by Randa Clay
When social media took off commercially almost a decade ago, I was producing blog sites for consumer product clients and also writing about the value of blogs in business-to-business markets. The major points in an article I wrote that was published by Fast Company are still relevant today. They are ideal for stimulating thought leadership and web traffic and they help companies build new relationships. See the full article here:
5 Reasons Your Business Needs a Blog
What is new in blogging is the need for more visual and dynamic content. WordPress, the software commonly used for blog site development, is also now more robust and useful for most business websites. Therefore, blogs are easily integrated and maintained with the corporate site.
What will distinguish a business blog is having professionally developed material that is truly of value to your community of visitors and that will trigger people to share your content. It is also important to update blog posts frequently and include subject tags and links to other social media to make your posts easier to find in searches related to your business. Having the blog integrated with a corporate website helps the site remain higher in search engines because new posts stimulate traffic.
The mistake a lot of business bloggers are making is that they have become too social or remain too rigid and limited in content to sell their business. The key is to strike a tone that is a little more casual but still professional and to develop angles that are not about what you sell but about what you value. Blogs should contain new ideas and have supporting information so they do not appear to be recycled “fluff.”
