Seems like everyone has a blog these days, but not everyone knows how to properly use their site to drive traffic, increase subscriber-ship, and make it an active marketing tool. Here are the top five mistakes many small business owners make with their blog.
1. Not Posting Regularly
A blog is dynamic, not static. The content needs to be updated frequently, preferably a minimum of twice a week. Not all posts need to be text; mix it up with video or audio pieces. Fresh content is what keeps visitors coming back and encourages them to become subscribers through your site’s RSS feed or sign-up form.
2. Post Content
Many blog owners post nothing more than advertisements for their company, products, or services. Who wants to read that? When it comes to your blog, content is king. Resist the urge to constantly promote your business and opt, instead, for interesting and informative content that provides a value to the reader. Don’t have any idea about what to write? Skim through the news and find a story related to your industry, then write a post that ties it in with the topic of your blog. Do include a link to the story’s source; this is good SEO and gives credit where credit is due.
3. Long and Boring Posts
This point ties in closely with mistake #2. Your goal is to offer good advice, an overview of industry news, perhaps a case study of one of your customers – anything that is pertinent, relevant, and informative. Then again, you can opt for an entertaining piece; something that makes the reader chuckle. Not sure if your content is boring? Ask someone else to read it and tell you what they think. And keep your posts to about 500 words maximum. Any longer than that, and you run the risk of losing readers before they make it to the end.
4. Mixing Business with Pleasure
A blog that represents your business needs to be professional in its form, design, and content. You do want to let your personality shine through and show visitors the person behind the company name but be careful that you don’t overdo personal information. Never discuss religion or politics. Keep news about your child’s elementary academic achievement out – but do talk up the latest industry or association award your company received. If you just can’t help but write about personal topics, start another blog; keep your business postings separate.
5. Allowing Spammy Comments
Your company’s reputation is closely related to the links on your site. Allowing spammy comments advertising where to buy Viagra not only looks bad, it has an adverse effect on your page ranking because of the outbound link to a site of questionable authority. If you have a WordPress blog, it comes with the Akismet comment spam plug-in already in place – use it! Do take the time to manually check the comments from your dashboard occasionally to ensure that a genuine comment didn’t get caught in the spam filters or vice versa.
Some business owners find it difficult to keep up with writing blog posts or delegate someone appropriate within the organization to do it. If this is a problem affecting your online marketing, contact us for a quote on keeping your blog content fresh and interesting.
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The dumber people think you are, the more surprised they’re going to be when you kill them.
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I am willing to make the mistakes if someone else is willing to learn from them.