Do you read blogs? Do you read business blogs? Do you know how much weight business blogs carry in the social media empire and the weight search engines put on blogs when ranking pages?
Blogs are a part of social media that many small business owners run from while dismissing their ability to write and commit the time to keep one up.
Keeping a blog for your business validates you and builds your credibility in the field you work in. You set yourself up as the expert in your field, and the business to go to for the product or service you provide.
With all that blogging can do for your business growth, it is something you should seriously consider. It will build a bigger picture of what your business does.
So how do you get started?
First do serious research on what you will blog about. It’s best to have a small folder full of articles so that you don’t fall behind and you can organize the posts to be relevant to what you’re doing/selling/featuring at the time of posting. A folder of articles also helps to reduce the stress of coming up with content, which can lead to writer’s block.
Next you need to build the trust of your readers. A blog that is clean in appearance and simple to read will do that. Consistent posting with useful content will also grow trust and keep readers coming back for more information from you.
Be creative in your presentation – use images when possible, keep your paragraphs short – folks tend to skim online, not read – and consider format: tables, colors, headlines, etc; and consider about video and podcasts!
The hardest part is getting started, but you’re not blogging about your favorite cookie recipe and what kitty did last night. Blogging for business is part of your marketing and customer relationship building – and it’s free. Why would you not blog?
Finally, what’s the biggest social media mistake made by small businesses when they first get started? I’ll share that with you next week.
Until then, if you need help getting started in blogging or would like me to set up your blog for you, give me a call. I’d be happy to help you.
Micki – your web gal
connect@michelleharbour.com
804.642.2363
330.591.1070 cell
www.michelleharbour.com
