The most successful businesses know that selling is about connection. Your customers need to trust that they can turn to you, not just for products, but for answers. For insight. For know-how.
Starting a business blog can help position your business to gain that trust and boost your business. On average, small businesses that blog gain 67% more leads than those who don’t.
One way to do this is to create a business blog that really connects with your customers.
What is a business blog?
A business blog is a web page where people can find news, short articles, and stories about your business. This is a channel your business can use to regularly generate and share engaging content that is meaningful to your customers and industry.
Starting a business blog can help you achieve several common marketing goals at once:
- Increase brand awareness. Each blog post can give you a new chance to market your business, expand your reach, and introduce your business to potential customers.
- Improve visibility. Writing and updating your business blog regularly can improve search engine optimization (SEO). Therefore, customers looking for relevant products or services online are more likely to find your business.
- Educate Potential Customers. Whether your products are simple or complex, your business blog can help customers learn how to get the most from them. It’s a great way to share how-to guides, discuss ways to use the products, and provide other educational content.
- Establish yourself as an expert. By regularly posting well-researched and well-designed blog posts, you can position yourself and your business as an authority in your industry.
- Sell ââproducts and services. You don’t have to make a hard sale to convert customers. Great blogging content, even if it’s news or industry information, can also help sell products and services. In fact, the more credibility you gain, the more it can help grow your business.
How to start a business blog
To start a successful business blog, you’ll need a few initial hours for setup and planning, as well as consistent time slots for writing and strategy going forward. These five steps can help you get your blog started and keep it running.
- Configure your corporate blog
You can set up your business blog by updating your current website to include a blog section or by starting a website with a user-friendly platform like WordPress or Squarespace. Starting a new site may require purchasing a domain.
You can use a pre-designed template for your blog or hire a web designer to create a unique layout. Experts recommend putting your reader first, no matter what approach you take, and choosing a blog format that’s easy to read and navigate.
- Define your goal
The most important work begins before your fingers touch the keyboard. What do you want your business blog to accomplish? Do you want to sell more products? Help customers find new ways to use your services? Identify your first level objective?
You can do some basic competitor research to find out how other businesses in your industry are approaching their blogs and think of ways to make yours unique.
- Find your audience
Once you know what you want from your blog, it’s time to figure out what your customers want. By researching your target audience, you can find out what kind of content they’re looking for. You can also use free tools like Google Trends to find popular topics or paid tools like BuzzSumo to find trending articles in your industry.
Other ways to tap into the needs of your customers include social media surveys and exploring frequently asked questions from your customer service team.
- Create a content strategy
Once you have your list of topics, turn it into a content strategy. Ideally, you’ll want to create a variety of content types for your blog. Popular blog post formats include how-to articles, numbered lists, and case studies.
Which topic best fits each style of content?
Once you’ve answered this question, you can think about how often your team can produce blog posts and develop an editorial calendar with publication dates for each post. One way to do this is to account for product launches, vacations, and other seasonal events. Add relevant content ideas for each topic.
To keep the content up to date and stay relevant as an industry expert, you can post new blog posts weekly or monthly.
- Create high quality blog posts
You are now ready to start writing. By working with your team or hiring a copywriter, you can produce consistent, high-quality blog posts that implement your established strategy, reflect your business tone, and speak in a way your audience can understand.
To make your blog posts easier to find online, you’ll also need some basic knowledge of search engine optimization (SEO) techniques. For example, using relevant keywords in your blog posts can help increase traffic to your website.
Four ways to promote your business blog
The more traffic your business blog receives, the more likely you are to achieve your marketing goals. There are many promotional tactics you can use to promote your blog. Below are four different ideas to get you started.
Ask readers to subscribe
When a potential customer visits your site for the first time, ask them to subscribe to come back to your site again and again. Chat with your website designer about adding a pop-up or message to make it easier to subscribe.
To subscribe, customers can use their choice of blog reading apps. These applications retrieve updates from the RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed that your blog automatically creates. You might also consider setting up a mailing list that automatically sends updates when you post a new message.
Invite readers to share
Getting the same visitors back to your website over and over again can give your business a boost. But getting them to encourage others to visit can be even more helpful. And when the content on your blog is awesome, they’ll want to share.
You can add a social sharing plugin to your blog so that readers can publish your blog posts on their own social media pages with just one click.
Post links on social networks
You can also post links to your blog posts on your business social media pages. Depending on the size of your audience, you could reach hundreds or thousands of people who have already expressed an interest in your business.
Many blog links shared on social media include a compelling article. By creating a teaser, you can help your subscribers understand the value they will get from your content. Some ways to do this are by asking an interesting question that your blog post will answer, linking to a pain point that you know your customers are having, or using a call to action to get them to click and click. read.
Share it with your mailing list
Your mailing list is another great way to direct people to your professional blog. Whenever you email your subscribers, ask them about new products, or share special discounts, you can include links to your blog posts – or even include them in your email signature.
By keeping your blog at the top of their inbox, you can help spark the interest of inactive customers and turn one-time buyers into repeat customers.
A business blog is an essential part of any effective digital marketing strategy. Along with social media, email marketing, and digital advertising, starting a blog can be an effective way to achieve major marketing goals. As your business grows, remember that you can manage your finances online with a business bank account or apply for a small business loan to keep up with your situation. Meet with an investment banker to learn about all of the options available to you.
You can use a pre-designed template for your blog or hire a web designer to create a unique layout. Experts recommend putting your reader first, no matter what approach you take, and choosing a blog format that’s easy to read and navigate.
For informational / educational purposes only: The opinions expressed in this article may differ from those of other employees and departments of JPMorgan Chase & Co. The opinions and strategies described may not be suitable for everyone and are not intended to be advice / specific recommendations for an individual. You should carefully consider your needs and goals before making any decisions and consult with the appropriate professional (s). Outlook and past performance are no guarantee of future results.
JPMorgan Chase Bank, NA FDIC Member. Equal Opportunity Lender, © 2021 JPMorgan Chase & Co.