Small and big businesses have discovered a goldmine to their online marketing – blogging.
What was once a space for people to express themselves about pretty much any topic, has now become a way for businesses to connect to their target audiences.
Marketing is a crucial part of any business. Whether you’re selling a product or service, the only way to see your business grow is when you are connecting to your potential customers. In this digital age, online marketing is one of the most affordable ways to do so.
The only problem is, sometimes business blogs don’t quite hit the nail on the head.
The Difference between a Business Blog and a Personal Blog
Before we get into how to run your business blog, it is important to first highlight the differences between a business blog and personal blog.
A business blog speaks about your services or products. A business blog is on trend with the current industry trends. A business blog actively engages with potential customers in the comments section of the blog.
A personal blog speaks just about that – personal stories or encounters. Whether it’s about life in general, family or work life, a personal blog may be engaging, but it doesn’t sell your product or service.
Now, of course, you can have both a business blog and personal blog, but it’s highly recommended that you keep the two separated so that any lead who lands on your page doesn’t get to read about how rude the service was at the grocery store yesterday.
Now that we understand some of the fundamentals of a business blog, let’s have a look at how to use it effectively.
What Makes a Great Business Blog?
You Speak to Your Customer’s Problems and Desires
If your business blog doesn’t speak to your customer’s problems and desires, then you’ve missed a huge opportunity to connect with them. When a potential customer comes across your blog online, the first thing they do is read the headline and look at the image attached to the post. If they are not something your potential customer can relate to, they will just scroll on and forget about your post.
How do you get them to click and read your blog?
Your headline needs to be controversial, inspire emotion, or focus on something they need to figure out. There are tons of bloggers out there that post blog posts daily, weekly or bi-weekly. You need to think about how yours will not only stand out but make your potential customer understand that your product or service can help them.
Your Blog is Personable
Sure, it IS a business blog, but at the end of the day, you’re still trying to connect to human beings. Your blog needs to be easy to read and relatable. Write how you speak and don’t try hard to overcomplicate simple things.
It doesn’t matter if you’re trying to explain your latest software or a very technical new product, you need to find a way of making it understandable to your target audience.
If it’s difficult to do so, then perhaps consider collaborating with a copywriter who is well experienced and understands the fundamentals of speaking to your audience.
You Inspire Conversations or Engagement
Finally, you’ve said all that you needed to say. Your post is amazing. You think you’ve got a winner. The last thing you need is to have a CTA (Call to action). A simple way for your audience to actively engage with you after reading your blog.
Your CTA is basically what you want your audience to do. Do you want them to follow your blog? Do you want them to leave a comment so that you can chat with them and hear their thoughts on a particular topic? Do you want them to contact you about your services?
Creating a CTA is quick and easy and doesn’t need to be complicated – What do you think about [the discussed topic]?… Leave your comments below and tell us what you think about [the discussed topic]…Can you think of any other ways to [the discussed topic]?…
It is important to have your blog inspire conversations or engagement because the longer you can hook your customer, the better the chance you have for them to subscribe, follow you, read other pages on your site, or get in contact with you about wanting your product or service.
Does your business have a blog? What other methods are you using to speak to your audience?
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