In the previous post we stated the importance of the business blog. Knowing about the business blog is a good starting point, now we’ll take a look at the uses of the business blog to promote and grow your business.
1. Frequently Asked Questions
Your blog can be utilized as a customer service and information desk for your business. Here you can post answers to Frequently Asked Questions by your customers, This allows you to refer customers to your blog instead of having to respond to each customer via email or over the phone.
2. Contests and Promotions
Contests are a great way to drive traffic to your site and build interest in your company. Fun contests and games that are easy to enter and take part in serve as great promotion and bring your customers back.
3. Photo Blog
Not the Wordy type? Instead of writing, you could put up a daily photo for your customers. A photo and a short description can be very compelling. These can be photos of your staff members, product offerings, team days or anything that could capture the imagination of your customers while staying true to your company’s character.
4. Developer Notes
If you are in the business of developing any type of product – whether it’s software, fashion designs or a new braai spice – a behind the scenes look can often be fascinating for your customers, to see what you are doing and how new projects and products might be moving forward. It’s also an excellent way to build anticipation for your new offering – Just make sure that you deliver!
5. News
Keep your customers informed by blogging about the latest news in your area of expertise or about the specific topic(s) relevant to the company.
6. A Recruitment tool for your business
Potential employees can learn about your culture, your policies, your way of interacting with the world, and the process you use for hiring employees through your blog. It is a powerful tool for engaging the people who might want to potentially work for you.
7. Build your personal brand
A business blog allows you the opportunity to put a voice to your brand, and gives you the opportunity to develop and meet customer expectations for your brand.
8. Web Presence
A business blog extends your business’ Web presence. Each new blog post you publish on your business blog becomes another entry point, and with each new entry point comes the potential for more traffic.
For small businesses it is a low-cost alternative to having a web presence. For small business owners without the time to learn web html or the money to hire a designer/developer, blogging offers an inexpensive method to get your company’s name out on the Internet.
9. What’s New Pages
If you add lots of new articles, information, or products regularly, sometimes it can be difficult for your customers to find out what’s new. A quick blog entry can show them what’s updated on your site.
10. What’s Coming
You can use a blog to peak interest in future products or projects. It’s also a great way to keep notes about what you’re planning for your customers, the entries are archived so nothing is lost either for you or your customers. Plus, if your blog tool has a comments feature, you can use that to judge interest before it goes live.
