Ten Tips for Business Blogging & Writing Blog Posts

Ten Tips for Business Blogging and Writing Blog Posts

Over the last X6 months I have really enjoyed blogging and learning all about the benefits of blogs for businesses. Although Global Warming Today was my first ever blog, this I setup to educate myself on climate change and also blogging itself, I guess you could say my heart lies with this blog. I mean, although it is titled a “Business & Investment Blog” it is also a means for me to ramble about life and promote new ideas, businesses and projects that I am involved with.

Something I have realised since starting to blog is you need to be disciplined not to ‘find’ the time, but to ‘make’ the time to post new and exciting articles! And during these tough economic times, if you are running a small business, paying staff wages and working hard to keep ALL customers happy then finding this time can be difficult.

If the above sounds like you then I can personally relate to it! Almost all my own blog posts are written before or after work hours, over the weekends etc… I push myself constantly to ensure new content is added as often as possible, because I want my own sites / business ideas to develop and evolve… If I can find time, then so can you!

Another great thing about blogging for businesses is how quick content can be indexed by Google, unlike new web pages that may take months to be indexed; a new blog post could appear in Google’s search results in a matter of hours!

So what are my top ten tips for writing a blog post?

1 ) Don’t publish what you can tweet
2 ) Try keeping blog posts over 450 words
3 ) Make titles interesting and incorporate (not spam) keywords about your business
4 ) A blog post should be informative and offer something of value
5 ) Get a friend, colleague or partner to read your blog, check grammar, spelling etc
6 ) Try to be consistent in your style of writing, layout and opinions
7 ) Try to encourage visitors to interact with your site and post comments
8 ) Don’t forget to blog. Regular posts will attract not only readers but search engines
9 ) Research competitors, what are they blogging about?
10 ) When you publish a new blog post tell the world via sites such as twitter & digg.

Before we continue and look at the above points in more detail, please note that your blog will not become a massive success overnight! I have done lots of research online and everyone seems to say allow X6 months or more for a blog to take off… Also, don’t expect to make money from a blog, but expect to make money because you blog!

Think of your blog as like a long term investment, you put up the initial outlay, you invest your time and money into it, then in the back of your mind you may one day think will I ever see a return on this investment? Do people actually like what I write? Is blogging really helping boost my search results and new business generated online? Yes, X6 months of blogging is a big commitment, however building a solid foundation for your business and organic search engine results is going to be hard work! We live in a competitive world, and competition is good for business!

For now let’s step back and look at the ten tips for blogging I listed above. Below I have made some notes on each; I hope you find them of some use.

1. Don’t publish what you can tweet

By this I mean don’t blog for the sake of blogging, if you have 5mins to spare after a busy day at the office then you suddenly think shit I haven’t blogged in months, don’t do it for the sake of it! It really does bug me when I stumble across blog posts with catchy titles but no real content or value.

If you are looking to say “Hi guys, I’ve just created this amazing new tool for your business!” then why not setup a twitter account and use that? I would say keep your business blog for awesome content, write a glowing report on that new tool for businesses you created, then tweet a link directing people to that blog post!

2. Try keeping blog posts over 450 words

The long and short of it is search engines like to find and index unique content on the web, content is king! When it comes to writing blog posts for your company website try to make sure they offer the search engines some good old data for them to take away.

Sometime ago I found a report that said high ranking blogs such as SEOmoz.org had an average of 740 words per blog post. I guess the correct number of words for any blog post is the number it takes to complete it, so if you need to write 2000+ then write 2000+, however if top ranking blogs average 740 then that should be telling you something.

So why have I said try keeping blog posts over 450 and not 740? Well, this is just a guideline, for me 450 is enough to include some real value… And 450 is a number that all of us can set and achieve! Not all business owners will be avid bloggers and enjoying writing pages and pages of content, also they will have a business to run! My point is to set a minimal number of words for your blog post, anything over that number will then be a bonus!

3. Make titles interesting and incorporate (not spam) keywords about your business

If you haven’t already then please make sure the URL’s generated by your blogging software include keywords relevant to your blog post and title. It is much more difficult to achieve tidy search results if a blog post you have titled “X10 tips for writing blog posts” is visible on a page named yourbusiness.com/yourblog/?p=54 … What you want it to be called is yourbusiness.com/yourblog/10-tips-for-writing-blog-posts because this contains those all important keywords!

