A lot of my clients stumble at the prospect of blogging. It's really the one thing they need to be doing that I can't do for them. Blogging is personal and very relevant to what you are as a business. You don't ask your dentist to give your client a sales pitch and you shouldn't ask anyone not directly connected to your bottom line to blog for you.
Here are five simple things to blog about.
UP-TO-DATE BUSINESS INFORMATION - The traditional BLOG.
The term Blog originates from the the term weB LOG. It's kind of a running diary of what's going on in your business, Relative to your business, It is your responsibility to keep up on what's going on in your industry. If you don't think your clients will appreciate that, you're wrong. People who land on your web site aren't there as a random chance. They typed something in the search engines relative to your products and services. The blog is a great way to keep your interested prospects up on the latest news relevant to your business and your industry. They want to talk to the experts.
BLOG-A-MONIALS
You could be just like everyone else and just write your testimonials as a simple static page but there is value in keeping them in your blogs. Blog software has publishing power. People can subscribe to your blog. You can self-subscribe your testimonials to your business social media pages (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIN for example).Blog-a-monials are a great way to get the word out relative to how others feel about your business.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Announcements are fleeting bits of information whose value diminishes over time. Posting announcements in your blog section is a great way to get that information out beyond your website. Announce anything relevant to your business: social events, major industry changes, upcoming events, grand openings and on and on.
EVENTS
Post business related events that you might be attending (or not). You'll notice after a year that these will tend to cycle. For example, if you're a home service professional, post information about home shows coming to the area that you might or might not be attending. Jewelry stores, salons, med spas might mention the bridal shows and fashion shows. There are probably all kinds of events to consider announcing as well as attending.The whole point is that if you're interested in a particular event, probably the clients interested in your products and services are interested in the same events.
BOOKS
If you read often and think others might benefit from the particular books relative to your business, put your 7th grade hat back on and write a book report! Better yet, set up an affiliate link with Amazon and post a link to that book in your blog. If someone clicks the link and buys the book, you get a commission. Many people make a living at doing just that. It's called affiliate marketing.
SUMMARY - WHY BLOG AT ALL
Blogging is probably the easiest way to add updates to your website (or it should be). Further, blogging software is intended to be interactive. Notice the little orange button on the blog that looks like this. Clicking that will take you to the RSS feed of my blog. RSS stands for Real Simple Syndication. In short, it's a publishing tool. Blogs can be subscribed to by anybody with an email client (like Outlook). Social media pages can subscribe to blogs (like Facebook, LinkedIN and Twitter). Blogging is a powerful tool and it is one of the few things I can't do for my client. It's probably one of the most professional contributions you can add to your business. So blog, and be the expert that you are. At the very least, Google will very much appreciate your tenacity and you'll be rewarded in the search engines.