But just creating a blog is not enough. You have to make a blog that is optimized and promoted so that you can create an internet presence and therefore extend your reach to more prospects and customers. Also, you have to allot time and resources in a business blog because it should be regularly updated and optimized for satisfactory results.

Why You Should Have a Blog

A blog is a great marketing asset that will enable you to be found by prospect clients that you cannot reach through other forms of advertising like email marketing. If you really want to have a good presence and be able to communicate with your customers, you should create a blog that will showcase everything you have to offer.

Extend Your Reach and Be Found

By creating a continuous flow of quality and keyword-optimized posts in your blog, your chances of being indexed by search engines dramatically increases which results in an extensive reach to various prospect customers from all over the Internet.

Here are some things you need to do when starting a blog that is designed to promote your business.

• Optimize your posts by writing quality articles that have keywords and valuable information.
• Use specific keywords to avoid tight competitions particularly if you’re just starting out.
• Update your blog frequently and determine the best time to post your updates.

Be a Thought Leader and Earn Trust

A blog is a great tool in showcasing your expertise. Use blogging as a way to show your skills to earn the respect and trust of your prospect clients.

• Be a problem-solver by providing solutions to your target customers’ problems through your posts.
• By telling people more about you and your business, you are gaining people’s trust; which affects their decision in buying.

Have a Clear Call-to-Action

By having a blog, you can further explain your call-to-action – the steps you want them to take along with the benefits and advantages of signing up to your newsletter or buying your product. And by doing so, your readers won’t feel lost or disappointed because they are well guided by your posts and other components of your blog such as widgets and forms.

• Put your CTA on your post and sidebar so that your readers can see it and take the necessary actions.
• Make sure your posts are relevant to your offer so your readers won’t get lost or confused by your offer.

Even if you need multiple blogs for various target audience, it is best to start with one and segment so that you can establish your goals first and not be overwhelmed with too much workload.

Finding Topics to Blog About

Coming up with topics that you can blog about is quite overwhelming, especially if you’re just starting out. It’s best to write about customer’s frequently asked questions first then go from there. Think of the things that your prospect buyers ask or need, then write the answers as your content.

Repackage

Looking for old content that you can repackage or repurpose is a great way to start creating good content. Adding some additional info or presenting your content in a different format will help you create multiple contents that you can put in your blog.

Brainstorm

If you’re on a company, whether big or small, it’s best to hold a brainstorming session where other members of your group can come up with great content through the ideas of others. It’s best to share ideas and incorporate suggestions that can be a component of a new interesting content.

Guest Blogging

Another great way to have good content is to invite other experts to do some guest blogging on your site. Don’t hesitate to offer benefits because this is going to be a win-win situation.

 Curation

Sharing other people’s content will not only flatter others but will also help you come up with valuable content. You readers will thank you for providing various resources and information in one place.

If you want people to pay attention to you, you should constantly create content; which means, you should blog as often as you can. Creating an editorial calendar will help you keep track of your posts and also enable you to line up topics and blog posts that you can use in the future.

How to optimize Your Blog Posts

If you really want your blog to be successful, you should optimize your blog posts. Having dozens of posts won’t help if they are of low quality and not optimized well. You can optimize your blog posts by following the guide below.

• Use social media buttons.
• Use compelling images.
• Use eye-catching and optimized titles.
• Make your posts well-structured and easy to read.
• Put a call-to-action in your posts.
• Put a call-to-action on your sidebar.
• Provide clear solutions to your customers’ problems through your posts.
• Always compare or relate your topic to the things that your readers can relate to.
• Make your content entertaining.
• Be an expert on your topic and don’t waver on your advice.

How to Promote Your Blog

For an easier and more successful promotion, you should optimize your blog for success. Make your blog valuable by having informative and captivating content as well as eye-catching images and titles.

• Build relationships with influential bloggers who can help promote your blog. You can attract their attention by mentioning them on your posts on your blog or social networks.
• Promote your blog through social media sharing. Millions of people are using social networking sites; therefore, this is the best place to promote your blog.
• Use website banners to attract readers and make your CTA more visible.
• Participate in events and presentations then refer your audience to your blog for more useful information and solutions.
• Use email signatures so that your recipients will notice your blog, which might make them interested in visiting your site.
• Run a contest on your blog so that readers and new visitors will come back to your site for more.
• Submit your blog to blog directories for a legal and free blog promotion.
• Create a video that presents your blog then post it on video sites.

How to Measure Your Blog

To measure the success and progress of your blog, you should always measure the following factors – this will help you determine the things that you need to change or improve for a more effective business blogging.

• Visitors – Measure the people who visit your blog and focus on the topics that have the most visitors. This will give you an idea on what your target audience is looking for.
• Leads – Examine the channels that garner qualified leads and focus on them.
• Subscribers – Determine how your readers subscribe to your blog (via email subscriptions or RSS) – this will help you gather more subscribers.
• Inbound Links – Track the kind of posts that attracts inbound links so that you can create content of that nature to gather more inbound links.
• Social Media Shares – Determine which posts gets shared on social sites so you can have an idea on what kind of posts are shareable.

Four Business Blogging Best Practices

Here are some practices that you have to keep in mind to have a successful business blog.

1. Think like a vertically integrated publisher – As an integrated publisher, it is your responsibility to create relevant content and determine the means with which to promote your blog.
2. Focus on non-brand keyword content – Create content that are not just based on your company but on the industry that you belong to. Provide topics that offer information and solution to your readers.
3. Ask readers what they want – Don’t just assume what your readers want. It’s best to ask and act on those answers so that you can deliver the best content and solutions to them.
4. Connect blog with website – Make sure that you integrate your blog with your website so that your blog can relay the traffic to your website through your informative posts and calls-to-action.

Creating a business blog is not that simple. You have to incorporate your business with your blog without crashing the two. Proper integration and constant optimization is the key.

by Jeff Green

Greener Marketing