Try to incorporate keywords relevant to your business and the products or services mentioned in that particular blog post. Why not search for “google adwords keyword tool” on the web and research some of the more commonly searched phrases related to your blog post. Finding out what words are popular could really influence the page name, page title and content of your blog post.

4. A blog post should be informative and offer something of value!

Research on blogging and successful bloggers has showed me that educating the reader is a highly effective way of generating business and loyal followers. Before starting any new blog posts I think it is important to define your goals and identify why you are writing it? Are you simply trying to say “buy my product now” or are you telling people about you, your plans for the future etc? How personal are you prepared to make each blog post, and what can you offer within each blog post that is unique to all others?

5. Get a friend, colleague or partner to read your blog, check grammar, spelling etc before posting it!

This is sooo important, especially if like me you don’t read a lot or didn’t pay that much attention in school. Although it is good practice to read and re-read all new blog posts, do several spell checks etc, sometimes typos do find there way onto a website or blog, if this happens don’t loose sleep over it, I know I wont! However, the less typos you do end up publishing the better, a sloppy blog post on a company website could do more harm than good!

Like all things in life, the more you do the better you become! My first few blogs posts took ages to write, and my wife found lots of silly typos! However, after lots of practice I now find blogging much easier and it has become part of my day to day business!

6. Try to be consistent in your style of writing, layout and opinions

When it comes to writing a blog post try and keep some consistency in all posts, by this I mean the layout of photos, bullets, banners, font, colours etc… It is amazing how many people want one webpage to look like X and another webpage to look like Y… When it comes to website design and blogging remember to keep things consistent, this keeps things simple, not only for you but for the user! Also, don’t write for someone else’s approval, make sure the blog represents you and reflects your business.

7. Try to encourage visitors to interact with your site and post comments

Although our own blogs are still pretty young in the grand scheme of things, I do end each post with a question or two directed at you the reader, however I am finding decent comments few and far between! Ok, if I wanted a Rolex or to improve my sex life then I would have thousands of comments! Let’s face it; automated spam sent to your blog is not worth publishing for actual readers / customers to view… Although decent comments are hard to come by, when you do finally receive one it feels awesome!

8. Don’t forget to blog. Regular posts will attract not only readers but search engines

In my opinion a blog (or website) that has its news last updated 3 or more months ago gives the impression of an unloved business / website. I mean come on; if you are asking people to buy a product or service from you then this does not create a good impression! Think of your website as your shop window, and think of your blog as your own News station keeping the world up-to-date on what’s new and happening at your business.

Updating a blog with regular posts will give your readers a reason to check back more often, more content will also create opportunities for inbound links to your blog! Blog maintenance really is a win win situation for the blogger and reader!

9. Research competitors, what are they blogging about?

In business it is important not to re-invent the wheel too often; by this I mean almost all new businesses will have some form of competition out their already established! This head start could be seen as a hurdle or challenge, but in terms of website development and blogging it should be seen as a form of research… Take the time to look at others in your sector. Do they blog? Do they tweet? Do they have a site? Then look at what they blog, how often they blog, what they tweet, how often they tweet etc!

10. When you publish a new blog post tell the world via sites such as twitter & digg.

If you are actively using social sites to promote your business then your friends or followers are the perfect people to notify about new blog posts. You may also want to search users and network with other bloggers, ask people for inspiration, feedback, comments or simply say “please forward this new blog post to your friends”.

It is no secret that so many bloggers have embraced social networking sites such as twitter, using them as a means to promote new blog posts, attract visitors and speed up the indexing process. If you have not already then please register your company name with twitter, digg, facebook, youtube etc… Even if you don’t end up using them just yet, it is better to have and not need than to need and not have!

So there you have it, X10 tips for writing a blog post… Whether you are a small business, large business or simply a dude who blogs for fun, I hope the above information was of some value to you? If you would like to add your own tips and tricks on how to become a successful blogger then below is the perfect place to do it!

Please stay tuned for some more mega informative blog posts coming soon, I have several ideas / projects that I aim to document in great detail throughout 2011. A lot of these are directly linked to Tidy Design and web marketing so I hope the information I share will assist others out there.

Thanks for reading, Michael Jon Ward.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 21st, 2011 at 10:25 am and is filed under Business, Investments, Marketing, Networking, News, Self Help, Writing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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