Blogging for Online Marketing Success

Blog­ging plat­forms like Hub­Spot, Word­Press and Blog­ger have made pub­lish­ing con­tent on the web eas­ier than ever before. Blog­ging and cre­at­ing other con­tent like eBooks and webi­nars is a pow­er­ful way to help more of the right peo­ple dis­cover your busi­ness online.

When think­ing about blog­ging, take off your hat as a busi­ness owner and instead try to think like a mag­a­zine pub­lisher. The goal of your busi­ness blog should be to pub­lish arti­cles that are not pro­mo­tional but instead share indus­try exper­tise, much in the way a col­umn or an arti­cle in an indus­try mag­a­zine would. Think about what you are writ­ing and the words you are using. Don’t use indus­try jar­gon that only you and your employ­ees would under­stand. Instead, think of the words your cus­tomers use to describe your busi­ness and use those words in your blog posts.

Get­ting Set-Up Blogging

While writ­ing con­tent that is inter­est­ing to your prospec­tive cus­tomers is impor­tant, you first need a way to pub­lish that con­tent online. Many paid and free tools exist that pro­vide a way to let you eas­ily pub­lish online. When select­ing a blog­ging plat­form, take a few things into con­sid­er­a­tion. The most impor­tant thing you can do when you first start blog­ging is to make sure that your blog is a sec­tion of your busi­ness web­site. With­out a blog, a web­site is kind of like a brochure that doesn’t change often. A blog makes your web­site more dynamic by inject­ing new con­tent every time a blog arti­cle is added. Search engines reward higher rank­ings to web­sites who con­sis­tently add fresh con­tent. These higher rank­ings trans­late into new vis­i­tors and leads for your business.

Blog­ging Plat­forms to Check Out

While it is impor­tant that blog soft­ware be easy to use, it is more impor­tant that the con­tent you cre­ate be inter­est­ing. If you are look­ing for a blog­ging plat­form for your busi­ness, check out these options: Hub­Spot, Word­Press, Type­Pad, Dupal, Posterous.

Key Com­po­nents of a Great Blog Post

There are a few key com­po­nents of an effec­tive busi­ness blog post:

1. Title of Post
   This should be Key­word Heavy, Inter­est­ing and Con­cise.
   The title should cap­ture the theme of the post using key words busi­ness lead­ers will pay atten­tion to.
2. Text
   An effec­tive blog arti­cle is well writ­ten and pro­vides infor­ma­tive text. Using head­ers to block out main points makes it con­ve­nient for read­ers that scan con­tent to eval­u­ate spend­ing the time to read the entire post.
3. Images
   A text only post may appear dry espe­cially a post that is long. Use visu­als and other mul­ti­me­dia con­tent to pro­vide addi­tional inter­est to retain the reader’s atten­tion while keep­ing it mem­o­rable and fun to read.
4. Links
   Embed­ding links to rel­e­vant con­tent will con­firm the accu­racy of the infor­ma­tion of the blog arti­cle. And if these are tied together with lead gen­er­a­tion form’s will help con­vert read­ers to leads as they move through the sales funnel.
5. Call to Action forms
   Pro­vid­ing links to sup­port­ive con­tent in the blog arti­cle such as Down­loads or links to web­casts and other online con­tent. This not only pro­vides the reader an oppor­tu­nity to learn more on the posts topic, but it will boost engage­ment for fur­ther busi­ness growth.

What Should My Busi­ness Blog About?

Most busi­ness blogs start with a pur­pose. What are you try­ing to edu­cate your indus­try and poten­tial cus­tomers about? This edu­ca­tion is not about your prod­uct, but instead about com­mon indus­try issues and the prob­lems that your prod­uct or ser­vice helps to solve. A great way to start blog­ging is to think about the 10 most com­mon ques­tions you get asked by prospec­tive new cus­tomers. Take each one of those ques­tions and write a short arti­cle explain­ing an answer. Do this once a week for 10 weeks and you have the strong foun­da­tion for a suc­cess­ful blog. Once those first 10 weeks are over, check out this list of addi­tional ideas to keep your busi­ness blog packed with inter­est­ing con­tent. Remem­ber to let your exper­tise and pas­sion shine through your blog con­tent and keep some of these busi­ness blog best prac­tices in the back of your mind.

For more infor­ma­tion on B2B mar­ket­ing online, down­load the 2010 Online Mar­ket­ing Blue­print: A Mul­ti­me­dia Guide to Grow­ing Your Busi­ness Online from Hubspot.