We have not come across a business that cannot benefit from a blog presence. Any industry lends itself to a blog and every business can grow its online presence by the new content created to feed the blog. Your blog educates and informs and helps build a relationship with visitors if it’s used correctly.
There are some blogging dos and don’ts that can get you started and keep you moving forward with content creation.
Blogging Dos and Don’ts
Provide valuable content to your readers. Just because you said, “I will write a post every week” doesn’t mean you want to write a post if it’s not going to help the reader. Don’t post just to post. Give your reader something he or she can use.
Use video and images. Don’t always give your readers a wall of words. Change things up by adding images and embedding video. Why not commit to making and sharing a video weekly?
Be personal. Share stories about you and your business. Let your readers get to know, like and trust you through your content. Write as though you are speaking to a specific individual, rather than the “whole world” on the internet. Your unique business story will set you apart from the competition.
Blog consistently. Yes, we said you shouldn’t post just for the sake of posting BUT if you’re going to commit to blogging, have a strategy. Build an editorial calendar so you will know what type of content you’ll be sharing and when.
Don’t always be selling. Yes, you can occasionally make a sales pitch, but if a reader is at your website and is reading your blog post, they know who you are and what you do and if you ahve a call to action at the end of the post, they will reach out when they’re ready.
Don’t take your audience for granted. Remember your blog posts are about how you can help the audience, they are not always about how wonderful you are! Address their pain points, be the solution provider.
Don’t be negative. We know that negative or leading headlines may get clicks, but is that how you want to gain readers and customers? By click bait or misleading them? No. You want to be positive and optimistic.
What are your blogging lessons learned? What blog challenges do you face?