Seven Simple Tips for Business Blogging
When you’re business blogging, you need all the skills that every other blogger uses to establish a successful blog, plus you need a strategy to promote your business.
But if you get too caught up in the business end of things, you might find yourself skimping on some very basic business blogging strategies.
Let’s get back to basics and look at a few simple rules of good blogging. These blog tips will help you build a better blog whether you’re blogging for business, as a profession, or as a hobby.
1. Never make your readers work to access your content. Avoid breaking up one post over several pages unless it’s a series and you’re publishing each stand-alone section on a different day.
2. The same goes with verification codes and comments. Comments benefit your blog, and they are your readers’ gifts to you. Don’t add extra steps to the comment process by forcing readers to enter verification codes. If you have spam problems, get the Akismet plugin (it absolutely works!).
3. Full feed RSS! I recently had to clean out my subscriptions because there were simply too many to keep up with – and guess which were the first to go? Partial feeds. Besides, they defeat the whole purpose of RSS, which is for readers to get content in one convenient location without clicking all over the place.
4. Quality assurance testing. Check your site for functionality, and check it from different browsers (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, and Safari). Also, review your site on a Mac and a PC. You might be surprised by how different one site can look across various browsers and platforms.
5. Clickable header. Most WordPress blog themes include this feature. Visitors generally expect that if they click on your logo or header, they’ll be taken to your home page. Keep your site navigation consistent with standards by making sure your header is clickable and takes the browser back to the home page.
6. Website copywriting. If you’re business blogging, your blog is probably integrated with your business site, but what if your blog is your business? Make sure that your blog posts as well as the pages on your site (about page, contact page, FAQ) all have solid, compelling web content writing.
7. Subscription options. Include at least two options for subscribing: RSS and email. Lots of people still don’t know how to use RSS, so it’s essential that you include the email option. Make your subscription options clearly visible and test them to make sure they work properly (be your own subscriber!). Bonus tip: Use Feedburner!
Some of these business blogging practices may seem like more trouble than they’re worth. You don’t have the time to dig into your code and figure out how to turn comment verification off. Or, you can’t be bothered with making your header clickable because you’ve got too much to do.
Here’s the thing –the more minor annoyances readers bump into on your blog, the more likely they are to unsubscribe or stop reading. If your content’s great, a verification form might be forgiven (just don’t sit around wondering why you get so few comments). But comment verification plus a header that’s not clickable — these things just build up and suddenly your reader is saying, “Why do I come to this blog? It’s such a hassle.” Then poof! They’re gone.
Business blogging might mean you have to focus heavily on ensuring your content relates to your business offerings, but neglecting the basics of good blogging will only come off as amateurish and unprofessional – and that’s not good for business.
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About Melissa Donovan