You’re an expert in your own business, and your website has the power to host hundreds of pages of your insight for a huge audience. Every single one of those pages is an opportunity to reach new customers, communicate your message, and shape the industry conversation.
We’re talking about blogging.
You’ve seen some effective blogs; maybe you follow one of the leaders in your industry on their WordPress site. Don’t be intimidated by them.
If you can write an email, you can write a blog. The key is to use your natural voice and consider your audience. Blogging should be a key component of your digital marketing strategy. But what exactly can a blog do?
Reach a wider audience
Blog pages are an entry point for potential customers onto your site and into your business. If for example you manage a tutoring service, you can offer guides to effective studying. Potential customers will find these pages while they research the problems they face, and there’s no better way to introduce a customer to your brand than through a helping hand when they need it.
The stronger your content, the better it’ll expand your outreach. With SEO, you can help your webpages pop up sooner in search results. If your articles are especially helpful, your customers will spread the word themselves through social media.
Let a human voice walk customers through the buying experience
It’s rare that you’ll have customers spending money the moment they discover your business. They want to know more first. Your blog can be the friendly associate who tells the story of your business and shows readers they’ll be dealing with a human. Showcase your buyer stories that new customers can relate with. Give them the breadcrumbs that will lead from awareness of your business to making the phone call.
Maintain relationships by continuously engaging with your audience
The power of the human touch doesn’t end when the first sale is made. Your blog helps you build relationships and play a continuing role in your clients’ business. Keep your customers informed of new services you can offer through a newsletter. Use a comments section to hear from them and keep them interested. Create a message board for answering questions and FAQ pages for different issues you can help them address. Let your voice be the one that tells customers about developments in your industry or changes in your business.Contribute to the broader conversation
Remember that you’re an expert on your own business, and your blog is one of the ways you can connect with other experts. If there’s an industry voice you respect, you can ask to interview them for a post or invite them to guest write one.If your blog is especially creative, insightful, or just clearly communicates a helpful solution, then you count on others to share your posts. All of this excellent for building your brand and expanding your network.
At every step of the blog experience, you’ll learn more about your own business
It’s not just customers who will learn from your blog. Think of writing it is a regular exercise routine for understanding your work. By researching for your blog you’ll learn about new developments related to your business. By brainstorming, you’ll organize your big ideas.
Through analytics of your web pages you can learn what topics and questions customers care about most. If one particular problem really gets them, you can push the particular solution into a higher priority of your marketing strategy.
Ultimately, you don’t have to be a bestselling author to start a valuable business blog. Just use a conversational voice and keep in mind the customer’s big questions. What are the first things we should know about your industry? You can start right there.
ImageWorks,LLC | Content Marketing & Blog Creation
