So here's a question: How would you like to be able to communicate directly with your customers and target market? Keep them updated about the latest news on your products or services? Create a two-way conversation where you can demonstrate your knowledge and expertise? I'm guessing that many business owners would answer with a resounding yes! Well, you can have all this by using a blog.
Blogs are a great way of speaking directly to your contacts but it's a form of communication that not all business owners use.
Either they think it's too time consuming or they believe they don't have anything interesting to write about.
If you're someone who's been thinking about setting up a blog, or have just started blogging, then here are some tips on how it can benefit your business.
Updated web content: For most businesses, especially those offering a service, it's highly unlikely that the content on their website will change that frequently.
However, refreshing your website content is essential for good Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).
You can therefore achieve this by regularly posting blogs and it also gives you the opportunity to generate backlinks to your site as people share your posts around the internet - all good for SEO! Interact with others: You can use your blogs to build up a two-way conversation with your readers.
Whether it is customers commenting on a product or service, or people sharing their views on a particular subject, this helps to build trust and respect between you and your contacts.
You can also maintain your reputation by quickly responding to any negative publicity.
Promote your brand: Blogs are an easy and cost effective way to raise awareness of your products and services.
However, you must blog consistently and not use your posts as a sales pitch.
Instead inform readers with useful and interesting content so they subscribe to your posts and share them with others.
This is a great way to get your brand in front of thousands of people who otherwise would never know you existed.
Expert in your field: You can use a blog to promote yourself as an expert in your industry.
By sharing your expertise and knowledge with others, you could become known to the media as someone to come to for comments on topics related to your field.
This not only adds tremendously to your credibility but makes you look like one of the top opinion makers in your industry.
Stand out from your competitors: You can use the blog to tell your potential customers what makes you different from your competitors.
Your posts can show them how you work, what sets you apart and the unique way you can solve their challenges.
SEO: As mentioned earlier, blogs can really help with SEO as search engines such as Google love websites that are regularly updated with fresh, well written, keyword-rich content.
Also, having people comment on your blogs means that search engines place a high value on your content.
This means that your site will rank highly and people will be able to find you more easily.
Setting up a blog is fairly straightforward.
However, if you don't have time to create and manage a blog yourself, then seek the assistance of a Virtual Assistant who can help you set one up and post content on your behalf.