No matter what your business is, establishing and maintaining an open dialogue with your potential customers is an important step to building their confidence in your product. While there are many ways to do this, starting up a blog devoted to answering customer questions and talking about the newest trends in your industry is a surefire way to show your expertise and enhance your visibility to boot!
While blogging is becoming a necessary tool to increase website traffic and help customers understand your business, many small business owners are unsure of where to start. At Big Red SEO, a web design and SEO company in Omaha, we offer a number of suggestions for business owners who are new to the world of blogs that will help you start off on the right track.
Why Do You Need a Blog?
Blogs are, simply put, one of the best low-cost marketing tools you can use to stand out in your industry. In addition to creating an ongoing relationship between you and your clients, a blog combines many of the best publicity and marketing practices into one convenient package—it can act as a newsletter, a news release, a series of articles and more! Better yet, every new post you write on your blog attracts attention from search engines, increasing traffic to your site and giving your company “top of mind” awareness.
Goals for Your Blog
In order to get the most out of your blog, you should consider what you want to get out of it. Blogs can do a lot of things to promote your business, and you’ll want the shape, tone and end user feel of your new blog to work toward your goals. Do you want to establish your authority in your field? Attract publicity? Improve relationships with your clients or develop new leads? Having a definite aim of what you want will determine the blogging techniques that will work best for you.
Good Blogging Practices
Now that you know what you want to do, how do you actually do it? We at Big Red SEO say that if you only remember one rule, remember this: Content is King. Without original, compelling and usable content that displays your industry knowledge and responsiveness to your customers’ comments and questions, your blog won’t attract the attention you want. Since the world of blogging is competitive, the more specialized your blog is the more successful you’ll be. Don’t simply write what everyone else is writing about—find an interesting, underrepresented niche and stand out!
After you’ve focused on content, consider your audience to establish a tone for the blog. Who are you writing to? If you want to attract readers who don’t have an intimate knowledge of your field, a conversational tone that avoids too much industry-exclusive technical jargon is best. The same concept is true in reverse, so if you’re talking to peers in your industry it’s best to maintain a professional tone while avoiding over explanation. As you plan and write posts you should also know what kind of customers you want to attract, and tailor your blog’s content to them.
Remember that you’re trying to establish a conversation between your business, existing and potential clients, and other industry professionals, so encouraging the participation of your readers is a must. Invite readers to leave comments and respond to their comments quickly and thoughtfully. Link to and comment on other industry blogs—you’ll increase your visibility by engaging in the industry’s discourse and these conversations may even give you additional ideas for new blog posts to keep your conversations moving.
Big Red SEO Can Help You!
We hope that these tips will help as you dig into the world of blogging. As with all things worth doing, keeping a blog isn’t just an action, but a complex process that needs ongoing attention. As a leading SEO and web design company in Omaha, Big Red SEO can help you navigate the ins and outs of blogging, from developing your content to seeing you at the top of the search engine rankings! Give us a call today at (402) 522-6468 to get started, or feel free to fill out our contact form!