Blogging. It is so important. As a business owner with a website and products or services to sell, you’ve probably heard that you should be doing this. But, what, oh what, should you write about?
“How do I find content for my blogs?” is probably one of our top 5 frequently asked questions. Which brings us to the first tip.
- Use your frequently asked questions as blog topics!
Genius, right? You probably get asked the same thing time and time again and have a really quick, ready-at-a-moments-notice answer. Well, write it down! Blogs don’t have to be as long as your college thesis! Give us a paragraph or 2 about a few questions you hear all the time and boom… you’ve spent barely an hour and written 3, 5 or even 10 blogs to post sporadically on your website. - Use industry news for your blog topics.
You can use news a few different ways. You can just mention that this “thing” happened in your industry. Maybe a new law was passed that affects your client’s investments, an new invention was created that makes you able to process orders faster, etc. You can also personalize this news by writing “commentary” on the news. Maybe this new invention will make you, a baker, be able to bake cakes in half the time but it would only allow you to bake 2 flavors and you typically offer 30. So, tell us why you’re not getting this new-fangled oven and why your clients are better for it. Lastly, you could use in your blogs by letting your clients know that there are petitions or legislature your industry is supporting, and you’d like them to join the cause. - Feature a Product or Service.
Blogs allow you to dive deeper into the uses of a product than just a description on a website. You could offer “unusual uses for our product” or “lifehacks using our amazing product”. And these blogs make awesome vlogs (video blogs) because it’s often better to show than to tell with these types of posts. - Share a Case Study.
Case studies are great for those in the professional services industry. You can discuss a client and show how you helped them grow their business or save on shipping costs or educate their children- whatever the thing is that you do. These work best if you plan before you start and can collect data, have a few graphs and a quote or 2 from the client to really knock it out of the park. Consider using video here too, so the audience gets a genuine feel of the client’s success. - Year-In-Review or What’s to Come.
These blogs can be light-hearted and fun (we like to do video bloopers) or they make be a bit more serious. You can take the opportunity to be transparent with your clients, offer them teasers for new products and services, truly thank them for being loyal or whatever you would want to share to wrap-up or begin your year. “Over the past year we were able to open a new store front to now serve ice cream in the next town over.” “We have 3 new services we’ll be offering in the months to come, all based on your feedback.” These are just a few examples of the never-ending possibilities here. Remember to try to make this very client focused for the best engagement. - Study your competitors.
Don’t copy them, of course. Write your own content and take your own pictures. But see what you competitors are doing (or your role models) and do it better. Reading over their blog titles is sure to trigger your inner author and you’ll have a good understand of what they are (or aren’t, even better) sharing with their audience. - Poll the Audience!
Flat out ask your clients and customers what they would like to read or learn from your business. Maybe you sell paint, and they want a monthly paint project tutorial. Maybe they’d love to know more about your company’s history. Maybe they’d like to know how to bargain shop at your market. Whatever the case is, customers like to give feedback, so just ask. - Invite Guest Bloggers.
Especially if you’re a business-to-business company, inviting a guest blogger to partner with you on your site is really helpful. You can put the blog on both of your websites and drive traffic to each other. You may want to offer the same favor to them, in return. - Divide and Conquer.
If your company has divisions or departments, spread out the blogging duties by rotating through the organization. What you see in your day-to-day is probably so different that what the other departments see, and it can bring diversity of topics and ideas to the table. Even if you want to have one sole writer, ask the different departments what they feel would make good blog topics and start there.
Yes, blogging does take a little getting used to. But, it’s worth it! We’ve seen stats that say a website with an active blog will see a 126% increase in traffic. And if you have good forms (here are some tips), you’ll capture those readers’ info and hopefully turn them into new or repeat customers in no time!
