Here at Future Blogging, we are continuously being asked how companies can benefit from having a blog. Blogs help raise brand awareness and improve customer relationships in a way that is also efficient to promoting search engine visibility.
We only published a post revealing the business benefits just over a month ago, but in this blog we reveal five of the commonly asked questions, along with information that will hopefully provide the answers!
Is a company blog for everyone?
I would agree that some businesses would benefit more from possessing a company blog than others, however that isn’t to say that any given company wouldn’t benefit from blogging at all.
Businesses blog for different purposes, but the main objective remains the same- increase brand awareness. Some of the main benefits are listed below;
- demonstrate expert knowledge
- increase SEO
- build a foundation for contacts
- generate more traffic
- improved communication
- customers receive regular company updates- via subscription
- reputation control
- improve media & public relations
Blogging is traditional used as a way of getting your views across to the world of people online. The ability to frequently add varied content to a website increases the likelihood of not only attracting more visitors, but encourage them to become loyal too.
Will many people read our blog?
A well structured strategy needs to be created if a business is going to invest in a blog. As blogging requires time and commitment, a company needs to appreciate the effort required if they’re going to reap the benefits on offer.
Providing regular, quality content is vital for any blog wanting to attract loyal readers who make a habit of returning. If the content is well written and useful, the chances are that someone will ‘retweet’ your work elsewhere.
Blogging can be related to goals in everyday life. If you are training for a marathon, the only way to achieve the desired level of fitness is through regular training. If you decide to quit training for two months, the likelihood is that you will find yourself back where you started.
Blogging can be identified in a similar way; A loyal readership takes time to establish, but once your content attracts more people, the ‘word of mouth’ affect should enable your blog to pick up more frequent and productive exposure (a link back).
How will people become aware of my blog?
A blog can be promoted through various channels. Social sites are the most common method for exposing your content. Places like Twitter and Facebook provide you with an endless audience to notify of new posts.
The fundamental purpose of forums is to provide a prime opportunity to interact with communities of similar interest and can therefore be particularly effective as distribution channels.
Adding social bookmarks to each post gives readers the convenient option of informing people on popular social sites that your post is worth reading. Sites such as Delicious attract over 5 million viewers and the chances are someone will be interested in what you have to say.
Good content will rank highly in search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing. Better search engine visibility means more traffic arriving at your site.
By subscribing to a RSS feed, your content will automatically be exposed towards people with similar interests. The chances are the receivers will also be bloggers, and therefore possesses the prospect of linking out to your content.
How frequently does a blog need updating?
It is fair to say that a blog needs at least 2/3 posts a week to gain high readership and more importantly, a loyal readership base. If you don’t post enough, readers will soon forget about your existence and start following a blogger who does write frequently.
There is always content to write about and it doesn’t necessarily have to be consistently about one subject. The beauty of a blog is that no one expects a continuous flow of the same material and by mixing your content up, you’re encouraging a wider audience to visit your blog.
To help abide by a strategy, consider employing a company or freelancer to help produce the content on a regular basis. We write posts for several companies and always ensure that a close, productive relationship is sustained to maximise the benefit to our clients.
What services can blogging offer a company?
This question ties in with how a blog can benefit a business. Depending on what a business hopes to achieve from a blog, defines the services which can be provided.
Blogging enhances optimisation prospects and opens up the door for further analysis via applications such as Google Analytics. Users won’t just stumble over your website through search engines, you have to force recognition through different channels such as social sites.
Twitter is a good source for self-promotion, providing a social network, messaging platform and search engine. Blogging helps to develop contacts within these sites; by promoting each post online you can invite an audience who have a genuine interest in the post topic.
If a company is struggling to maintain an efficient reputation strategy online or having problems overcoming a communication barrier, than blogging can be the solution. Blogs are not only used as a process for generating new traffic, you have to think about your current customers too.
A blog can offer an effective way to respond to negative feedback or to help solve customer concerns. Blogs have also proved an effective way of promoting new deals and products in a better way to other marketing strategies. A well exposed blog can immediately have new promotions in front of not only existing customers, but new ones too.
Customers have the option of leaving a comment on posts, indicating eagerness from the company that you are keen to interact with them. Blogs act as a useful tool for inspiring customer interaction and create a feeling of companionship.
There is so much to explore within the blogging world, but that doesn’t mean that you should shy away from becoming involved. At a relatively low cost, blogging offers a very low risk investment and the opportunity to construct a successful long-term path towards online brand recognition.
Are there any other questions that you need answering with regards to business blogging? If so leave your comment below or alternatively drop us an email at enquiries@futureblogging.co.uk and we will be happy to help.