Blogging For Business

Blogging is one of the best ways to create content, generate traffic, and help your business rank higher in Google. If you do it once a week—that gives you 52 new chances to engage your audience across multiple platforms in a year.

Blogging is not just for bloggers; it’s for every business or person who wants to connect with like-minded people. Can it be used for selling? Of course, but if all you are doing is selling things, your audience will bore quickly (unless they are so in love with you and your products or services that they can’t get enough of what you have to say).

The Food Court

Blogs are kind of like the food court in a mall. Your food court options are either the national chains or the local no-name food stands. Having a national chain name behind a restaurant does not necessarily make the food awesome. Just because it’s a small, local business, does not mean that they don’t have the best salad or taco stand in the mix. It all depends on the quality of the ingredients and the people preparing the menu items. That’s what will make or break your foodie experience.

There are plenty of blog choices as well, but you have to sample their fare to see which one is good and which is not. Many people will judge a blog by its following and its cover (art and marketing), but if you are adventurous and try what’s on the menu, you may find the best meal in town.

Yours could be one of those small blogs with a very small, but loyal, following. Of course, if you want long lines, that will happen when people start Tweeting, Yelping, Facebooking, Foursquaring, Pinteresting, or blogging about you and your little food-court (or blog-court) offering.

The Dinner Party

Think of your blog as more of a dinner party. You have guests who know you and you know them. They share your taste in blogging cuisine. They are invited to the dinner party, and if they don’t like what you are serving, you are not hurt when they get up and leave. You are the consummate host, and you make enough for the extra or random party guest. These guests find your invites through emails, social media, and friends telling them about your party. You don’t make cooked-to-order content; you serve up a buffet of your knowledge and experience.

You serve a specific meal for a specific audience. This is not a restaurant; you are in control of the menu (the content), and you encourage your guests to comment on the food, so you can revel in the joyous reviews or make it better next time if your flaunt was little flat! No matter what’s on the menu, it is an acquired taste.

Why Blog?

There are many answers to this question. Ultimately, it’s about answering the questions and meeting the needs of your audience. Maybe they need to solve a problem? Maybe they want to hear your experience at a restaurant or with a product or service? Your audience is looking for an expert opinion or an affirmation that they are making good decisions. What are they not looking for? They do not need another advertisement or a blatant sales pitch! Guiding your audience to purchase from you or a trusted vendor is okay, but only after you have proven to them that you have the necessary experience to make you an expert or a trusted resource.

It’s true that there are bloggers earning a six-figure income off of sponsorships and ads. More than likely, you blog to create awareness, first, and income, second.

Below are a few other observations and tips about blogging, and reasons why YOU should want to blog:

• Blogging Allows You to Share Your Passion – There are people in this world who are as excited as you are about what your passions are. I am passionate about dogs, golf, and bacon. What do they have in common? Not much! You have to take each topic and focus on your passionate audience. Does that mean I should write three blogs? Maybe I should, unless I am talking to a very segmented audience who all love dogs, bacon, and golf. So, if you bet a slice of bacon per hole, and bring your dog along in the golf cart to chase away the geese, you are part of a very targeted audience who will accept, respond, and engage with that blog! Otherwise, you have one blog for canine lovers (black labs), one for bacon (recipes and quirky pictures), and one for hackers with a 14+ handicap who love challenging courses.
• Blogging Allows You to Curate Content – Most people associate curating with museums. A museum is a place where a collection of like items is put on display. Most museums sell tickets and hold fundraisers to allow the public to view the collection. Your content is no different. Your blog is a collection of your passion, knowledge, experience, and opinions. Believe it or not, people will pay for it in the form of books, ebooks, products, training classes, and more. If your blog is of value and is being engaged with for free, that doesn’t mean that people will not pay for it if you assemble it into a simple and useful collection. Some of the best selling books out there are simply collections of blogs (see Chris Brogan’s Social Media 101: Tactics and Tips to Develop Your Business Online, my book, It’s Not About You, It’s About Bacon Bits! 101 Relationship Marketing Tips!, or Nina’s Book How to Blog a Book (Revised and Expanded Edition), Write, Publish and Promote Your Work One Post at a Time).
• Blogging Organizes Your Knowledge – One of my favorite sayings is “To teach is to learn twice.” This is so true when you write a blog. You are forced to take your knowledge and experience and organize it in ways that connect with people. Then, the public responds and gives you feedback through comments, likes, and shares. Much of my content comes from giving presentations, teaching college classes, and doing webinars. By teaching others, you are forced to take your unique perspective on the subject and create personalized encapsulations that either connect with people or fall flat. Don’t be afraid to fail, because we all learn from our mistakes. (At least I hope you do).

Just start somewhere. My first blogs sucked.  My later blogs sucked less. I recently hired a virtual assistant (thanks Kristi) whose job it is to make them suck even less. I had a long time, writer friend who noticed the changes and told me that she really enjoys reading my blogs now. (I guess my grammatical ineptness has diminished but never deterred her before).

We all start somewhere, and when you hit your stride, you will improve. Learn your strengths and weaknesses, and ask for help where needed!

Then open your blog’s doors and invite in readers and customers. Let them get a taste of what you have to offer.

About the Author

Brian Basilico is an award winning and internationally recognized author, speaker, and coach.  He’s the founder and president of B2b Interactive Marketing Inc., an award-winning marketing consulting and production company in Auror, IL. B2b helps companies and non-profits, market their products and services through the effective use of on-line tools including: websites, blogs, eMail, social networking, Google, S.E.O., YouTube, and more.

Brian’s career spans over 30 years. Since starting his first production company in 1979, he’s produced thousands of projects for companies ranging from solopreneurs to Fortune 100. Brian combines years of marketing experience with technical expertise to build on-line campaigns that produce measurable results. As a musician, technician, programmer, producer and consultant, he has built a reputation for creativity, innovation, and translating “geek” into English. Brian is also an adjunct professor, trainer, and author of many social networking and marketing blogs. He has been featured with articles in Inc. and Entrepreneur magazines.

To learn more about this and other Internet marketing topics–visit Brian’s podcast website.
To get a copy of Brian’s free e-book, Social Media Demystified, click here.