Do you view your business blog as an asset or just a pain to keep up? If you’re checking your analytics and discover that the traffic hitting your blog pages is mostly from people trying to spam the comments section you may think it’s time to abandon the blog all together. You’re a busy person and you expect to see a return on the time you invest in a project.

Or you could take a moment and really think about how you go about blogging and what you expect the results to be.

Blogs can play an integral part in your overall marketing plan but you have to understand just how they contribute to the bottom line. Take a moment to review these best practices and then compare them to what you have on your website. You might be on the verge of a whole new source of traffic and potential customers.

5 Blog Tips

• Don’t sell stuff on your blog. Blog posts are not meant to be mini sales pitches. They are meant to be a means to develop relationships and reputation with your readers. You don’t want to sell your company, in fact what you want to do is give stuff away. When we say give stuff away we’re talking about knowledge…your knowledge of your industry. Know the audience you want to talk to and give them the information they want. “How to” and “expert opinion” posts are great for delivering actionable information to a reader.

• Talk to your readers one on one. Hopefully thousands of people will be visiting your posts but you don’t want to talk to the crowd… you want to talk to the individual. Use the word “you” when carrying on the conversation. It doesn’t matter if you’re talking to a low end consumer or a technical professional, using “you” to address the reader gives the whole post a personal touch and engages the reader on a higher level.

• Develop a personality. If you’re a small business or a service provider then you want to use “I” to identify yourself in the posts. If you have a larger business and the task of blogging falls to one or more members of the marketing team then “I” becomes “we”. If you want a following then you have to develop a personality and it has to be one that says “I know what I’m talking about and I want to help you.” Put a picture of yourself at the top of the blog. People like doing business with people they know.

• Use graphics and images. Visual presentation is vitally important in catching and keeping the new visitor’s eye. Nothing is more forbidding than a solid wall of gray text. Use relevant images or graphics to add interest to the page. People love infographics and videos. Yes, coming up with these takes time and budget but if you keep in mind that the ultimate objective is to get the reader to think the content is so cool they just have to share it with others, the investment is minimal.

• Stay engaged. Remember you are holding a discussion with your readers. Discussions involve input from both parties. Ask questions in the post. Close the post with a question. Here’s an effective generic example on how to close…”That’s my take on XXX. If you have any questions or if you have a different opinion please share with the rest of us in the comment box below.” This invites engagement and it also means you can’t forget to respond to comments in a timely fashion.

• Make your blog easy to “like.” OK now you have this fantastic, helpful content that everyone loves…so how do they spread the word? Make it easy for them. If you’re using WordPress it’s a simple matter of adding a social media plugin that lists the icons for Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and others. Sharing becomes as easy as a simple click. You may also want to install the pingback plugin which will email a reader when a new comment is made on a post that they have already commented on. Building a buzz isn’t that difficult when you have great content and an engaged blogger.

That’s it. That’s “all” that’s involved.  Yes it might take some time to revamp your blog and you may not be completely comfortable that the changes you make will be effective. If you like, you can contact us and we’d be happy to lend you our advice.

Whatever you do, just realize that your blog represents a great opportunity for both new business opportunities and positioning your company as an industry leader.