All Your Blogs Should Serve Your Business Goals
This sounds pretty straight forward, but it’s all too easy to get caught up with wild ideas and forget the purpose of why you’re writing. It’s easy to go on tangents when you get struck with sudden inspiration, but much harder to stay true to your Small Business’s voice.
All your Blogging should help build your brand awareness in one way or another. By sticking to a common theme, all your Blogging remains relevant and you’ll strengthen your Business’s character and professionalism, creating greater trust and likability between yourself and your customers. You should include natural connections to subjects surrounding your industry. For example, if you run a small dress shop, you could blog about seasonal fashion trends, fashion-related events and even things like travel, art, beauty products and other such topics your market would be interested in.
It’s also great to address topics, questions or concerns that are relevant your Small Business and could affect your readers. That’s the whole reason you're Blogging, to grow your Business. If you relate your Blog back to your Small Business, all of your Blog Posts will serve those growth goals.
No One Likes Rigid Writing
The art of Blogging is considerably different to the way you’d write an essay or a news article. Your blog should reflect the tone and ‘voice’ that you want your Business to portray. Try to think of your Business as a character: how would you like people to view your Business? How would you like them to interact with it?
This allows you to be a little more informal in your writing style compared to traditional Business-related writing. By personalising your Business’s voice in your Blog, you’ll better strengthen your branding and likely increase your likability for your customers. They’ll grow to think of you and your Business as a human with a personality, not just some big Business robot, because, let’s be honest, no one wants to do Business with a robot!
Customers want to know that they’re dealing with real people. One of the best ways to achieve this is to write as though you were having a conversation with a close acquaintance, or even a friend. Get a little loose with your writing - toss in some jargon and add in some quirky phrases. This will create a personal touch to your Small Business that engages and helps your customers relate to you. Remember not to go too far though, you don’t want to ruin your image as an expert in your industry or damage your professionalism.
Be Original
This is an obvious point to make, but oftentimes remaining unique is easier said than done. It starts off by simply researching Blog ideas that you like, which harmlessly leads to leveraging off those ideas and including them in your next Blog. Before you know it, you’ve gone and written exactly the same old thing as your major competitor!
It’s all too easy to copy and paste, especially when you’re a time-poor Business Owner, but one of the worst things you can do for your Small Business is to steal someone else’s content. You’ll damage your reputation and melt into the background, as you’re generating exactly the same content as other Businesses in your industry. In order to really stand out and attract readers’ attention, you need to create engaging and exciting content that they haven’t seen before!
Furthermore, copying content is never idea, as Google monitors content and often verify written Blogs with certified Industry Bloggers. If you’re pinching content from a major player, this could mean setbacks in your Blog’s organic growth.
Engage With Your Audience
When you first start Blogging, you might think your audience will be automatically be interested in your stories and interests. After all, they’ve clicked on your Blog for a reason. But when writing your Blog, it’s important to remember that people need to be charmed and enticed into reading your content, especially if they haven’t heard of you before. Essentially, you’re the new kid in the school yard, and frankly, you need to impress your readers if you want to sit with them at lunch time!
Your audience might be interested in your Blog’s topics, information, issues and focuses, but they can also get similar information from your competitors. Never forget that the internet is filled with distractions and, even worse, your competitors, so make sure you’re always responding to reader’s comments and questions. This will generate much more interest in your blog and endear your Business to your readers.
Edit Edit Edit…And Edit Again
The worst mistake you could make when writing a Blog is thinking you can smash it out and post it instantly. If you don’t read over, proof and edit your own work, we guarantee they’ll be more than a few mistakes. Even the most experienced writers make mistakes, it’s only natural. So once you’ve written your Blog, read it over. Then read it again. Then leave it for a while and read it again. Then get someone else to read it for you. There’s absolutely no harm in fresh eyes inspecting your work. It will improve your skills as a writer and ensure you’re writing has a distinct and targeted message. Remember, it’s all about writing a Blog to serve your Business Goals.
Maintenance is Key
If you write a killer Blog, then fall off the grid, no one’s going to stay tuned. If you leave them hanging, trust me, they’re going to get bored of waiting. It’s all well and good to have an exciting Blog that customers are drawn to. But if you draw your customers in, only to disappear, they’ll forget about you. Or worse, they’ll think your Business has closed down.
You need to establish consistency and maintain your Blog, as this will strengthen your reliability, authority and trust between you and your readers. The best way to do this is to set up a schedule. Have a plan in place for writing, proofing and posting blogs. Lock these dates in a calendar and stick to them. With a firm and solid strategy in place for a consistent flow of Blogs, your audience will stay hooked.
Now that you’ve got your toolkit essentials, you’ll have everything you need create a successful Blog for your Small Business. By following the Your Blogging Toolkit, you’ll be able to plan, produce and deliver a kick ass Blog with ease. But we’re not going to lie; it’s going to take some time: starting up a highly successful Blog isn’t an easy job.
If you’re struggling to find the time, then let us take care of it. Trust in the skilled team of Professional Copywriters at Sites n Stores to deliver exceptional Blog posts for your Small Business. We’ll get to know you, give your Small Business a voice and provide a booming Blog to boost your Business!
