Focus on what “customers” want to know and learn, not what you want to tell them about your product/business.
The truth is, nobody cares how awesome your product/service is. They only care about how it’s going to help solve their current problem(s).
If all you do is write about how awesome your product/service is, you’re not doing much to earn people’s attention. In fact, you’re doing the opposite.
Nobody likes a salesy press release, let alone one that says the same thing over and over again.
What people want is information and “how to.”
By focusing on what you’re target customers want to know and learn, you have a better chance at earning their attention.
Simple Guidelines for Making Your Business Blog Work:
1. Post regularly.
The more content you write, the better. It’s not only better for SEO, it gives consumers more content to engage with when they come to your website.
As you start to write regularly, it sets the expectation with readers that you’ll have something new to publish again at this time next week.
While you don’t necessarily have to force yourself to commit to a schedule, it can be very useful.
So, how often will you commit to publishing a new post? Monday, Wednesday and Friday? Or Tuesday and Thursday?
2. Focus on high quality content.
Yes, the more you write the better. But not at the risk of diminishing the quality of your content.
By putting your best content forward you show people that you’re an expert. You build your authority, and frankly, you increase the likelihood that people will want to share your content.
Nobody shares mediocre content.
3. Write answers to the questions customers are asking.
Not sure what to write about? Take a look at your customer service email inbox. What questions are customers asking on a daily/weekly basis? They’re probably asking the same question over and over again, right?
Well, why not take those questions and turn them into blog posts. This way, you’re answering it once, but sharing it often with any new people that might stumble across the same issue.
4. Answer comments (on your blog and on social networks).
The purpose of your blog is to get you exposure to larger audience. Part of that involves making yourself accessible. That means being ready to answer questions in comments on blog posts but also on social networks and other blogs.
What are people talking about, asking and saying? Where? Great, now show up and be present in that conversation.
5. Have a way to capture leads.
On a real estate website, that means having a good IDX. For others, it might simply mean building your email list (as I do here and here).
People are coming to your website and engaging with your content. The more time they spend on your site, the more likely they are to consider what you have to offer.
Having that lead capture built in is a way of keeping their earned attention and it’s also an opportunity to follow up and market to them. If people are coming and going and you’re not asking them for their information, you’re missing out on a big opportunity. It’s like a customer walking in and out of a retail store without a rep ever asking if they can help them with anything.
What would you add?
What other tips do you have for making a business blog work? What’s worked for you?
Nice post. My company specializes in WordPress Development and with that comes a lot of WordPress Training. I keep a running notebook of questions my trainees almost always ask and turn them into topics for blog posts.
If they’re asking me in person, I’m sure people are looking for the answers on the web. These posts have been a great source of leads for future work, plus a great source of traffic.
Solve someone’s problem, get positioned as a helpful expert & get hired.
Yep, whenever you run out of things to say (or think you’ve run out of things to say), it’s always easy to revert to existing questions from customers.
And I love how you summed it up!
“Solve someone’s problem, get positioned as a helpful expert & get hired.” <== Bingo!
Another content idea would be to talk about related things that your customers would probably be interested in. For example if your company sells lawnmowers then you could look at the somewhat obvious lawn feeds and so on, but you could also give tips on how to get rid of weeds, how to make the most of your garden, and other gardening tips 🙂
Focussing on what the customers want from you, instead of what you think they want/what you want to give them is something so many companies overlook. I see it so often in person and online it’s starting to get very boring!