Table of contents
- Why Should Every Brand Set Up Business Blogs?
- Check what your target audience is interested in
- Successful blog – where to find inspiration for a blog post?
- Follow social media platforms
- Browse YouTube resources
- Research your competition
- Read comments
- Browse old blog posts
- Monitor industry events
- Follow your customers’ voice
- Use the potential of a business blog
- Brand image enhancement
- Sales increase
- Search ranking improvement – SEO likes it!
- Blog – digital marketing with a soul
- Set up your own blog – it won’t hurt
Do you run your own business? Do you want to reach new customers and maintain good relations with the existing ones? If so, you need high-quality content on the website and a business blog – which can be a game-changer when it comes to engaging clients. It doesn’t matter whether you are a big or a small business. There is only one catch: the blog posts must provide valuable content. Ideally, world-changing ideas. 🙂 But remember it doesn’t have to be an award-winning blog – there is no need to create another Business Insider. Even small business owners can enjoy an increase in traffic and sales thanks to creating a business blog
In this article, we will show you how to run a successful blog by sharing our best blogging tips.
Why Should Every Brand Set Up Business Blogs?
Every online business should run a blog. This is why:
- Did you know that as many as 47% of buyers first view the company’s blog and then decide whether they are interested in their offer (source: Demand Gen Report)?
- Are you aware that small business bloggers see a 126% increase in potential customers (source: Think Creative)?
- Are you aware that frequent posting increases website traffic up to three times (source: HubSpot)?
Here are the main reasons why you should start a business blog. However, remember, it isn’t about filling the site with just any content, it has to be relevant content. The topics should not only be exciting but also respond to the needs and expectations of potential recipients – blog content simply has to contain practical business advice, how-to ideas, helpful tips, as well as success stories, and a bit of bragging about the brand. Show your brand off as a business leader and back it up with content.
Check what your target audience is interested in
Running a company blog just because guidebooks on digital marketing recommend it is pointless. This way, you will not achieve your goals – you will not attract potential customers. Who wants to read articles that don’t bring anything new, or don’t contain relevant content or any practical information? Blog posts should carry some value – so that the reader can get something out of them. How to achieve that?
If you want to reach a broad audience with your articles, you must meet its needs. The first step is to define the expectations. It is worth finding out what interests the recipients – only this way you will be able to provide them with content that will answer questions or dispel doubts. Frankly speaking, your goal is to attract readers by delivering practical information.
Knowing what interests your potential audience is the starting point for creating relevant topics. Keep reading for more blogging tips and tricks!
Successful blog – where to find inspiration for a blog post?
Be ready – inspiration for blog post ideas can strike at any time. But what if the publication date is approaching, and the brilliant idea doesn’t come? Here are some helpful tips to help you quickly find topics that might interest your potential audience.
Follow social media platforms
Social media give you a lot of valuable insights on the interests, needs, and expectations of potential readers. Become a member of online communities, and groups relevant to your industry and stay up to date. Social media marketing is not only about communicating but in a broader sense is based also on receiving the data. By following the publications and reading the comments, you will surely come across a topic worth discussing on your business blogs. Therefore, social media presence is advisable.
Browse YouTube resources
YouTube is both a search engine and a social networking site that can provide a lot of information about the needs of your potential audience. It is a great source of inspiration for writing blog posts – find out which videos or channels have a lot of views and what topics they cover. Maybe some industry vloggers/journalists would be eager to make a collaboration? Guest posts are always welcome.
Research your competition
It is good to know what other bloggers do, especially successful bloggers and advanced bloggers. There is nothing wrong with following your competitors – their actions can be the driving force for your business. However, do not limit yourself only to monitoring the offer and business news. Check the content published on the company’s blog. I’m not suggesting copying the topics but perhaps – after reading the texts – you will feel inspired and you will want to approach a given issue from a slightly different angle? If you feel that a topic may interest your potential audience, take advantage of it.
