Blogging: It’s not so simple when it’s for a business

Tuesday, 31 August 2010 09:00

No matter what kind of business you have, or how small or large your business might be, having a blog for your business helps you stay in touch with your customers.

A blog will draw your prospects closer because they can learn about your business and what you sell. Blogs help build customer loyalty, and they also help you create a personal relationship with your customers.

But that’s where things get a little tricky.

Because you’re writing directly to your customers and letting them have a conversation with you but also doing so in a way that markets your business, you can’t follow the same rules as people who have personal blogs.

You need to be careful about the advice you follow on “how to blog”, because that information isn’t always applicable to business blogging. Most of it is written by people and for people with personal blogs – they have much more leniency about what they post, and how they post it.

If you’re here to do business, then you’ll have to blog a little differently.

For example, many bloggers tell heartfelt, personal stories infused with emotion, but that’s not going to work for you if you’re looking to improve your bottom line. You can’t write your opinion on controversial topics or vent in a rant on a matter that made you angry. You might end up hurting your sales if you did.

You also have to be careful about how much personality you pour into posts. Some bloggers curse like sailors or fling about sassy remarks, and that works for them because they’re not running a mid-sized business or large corporation. Imagine if the CEO of Nike began swearing avidly on his website! Would that make you want buy some running shoes? Probably not.

The point is, when you own a business blog, you can’t play by the same rules as other bloggers do. You have to be more careful about presenting your words in a way that leaves a good impression with customers and potential clients, and that helps you use your blog to market your business.

Here are some tips to help you do just that:

Never write about problematic clients

Writing about customers who skipped out on payment or who were rude to your staff with the intention of being ‘helpful’ to your readers actually sends a message to potential customers that you’re not on their side or willing to do what it takes to create satisfied customers.

Plus, would you work with a company that may bad mouth you? Or even worse, your business? Businesses don’t like negative PR, so don’t make yourself look like a drama queen.

Always sound successful

I’ve seen some business owners blog about their quarterly losses and the economic crunch they feel. That just lets potential customers know that your business isn’t doing so well and that they might be better off working with your competition.

And even if you were doing financially well, why in earth would you publish how much money you’re making? It makes you look dumb because all you’ll be asking for is more competitors. Because where there is money made, businesses will flock.

Be careful with controversial subjects

This isn’t as easy as it sounds. Avoid sensitive topics like sex and religion, but also stay away from sharing opinions or personal stances on potentially inflammatory topics like recent laws or industry practices. The old saying stands: if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.

And if you happen to write about something controversial, make sure you have facts to back up your claims and try not to let your emotions get in the way.

Show values

Talking about the values your business supports or upholds is a good idea. If you believe business should be ethical, transparent and environmentally conscious, then certainly post about that – but in passing, and be careful with your thoughts. Downplay hard stances or strong opinions and never speak ill of the competition.

One of the best places you can show the values your company believes in is your about page. And don’t do this in a boasting fashion, but instead do it by talking about the problems you can solve for your potential customers.

For example, if I were Southwest Airlines and had a blog, I would talk about how we believe in going the extra mile to help family members have a great experience by blogging about all the little things that make this possible, such as preferred seating for families. When you have a family, traveling isn’t easy and because Southwest doesn’t have assigned seating, a lot of families may decide to not book a flight with them, but that could change if people knew about the preferred seating for families.

Don’t write for yourself

In business blogging, you’re always writing for your customers first and your business second. Your personal needs have to come way down on your list of priorities. Remember that your goal is to get sales, draw in new clientele and boost business by informing readers, not sharing warm fuzzies.

As you start blogging, you’ll notice that when you blog about things that help your customers you’ll get more of them. And when you blog about how cool your company is, you won’t get any new customers.

Put your blog in its’ place

My first blog was a online marketing blog and I made the mistake of using it as a landing page. That meant visitors would land on the blog and think, “Oh, free tips on marketing, great!” I would have had them rather think, “Here’s an online marketing consultant that I can hire.”

A blog is an add-on feature, and you should treat it as such, marketing your blog and your business is just spreading yourself thin. You need one brand and not two separate brands as it will create confusion.

Remember your purpose

A business blog has one main goal: to get customers and sales. Blog about your products, your services, case studies, satisfied customer stories, specials, promotions, new releases… Your blog is a marketing tool for your business, so go ahead and promote in your posts.

Don’t be boring

Having a business blog doesn’t mean you need to be stiff. It’s okay to connect with potential customers on a personal level. Just be sensible about sharing, maintain a good balance of business information and shy away from writing whole posts about your kids or your favorite sport.

Try not to give away the farm

Blogs make it easy for people to pour out tons of free information, but free doesn’t make your business more money. Give away just enough information to demonstrate your knowledge and credibility to your readers, but reserve the actual techniques or how-tos for those who hire you, buy your product or sign up.

And if you decide that you want to give away some of your “secret sauce”, do so by releasing that information in a free ebook or whitepaper. And before people can download it, make them give you their name, email address, company name, and phone number. This way one of your sales people can follow up with them and convert them into a customer.

Don’t be afraid to ask

Feel comfortable telling people what you’d like them to do, because in many cases they won’t think of contacting you or clicking the buy button or signing up for more blog updates until you put the idea in their head. Use call-to-action in every post, if you can. Just change the wording so that it looks new and different.

Quality over quantity

Don’t market your blog to peers and colleagues as these people aren’t your ideal customer. Having them as readers might help boost your RSS subscriber numbers, but that won’t help you make sales. Find where your targeted prospects hang out and invite them to your blog instead.

You can also participate in relevant forums and blogs by commenting. Every blog that you are commenting on will ask you for your website URL. So as long as you are adding value to the conversation, people will click on over to your website and hopefully start reading your blog. Or better yet, become a new customer.

Conclusion

When blogging for business, your ultimate goal is to convert readers to buyers, so make sure that you put effort into helping achieve that conversion. Link to your sales pages within blog posts, talk about what you can do for people and play up that you’re a business with something to offer.

Remember that your blog shouldn’t be the main attraction. It’s just a gateway to help readers discover your business and get them excited about the bigger and better things you sell.