Successful Professional Blogs

SUCCESSFUL PROFESSIONAL BLOGS Many businesses are turning to blogs to provide fresh content for regular readers, enhance their web visibility, and to ultimately drive business back to their website. All successful blogs have a few things in common, so keep these tips in mind when developing your business’ blog: 1. Make it Interesting Gain a loyal readership by keeping readers interested. Your blog shouldn’t read like a press release, talking about how great your business is, your new products and services, etc. Instead, give readers relevant content: industry news, tips, â€Å"Top 10† lists, and professional advice. Remember, you want to make this relevant to the reader – this keeps readers visiting your website regularly, and (hopefully) passing along your blog information to others. 2. Keep Focused Pick a blog topic and stay with it. If you have, say, a knitting blog, make sure all of your posts are relevant to knitting and not something else (like tips on how to unclog the sink). Also, a professional blog is not the place to post pictures of your dog, a long diatribe about your favorite T.V. program, or a diary-style entry about your date last night. This can kill your credibility and bore readers. 3. Obey the Rules of Grammar Remember, professional blogs are about establishing your credibility, not the place to experiment with sTrAnGe CaPitAliZaTioN. So check your spelling, avoid too-casual slang, and be sure that your blog is as professional as your business. 4. Post Steadily Establish a reasonable timeline for updating your blog and make sure to follow it. There’s no use in posting 50 blogs in a month only to ignore your blog for a few weeks. The goal of a blog is to keep people coming back. Don’t overwhelm them with too much information, but keep a steady stream of content and give them a reason to check back regularly. 5. Don’t Ignore Readers If you allow comments on your site, always be sure to respond to direct questions within the comments. Make your readers feel like their thoughts and opinions matter by responding promptly and graciously.