Blogging is one of the best methods of updating your company website on a regular basis. To rank well in search, it’s necessary to have fresh content frequently but let’s face it, you can only rewrite your copy so many times, right?
That’s why business blogging is so vital for small businesses; it also enhances your credibility and gives you a vehicle for SEO and social media fodder. But it doesn’t seem to be working for you and you have no idea why. These could be some of the reasons:
- Nobody knows about it. No matter how good your blog is, it can’t be great unless it gets readership. Unless you promote it actively through social media, email marketing and channels such as RSS Feeds, exactly how do you expect your prospective customers to find it? Market your blog to build up a strong following.
- You don’t post to a schedule. Your blog posts just show up, when you’re ready. Or inspired. Or whatever. So even if you have loyal readers who want to know what you say, they never know when your posts are coming so they can’t look forward to getting them. Create an editorial calendar and stick to it.
- Your posts are boring. You ran out of business blogging ideas in about week 3, and all you can think of to write about is another reason why clients should use your services. Cut out the marketing speak, look around you for content marketing ideas and focus on giving your readers useful information, not a sales pitch. Write from the reader’s point of view, not yours.
- Your SEO sucks. Sure, you’re using the keywords you think people search on to find you, but you’re not coming up roses in Google or anywhere else. First, it takes time for the search engines to index your website, during which you need to optimize your posts with thoroughly-researched keywords, used sparingly and in the correct context in the copy. You also need to use other SEO best practices, such as limited outbound links to authoritative sites, header tags and alt text. And then, practice patience.
- Your writing isn’t professional. Business blogging doesn’t mean you’re keeping an online journal. In spite of the relatively informal nature of the medium, you can’t get away with rattling off about irrelevant issues, publishing badly formatted work or using nondescript headlines. Make it professional by proofreading for errors, crafting interesting headlines that will draw readers in and formatting for readability, with bullets, numbered lists, section subheads and images.
- Your blog doesn’t promote engagement. Comments are closed because most of them are just spam, correct? Who needs them anyway? Can readers subscribe to your blog? Do you offer additional items of interest on each page, such as downloadable content? Give users a chance to open conversation with you by offering them those options.
Business blogging can work. You just have to give it the chance by doing it professionally and regularly, and marketing it proactively.
