What do you think about blogging? Be honest.
A few years ago, blogging was met with derogatory stares and remarks. It was something which teenagers did from the comfort of their bedrooms, talking about life, love, and everything else that bothered them. However, the business world has woken up to the benefits of blogging about various products and services they provide, and as a result, the derogatory stares and remarks are no more. If you’re trying to maximize your digital marketing strategy, a blog has to be part of it, almost at the very center of it. Why? Because a blog is a personal connection with your audience that allows you to speak to them on almost a personal level, building up trust and credibility in the process. Sure, a blog shouldn’t be your only approach to marketing, but it should be a very important part of your strategy.
What Does a Blog Really do?
Most companies will have a regular website and a section within that website which they dedicate to their blog. Other companies have a specific site dedicated to their blog only. It doesn’t matter how you do it, it only matters that the sites/sections link to one another. For many, a site with a blog tab allows them to keep everything in one place, therefore making it easier to manage. The rest of their site will cover the basics, e.g. contact details, information on offers, a catalog of products and services, any important news that the customers need to know, and in most cases, an online store that enables them to make sales. A blog is where the magic happens because you can’t make a personal connection with your audience on your regular site. The information you give there doesn’t show personality and while you might do your best to jazz it up a little, it’s always going to be bland in terms of how you connect to the audience. 
That’s where a blog comes in. Your blog will speak to your customers on a different level. There you will write in the first person, you will talk to them about subjects that matter to them, e.g. discounts, important times in the year, the subject which bother them or cause them stress, and you’ll offer them a solution to all of the above. Of course, the aim is for the solution to be a purchase of one of your products or services to make their life easier, but you will do this in a subtle way, which almost tricks the audience into making a purchase. It sounds underhanded when you put it that way, but it’s not the case. A blog is a connection on a deeper level.
It allows you to communicate important news, such as new promotions, perhaps charity work you’re doing as a business, and it helps you find out new opinions and ideas too. You can ask your blog audience for their input and as a result, you know any new endeavors or approaches you put into place will be on the money because it’s exactly what your customer wants. By doing this, you’re also developing something very important indeed – trust. When you speak to your customers on a personal level and when you talk to them about things which matter to them, they’re more likely to trust you. When a customer trusts you, they’ll purchase from you and they’ll stay loyal to you; they’ll also tell their friends and family about you and share your blog link. That’s instant marketing right there, all by being entertaining and informative on a personal level through your blog.
Must Haves For a High-Quality Blog
- Speak to your customer in the first person, this helps to develop a stronger personal connection
- Never make promises on your blog that you can’t keep; this will damage the trust that you have built up and in some cases, this can be irreparable
- Update your blog regularly, two or three times per week is the guideline you should follow
- Research keywords which are in demand and weave these into your content in a way which doesn’t stand out too much
- Make sure that you vary the types of content you upload, to avoid your blog becoming stale. Add in written pieces, infographics, and videos, and also ask for opinions, perhaps using polls which can serve a conversation starter
- If you can’t think of anything to blog about, it’s best that you don't blog at that time and just miss a day – boring content is not going to grab the attention you want!
- Make your blog interesting to look at, e.g. use interesting colors, formats, videos, pictures, links, etc.
- Choose subjects which are hot topics for the time of year, e.g. if a holiday is looming, talk about that, if there is a global topic which links into your business, mention it. This will help your blog appear more real.
These guidelines might be generic but they work very well. It goes without saying that the content you put onto your blog needs to be high quality. It needs to be free of grammatical and spelling errors and it needs to be easy to read. If you’re not a natural writer, why not hire the services of a freelance writer to help you out? That way you’ll build up that quality connection with your customers far easier and quicker, and you won’t be losing followers simply because your writing skills are far less effective than your business know-how!
Conclusion
If you were ever in doubt about the importance of blogging hopefully now you understand why it should certainly be at the heart of your digital marketing strategy. To make that happen, make sure that your website is high quality and that you’re constantly linking and cross-promoting your social accounts media too. Once you combine all the digital aspects of your business, you’re onto a serious winner.