If you are already maintaining a web site, having a blog can add to, or enhance, your existing web presence. The ability to provide your customers, and readers, with fresh content on a daily, or weekly basis can keep your business running even during lean months.  Blogging is also a great way for small business owners, with little web design knowledge, and small budgets to establish a professional, attractive, web presence.  Many designers charge much less for a completely customized blog design and installation than they would charge for complete, traditional, html or flash website design.

When blogging first began becoming popular among businesses  I was slow to notice the change.  It seemed to me as though more and more of my competitors were shutting down their traditional websites and replacing them with well designed blogs.  Other competitors kept their existing websites up, but added links to their websites that sent surfers to there companies newly created blogs.  I decided to start learning more about blogging, but I didn’t want to change my entire website format until I was sure blogging was right for me and my business.

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When you have a business blog, it’s important to focus on your target market because they are potential customers for your business. They are your bread and butter. So how do you focus your business blog to your target market?

Begin with the name of your blog. When you set up a business blog for the first time, the blogging platform will require a title for your blog. Carefully consider what this should be. Should it be the name of your business (i.e. Sam’s Hardware Store Blog)? It depends on the type of business you own because you definitely don’t want your blog name to be too cheesy. Neither do you want it to be so long that no one can remember the exact wording, so choose your blog name carefully. If you sell a specific product, say jewelry, you could use something catchy, like Tools from Tony, or whatever your name is.

A great way to come up with an appropriate name for your blog that your target market will easily find when they do a search, is to do a search yourself. Do a keyword search to see how many hits certain words that pertain to your business receive. Then incorporate those words into the title of your blog.

Another way to focus your business blog to your target market is to stick with topics that pertain to your business. When readers come to your blog, they are expecting to find information about what services you offer and product info. Don’t sell them short by posting about stuff that has nothing to do with your business. They will leave and never come back.

In addition, be sure ads placed on your business blog are relevant to your business. You won’t make any money if you have buttons advertising jewelry when you sell tools. Besides your readers will get the sense you are just trying to make money instead of truly helping them which really is the main goal of your business blog.

When creating your business blog, consistency is the key to keeping readers coming back time and again. Your readers will come to know you by your brand, your writing style and even the colors and fonts you use. Therefore, maintaining consistency throughout your blog is something you want to make a practice of.

Before creating your blog, if you haven’t done so already, think about what colors and font styles you are going to use. You want your business blog to flow with your business website, so using colors and styles from there would be your best option. If you don’t have a website for your business, then use colors and styles in your logo or from something that customers will recognize as your business. Also, if you have a logo for your business, be sure to use it on your business blog. (more…)

Your business blog is probably the single most important tool you can use to gain added traffic to your business and/or your business website. Whether your business blog is part of your website or a separate entity, it is important to know how to focus your blog to help drive customers to it which, in turn, ultimately drives customers to your business.

A focused blog is one that has a specific purpose. Your business blog’s specific purpose it to get others to want to buy your products and/or services. Therefore your business blog should include lots of details about your business including: stories about how your company began, how you came to be the owner of it, where it’s located (if it’s brick and mortar), etc.

In order to have a focused business blog, you want to avoid getting into too much personal stuff. Some is good and valuable, as it connects your customers to you, but you want to avoid venting about your personal life, your family members and so on. If your business is family owned, obviously you want your customers to know this, and it is valuable to include in your business details.

Your business blog should naturally talk about what sales or specials you have going on currently and should link directly to the sales page on your website. If you don’t have a website, then your blog is the place to post all the details about the sale or special and directing them to your place of business.
Details of the services you offer are another great way to focus your blog. If you’re adding a service to your business, your business blog is the place to get the word out to the public. Also if you’re discontinuing a service your blog can let your customers know this as well.
You can write a single blog post about a specific product by talking about how your product can help them, whether it’s for personal use or business. You can also create posts about an entire line of products that you carry, as a series of posts. The more your readers know about a product or line of products the more apt they are to purchase.

Another very important aspect of a focused business blog is to let your readers and customers know you are there for them. The whole point of your business, of any business for that matter, should be to help others in their personal or business lives. Talk about what you have to offer as being a way to help them succeed in whatever they’re doing. Show your customers how your products and services can help them. By doing this you’re creating clients that will continue to return to not only your blog, but your business as well because they know they can count on you and that you’re there to help them and not just for your personal gain.
As you continue to build your blog, you will be building your business as well. By having a focused business blog and using specific key words in your titles and posts, you will soon be driving the traffic you want to your business blog, which in turn will drive them directly to your business!