Get Your Business Blogging (Successfully)

For many businesses, a blog is considered an absolute marketing asset, and is treated as a long-term investment toward driving traffic and leads over time.

To truly make the most out of your business’ blog, there are a few important points to consider:

What are your resources?

Who will be blogging and how much time can they dedicate to the initiative? Knowing this up front will help you plan your blogging approach in terms of topics and frequency. It will help you to set realistic goals and expectations.

Who is your audience?

Your blog can achieve success if you have a clear understanding of whom it is you are writing for. Tailor content to meet the needs of your readers, so that it is relevant and helpful to them. Take time to understand what they’re interested in. Test and tune. Try out different subjects and track the results in terms of visitors and comments. Be sure to note, however, that sometimes posts with the lowest traffic will generate the most leads.

How are you going to promote your blog?

To existing customers

If you are writing for a community of existing customers, use existing internal channels or client communications such as emails and e-newsletters to cross-promote your blog. It is also wise to take advantage of your website and social media pages such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Don’t be shy to push out blog post links to networks of people you think it might be relevant to.

To new customers

If the aim of your blog is to acquire new customers, try to determine influencers that already exist by becoming active in online communities. By participating in spaces where potential customers are, you will be more successful in driving traffic back to you. Playing an active role in their world will make them far more likely to support you.

It has also been proven quite effective to integrate online and social media activities with other traditional marketing activities. You can inspire action by promoting the opportunity to get important news first through your blog, or win a prize in an online contest. For campaigns, you can carry messaging across all media, and incorporate a call-to-action to visit your website or social spaces in offline communications.

All in all, building an effective blog requires patience and persistence. It can take one to two years to establish successful blog readership. So keep at it! And stay tuned for more posts about B2B blogging, including content generation tips, editorial calendars and more.