Whether your corporate blog covers topics particular to fashion, medical negligence or marketing software, while the industries are unique, the challenges of blogging for business are largely universal. Topping the list of hurdles is the mission to build and expand the blog community. Of course, creating top quality, value-laden blog content is imperative, but beyond this lie some no-brainer methods to ensure that your content gets seen by the right people.
1. Use LinkedIn Groups
LinkedIn might not be the right network for every business. For marketers seeking to reach Joe Public with their messaging, we generally advise using Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest to augment a blog strategy.
However, for organisations keen to increase their blog traffic and establish a thought leadership position within a given industry, LinkedIn Groups offer a hugely cost-effective channel. Reaching a targeted, business-focused audience, LinkedIn Groups also create viable commercial opportunities.
Select groups wisely to ensure your message is getting in front of the right people. For a boutique PR shop, ‘Public Relations and Communications Professionals’ would be a shrewd starting point, boasting over 250 professional members. A healthy number of members is important, but so are engagement levels as measured by numbers of comments and interactions.
Remember, every time a new blog post or article is posted to the community wall, each member with the appropriate message settings is privately emailed about your blog. That’s some extremely potent direct mail marketing to a highly targeted audience, for free. One word of caution; there is a fine line between targeted promotion and spam. Limit your blog posting to only the most relevant Groups to avoid members of multiple Groups getting blog fatigue.
2. Create Podcasts
The buzz around podcasting is nothing new. Some 45 million people download and listen to at least one podcast per month in the US alone. Furthermore, with the volume of podcasts produced remaining relatively steady since 2011, that represents a good opportunity to capture a chunk of market share for your sector (source: The State of the News Media 2012).
Podcasting is an excellent and often underused strategy for boosting blog traffic. Writing for Problogger, Chris Ducker recently revealed how he racked up 10,000 downloads via iTunes and bagged the number one spots in the “Business” and ‘Marketing Management ‘ categories in one year since launching his New Business Podcast.
His blog post offers a mine of information on setting up and publishing podcasts and is well worth a look.
Many people are intimidated by the idea of creating podcasts, thinking it will involve expensive equipment and costly production efforts. In truth, minimal equipment is needed – above all, budding podcasters will need to invest time in planning and creating content.
Blogging platform WordPress makes it simple to get going, so the question to ask is not so much ‘if’ to create a podcast, but ‘when?’
3. Add value to other industry blogs
The first component to this step is to continuously read other relevant blogs within your sector, adding value to the discussion wherever relevant.
Organisation is key when tackling the overcrowded blogosphere. Set up a Google Reader or use RSS feeds to thoroughly monitor competitor blogs. You’ll swiftly learn the valuable lesson of what topics are being discussed within your sector. Leave interesting, well thought-out comments wherever possible, adding value by offering your own perspective.
Secondly, we’ve recently discussed the value of adding guest blog posts to your own corporate blog . There’s also great value in guest blogging for other blogs. Select blogs relevant to your industry that already have a strong readership.
Over to you
These are just three of a whole host of blog boosting methods. What tactics have proved most effective in driving traffic to your business blog?
