As a business owner, you may or may not realize that your business blog is one of the most valuable tools you possess, but knowing what to write about in a business blog is another story!
A business blog is different than a personal blog, or one meant strictly for entertainment. A business blog has a goal, pure and simple: lead generation. The fact is that companies who blog get anywhere from 65-88% more leads per month than those who don’t.
What makes a business blog successful?
There is one basic feature that will increase the value and relevance of your blog, encourage others to engage with it, and recommend it to others: problem solving.
No matter what your industry, product or specialty, there is always something someone wants to know about it…questions that they need answered. You have a unique opportunity to highlight your industry knowledge and apply it where it counts…with giving customers benefits. As you continue to solve problems, develop relationships and build trust, your blog becomes a measurable asset for your business, building visibility, traffic, and qualified leads.
So…what should you write about on a business blog?
Work smarter not harder: “Re-purposing” is a term that internet marketers are very familiar with. Utilize what you already have and rework it into marketable material: Company brochures, how-to information or manuals, original information you may have created for seminars, sales events, etc.- Know your competitors. Check their blogs. What do your competitors do best? Where are they excelling in getting out relevant information and engaging their customer base?
- Sales Staff: Whether it’s a group of 100 or a single person, your sales staff is an incredible resource for ideas and information regarding what your customers are asking and talking about! If you are a mid-size or large company, every single department is a treasure trove of ideas for you to mine.
- Guests Blogs: A great way to change it up, keep it fresh and create a whole new area of interest for followers. You may even consider having a customer post a guest blog if it’s relevant.
- Answer questions. Do you know what questions are that your customers or clients need answered? Use your experience and industry acumen, but be sure to research online to see what phrases are trending in your industry, or what types of conversations are happening outside of your immediate circles.
- Ask questions. Yup…just ask ‘em. A simple solution, yes, but it works. This is a great strategy to ramp up engagement and find out what people most want to know about. Conducting a simple survey to your current email list may return some great suggestions for content.
A few simple and helpful tools to help you find content ideas for your business blog:
Technorati: A great place to begin, this site has thousands of blogs listed in every industry imaginable, including a Top 100 Blog List that you can use to see what topics are trending in a number of blogs. There is also a full blog directory of thousands of blogs in all industries.
Twitter: Twitter is constantly trending information for all industries…browse for people you follow most closely to see what their tweets are about. When you are looking for more specific information or industry-focused content, go to search.twitter.com and type in the phrases you are looking for to find conversations and discussions surrounding that area
Google Auto Suggest: This is like your “blog topic 101” tool…a simple but often overlooked strategy that can bring you all kinds of ideas! When you start typing any phrase, you will see Google bringing up the most trending topics and terms for your query or product.
Last but not least by any means, use Google to mine for topical gold! If you choose a search phrase, look for blogs relating to that phrase. At the left, choose “Blogs” and you will see all the blogs returning results for that keyword or phrase. At the bottom of the page, you’ll see a number of suggested ways you can stay up to date on anything coming up for that search!
Blog management tip: Once you start generating lots of ideas for what to write in your business blog, create and maintain an editorial calendar! If you focus on one area or topic per month, it will make it easier to extract unique and particular ideas.
Contact Mannix Marketing, Inc. for blog development ideas and smart social media planning for your business! Call us at (518) 743-9424 or complete our quick and easy contact form to speak with a Digital Marketing Strategist today!
