Business Logs

Helping companies communicate better

Top 10 Benefits of Business Blogging

Why does your business need a blog?  I could go on and on about why businesses can benefit from publishing a blog, but I’m going to narrow it down to the top 10 benefits listed below.

1. Direct marketing and promotion

While businesses should never use a blog solely for self-promotion, it’s not forbidden to include marketing messages now and then.  If your business is offering discounts or coupons that benefit your consumers, then there is no harm in talking about them on your business blog.  Similarly, you can talk about your products and link to your online catalog.  Just remember that at least 80% of your online content should not be self-promotional.

2. Establish expertise

Use your blog to establish your business as the go-to place for information related to your industry, products, and so on.  If you publish great content on your business blog, others will notice and share that content.  In time, you’ll develop a reputation as an expert in your field with reliable and authoritative information that is useful.  That’s the kind of content and expertise that people actively seek. [Read more…] about Top 10 Benefits of Business Blogging

5 Ways to BE Successful with a Business Blog

business blogging successAnyone can start a business blog, but not everyone can be successful as a business blogger.  That’s because writing for a business blog is different from any form of traditional marketing or business development.  Instead of self-promoting and selling on your business blog, you need to focus on dialogue and relationships in order to find success.

Following are 5 fundamental requirements you need to follow to BE successful with your business blogging efforts:

1. Be human.

No one will want to spend time with you online (or offline) if you sound like you’re reading from a corporate brochure or PowerPoint presentation.  Your blog posts must demonstrate your personality and be written in a conversational style and tone befitting of your target audience.  They have to be interesting and engaging, and they must be completely devoid of any corporate rhetoric. [Read more…] about 5 Ways to BE Successful with a Business Blog

Harness the Power of Business Blogging for Brand Building

"business blog"One of the biggest opportunities for businesses when it comes to leveraging the reach of the online conversation happening on the social Web is related to brand building.  By participating in online discussions, you can create brand awareness, recognition, recall, loyalty and advocacy that lead to an extremely powerful brand overall.

First, what is a brand?

A brand is a promise to consumers that creates customer expectations for every experience they have with that brand.  As you continually meet those customer expectations for your brand, consumers develop loyalty to it, seeking it out over other brands, and advocating it (or defending it) to other consumers.

Next, how do you build a brand?

There are three main steps to building a brand that apply regardless of the industry your business is in or the tools you use to communicate your brand messages and develop your brand image.  Those three steps are: [Read more…] about Harness the Power of Business Blogging for Brand Building

Business Blog or Die – The GPS of Blogging for Business Revealed

Business Blog“Why does my business need a blog?  It can’t help me.”

I hear that question all the time and I always respond in the same way.  There are three primary reasons why every business can benefit from publishing a business blog, which I refer to as the GPS Effect:

1. The Google Effect

Business blogs create entry points.  How do people find businesses, brands, products and services these days?  Not the Yellow Pages.  Nope, they visit Google.com and type in keywords to find the information they need.  Your business needs to be listed in those results.  Certainly, search engine optimization (SEO) is important, and entry points are an important part of SEO.

For example, imagine that your business Web site has 10 pages.  That’s 10 ways Google can find your site.  Now, imagine that you write a blog connected to your business Web site and publish a new post everyday for a year.  Now, you have 365 more entry points for Google to find your site.  And what if the content you write on your blog is amazing and shareworthy?  People will link to it, talk about it, tweet it, blog about it, and so on across the social Web opening up even more entry points for Google to find your site and include it in search results for keywords related to your business.  A business would be crazy not to jump at the opportunity that the Compounding Effect of Blogging offers. [Read more…] about Business Blog or Die – The GPS of Blogging for Business Revealed