Read comments
Systematically return to blog posts published some time ago. There might be readers’ comments. In many cases, they can be a very good source of inspiration – recipients often ask questions, hoping for an answer. You can collect them and create an article or even a series of articles oscillating around this topic. A business blog is your space to present ideas and communicate with your audience.
Browse old blog posts
Browse all posts – not just the recent blog posts. The previously published articles on the blog can also serve as an inspiration. Review them and check which ones need to be updated and which ones need to be expanded. Perhaps some posts can be combined into an interesting series of articles? Maybe it’s worth digging up s a digital time capsule and sharing some memories of how it’s been in the company a few years ago?
Monitor industry events
Industry-related events – trade fairs, conferences, symposiums – can be a source of inspiration for blog articles. The topics discussed there may become a starting point for creating an interesting article – not just a report on events and re-writing business news.
Follow your customers’ voice
As a business owner, every day you receive many calls and e-mail inquiries from customers who ask the same questions. Let their doubts be your inspiration for a blog article. You can write a Q&A section or how-to guides and respond to the most frequently asked questions, for example about products or services. Thanks to this solution you have ideas for new content and also reduce the number of calls and emails. People usually before contacting the company, search for answers online.
Use the potential of a business blog
Business blogs are a powerful tool that supports digital marketing activities. It is worth taking advantage of its potential by regularly publishing valuable content. It has many benefits, including:
Brand image enhancement
By posting valuable posts that clarify readers’ doubts, you become an expert in a given field. It improves your brand’s image and is directly connected with your business growth. A large number of brands underestimate the importance of their know-how in the industry. Take advantage of this to stand out from the crowd and achieve success.
Sales increase
The blog is where you can naturally present your offer. In articles that fit the recipients’ needs, you “smuggle” ready-made solutions that lead straight to your products or services. For example, when selling tomato paste, you can interest your potential clients with recipes in which it is good to use the tomato paste.
Search ranking improvement – SEO likes it!
Valuable articles that solve your readers’ problems have a chance to lead you to high positions in the search results. This will bring more traffic by redirecting potential customers to your targeted business page. This, in turn, creates an opportunity to improve sales results.
Place your target audience on the pedestal, but always remember about search engine bots. Image benefits are difficult to measure, but the increase in Google ranking is a fully measurable indicator – you can check it and the organic traffic you gain with various tools like Google Analytics (free tool), Senuto, and many more.
- You can find useful SEO tools in our comprehensive SEO Guide for digital marketers!
A company blog is basically an endless space that can be filled with words – including keywords for which the page is ranking. Creating a new blog post means creating another subpage indexed in the search engines and subjected to website positioning rules (in this case, also known as on-page SEO or on-site SEO) – take advantage of it and increase your traffic from organic search.
There’s no doubt – a business blog is a great investment worth the time. Remember to share only interesting articles on subjects that meet the expectations of the target group (as well as search engines crawlers). Now you know where to look for inspiration when you get stuck.
Blog – digital marketing with a soul
A business blog has many upsides, but there are some traps to watch out for. Posting about corporate successes or introducing employees and business partners are great ideas to show that people stand behind a given brand. However, you shouldn’t exaggerate – for a company owner, the information that a given product is selling well or that the electronic system has been improved in the warehouse is an important message. Nonetheless, bombarding customers with such messages is simply… boring.
Remember that a company blog should first and foremost present a brand as an industry expert, but don’t only focus on the microcosmos of your office. Also, keep in mind that the industry is always much larger than your brand, and customers know this – pretending that the entire industry is limited to one brand is too far-fetched and insincere. The basis for building an expert image is credibility – it applies not only to online businesses but to all businesses in general.
Set up your own blog – it won’t hurt
A blog is an important ally when it comes to content marketing. And undoubtedly, it should become a part of your business landscape. I hope you’ll enjoy our list of blogging tips, implement practical advice and start a business blog today!