Blogging is an essential part of any business marketing strategy, and many businesses experience the benefits when they approach it thoughtfully. Creating a blog strategy for business isn’t about posting random things when the mood strikes—rather, it’s a though-out plan that allows you to maximize the potential advantages of having a blog.
Although there is no correct way to start a blog, there are a general list of things you should do when writing blogs for business. Make Sure You Do These Things When Implementing Your Blog Strategy for Business.
What Will Your Blog Strategy for Business Look Like?
Design is an essential element in any part of marketing and branding, and your blog is no exception. Before you go surfing to find blogs formats you like, take into account your overall brand and image; your blog should begin by reflecting that. Once you’ve got a page design, it’s time to look at what blog style will work best with your business. Often, the most successful blog styles are the simplest. Your customers should be able to easily find topics and not be overwhelmed with a messy format. There should be a straightforward way to sift through your posts. Also, your format should combine a nice balance of visuals, copy, and background space.
Developing and Planning Your Blog Strategy for Business
Businesses have a sure-fire way of writing a blog that people want to read; it’s called FAQs. Although a blog strategy for business can and should serve multiple purposes, one of the most essential is to answer consumer’s burning questions. Here are some crucial things to remember when planning your blog content for your business:
- Identify your audience – Start by identifying and finding your target audience, and also the niche audience within it. What channels do they hang out in? What content speaks to them? It will be important to understand their problems and help them with the solutions.
- Set goals – How much traffic do you want? What do you want that traffic to accomplish? Set up some goals for your blog and what it should do for your business. It could be anything from finding new customers to interacting with customers you already have.
- Work on optimization – Develop topics, phrases, and keywords that will get you noticed and put you in the search results.
Establishing a Voice and Expectation for Readers
Consistency will play a key role in your blog strategy for business. People enjoy blogs with a dedicated voice and brand. A style guide goes a long way to creating that consistency. Within the guidelines you can establish formatting and grammar choices, key words to incorporate, tone (i.e. witty, instructional, compassionate, professional), and do’s and don’ts for your blog. One aspect that will help set expectations is frequency. The more regularly you publish on the same chosen days, the better. That’s where an editorial calendar comes in.
The Editorial Calendar
Editorial calendars aren’t reserved for the publishing industry, but any business and their content. Maintaining a regular blog schedule works on multiple levels. Not only does it allow your customers to get excited about the next post, it also helps keep you valid with search engines. Your editorial calendar should address title development, number of blogs written per month, what days they should be published, and plans to tie them in with your other social media channels. If you need help with coming up with interesting blog titles, check out our white paper, "Your Blog Titles Don't Have to Be Boring!"
Tracking and Responding
Your blog is finally live and you have all the analytics in place. What’s next? You’ll want to respond to consumers and track what’s working and what’s not. Some things to keep in mind are:
- Try to always respond to comments
- Never be rude in your responses; aim for helpful and compassionate
- Remove spam
- Look at what posts and topics are most popular
- Track frequent comments and questions—they may make great future posts
- Look at what inspires people to comment
Fine-Tuning Your Blog Strategy for Business
Tracking stats will let you fine-tune your blog strategy for business. You’ll begin to learn what works and what doesn’t for your audience. However, when all is said and done, make sure to stay creative and have fun with your blog. It's not always about simply writing blogs for business, it's about your passion for what you do, which should always shine through.
Not sure if you are better off using a blog writing service or in-house content writers? Check out our white paper, "Content Writing Outsourcing vs. In-House Writers."
