Are you thinking about starting a business blog? Maybe you’ve been told it’s a good idea, or perhaps it’s an integral part of the new inbound marketing strategy you’ve devised for your business. Maybe you’ve been blogging for a while.
One common problem people run into with business blogs is that they don’t know what to talk about, so they talk about themselves. However, your blog shouldn’t be all about you all the time.
Why not? There are so many reasons you need to diversify the range of topics you discuss on your blog. Here are a few of the most compelling ones.
Think about the types of blogs you visit on a regular basis. What content do you want to read? What types of posts do you share or comment on?
Chances are you’re not visiting blogs that are nothing but ringing endorsements for a company or sales pitches for the latest, greatest product. Your audience feels the exact same way.
When they’re conducting research, people rarely seek out blog posts that explicitly advertise or endorse a product. While they may be interested in reviews, they tend to ignore branded content or pitchy blogs that make them feel like they’re being sold to.
A good content strategy includes some repetition. After all, having several blog posts on similar subjects and with similar keywords can help you rank higher. However, it can also become redundant, and your audience will quickly see that.
If you want to drive more traffic to your site, your posts need to be innovative, informative, and interesting. Constantly talking about how great your product is won’t drive traffic. People might entertain one or two posts like this, but a constant stream of them will drive the audience away.
Draw your audience back in by blogging about diverse topics from a unique perspective. Aim to inform your audience and share information they’re actually looking for.
Your business blog isn’t the appropriate place for pitches or reviews. People are coming to your blog to learn more about a particular subject. You just happen to be an expert on that subject.
Share your insights into the industry, new developments and trends, even on the processes you use. People find this much more informative and insightful. In turn, they’ll keep coming back to your blog as a reliable source of useful information.
Backlinks are one of the many criteria Google and other search engines use to rank your website in search results. You can build better backlinks by getting credible, authoritative sites to link back to your site.
If all you do is talk about yourself on your business blog, you’re likely not going to get many backlinks. Other bloggers are likely to ignore you. They’ll be unlikely to refer their readers as they may feel you’re aggressively pitching your product or service.
If your business blog is nothing more than a series of self-promotional posts, it’s unlikely bloggers or potential prospects will pay you much attention. You probably have had a friend who talked about themselves and their achievements constantly. A pitchy post is the blogging equivalent to this person and will be tuned out just as quickly.
Blogs are important tools in your inbound marketing strategy, and they can be excellent tools to generate leads and build relationships with an audience. Just remember that a business blog isn’t all about you.