Blogging has exploded over the recent years, what was once the home of reviews and general personal hobbies and diaries is now buzzing with business. If you’re not blogging, then you’re missing out on a big audeince and also a great way to increase traffic to your website and awareness for your business, product or service. People are looking for businesses that are trustworthy and accessible. By being ‘out there’, actively helpful and setting yourself and/or your business up as the ‘expert’ in your field will raise you up above the rest.

Here are a few things to consider with your blog:

• Blogging is free in most cases – try WordPress, Blogger, LiveJournal and if they don’t float your boat try Googleing ‘Blog’ and see what comes up. If you are not very comfortable with technical stuff have no fear. Most blog sites provide a wide range of templates from which you can choose the one most suited to you.

• It’s best to use discretion when blogging, especially if you are incorporating your blog within your business website, or creating one to increase awareness of your product or service. You need to keep in mind that it will be an open forum which is read by all and sundry. You don’t want to say anything that may end up angering your clients and politics and religion are probably best avoided (unless that is what your business is all about). It’s a good idea to be true to what you believe in but remember that your blog posts may well be immortal so be careful that what you write doesn’t come back to bite you on the bum later on.

• When writing blog posts you can speak about pretty much anything you like, just remember to check a few things before you start typing:

Is it relevant to my audience?
Is it ‘safe’ and inoffensive?
Has it got a call to action in it – especially important if this is a business blog post.
Have I spell checked it?
Does it encourage interaction and conversation?

If all of these are a yes then you’re likely to have a great blog post on your hands.

• For inspiration keep an eye on what other people write or say on their blogs. This can give you a general idea of what kind of responses those articles receive, and how you could utilise what you learn from them for your own benefits.

Blogging is a highly effective marketing tool. You can easily create awareness of your product or service and get clients and customers to interact with you and each other. And not only customers, also those who are relatively new to your product get a platform to ask questions and get feedback.

Moreover, by keeping a blog that you update regularly, you increase your visibility in search engines. Add to that the links in your posts to the relevant places you want your readers to visit means more traffic where you want it.

More blogging tips:

• Never make the blog post too long for no reason. Short and sweet is often best.
• Update regularly. You can keep your posts short and ideally, blog 3-7 times a week.
• Be entertaining where possible, everyone enjoys some light hearted humour, without being derogatory. This is not always suitable of course but some humour mixed in with your more serious posts will lighten the tone of your blog and make you more ‘human’.
• Text is not your only tool in the blogging arsenal – you can post images, videos, audio files and more and they really enhance your posts. One word of warning is to check that you have permission to use whatever media you post or risk legal action from the copyright owner.
• Be yourself. Business is very much about people these days. The more people can connect with you and build trust with your brand the more they will want to buy from you.

Most of all, have fun with it! Blogs are a great way to raise your profile and they can be used in SO many ways. Find what works for you and keep it up. It is worth it 🙂

Want to know more about blogging?

Want help creating a strategy to make sure your time online is effective and congruent with your brand and business message? Get in touch…

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