Blogging For Small Business

The Benefits of a Thought Leadership Blog

Blogging for small business is the one of the easiest ways to generate traffic to your website if your content is relevant and valuable. A blog is short for “web log” and can be thought of as a journal. For example, you could write about your experiences as a financial planner and useful information you learn.

Unlike a news article, the content style and format are not critical. Blogging for small business can also trigger discussions and comments that further development the content. I’ve read several blogs that get first-page Google search rankings for Divorce Law, Real Estate, etc. These pages drive massive traffic and it’s completely free.

If you search for information on any local product or service, you’ll be sure to come across several blogs with relevant discussions. I like blogging because threads or strands of information can be provided without writing a long dissertation. The key to blogging is valuable content and high frequency.

Post things that are timely, relevant, useful and helpful

Getting someone to visit your blog is easy. Write a blog about a special interest, find a group related to your topic on one of the social networking sites (MySpace, Facebook) and post a comment about the blog and provide a link to it.

To drive more traffic to your blog (and potentially more leads), you can use niche keywords that will give your pages higher search engine rankings. The free blogging sites I recommend for newbies are Blogger.com and WordPress.com.

Most of the social networking sites also have blog functionality that can be utilized as well.

The easiest way to develop content for a blog is to look at what others are writing about and then re-write it. Google looks for unique content so be sure anything that is copy and pasted is 60% different in word and sentence structure.

Another simple way to discover blog topics is to ask your list. Have your customers ask the most burning questions they want answered. Each question can become the topic of a blog post.

The goal of blogging for small business is to drive traffic to your opt-in page, however, it cannot be forgotten that blogs can be viral – if done properly. By blogging consistently, you have the opportunity to position yourself as a trusted adviser and provide professional direction to the readers.

Blogs are a form of social media and readers can generate their own content by commenting below a blog post. As an author, you want to create discussions and promote commenting that automatically builds the page of information for you.

Quick tips on how to drive more traffic to your blog:

• Monitor similar blogs to make sure that your content is fresh, different and better.
• Post brief messages on other blogs that mention your own blog site.
• Swap links with other blogs. When you see blogs whose visitors might also be interested in yours, contact the blogger and suggest swapping links so that both blogs have links to each other.
• Give visitors an incentive to spread the word about your site. Reward the visitor who posts the best new information with special recognition on your site.

To learn how to start blogging for small business and create a thought leadership blog in your industry, contact Halo Effects, an Arizona internet marketing firm for a free consultation.