Running a successful business takes a lot of work. When you realize running a successful business blog is an almost essential component of that, you might feel overwhelmed, especially if you’ve never written a blog before. Writing a blog isn’t rocket science, though, and the content will be information you are already familiar with.
Still, there are ways of running a successful business blog that are better than others, and it’s important to get it right. Otherwise, you could end up wasting a lot of your working hours. To make sure your blog helps you maintain a good brand image while reeling in more customers, here are 10 tips from the experts on how you can build and run a successful business blog.
01. Post Articles Consistently
When it comes to running a business blog, consistency is vital. You should aim to post content at least a couple of times a week as a small business, but preferably you would post daily. Doing so will help your website rank higher on search engines, which in turn will help more customers discover your business. Plus, it’s beneficial to post to a schedule so that your regular readers know when to expect the next blog from you.
To keep your blog consistent, you should write a bunch in bulk and then schedule them out. While this won’t work for up-to-date content, you can do this for your more general articles.
02. Use the Right Laptop/Computer
Physically writing the words needs to be as easy as possible to make the experience better for you, that way you are more likely to get the articles written. So, consider upgrading your laptop or computer to ensure you don’t get slowed down. Don’t worry – you don’t have to go way over budget to do this. Using best buy coupons, you can find excellent deals on electronics and Apple laptops. Not only will this help your blogging experience, but a new machine will help you run your business as a whole.
03. Improve Your Writing Skills
You won’t be surprised to know that writing a blog requires a decent grasp of writing itself. You don’t have to be Hemingway to get your point across, but improving your writing skills will help your readers stay interested.
It’s not just about good writing, though – it’s about ensuring the words are accessible to all readers. Unless your focus is a highly educated audience, you should avoid using complicated sentences or overly specialized terminology. Instead, ensure your blogs are digestible and easy to read for the benefit of your readers. That way, they’ll be more likely to get to the end!
04. Use the Right Keywords
Using the right keywords will help you rank higher on search engines for your ideal customer. Try to think outside of the box – instead of choosing common keywords that similar businesses to your own would use, try to think of what your customer would likely search for.
Remember to not flood your blog with keywords, though, as this will ruin the flow and possibly cost you your rankings.
05. Focus on Educating the Reader
While you might want to promote your business throughout each blog, the key is to deliver valuable knowledge that answers questions that the reader has. It’s an even better way of selling your business, as it shows that you have a lot of knowledge on the particular niche while keeping your reader engaged.
So, instead of focusing on a single product or service, focus on giving the reader information they may not already have.
06. Incorporate Images
A large chunk of text won’t make a good blog post – most people would click off the page as soon as they see one seemingly very long paragraph. Instead, you need to keep the layout interesting by using headers and incorporating images. The images you use should be completely relevant to the text while staying eye-catching, encouraging your reader to keep on reading.
07. Read Similar Blogs to Your Own
Ideas for blog titles might not come to you naturally, and that’s OK. It can be challenging thinking of new ideas to write to keep the reader interested. For some inspiration, as well as gathering writing tips, spend some time reading blogs similar to your own.
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You’ll get a better idea of what the reader expects, what constitutes as well written (you’ll know by how engaged you are), and the sorts of ideas that tend to do well.
08. Use Guest Bloggers
You don’t have to do all of the writing yourself. In fact, it’s usually better if you don’t, especially in a growing business. Using guest bloggers allows you to expand the number of blog articles on your site without having to do all of the writing yourself.
You could invite guest bloggers that work in your niche to write for you, or you could have a submissions link for people who are interested in submitting. Just make sure the guest blogs are as high in quality as your own!
09. Identify Your Audience
One of the most important parts of writing a blog is completely understanding the reader, which means first identifying them. You need to know who they are, what they like reading, and the sorts of questions they need answering. By knowing the answers to these questions, you will be able to create blogs that specifically target them, thus reeling them in.
10. Make it Personal
While looking for inspiration and coming up with blog ideas, you need to remember one thing – make it personal. That doesn’t mean you should make every blog a personal story but integrating little facts and pieces about yourself or your business will help shape your brand image overall. By subtly telling your story, you will create a personality for your brand, which will help your readers identify with you and remember who you are.
Final Thoughts
Writing and running a successful business blog can be a challenge for those who have little experience with it. It’s more than worth doing, though, even if you just write a blog post a week. By keeping it consistent, doing your research, and creating genuinely interesting and engaging content, your blog will help boost your business.
