Blogging Mistakes Most Small Businesses Make
Blogging is a major marketing staple of many small businesses. However, most businesses still blog just for the sake of blogging. It’s not enough to just have a blog; it’s important to make it successful. It’s not uncommon for a blog to be low-key at the beginning. But it should change as the blog matures. If your small business has a blog that readers are not very interested in, you could be making the following mistakes:
Not Having a Blog
All right, the first major mistake a small business can do when it comes to blogging is not having a dedicated blog. Do not blog on other people’s websites, which is called guest posting, or try to sneak the company name into other blog content. The business must have a blog of its own that potential customers can access via the main website.
Not Seeking Expert Advice
When blogging, like other new aspects of marketing, it’s important to get opinions from expert consultants. It could be part of a wider review of marketing practices. If your blog is lackluster, there’s no one better to ask than experts who have seen it all.
Choosing Topics that Interest You, Not the Readers
The biggest attraction of blogs to many readers is the content and the headlines. The headlines of the blog should be attention grabbing. As for the content, it should be interesting and compelling. It matters a lot what type of topic you choose when keeping readers interested and engaged. Do not choose generic business topics that interest the company. Survey potential readers to find out what they like to read. You can also look at traffic numbers for blog posts to find out which topics interest readers the most. Understand the potential reader for the blog, and then tailor topics according to their tastes and interests.
Not Optimizing the Blog to Attract Subscribers
While the blog posts themselves may be interesting, you may notice that not many posts get shared around. Also, even if traffic numbers to the blog are high, the subscriber numbers could still remain low. This could be the result of several factors. But mainly, it’s probably the result of not optimizing blog pages for attracting subscribers. Blogs can be optimized with components like call-to-action buttons that urge readers to stay on as subscribers.
Using Only Text
Do not stuff your blog with just text articles. A good blog is also very visually appealing. Use nice pictures, video, infographics, and slide show inserts to make your blog as pleasing as possible. Images usually play a major role in attracting readers. The more colorful and visually appealing the blog is, the more readers you would attract.
Infrequent Updates
If you are seeing low reader engagement on your blog, it could very well be due to infrequent updates. Blogs should be regularly updated like social media profiles to keep readers engaged. Otherwise, they might leave yours for a competitor’s blog.
Staying engaged is crucial to the success of business blogging. Pay careful attention to the above list, and make sure your company is not making the same mistakes.
