Everyone’s aware of blogs. Chances are, you visit them on a daily basis as soon as you need an answer to a question. You head to Google, which then directs you towards the most common type of site on the internet: the blog!
But what exactly is a blog?
A blog is an internet site posted on the web, which most frequently consists of articles – or posts – written in everyday language, much like a journal.
Most often, blogs are hosted on non-specialist sites or on company websites, and represent the dynamic part of the website. Indeed, new posts are published regularly, and web users can add comments and thus interact with the company.
Maybe your company has a blog. But do you have a strategy that’s adapted to it and its content? And does all the effort you put into your blog bring you a concrete result in return?
Why create a company blog?
For your company blog, we’ve listed at least 6 excellent reasons why a blog is a vital element to complete your company website.
#1 To teach other people useful things. The people who visit your site will be thrilled to discover the valuable advice you have to offer as an expert.
#2 To establish yourself as an expert. A blog allows you to prove your knowledge and show that you and your company know what you’re talking about.
#3 To strengthen your knowledge through teaching and discussions. As the Feyman technique suggests, explaining something to someone is the best way to ingrain it in your own mind. And what’s more, the comments and discussions added by users offer new elements to the debate.
#4 To reinforce your professional network. Your blog allows you to contact other bloggers and sites in the same industry as you, which is quite a nice bonus! #
#5 To strengthen your SEO positioning. Of course, a blog is also an advantage for your content strategy. Google spiders love blogs, internal links and articles in general.
#6 To reinforce your professional network (part II). Your blog is a publishing platform. Providing that your company has a minimum of credibility, you can use this platform to interview or give a voice to people who you wouldn’t have otherwise contacted. We regularly interview other entrepreneurs from our region, and you’ll find the interviews… on our blog!
Planning your blog
Now that you understand why a blog is such a necessity, here are some things to think about before jumping in at the deep end:
#1 Choose your subject. Of course, it’s quite logical to imagine that you’ll write about the services your company offers. But some people decide to take a far more general editorial line. Whatever the subject, we can’t advise you strongly enough to choose a niche and develop expertise in it. There’s no point having too broad an aim, especially if you’re a small team.
#2 Think about your audience. This is a key rule that forms the foundation of all marketing, and yet it’s far too frequently ignored. You presumably know which type of person buys your products. But are the readers of your blog the same people? Or do you need to adapt your offering, or indeed your blog? We’ll discuss this further when we talk about Analytics.
#3 Consider your USP. What makes your company different to the rest? Do you offer a superior-quality product? Or exceptional after-sales services? Whatever it is, this aspect needs to be easily identifiable in your blog.
#4 Set SMART targets. Always think in numeric terms. So, for example, you might want to:
- Post 3 articles each month
- Receive 500 unique visitors to your blog each month
- Write 10 comments on other blogs in the first week
- Increase the number of subscribers to your newsletter to 1000 in 2 months
- Increase your number of Facebook followers to 2000 in a month
You can see that a clear and precise goal has a time frame, as well as a measurable objective.
Creating your blog
The platform you choose depends on your situation. If your website is on Wordpress or Wix, or other website builders in a similar style, it’s very easy to add a blog. Otherwise, contact your favourite web agency!
Once you’ve implemented the infrastructure, draw up a paper-based plan of the different tasks you’ll need to complete to meet the objectives we discussed earlier.
Regarding content…
A well-made blog will increase your online traffic significantly. This is why all the big names in the industry have blogs, and update them on a regular basis. Injecting proper resources into this channel is therefore a profitable investment.
Good content is neutral, informative, current and supported by easily consultable sources. Make sure to address your audience in an ordinary manner: a good copywriter knows how to put themselves in their audience’s shoes in order to keep them interested.
Promotion strategies
Without doubt, you have a social media presence. Make the most of the reach that social networks offer to reach as many users as possible, and not only those who arrive on your blog via search engines. Indeed, those who follow you on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram are most likely to be interested in your services and what you have to tell them.
In the same way, the people who have subscribed to your newsletter must be the first to receive your new articles. This kind of organic reach will often be the most effective way to share your expertise and articles.
How do you measure your success?
If you’ve followed us this far, you’ll have seen how we define clear and precise objectives. It’s now imperative, if you want your company blog to be a success, to measure your performance in terms of engagement and popularity from the very beginning.
Installing Google Analytics is, naturally, the first step towards achieving this. This will allow you to see how many visitors your blog receives, as well as your most-read articles, so you can find out what your audience likes.
Concerning the other objectives we mentioned, such as the number of articles, it’s important to be responsible about this with regard to your audience or colleagues. A blog should only go live when it has a minimum of 15 articles, in order to prove its viability and the motivation of the team writing it.
Sources
College Info Geek on starting a blog
Building a blog from scratch
Photo by Lisa Fotios from Pexels
Guillaume Duckerts is a writer, freelancer and specialist in information and communication technologies.
