You’ve set up a blog for your business and started writing. Now, how do you get readers?
- Content, Content and more Content – Did I mention content? The only way to attract and keep readers is with great content.
- Share – You started a business because you have some specialized expertise. Share that expertise with your readers. They will respect your efforts and look to you for advise.
- Consistency – Readers need to know that there’s a reason to check back from time to time. Choose a posting schedule and try to stick with it. Ideally, you should be posting at least once a week.
- Stay on Target – While straying off the path occasionally is ok, readers generally expect you to post on a certain subject matter (whatever your expertise is). You may want to keep a personal blog for other posts (remember you’re representing your business).
- Listen & Respond – Encourage readers to interact with you through comments and email. Listen to what they say and respond intelligently. Your blog should be a place to have a conversation with your customers.
- Be Helpful – Related to #5, anywhere you see a question you can answer, answer it. Help people out with problems and concerns, not just on your blog, but anywhere you see people post their issues. If it’s something you can write about on your blog, you’ll also help out others who may have the same problem.
- Market – Add links to your blog on your website, your business card, your brochures, your email signature, and anywhere else you can. You’ll need to let customers know that you have a blog.
- Be Social – Join social networks and socialize with the members. Most social networks will also allow you to link to your website and blog. Some will even automatically import posts from your RSS feed.
- Blogosphere – Read other industry blogs and comment on their posts. Link to posts you think your readers would be interested on. Write opinions about posts on your own blog.
- Keywords & SEO – Don’t go overboard trying to get keywords into your posts, but do take good SEO practices into account. Knowing the keywords you want to target can help you incorporate them into your posts.
- Patience – It takes time to grow a readership on a blog. It can take over a year to get a decent following, so don’t expect your blog to take off right away. It takes a regular commitment to great content and a lot of patience.
Do you have a business blog? What tips can you share for getting readers?
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