Blogs come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Individuals can blog their thoughts and advice; companies can use it as a diary, introducing new products, clients or events or start discussions with their readers. Some, like mine is a way to share information and knowledge.
Blogs are less formal than a website, and the personality of an individual and the culture of a company can shine through. After all, whether buying face-to-face or over the internet, people still buy from people so blogs are an ideal way to build rapport and start conversations with your target markets.
How often shall I blog?
How often you blog really depends what you want to get out of it and the resources you have to write it and keep it updated.
Individual Blogs
If your blog just to share your personal thoughts, then there are no hard and fast rules – in other words, blog as and when you feel the urge!
Business BlogsCompany blogs however, do need consistency and regular entries. In effect, your blogs are like another website, and an additional opportunity for their keywords are picked up by the search engine spiders, helping prospective clients and current customers to find you and click-through to your website.
Keeping up the momentum
I decided that my company's marketing mix needed at least 1 blog posts per month, to tie in with our newsletter and the regular talks I give at different events, exhibitions etc.
Now, at this point you are probably glancing at my blog history and thinking, "Hmm, good intentions, but you had rather a gap until earlier this year!"
Well, here is where I hold my hands up – I’d unconsciously slipped into the 'I'll do it tomorrow' habit as so many people do when things get really busy... clients come first and our own marketing has taken a bit of a back seat.
Whilst the odd blip short term is OK, longer term, our lack of focus on this part of our marketing means that we have been missed by potential clients who looking for the type of information I can give them.
I still believe that my blogs, and sharing my knowledge and information through them is a major part of Sookias Media's marketing. So having slipped for a while, I have reminded myself to follow the Top 5 Tips for successful blogging that I give to our digital PR clients.
5 Top Tips for Successful Blogging
- Decide your strategy. In other words, how are you going to use your blog? Is it for personal thoughts, as a promotional diary, for sharing thoughts and knowledge, etc?
- Decide how often you will blog. Be realistic here. It is better to decided on 1 blog per month and achieve that, than trying to blog once a day and losing momentum after the first week.
- Keep a list of blog ideas. I have inspiration at the most unusual times and places. By writing them down means you will remember them – it is so much easier to write a blog when you don’t need to think about what to write first. Also, ask clients and prospects what subjects they would like to read about and incorporate them as part of your sales process.
- Set time aside to work on your blog. Write several posts in one sitting. Then, publish one and set the others to be automatically posted at later dates and times.
- Let people know when you have posted a new blog – add a comment on your website, send a tweet, publish a message on Facebook and include it in your LinkedIn status. Make sure your blog allows people to subscribe to an RSS feed so they can choose to be informed of your updates automatically.
For more information on how blogs can work for your business, contact us today on +44 1283 808460 or email hello@sookiasmedia.com. www.sookiasmedia.com
