All Entries Tagged With: "business blog"

The Primary Reason Your Business Needs A Blog

You’ve likely heard all the reasons your business needs a blog:

• Branding
• SEO
• Customer Service
• Being Sociable With Your Audience
• Creating Dialogue
• “Connecting” With People
• Facilitating Social Media Marketing
• Insert Reason Here

But the primary reason you need a blog is hardly ever mentioned. The best reason to start a blog today is because your competition has one.

Now I’m not suggesting that you start keeping up with the Jones’. Nor am I saying that you should be a be a follower. But the reason you should have a blog if your competition does is so that you remain competitive.

You see, a blog is one of the most dynamic SEO tools available. Any business with a blog has a distinct advantage over the competition in a number of ways. Here’s how a blog benefits any business that has one:

• Increases search engine saturation – the number of pages you have ranked in the search engines
• Boosts your link popularity – the number of inbound links to your website
• Gives you more content on your website, making your site more crawlable and more often crawled by the search engines

I could go on and on about the benefits of blogging, but what it all boils down to is a blog on your competition’s website gives them an edge in the search engines. If you don’t have one then you are at a disadvantage. If you have a blog and your competition doesn’t then you have the advantage. If you and your competition both have blogs then there is a more level playing field, except that the one who can better manage their blog could have a better advantage.

In business, it’s all about competition. A blog can give you an edge where before you didn’t have one. And that’s why you need a blog today.

Is Business Blogging Really That Different?

Is business blogging different from personal blogging? In a certain sense it is, but then in another sense it isn’t. It really depends on your goals as a blogger and as a business.

Most corporate blogs couldn’t get away with personalization. You have to maintain a business image and make sure all of your communications stays on track with your message. Everyone’s got to stick with the talking points.

A small business, however, can make their blog almost as personal as a personal blog. You still have to watch your p’s and q’s, but you can get a little personal. It won’t hurt you. To some extent, a corporate blogger may get away with it if done correctly.

But where a business blog and a personal blog go there separate ways is in the mission of the blog itself. A business blog is making marketing, making money, and increasing the size of your market share. You want your readers to become customers. And to do that you have to write it in such a way that you attract buyer-oriented readers. But you don’t want to push them away with strong sales pitches on every blog post. You want to draw your readers in with valuable content and get them to start a conversation about doing business with you. Is your blog doing that? Why not?

Should Salesmen Have Their Own Blogs?

If you’re a sales representative for a company and you are responsible for generating your own leads, you should have your own blog. There is no better online lead generation tool than a personal business blog. Note that I’m talking about a personal business blog. Not a personal blog.

So what’s a personal business blog?

First, it’s a business blog. A blog that you write for business purposes. If you’re a member of a sales organization then your blog can be used to present your product to the public. You don’t necessarily have to “sell” in every blog post. Not all blog posts are sales oriented. The purpose is to generate an interest in what you have to offer. You do that by discussing the benefits and entering into dialogue with your target audience.

I call this type of blog a personal business blog because the blog belongs to you, not your company. Because it your blog and not the company’s blog, you get to decide how the blog is written and make the editorial decisions on a daily basis. Your sales manager doesn’t do that for you. It’s your responsibility. That said, many company’s want to ensure that their image is presented accurately and within the context of their own branding efforts. And that is possible with a personal business blog. I didn’t say you couldn’t consult with your sales manager or corporate headquarters. They do have a stake in the game. But you can use a blog to help you develop your territory and generate leads that you follow up on daily. It is called efficient time management and good use of resources.

To learn more about writing a personal business blog, visit with a blog consultant.

Personal Blog Vs. Business Blog: What’s The Difference?

What is the difference between a personal blog and a business blog? I mean, besides focus.

In a word, the primary difference between a business blog and a personal blog is that of style and content. A personal blog tends to focus on the personal thoughts and experiences of the blogger while a business blog focuses on marketing a specific business or communicating with that business’s target audience.

That doesn’t mean a business blog has to be stodgy and stuffy. Many business blogs actually use a conversational tone just like their personal blog counterparts. But what you won’t find in a business blog, usually, that you will find in a personal blog are blog posts related to the virtues of one’s cat, the intimate details of last night’s dinner date, and what you ate for breakfast. Business blog readers don’t generally care about those details.

You can monetize a personal blog just as well as you can a business blog. But you can also use a business blog to promote a website that is separate from the one on which the blog sits. That doesn’t generally work too well for a personal blog. You might also do a lot of outbound linking on a personal blog than a business blog, although there are plenty of business blogs that do a lot of outbound linking as well. In fact, outbound linking has its own strategy as it relates to business blogging.

Both personal blogs and business blogs do better when there are search engine optimization efforts behind them. Well-written content seems to attract more readers on both types of blogs. And making social connections improves the performance of both blogs as well.

If you have a business to promote, I recommend you start a business blog. It’s OK to have a personal blog on the side, but don’t meld the two. You’ll kill your business blog if you do.