Remember the diagram I showed you in my previous post? Here it is again:
As you can see, a blog typically has “meatier” content than Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, but not as in-depth as your website. And, the frequency at which you update your blog is higher than your website, but less than tweeting or posting to Facebook.
Another comparison to make is between your blog and your newsletter (email marketing). Your newsletter (and I use “newsletter” as a very general term here to refer to any communication sent via email marketing tools) is focused on an audience you know: your customers, clients, patients, donors and subscribers. A blog, on the other hand, can reach any one with internet access: potential customers, clients, and followers.
Blogs Are Not Sales Pitches
A blog is like a mini-presentation with the primary intent of sharing something you know and to engage your readers. You are building a relationship with them that not only reinforces their interest in doing business with you, but also encourages them to share this relationship with their friends. Research shows that word-of-mouth recommendations are more effective than any other advertising campaigns.
How often should you post to your blog?
Probably not more than once a day and not less than once every two weeks. You have to keep in mind that people have a lot to read online every day, besides running a healthy business. As interesting as your content may be, there are other things that just need to get done. At the other end of the frequency spectrum, greater than a 2-week time span and people may forget to read your blog because you’re no longer time of mind. Most importantly, be consistent.
Keep your blog posts relatively short, concise, and on topic. Anything longer than a page and a half and your reader starts to get itchy to move on to something else and starts to lose focus. If it’s getting too long, subdivide it and save part for the next post.
Building SEO (search engine optimization)
Another good reason to have a blog is build your online reputation and credibility with the web’s search engines. Blogs provide what search engines “like”:
- Fresh, dynamic content
- Links back to your website
- Followers
- More searchable content
Next time: More specifics about writing blogs and where to find content ideas
