Don't Doubt the Power of Blogging

Small business owners have a lot on their plate. These hard-working individuals own, operate, manage, market, and maintain the shops and service providers that keep our communities running. So when it comes to adding the task of business blogging to the never ending to-do list of Chatham-Kent small business owners, it’s not surprising that many entrepreneurs just say no. Alas, those who refuse to blog are missing out on a valuable tool, one that helps improve your standing with customers, search engines, and your community. I know its Monday, and I know you’re busy, but if you can spare just six minutes to read this blog post, I bet I can convince you about the importance of maintaining a blog on your business website. Ready? GO!

How A Blog Can Benefit Your Business

1) Blogging Builds Relevant Content on Your Site

If Google’s latest search engine update, Caffeine, taught us anything about SEO, it’s that constant, current content is key. If your business blog focuses on topics that are pertinent to your site, (what else would you be focusing on?!) and include important keyword phrases, your entire website will begin to benefit. If done right, new blog content can entice search engines to crawl and index pages on your site regularly, improving your site’s visibility in search engine results.

In order to create relevant content on your business blog, make sure you keep a list of keywords and topics handy at all times. This will help you stay focused on ideas and issues that are important to your business and clients.

2) Blogs Provide the Perfect Platform for Promotions

Can’t get the local paper to run a story about your upcoming event? Why not run it on your blog instead? A blog is a great place to generate excitement about new products, or to remind readers about popular services. While the service section of your website provides basic information on these offerings, your blog is the perfect place to expand on important details. Just be careful with how you word things. Blog readers expect to be educated in an open and inviting manner – a direct advertisement for your product will turn people off. Stay away from the hard sell on your blog to maintain a friendly, personable approach.

3) Blogs Entice People Back To Your Site

A great business blog provides information in an educational and entertaining manner. If you get it right, your blog will become a popular gathering place for customers, competitors, and contemporaries. People will look forward to reading your posts, and will continue to read future posts. Of course, this can only happen if you publish great content on a regular basis. The best business blogs are published daily, but if you can’t manage that (I know I can’t!) try and send something out there every other day. Your posts don’t have to be long, just genuine. If you write about issues that are important to your business and your customers, you’ll attract followers that are honestly interested in what you have to say.

4) Blogging Gives Your Business a Personality!

Try and think of your business blog as the office water cooler. Now, this doesn’t mean you can drop your professionalism all together, (some water cooler chatter should never be repeated), but you can loosen your tie a little and engage in relaxed conversation. A business blog will provide customers with a glimpse inside your company, and hopefully, will allow readers to get to know your brand on a more personal level. Worried your words won’t do your business justice? Don’t be silly – no one else knows your small business as well as you do; simply write from the heart and you’d be surprised at the content you’ll produce.

There are many benefits to business blogging. If you can manage to make time to write three or four post a week, you’d be surprised at the response you’ll receive, both from customers and search engines. Need help launching your blog? Contact CIK Marketing for tips and tricks.