Every week I get asked, should you be blogging for business and my answer is always the same, YES, absolutely, without a doubt. The next question is why? There is a simple answer and it leads into what to write on your blog as well. This isn’t a technical post, in truth I have help on the back end of my blog. This post is about why you need to be blogging, and what sort of things you should be writing about. I’ll leave the tech stuff to the experts!

Should You Be Blogging For Business?

Why?

Consumers have become savvy and we hate to be sold to. Many small businesses make the mistake of only ever selling to their potential clients, and lets face it, it is how we were sold to up until about 10 years ago. Now we are informed, and we like to be educated before we step through a sales process.

The only real exception to this is retail only businesses, however blogging for retails is also a necessary skill. Think about what you do with most if not all of the surface mail you receive in your letterbox each week, you bin it right?! Well that is what is happening with your social media and websites when there is nothing but a sales push.

Every business should have a blog section on their website, in which you can educate your potential clients.

What?

Being told to blog for business normally gets small business owners nervous, and understandably so, we’re not writers we are business owners. You don’t have to be a fantastic writer to write a blog post. The idea of a blog post is to educated your potential clients about who you are and what you do, without the sell!

For example, let’s say you are a painting contractor who has your own business, your clients want to know firstly who you are! Your very first blog post should be about you, tell us who you are, what you do and share a bit of your background. Consumers want to know who they are working with, this gives them an opportunity to research your compatibility before they contact you, and that saves you time!! It’s the first step in qualifying your clients.

Once you’ve introduced yourself, introduce your team. Your staff make your business, and not only do your potential clients want to know about them, if gives your team a morale boost to be valued enough to be blogged about!

From here take the opportunity to provide education around what you do. Again using a painter as an example, write posts about types of paints or how to prep a room for painting, the importance of gap filling, or having paint tested for lead.

You can also share projects you have worked on. This will give your potential client a chance to see the type of work you do. Just remember to have the clients permission prior to sharing any job you’ve worked on, it is a good idea to have them sign an authority form.

How Often?

You don’t have to blog often, you just need to ensure you have a reasonable amount of content for your potential clients to find. I advise you to upload 3-4 posts straight away and then add them as often as you can. For some that will be weekly, others monthly and others quarterly. There is no right or wrong, just regularity that counts.

How?

It is not necessary to have a separate blog like the one we have here at The Builder’s Wife. Your web developer can create a blog page on your regular website, and send you instructions on how to upload a post. Alternatively, you can write a few posts and ask your web developer to upload them for you.

Remember to add as many photos as you can. With social media we are constantly being trained to engage in a visual way, photos give you the opportunity to do so within your posts.

Photos will also allow you to show more of who you are and what you do. I do firmly recommend that you use your own photos though, it’s integrity your consumers are looking for.

If you don’t already have a blog section on your website, I encourage to you get one sorted today. The benefit is there not only for your potential clients, but for you as a small business owner.

Do you have a blog on your website? How do you get educated about businesses you want to work with?

Nicole xx