Beyond Self-Promotion: Successful Blogging Content
Over the past 10 years, the entire landscape of the web — and of online marketing and the sharing of news and information in particular — has been transformed by blogs.
What started out as “silly experiment” by information architect Peter Merholz caught on quickly: Although blogging first started as a very personal form of communication, businesses soon saw an opportunity to communicate with their prospects and customers directly via this medium. Today, more businesses than ever are using blogs to establish themselves as authorities and engage people on a whole new level…and, as they say, “the rest is history.”
Successfully blogging for business is all about striking a delicate balance between promoting your business and offering quality relevant and dynamic content that will have readers coming back for more. The key to finding this balance is to keep in mind that blogs exist to gently build a relationship with your readers and get them interested in what your company has to say. Blogs are not meant to serve as direct response sales letters that want people to “buy now!”
To get started or continue creating successful blog content that gets the job done, be sure to keep the following three keys in mind:
Get clear on your purpose. Before you begin your business blog, you’ll want to get clear on your purpose: Who are you speaking to? Who is your audience? For some businesses this question may be very simple to answer. But if you don’t have a clear picture of your target market, now is the time to define your audience so you (and then they!) can understand your purpose.
Create original content. Writing your own content (or having it written professionally) is the best way to get attention online. With original pieces on your blog, your audience will see you as an authority in your market. Not only will original dynamic copy help brand you as an expert in the field, but it will help boost your search engine rankings. Search engines penalize blogs for duplicate content so it’s important that your content is unique.
Keep your blog relevant to your readers. Above all, your blog needs to be relevant to your readers. (This is where knowing your target audience is key!) No one wants to spend their time reading a thinly-veiled sales pitch. Your blog content should be filled with information that is important to them – things like Q&As, how-to guides, top tips and the latest industry news go a long way in informing and supporting your people.
