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Business Blogging: 10 Ways To Create A Successful Company Blog

If you're ready to start a successful company blog (or improve your current one), we've asked ten entrepreneurs to share essential tips on how to create and manage...


Last Update: February 25, 2015

Is your reaction to most company blogs, ““Blah, Blah and Double Blah!?”

Of course, not all corporate blogs are created equal. And there are plenty of examples of company blogs that make it appear as though business blogging is a less than desirable marketing tactic.

However, the benefits of creating a successful business blog are endless. A properly manged company blog can maximize awareness, build community, increase prospective inbound leads, drive traffic to your website and much more.

Simply put – a well constructed company blog can change your business — for the better.

If you’re ready to start a successful blog (or improve your current one), we’ve asked ten entrepreneurs to share essential tips on how to create and manage it successfully.

 

1. Make it short and sweet.

Focus on short lists of tips that speak to customer needs. Too often, our blogs become soapboxes where we preach to the choir – isolating a potential customer base.

Tiffany Silverberg, Marketing Writer & Consultant at TiffanySilverberg.com: @TiffSilverberg

2. Have a direction.

The writer often forgets who they are writing for in an effort to attract a larger audience. They forget that the goal of a company blog should be to increase conversions (either a subscription to a newsletter, purchase of an e-commerce product, etc) not to increase traffic. A great way to avoid this mistake is to create reader personas and think about how your article answers a particular question that they may have.

Rishi Patel, CEO & Founder at Monazu Creative Group: @Monazu

3. Become a stalker.

Develop a spreadsheet listing all of the blogs in your niche along with stats about the number of visitors, the number of Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin followers and the Google Page Rank.  Once you’ve identified and ranked the importance of these bloggers, start interacting with them by commenting on their posts, re-tweeting their posts, including links to them in your posts or a weekly round-up of some kind.

Once you’ve shared some love, it’s time to cash in by asking for a chance to guest post on their site, asking them to contribute to a guide or Q&A post or ask them for an interview. This strategy wins actual traffic from their visitor base while also building critical hyperlinks that will drive your long term SEO.

Joe Gerard, Co-Founder at I-Sight: @iSightSoftware

4. Create a winning formula.

Develop quality content, stay consistent with the frequency of your blog posts, and use keywords. We’re not blogging pros but just by staying consistent with this formula, we were recently named one of the top 25 small business blogs to follow for 2012 by Apptivo.

Tom Gazaway, President & CEO at Hawkeye Management: @TomGazaway

5. Connect with the reader.

Human beings are emotional creatures and your company blog readers are no exception. Leverage the language of emotional intelligence within your writing to engage your readers. By infusing emotional intelligence into your company blog, you will connect with your readers and provide insightful perspective.

Leanne Hoagland-Smith, Chief Results Officer at Advanced Systems: @CoachLee

6. Recognize your fans.

Promote your followers just as much as you promote yourself. I have a Flickr group for my photography blog. My followers upload images they love and the images for my challenges there. I share those images on our company Facebook page and on my corporate blog. People get a kick out of the recognition and I get lots of inspiration from fellow photography lovers.

Kimberly Gauthier, Blogger at A Novice With Moxie: @KG_Photography

7. Show, don’t tell.

Blog about the things your readers want to know about.  They don’t want to read about how fabulous you are, or what services you offer, or what you are selling. Write about things that are useful. Position yourself as an expert, explore topics that give your readers tips, tricks and know-how to do “it” better. Sharing your expertise is key to growing your company blog readership. They will soon “see” how fabulous you actually are!

Sarah Shaw, CEO and Product Launch Coach at Entreprenette: @Entreprenette

8. Take it seriously.

It’s not some little social media ‘twaddle’ that you’re fooling around with; done properly it can drive traffic and interest to your site. Think of it as revealing the soul of your company in 400 word increments and you will cause people to care about your company – the holy grail of marketing. This will result in new customers who love you because you’ve shared more than they could have known about your company without the open kimono of your blog.

Halle Eavelyn, “Julie the Cruise Director” at Spirit Quest Tours: @SpiritQuestTour

9. Create value.

Ensure that your corporate blog focuses on topics that are interesting. It’s no good blogging about your latest product, or what you had for lunch in the company canteen … yada yada yada. It needs to be insightful thereby encouraging readers to share with friends on social networks and link to back to company posts from their own blogs. T

Zak Edwards, CEO at Prezzybox.com: @Prezzybox

10. Don’t focus on promotion – educate instead.

Create company blog posts that answer frequently asked questions from your customers. Do so cheerfully and without trying to sell your products or services. Doing so will build rapport and trust … which can prompt them naturally to buy from you vs. your competitor.

Dave Lavinsky, President & Founder at Growthink, Inc.: @DaveLavinsky

 

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