe”.
How to do it: Essentially, this method is all about listening, so be sure to do so wherever your customers are – be that in your shop, in their homes, on Facebook or Twitter.
2. Keep on top of your sector and current events
It might sound like a no-brainer, but in order to stay relevant and current it’s vital to keep abreast of not just your industry but also broader current affairs. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel with every blog post you publish, so look to outside sources for inspiration. Every time you sit down to create a blog, ask yourself if there is anything newsworthy that you can apply to your sector, or any interesting developments within your niche.
How to do it: Sign up to popular blogs within your sector and beyond. Read the news stories that LinkedIn curates for you, and see how your connections are responding to them. When it comes to staying topical, RSS is your best friend.
3. Create an editorial calendar
Perhaps it feels daunting to create an editorial calendar, or it might even seem unnecessary when there is always fresh content to keep you busy. But we can promise you, that putting in the time to plan blog posts in advance makes it so much easier when you come down to writing them.
How to do it: A simple spreadsheet is all it takes, you don’t even need to be a whizz with Excel. Aim to schedule at least two blog posts per week, then identify your topic for each, which angle you will likely take and who will be assigned to write and edit it. Planning is critical, but also remember to check for any industry or market changes which might affect the approach you take when writing.
4. Keep content strictly business
The days of character-less blogs penned by the chief executive are long gone. The most widely read blogs these days have a distinct tone of voice and personality. But the golden rule of blogging for business remains to keep the content strictly business.
How to do it: Embrace wit, warmth and anecdotes in your posts, but be wary of straying into the realm of your home life and personal musings. Nobody really cares how cute your children or dog are, and it detracts from the professionalism and reputation of your blog to share these details in a business context.
5. Showcase people
Opening the doors to new voices can lend your blog a much-needed breath of fresh air while simultaneously taking the pressure off you to come up with original ideas. Consider inviting guest bloggers such as a business partner, supplier or industry expert to pen a post. You might want to look further to other people you come into contact with who might have an interesting point of view on business topics. Why not feature a willing, loyal customer or one of the characters within your team? Featuring employees can be a wonderful way to give your audience a glimpse into the people behind your business and foster a deeper connection.
How to do it: Invite guest bloggers with plenty of advance warning and don’t be shy to steer them on what angle you’d like them to take. Don’t be afraid of offending anybody by editing or polishing their work – all posts require a second pair of eyes before being published.
6. Enable comments
We’ve already touched on the importance of your business blog readers in offering inspiration for ideas. Your audience is also implemental in keeping your blog fresh and relevant and importantly, in generating that dialogue and conversation which is what blogging for business is all about. Commenting is the perfect way for your customers and prospects to interact with you and with each other, building a lively community which turns your blog from a static channel into a dynamic one.
How to do it: If you haven’t done so yet – turn on commenting for your blog. Monitor your comments section for spam or abusive behaviour. Always take the time to respond to comments.
Over to you
What type of blog post inspires you to get involved and post a comment?
