Running a company blog can serve as a surprisingly powerful marketing tool for your business.

Businesses constantly seek effective strategies to connect with their target audience, build brand awareness, and establish thought leadership. One powerful tool that can help achieve these goals is a company blog.

In this article, we will explore:

• Why are Blogs Important for Businesses?
• Benefits of Running a Company Blog
• Populating your Company Blog with Content
• Topics to Discuss
• Topics to Avoid

Why are Blogs Important for Businesses?

A company blog provides a platform for your business to showcase its expertise and thought leadership in your industry. Sharing valuable insights, industry trends, and expert opinions can position your company as a knowledgeable authority, gaining trust and credibility among your audience.

A blog allows you to consistently create and share valuable content that aligns with your brand values and offerings. This helps increase brand visibility and awareness, attracting new customers and keeping existing ones engaged. Over time, a well-maintained blog can become a valuable asset in building brand recognition.

Blogging is an effective way to drive traffic to your website. By regularly publishing high-quality, relevant content, you can attract organic search traffic from search engines. Each blog post becomes an indexed page on your website, increasing the chances of appearing in search results and driving targeted visitors to your site.

A company blog can significantly impact your search engine rankings. Search engines value fresh, original content, and by consistently updating your blog with relevant topics and using targeted keywords, you increase your website’s visibility in search results, improving your organic search rankings.

Blogs provide an interactive platform where you can engage with your audience. Enabling comments and feedback can foster a sense of community and encourage discussions around your content. This two-way communication strengthens customer relationships and builds a loyal customer base.

Benefits of Running a Company Blog

Running a company blog can offer numerous advantages to businesses across different industries. Here are some of the key benefits:

• Increased Brand Authority. By consistently publishing valuable content, you establish your business as an authority in your industry. This positions your brand as trustworthy and knowledgeable, leading to increased brand authority and credibility.
• Higher Website Engagement. A well-maintained blog attracts and engages website visitors. Readers spend more time on your website, explore other pages, and have a higher chance of converting into leads or customers.
• Lead Generation and Conversion. A blog can serve as a powerful lead generation tool. By incorporating calls-to-action (CTAs) within your blog posts, you can guide readers to take desired actions, such as signing up for a newsletter, downloading a whitepaper, or requesting a demo.
• Enhanced Customer Relationships. Engaging with your audience through blog comments, social media, and email subscriptions strengthens customer relationships. Regularly providing valuable content fosters loyalty, trust, and repeat business.
• Amplified Social Media Presence. Blog content can be shared on social media platforms, increasing your reach and attracting new followers. Social media shares and engagement can drive additional traffic to your blog and increase brand awareness. If a customer with a major social media following shares an interesting content piece, some of those followers might come over to your business page and get to know your company. However, temper that sharing if your business is about nicotine patches and smoking cessation therapy.
• Long-Term Organic Traffic. Blog posts have a longer lifespan compared to other forms of content. Over time, as your blog posts accumulate and gain authority, they continue to attract organic search traffic and generate leads even months or years after their initial publication.

Populating your Company Blog with Content

Develop a Content Strategy

Start by creating a content strategy that aligns with your business objectives and tailored to suit your target audience. Determine the topics and themes you want to cover, the tone and style of your blog, and how frequently you will publish new content.

Create an Editorial Calendar

An editorial calendar helps you plan and organise your blog content. It outlines the topics, publishing dates, and responsible team members. This ensures a consistent flow of content and allows you to stay organised and focused on your blogging efforts.

Identify Content Sources

Look for internal and external sources to generate content ideas. Internal sources include your team members, subject matter experts, and customer success stories. External sources can include industry news, case studies, research reports, and customer feedback.

Tailor Content to Your Audience

Understand your target audience’s needs, pain points, and interests. Create content that addresses their challenges, provides solutions, and adds value to their lives. Use a conversational tone and avoid jargon to make your content easily understandable and relatable.

Incorporate Different Content Formats

Vary the content formats to keep your blog engaging and appealing. Consider using a mix of written articles, infographics, videos, interviews, podcasts, and visual content. Different formats cater to different preferences and learning styles, ensuring a diverse range of content for your audience.

SEO Relevance

Implement basic search engine optimisation (SEO) techniques to improve your blog’s visibility in search results.

Conduct keyword research to identify relevant keywords and incorporate them naturally into your blog content. Optimise meta tags, headings, and URLs, and ensure your blog posts are well-structured and easy to read.

A digital marketing expert on your team may work to set up the content to be more accountable to search engine rankings.

Topics to Discuss

Running a company blog is a great way to showcase your expertise, engage with your audience, and establish thought leadership in your industry. When deciding on the topics to discuss, consider the following:

• Industry Trends and Insights. Share your analysis of industry trends, new developments, and emerging technologies. Provide insights into how these trends impact your business and offer predictions for the future.
• Best Practices and How-To Guides. Educate your audience by sharing best practices, tips, and step-by-step guides related to your industry. Help your readers solve common problems, learn new skills, and make sensible decisions.
• Case Studies and Success Stories. Showcase real-life examples of how your products or services have benefited customers. Highlight their success stories and demonstrate the value your business brings to the table.
• Thought Leadership and Opinion Pieces. Share your expert opinions, perspectives, and thought leadership on industry-related topics. Offer insights into challenges, provide solutions, and provoke thoughtful discussions within your industry. One example of this is a law practice discussing noted cases and dissecting them into write-ups that casual readers will easily understand.
• Company Updates and News. Keep your audience informed about company news, events, product launches, and updates. Share stories about your team, company culture, and community involvement to humanise your brand.

Topics to Avoid

While a company blog allows for a wide range of topics, there are some areas to approach with caution:

• Confidential Information. Avoid sharing confidential or sensitive company information that could compromise your business or violate legal agreements. Some of these may include upcoming projects that need further development before they are ever ready.
• Defamatory or Negative Content. Refrain from publishing defamatory or negative content about competitors, customers, or industry peers. Maintain a professional tone and focus on providing value rather than criticising others. For example, a model-kit manufacturer’s blog might have topics focusing on unfortunate events affecting a rival outfit. Some observers might see that as you “capitalising” on their pain.
• Sensitive Issues. Steer clear of controversial or polarising subjects that could alienate your audience or create unnecessary conflicts. Remember to maintain a neutral and inclusive approach in your blog content.

Embrace the power of blogging, and watch your business thrive in the digital world. By following the mechanics of populating your blog with content, focusing on relevant topics, and avoiding contentious subjects, you can harness the benefits of blogging and create a valuable asset for your business.

DISCLAIMER: This article is for informational purposes only. BARTERCARD has no business relations with any company mentioned in the article nor endorse any corporate blog.