News: The benefits of blogging!
November 19, 2019
The benefits of blogging
Are you running a blog as well as a website?
If not then you could be missing out on increased market presence, losing enquiries and leaving yourself open to look the same as your competition!
A blog isn’t a website and it shouldn’t directly promote your products and services, rather it’s the electronic version of a chat by the coffee machine.
More relaxed than a website, it’s an opportunity to share something about your company, to build and strengthen your prospects’ and customers’ relationship with you. It is also a tool for giving your audience useful information that will help them; both your existing customers and prospective additional customers who may not have heard of you or considered you as a real alternative to their existing supplier.
A good blog gives you the opportunity to grab their attention and:
⚫️ Allows you to differentiate your company and team so you stand out against any competitors
⚫️ Allows you to get your ‘personality’ across
⚫️ Allows you to gain more website traffic (better SEO rankings)
⚫️ You can communicate things that your website isn’t designed for
There are rules to follow to make sure your blog works for you and these are:
⚫️ You need to keep it short (ideally a blog should be 400-700 words long). It should only take 5-10 minutes to read
⚫️ You need to post regularly (so be aware that once you decide to start you have to commit to posting regularly (at least 1 post per month)
⚫️ It needs to educate, inform and inspire your readers – ‘not sell’
⚫️ You need to link from your blog to your website and vice-versa as this helps your SEO rankings (Google and other platforms rank linked blogs/websites higher)
⚫️ You should use similar imagery to your website (branding) so customers who know you recognise you (don’t change your style as it will confuse)
⚫️ Whereas a website is often ‘corporate’, a blog should be more ‘relaxed’ (I.e. written as though it is a conversation
Whereas your website is a direct sales tool for your business, a blog is a lead generator and helps more people enter into your sales funnel (pre-sales).
It generates interest so that more people want to talk to you.
You can also widen the expertise and knowledge you offer to your audience by getting guest bloggers to contribute with topics your readers will be interested in. I.e. if you’re selling cooking products then articles from chefs and recipes are a good fit. If you’re working in manufacturing an article from a six-sigma practitioner or H&S expert will be appreciated by your audience. People often appreciate the opportunity to contribute, you just have to ask. They’re also highly likely to reciprocate and give you the chance to guest blog in front of their customers who may just need what you do, widening the audience you can reach.
Steve, an experienced Salesperson, Sales Manager and more recently General Manager has been blogging for over 2 years now.
Steve says ‘it has opened doors with people I haven’t targeted and I’m sure it will do for you too.
Feel free to take a look at my blog @ www.wit2s.wordpress.com or access it via our website @ www.wit2s.com.
There you’ll find posts I write on all things sales, sales management and success related. I trust you’ll enjoy the articles there and should you have any further questions about creating your own blog your welcome to contact me via our website and I’ll be happy to help.(Steve Lewis-Brammer, Professional Sales Development).’
