- Blogs increase SEO to your website, as long as it is set up correctly.
- Blogs enable your company to provide anecdotal summaries that show you are the expert in your field.
- Blogs are social, and allow for a give and take between your company and your reader to answer questions and provide additional information.
- Blogs enable your company to be found by customers based on ideas and concepts, instead of just product names.
Depending on how nit-picky you chose to get, this list could continue on for quite a ways. Rarely in life is the WHY the easy question. Most often, the WHAT or the HOW is the easier question. So for this article, we’re not concerned with the WHY you should have a blog for your business. We’re concerned with the WHAT to write and the HOW to come up with new information.
When your personal muse has gone on hiatus and you are searching desperately for something new and interesting to write about, remember what the main purpose of a blog is: to share information. There is an application on your computer whose sole purpose is to share information, and it’s called your email program. Every time someone has asked you a question, there is an opportunity to turn the answer into a blog post.
For example, if a customer emailed you a question on how to use your product, there’s a good chance that someone else doesn’t know how to use it correctly, either. Write a blog, and call it, “How to best use this product.” The idea is, if someone in the future is having trouble, and they turn to Google, presto! They type in “How do I use this product?” and your blog appears.
Almost any email you send or receive can become a blog posting, if you look at it as pure information. Another example: An email from a vendor, explaining that your product is going to be late because of limits at the factory? Re-write this received email as an explanation for low inventory.
Who handles customer complaints at your company? Every single time a customer has made a valid claim against you, it should be addressed in a blog. I don’t mean paste a transcription of the complaint against you. If a customer complained because you deliver, and it took too long, write a blog article discussing appropriate delivery expectations. Customer service complaints show where you and your customer have had a breakdown in the communication, and by answering all of these complaints in a written format, you potentially stop the complaint from happening again with a different customer.
Blogs need to be relevant to your business. There is no more relevant a source than the communications already sent regarding your business from people with questions and concerns.
