An Overview of Blogs
A small business blog is a source of fresh content and provides you with the ability to share valuable insights about your industry with the world. A blog is a powerful addition to your online marketing strategy and it helps your visitors discover what they can learn from you.
A blog is an additional feature to your existing website. Your site is where visitors can get facts about your business and products, whereas your blog is a place where people can get a better understanding of who you are as a person and what you business stands for. Your blog can become the face of your business.
Blogging Best Practices
Your blog represents your company, and as such, we've compiled a list of best practices that we abide by when managing your blog.
Update Your Blog on a Regular Basis
When people go to your blog, they will first see that date that it was published. If this date is recent, people will immediately see that you are actively engaged with your blog and are interested in providing them with current information. Conversely, if you last post was two years ago, this may portray your business as disengaged. We recommend updating your blog at least every month.
Stay on Point
Your posts should be relevant to your industry; keep the topics focused on what your business provides. Connecting with current events is a great idea, as long as it pertains to your business or product in some way.
Develop a Reasonable Schedule
People will begin to expect your new posts on a regular schedule, especially if they have signed up specifically to read them. You should come up with a schedule that you can maintain, and then stick to it. Two posts a day is a challenging task unless you have an in-house writing department, but one post a week is a reasonable expectation for most small business owners.
Diversify Your Content
Although a blog post is comprised of text, you should also include other media to keep the reader's attention.
- Images
- Video
- Subheadings
- Bulleted Lists
- Relevant Links
Avoid Self Promotional Posts
Write about topics that your business participates in, but every blog post does not need to be a sales pitch.
Relevant Calls to Action
Make sure your blog article is not a dead end; people expect to be able to do something once they're done reading.
- Get in touch with a form submission
- Leave comments about the post
- Read related content
- Share the post on social networks
