How Small Businesses Can Get the Most from Blogging
What do blogs do for small businesses that websites do not? Here are 10 benefits …
- Give a personal face onto the brand.
- Allow you to position yourself as an expert, or trusted adviser, who strives to educate first and sell second.
- Provide fresh, focussed content without the PR-speak.
- Steady content sets the table for natural rankings and search engine visibility.
- Reduced web content costs because you can produce and manage it yourself.
- Enhanced reach opportunities via blog ping, RSS, and email.
- Via conversation and feedback you can get prospect and customer engagement.
- Point visitors to relevant posts of information that, in turn, can act as a closing tool.
- Cultivate a “warm” market from with your online community by continuing to publish valuable content.
- Create networking with your prospects and industry contacts (who may or may note be your competitors).
How to get those benefits? Here are 5 ways …
- Commit to regular postings, but don’t beat yourself up if you don’t.
- Be authentic and open, so forget about hiring writers / ghost bloggers.
- Encourage conversation by asking questions and eliciting feedback.
- Answer any email and respond to comments generated from the blog.
- Spend time to read others’ blogs as well as commenting and participating in the blogosphere.
Most of all have fun and don’t give up! Because you are passionate about your business, it is important to share your knowledge and perspective with others.
In my own experience, taking blogging very seriously has opened up opportunities that I didn’t even know existed. When I started blogging for business, I thought that it might be too limiting as a sales and marketing resource. Boy I was wrong!!! Not only did blogging not limit me, but it opened up opportunities that were previously closed to me due to limited resources. I’ve been amazed by what I can do with a blog; market research, engage prospects and customers, and even close sales.