How do you get people to read your corporate blog? First of all, you of course must be providing something of use to your audience, and that probably is not promotion of your own company in every blog post. So sit down and think about what your customers need. For example, if you are a plumber, instead of talking about your speedy service and special promotions all the time, try blogging about useful home maintenance tips, such as how homeowners can keep their pipes healthy or how to use a snake.
But that will cut into our business, you protest. Don't worry. I just had a bathtub clog where the plumber had to insert the snake from an outside pipe and had to snake six times and go thirty feet before he snagged the hairball in the old, rusty pipes. I couldn't have done that myself, but the plumber created a lot of goodwill and trust with me by whispering home remedies to keep the water flowing better and teaching me how to turn off the main water main in case of an overflow. I will certainly call him next time my snaking abilities are challenged!
Important in drawing people to your blog is linking to other useful resources that are not your own. You will be establishing a robust web presence as the resources you link to become aware of you and perhaps may link back one of these days. Keeping abreast of current and popular news for your industry or audience and writing about it will help new people to find you. For example, going back to the plumbing blog, maybe there's some hot news about toilets? joy ninja quotes new media consultant Marshall Kirkpatrick about how to make your business blog more popular. He suggests following TechMeme and writing posts about what's popular, thus joining the conversation.
"The theory is that by responding to popular waves of interest in the online conversation in your chosen industry, you get to be part of the conversation while it's hot."
Consistency is also important. If you're busy running or operating a business, finding time to blog at regular intervals can be difficult, but it really helps build your traffic if visitors can depend on fresh and relevant posts. Blogger Rohit Bhargava has some great tips on finding time to blog when it's not your day job.
Read how Erica Douglass tripled her blog traffic in two months.
Posted by: Shara Karasic | March 17, 2008 at 06:48 AM