For any business to succeed, there are numerous qualities which are needed. Alongside a strong work ethic, a level head when it comes to finances and a clearly defined product or service, it is increasingly important for companies to develop a strong online presence.
Setting up a business website is naturally the first stage of this development but there are plenty of other actions which you should take. Social interaction is at the forefront of ecommerce development and this means you need to find alternative ways to communicate with your customers – such as via business blogs and social media feeds.
With other companies utilising similar methods to promote themselves, you need to ensure your blog is performing at the top of its game to stay ahead– and these dos and don’ts should help you achieve just that:
DO create unique content
Stale content which is copied from other sources will be detrimental to your website in numerous ways. Google and other search engines frown upon the duplication of content and this will result in you being penalised via your website ranking when it comes to their search listings.
Ultimately, you want your content to be unique and engaging so it is important that you spend some time working on your posts. Take a look at other sites which run blogs and see how they manage their content. Remember to base your articles on relevant news where possible and consider outsourcing to a reputable agency if you feel your writing skills are not up to scratch.
Remember that the layout of your blog is also important, so consider asking experts for help with this. If you need to know how to build a website or blog then there are plenty of professional services which can help you.
DON’T over blog
Whilst it is important to blog regularly, overdoing it will be just as detrimental as not blogging at all. Ideally, you need to add content on a daily basis but one or two posts is more than sufficient.
Bombarding your customers with information via your blog will deter them from visiting this part of your site again and will not give them chance to take in any of the information which you have provided.
DO target relevant keywords
Keyword focus is a prime area of development for bloggers at the moment, with most users turning to internet search engines when it comes to looking for services or products which they need. It is therefore vital that you identify the keywords which are most relevant to your business and target them in your posts. Make sure you don’t make content too heavy with these words however –otherwise it will appear false and spammy.
DON’T write for search engines
Just as you shouldn’t overuse keywords in your posts, you should make sure you don’t write content purely for the benefit of search engines and their algorithms. Whilst it is important to consider this aspect when blogging, ultimately it is real people who you are targeting. Your content should therefore read naturally, with any attempts to appease algorithms coming second in terms of priority.
DO share via social feeds
Simply blogging is not enough in the current market; you need to share your posts as well. The easiest way to do this is via social media feeds such as Facebook and Twitter. Setting up a page for your business can help customers interact with you in a different setting and is a great way to promote your services and products in a public setting without spending a fortune.
DON’T misjudge the tone
Whilst social and professional aspects are overlapping more and more in business it is important that you get the tone of your blog right. Consider your target audience carefully and always ensure you are professional yet friendly. You don’t want to deter customers with over familiarity but neither do you want to alienate them with technical vocabulary or rigid sentence construction.