This is the second installment in a two-part series by Problogger, Rajeev Edmonds, on the benefits of having a well structured small business blog. In this follow up article, he focuses on blog design, integration, and engaging the community.
Design And Integration
Normally, business blogs are tightly integrated with company’s web site. The strategy behind this tight integration revolves around driving traffic to-and-fro from both ends increasing the probability of more conversions. Well, it’s all about how easily a visitor is able to browse and navigate through web site and blog.
You can make it happen by replicating the core visual components of site into your business blog to gel it well with your web site. A visitor shouldn’t feel like he’s on an alien land once he leaves the site and enters the blog. Sometimes your designers do all the hard work on “look and feel” only to know later that visitors are unable to spot even if a blog exists for your company. Tighter integration also that your visitors are able to easily spot a link to your blog and vice-versa.
Community Building Strategies
Every business blog formulates guidelines for interacting with visitors to help build a large fan following. This involves effective comment moderation policies, contests and promotional giveaways. Building a large fan base takes time and involves regular interaction with the growing community.
1. Interaction with community - The most important factor in building a community is how you engage with commentators, how you handle every comment, and treating each visitor as individual. It’s not just about the number of comments, but how you respond matters the most. A single mistake can ruin the image of company that can prove fatal for the business. That’s why I always say – “Blogs have the power to build as well as ruin reputations.”There’s a fine line between inflammatory remark and constructive criticism. If you haven’t drafted a clear-cut policy for comment moderation, your business blog may experience no inflation in readership.
2. Contests and promotional giveaways - Undoubtedly, this is one of the best ways to increase readership and to build a strong community of followers. Often, companies run contests and offer freebies through their blogs that helps in increasing returning visitors and in attracting new prospects. Seasonal and festive giveaways work the best when supplemented by regular contests. Sometimes, companies offer to publish interesting case-studies and success stories submitted by the readers that directly or indirectly promote their product or service. This is yet another way to help build a lively community around your bossiness blog.
If you haven’t yet created your company blog, you’re losing an opportunity to grow your business. Still wondering why your business needs a blog?
About the Author
Rajeev Edmonds is a Social Media Enthusiast who blogs about how to blog. A developer by profession, he started blogging in 2008. Rajeev is also a technical reviewer of books with subjects ranging from Web Developement, WordPress and Social Media.
Connect With Rajeev: Twitter | Website
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Are you a small business owner who’s interested in blogging? Do you want a well organized blog? Do you know what elements you need to ensure maximum impact? In the first of this two-part series, Problogger, Rajeev Edmonds, explains the reasons every SMB should have a blog.
Businesses across the world are turning to new media channels to reach out to maximum prospects. One such medium is a blog that has the power to build a strong online presence facilitating direct interaction with customers. Business blogging came into existence with the start of this century, and since then, it has gone under several transitions. Any business, that is really serious about pulling more customers through internet cannot afford to isolate themselves from this excellent and powerful medium.
What makes a good business blog that brings more sales and authoritatively asserts your dominance in your domain? Well, here are some of the essential components that can make a successful business blog, provided they are followed and implemented in a correct manner.
Purpose : Why Blog?
Business blogs are made with a purpose that clearly underlines the primary goal for which they are made. They are governed by company policies that define their scope and objective. Depending on the requirements, a business blog can take any shape that may or may not look like a regular blog.
1. News and Announcements Outpost - A good percentage of business blogs falls under this category. They start as a normal blog and gradually mutates into a news and announcements platform with virtually no interaction with visitors. What a waste of time and money.
2. Hardcore Selling Counter - Blogs have the power to influence and change human minds. It’s a powerful tool if cleverly used, can help boost your sales exponentially. Some businesses use their official blog to aggressively promote and sell their products. They do it through extensive reviews and sales pitches driving prospects to the main web site product’s sales landing pages.
3. Community Building - This is one of my favorites, where the focus is more on creating a large fan base and converting them into returning customers giving you much more business in the long run. Some popular business blogs manage to create a huge fan base that not only brings more sales, but also work as a marketing army who spread positive reviews to their extended network.
4. Hybrid Approach - This is perhaps the best approach to business blogging. You hard sell on it, you build a community, you announce new products and services leaving no stone unturned to help grow your business. Maintaining such blog requires considerable effort and careful planning, but the end-results are equally rewarding.
It’s up to you which approach you choose for your business blog. Community building and hybrid approach are two of the favorites that can pump new life in your business yielding results above your expectations.
Design And Integration
Normally, business blogs are tightly integrated with company’s web site. The strategy behind this tight integration revolves around driving traffic to-and-fro from both ends increasing the probability of more conversions. What do we mean by tight integration? How does this help in getting more conversions?
Part II: Design/Integration and Community Building Strategies.
Image Credit: Flickr
About the Author
Rajeev Edmonds is a Social Media Enthusiast who blogs about how to blog. A developer by profession, he started blogging in 2008. Rajeev is also a technical reviewer of books with subjects ranging from Web Developement, WordPress and Social Media.
Connect With Rajeev: Web | Twitter
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- Business Blogging 101 (somestudio.wordpress.com)
- Start A Business Blog – Be Different (businessblogwriting.com)
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