Writing a business blog

 
Are you writing a business blog? If you are, or perhaps if you’ve  set up the blog but not yet got round to generating any content, there is the question of the correct tone to adapt. Once you have set up your blog, you may ask yourself,  “Should I sell on my blog”. It’s a great platform for telling customers about your business, right?
Wrong.

Blogging Tips

Our number one tip for blogging for business – don’t sell on your company blog.
When considering what to write on your blog, try this approach : Imagine you’re at a party talking to someone – “Look at this really interesting thing I heard about. Did you know about this? What do you think?”  – let this line of thought inform your writing.
Put a slant on it that will appeal to your customers, talk about how the issue will affect them, and link to relevant content on your website and in your other blogs. Highlight what you found interesting or helpful if you believe it to be useful and relevant to your target market – if you believe they’ll get some value from it.

Providing information with your company blog

If there is a news story that you think your customers will be interested in, write about it and think how it will affect them and their business. Give more examples from other stories you’ve heard or researched ( a quick Google search will  help you here) and expand on the original story. Don’t think of it as a way to push sales, primarily because it won’t work. Think of it as a way of providing hard information that your customers will find useful – and may not get anywhere else. Think of it as a way to build your credibility and the trust factor. That in itself will pay dividends down the line, in terms of hard sales, when the time is right for your prospect to buy.

Giving useful tips on your company blog

Another way that you can get the best from your company blog is to provide useful tips. We all love tips and advice, and people love to share useful, well-written content – make sure that it comes from you though. Cutting and pasting other people’s work is not only poor etiquette and practice, but it will also get you penalised in the search engines’ eyes.

Using your company blog to inspire discussion

Ask questions in your blog – provide case studies, point out examples of issues that you agree or even disagree with. Ask your readers to comment or put their own points of view.  They may not leave comments, but hopefully your blog will stick in their mind and make them think a bit. Your readers will be more likely to return and read further blog posts if you write ones that stick in their mind!

Keep the discussion going – social sharing

Talk about your blog entry on Twitter, on Facebook, on LinkedIn, on Tumblr. Find out what your customers are thinking, ask then outright if they agree, keep the chat going. You never know, you may even change your mind totally on your original position – one of the things that can happen with a good online discussion.

Don’t sell on your blog

If your blog is a thinly-disguised sales pitch, then you might as well have it as part of your main website. Don’t fall into that trap. Write good content, inspire discussion and provide tips. Make your company blog a real must-read affair.
How does your company blog stack up in terms of the points above? Any other thoughts on selling on your company blog?