Posted by Every business owner or Entrepreneur strives to achieve success of their business venture and achieve growth; a great way to boost this growth is through blogging. Why? Because it can help make your business more credible, increases brand awareness and allows for authenticity and a sense of community; your prospects and customers are craving for something different and a blog will allow you to give it to them!
Think about it, most people don’t want to do business with companies that are faceless and have little or no identity; they would much prefer to do business with a company they “know” and can relate to. Setting up a blog for your small business will allow you to accomplish all of the above. You’ll be able to build a steady and loyal following by being authentic. Here are 5 easy steps you can follow to grow your business through blogging.
#1 You have to remember that when you start a blog, there is a thin line which divides entertainment and information. Sure, people who read your blog would probably want to get to know you better and see more of your personality; however, this is only true if it relates to their specific needs: you have to help them solve their problems.It’s good to share stories and personal experiences; just make sure they relate to your chosen niche. Your readers do not want to hear about what you had for dinner! Think Benefits; if it is something that your readers might find useful, include it, if not, scrap it!
#2You have to blog frequently. This is very important. Your blog will help your traffic levels because google loves them (as long as they are updated frequently). It´s quite common for blogs to outrank your main site because of thet fact that they are updated on a more frequent basis. It’s not going to be enough to post something to your blog once a month. You’ll be doing yourself few favors and your readers probably wont be too happy with you either! Once a week is probably the minimum you want to be aiming for. The great thing about blogs and blogging software is that you can write a whole set of posts in one go, load them onto your blog and schedule them to be posted at intervals that you decide.
#3If you decide to host your Blog on a separate domain to your main site, just make sure you are linking back to it. Remember that there is a high probability that prospects will find your blog before your main site; this is because of they are often better optimised for the search engines. That all important link to your main site can help you drive a lot of traffic to your home page, make sure you use it wisely.
#4 Arm yourself with Patience! You must remember that it can take a long time to build up a decent following for your blog. Sometimes blogs don’t build a large following. Does this mean that you have wasted your time? The answer is a big NO. Yes it takes time but it will be worth it in the end because your blog will slowly be helping to drive traffic to your site even if you don’t have hundreds subscribing to your newsletter or feeds. Just keep writing good, entertaining and useful content and your readers will come back for more: guaranteed.
#5Make sure you choose your blog host wisely. You have a vast choice of blogging platforms and hosts to choose from: Blogger, WordPress, Typepad etc. Take your time to study their features and specific functions before making that all important decision. I use WordPress and have to say that its ease of use, SEO features and vast array of Plugins make it a no brainer; and its free!
So there you have it. Five simple steps that will definitely help you grow your business by sending more traffic to your site. Just remember that there are other hidden benefits to blogging: it will give you a great opportunity to find out what your readers and customers really want. Their comments on your blog provide vast amounts of information and help you to learn about their problems and their needs. Learn to tap into this fountain of information and you will be increasing traffic and ultimately your company’s sales.