In our inbound marketing strategies at DBC Digital, we find that business blogging is essential to maintaining an active connection with our local customer base. It’s also a very effective way to reach beyond Denver business centers to all points nationally as well. Our clients often ask us to help them do the same, so we’ve established some fundamentals for them to follow.

I. Make blogging an integral social media marketing component. It’s not an afterthought. It’s not a standalone item in your strategy. Blogging is powerful. It should be woven into a comprehensive business model. It extends and continues the story you tell to sell your products and services. Make sure that everything in your blog is consistent with that – logos, colors, tone, points of view and much more.

II. Do your homework. There’s no point in writing about something you know little about to an audience looking for something else. Write about your business. Write about how your your business can solve your prospects’ problems. Research those keywords that will lead your prospects to your blog for the solutions they’re seeking. It’s not that difficult. When in doubt, see what seems to work for other businesses. Don’t be afraid to try something out. If it fails, try something else. Keep learning. The Wright brothers didn’t achieve flight on their first attempts either.

III. Write for people. The temptation is to out-SEO, out-tag and out-content your competition in the flashiest way possible. Admittedly, those are all vitally important factors to consider in your writing. Google and other search engines are, however, increasingly looking for authentic quality in determining their rankings. Make your content readable, educational and entertaining for the people involved in the buying decisions. Provide appropriate “share” buttons for your clients and prospects to virally spread your marketing message.

IV. Be patient and consistent. Successful business blogging takes time. You need to grow a community of followers who appreciate your expertise and the validity of your inbound marketing message. They need to depend on your consistent sharing, whether you’re on a daily schedule or a couple times a week. Whatever it is, trust is an intangible component that cannot be overstated. Be reliable to your readers and you will earn their confidence.

V. Prepare for Success! You will need to make some changes to accomodate all this new business that your blog creates for you. You may need to add a sales person or two. Maybe your customer service department will require more training. For each individual company, success is going to look different. Imagine what it is going to look like for your business and get ready to put the systems in place to handle that success as seamlessly and as effectively as possible. Congratulations!

What has your experience in business blogging been like? How has its success affected your business? What kind of changes have you needed to make? Please let us know in the Comments section below.

The Magical Mystery of Blogging

A Magical Mystery?

Even though blogs have been around for quite a while now, I still see that “deer-in-headlights” look in some of our clients’ eyes when we urge them to use blogging to help them grow their business.

The magical mystery of blogging sounds, well, magical to them.

After all, blogs are everywhere and they are one of the best ways to grow your business.  They are not necessarily mystical, though.  A blog is simply a tool to write and publish entries (posts) and then invite visitors to comment on those posts.

A Solid Topic and Focus

To have a blog and use it for inbound marketing, you need a solid topic up front.  Choose something you are passionate and knowledgeable about.  That way, you can build a base of followers, which in turn drives traffic to your site and (ultimately) helps you grow your business.

Here is the most important basic rule:  If you are going to write a blog for your business, you need a topic: a focus.  Without a focus, you are going to have a tough time attracting an audience.  Your goal is to reach the point where your audience seeks you out because you consistently offer information that they find helpful.

No focus means no consistency, which means no audience.

The easiest way to choose a focus for your blog is to pick that part of your business you want to grow most in the coming year.  Common questions and concerns I hear are:

1. I don’t want to pick a narrow topic.  I’ll be stuck writing about it forever.
2. No one wants to hear what I have to say
3. My topic is so boring.  Why would anyone want to read it?
4. I can’t think of anything to write about.

Fear

All these concerns translate in to just one issue: fear.  We’re all trained to be terrified of writing.  Starting in grade school, we’re told that we’ll lose two points for missing a comma or four points for an incomplete sentence.  Then we get “stage freight” worrying that what we write won’t be good enough.

Well, you can take a deep breath and let go of that fear.  Blogging is the best form of writing therapy around.  People read blogs for content, not for grammatical perfection.  Of course, you should always strive to write grammatically correct because it does add credibility.  But one misplaced punctuation mark doesn’t mean you get an “F”.

So relax.  Take a deep breath.  Smile.  You are among friends.

Here are the two key tips to a successful blog:

• Write about something that excites you
• Write about something you know.

You’re probably thinking, “But I’m doing this to grow my business!” Well, if you are blogging for your business, my bet is that you will be very enthusiastic about your topic!

Think about it and find one or two (or many) things you care about in your career.  For example, if you are passionate about the way to get wine out of carpet, that’s your blog topic.  If you are a real estate professional, and truly care about the profession, write about it.

Dont’s

Don’t select a topic simply because you think that a lot of people search for it, or because you think that it would have a big audience.  Here’s why:

• Blogging requires a long-term commitment.  It is much easier to regularly write on a topic in which you’re interested.  And, you can more easily write regularly if you know a lot about the topic.
• Your audience won’t hesitate to point out subject matter mistakes.  That’s not a big deal; Mistakes happen.  But make sure that you’re right more often than not.  Knowing the topic is important.
• Your readers will know if you’re not passionate.  You won’t attract as many dedicated readers.
• It’s no fun to write about a topic you’re not familiar with.  Writing about a familiar topic is much more enjoyable.

“What if no one is interested in my topic?” Many clients ask that question.  In my experience, someone is always interested.  If you have a business and you’re selling your products or services successfully, chances are good that you have an audience.

Talk to them!