Are you looking to improve how you blog for businesses?
Blogging for businesses can be a huge resource for attracting buyers. It can also help boost your notability, and set you up as an industry leader. But you need to do it right, and if you’re new to it, it can be tricky to know where to start.
Don’t worry, we’re here to help! Read on for these eight tips on blogging for businesses to help you improve.
1. Know What You Want to Write About
The benefits of blogging for businesses are huge. This is especially true for a startup or small business. One of the biggest business blogging tips out there is knowing what to write and not focusing on selling.
Too many focus on products and services, ending up feeling like a sales pitch and it’s a complete turn-off. The best place to start is by answering questions and solving problems.
You can use Google Alerts to let you know what forums your target audience visit, and what topics they look at. This should give you a good base to start, along with your FAQ section.
Share insight into your business and industry, and how it’s changing and evolving. Talk about the market and industry changes and advances. This way you can appeal to customers and other business leaders too.
For example, if you’re a restaurant owner why not offer up recipes? You could also do feature pieces on your local products and sources. Or a “wine-of-the-month” feature.
The main thing is to provide useful, helpful, educational information to your readers. Your blog posts should always add value and entertainment. Adding value is key here.
2. Use Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Once you know what you’re going to write, it’s time to focus on keyword research. This is a must if you want to get the best results on the search engines. There are a lot of keyword research tools you can use, and Google has a function for this.
You want to set each blog post up to focus on 1-2 target keywords. They should relate to the topic of your blog post, and must always be relevant. Use what phrases or words your target audience is searching for your chosen topic.
You want to use popular search terms, but ones that your competitors aren’t using. This lowers the competition you’ll face for those top search ranking spots. And make sure you’re always using:
- headlines (subtopics)
- internal links (to relevant, important pages on your site)
- a unique meta description (the 160 character description on the results page)
3. Make Sure Headlines Pack a Punch
As you’ve made blogging an important part of your marketing plan, you need to do it right. When making your headline, it needs to grab attention right away. And it should include your primary target keyword. The best headlines offer specific tips, facts, or appeal to reader curiosity.
Your headline shouldn’t be longer than 60 characters. Anything over that and search engines won’t display it right. Try to A/B test with a few different headlines, the results are surprising.
4. Quality, Frequency, and Consistency Are Key
Quality is king here, all your posts must go through a strict editing process. Grammatical errors and wrong information will send your readers looking elsewhere for content.
You also need to keep your posts frequent and consistent. More is better but you’ll need to find your sweet spot on how often you should blog. Some businesses do as little as 3 blogs per month, while others can do 15+ a week.
The latter will scale faster in the search rankings, but you need to have the time and manpower to meet this goal. For most small and medium businesses, you should aim for around 6 blog posts a month.
These posts should go live at the same time each week. It helps you show you’re organized, build consistency. You also appear serious about your content.
5. Encourage Engagement
A key tip is to encourage discussion and engagement with your audience. You should always end your post with an invite to leave a comment or get in touch.
Respond to those comments in a professional and fast manner. This will help you build your reputation and authority. It also builds relationships with your audience, which will help drive sales.
Business blogging is a great tool if you’re looking to grow your business. Consistent, high-quality content will drive traffic to your website. You can engage and build relationships which will lead to more conversions and sales.
6. Think About What Your Post Looks Like
How your blog post looks will have a big impact on those who read it. So, when discussing how to blog for businesses, this is a tip you shouldn’t ignore.
You need to make it fun, and easy to read. No one wants to come up against a massive wall of text. Odds are, if it feels like a chore to read, they’ll go elsewhere.
So, when looking at the visual appeal of your post, consider things like:
- total post length
- size of each paragraph & sentence
- if & where you can use bullet points or images
- if & where you can use italics and bolded text
- use of headers and subheaders
- how your blog page’s layout/design works
Remember, you want to go for readability, and get people through to the end of the post. Keep them interested and engaged, and keep drawing their eye down the page.
7. Don’t Forget a Call to Action (CTA)
At the end of each post, you should always have a clear CTA. This is a sentence encouraging the reader to do something you want them to. It depends on what you want.
If you’re looking to get more contact details, invite them to sign up for your newsletter. If you want lead generation via a free giveaway, ask them to claim that reward. Your CTA must be clear and match the content you’re producing.
8. Link to Key Influencers
Consider linking to key influencers within your industry and market. It can help if you’re looking to boost your reputation and become an industry leader.
When linking, try to take readers to the latest information by these influencers. It shows your audience you’re keeping up to date on industry trends and you care. Show them you’re educating yourself to provide them value with your content.
It might also attract viral attention and prompt a partnership with a key influencer. You could team up, offering more value to your readers with things like swag bags. Like these swag box products from this woman owned business. It’s a great way to gain more exposure and boost sales.
Blogging for Businesses Made Easy
So, there you have it! Now you know these key blogging for businesses tips, you’re on your way to blogging success.
Keep a clear focus on what you want to write about, and make sure it’s relevant to your audience. It’s not a time to show off your products/services. Optimize for SEO and put thought and care into the quality, consistency, and frequency of your posts.
If you found this article helpful, check out our other blog posts today!