Establishing a brand should be near the top of every up-and-coming company’s list of priorities. Developing a unique brand and promoting it effectively, however, can be a formidable challenge. Creating a comprehensive online marketing strategy is the key to successful brand building, and blogging should be central to every company’s online promotional efforts. Whatever your industry is, regular blogging will help you shore up your reputation and establish yourself as an authority.

How Does Blogging Help Your Brand?

Let’s face it—nobody wants to be on the receiving end of a blatant sales pitch. Most internet users are irritated by pop-up advertisements and other intrusive promos. Over the past decade, more and more companies have adopted an approach to self-promotion based on the principles of inbound marketing, rather than traditional marketing. Inbound marketing techniques promote companies by providing consumers with content that is useful to them.

If you’re thinking of adopting a new marketing strategy centered on an inbound marketing approach, blogging is the perfect place to begin. Here’s why blogging helps you:

  • Blogs are an effective way to increase your website traffic. If your site’s content never changes, new visitors will have little reason to become repeat visitors. A blog transforms a static website into one that is constantly changing and adding fresh content, giving your readers an incentive to keep coming back.
  • Search engines are designed to seek out websites that contain the newest and most relevant content.Blogging can help you make your site more popular. Publishing blog posts that make smart, strategic use of relevant keywords and key phrases can also help to improve your search rankings—which will bring more visitors to your site.
  • If you want to be a thought leader within your industry, blogging is essential. Blogging about the latest industry trends, giving authoritative advice to your readers, and sharing important insights will all help you build a reputation as a trustworthy information source.
  • Talking about your company’s values is one of the most important aspects of building a brand. Blogging permits you to develop a unique and familiar voice as a company, allowing you to express what makes you stand out.
  • A blog also provides you with a convenient place to make important announcements about your company. If you have a special weekend sale coming up, a new product or service that you want your customers to know about, or a new team member that you want to introduce to the public, a blog is the perfect platform for it.
What Makes for an Effective Business Blog?

Once you’ve launched your company’s blog, you’ll need to decide what to prioritize in sharing with your readers. Having a clear strategy in place prior to the publication of your first blog post will help ensure that your blog gets the results you want. Here are some tips for keeping your blog on task:

  • Target your tone to your audience. The voice and tone of your blog posts should stay consistent, but they should also be tailored to the requirements of your industry and the interests of your audience. For example, a blog written for a law firm will probably sound significantly different than a blog written for a school. The more unique and personable your blog is, the more likely it is to develop a consistent readership.
  • Have an editorial calendar in place. Creating an editorial calendar for your blog helps to ensure that you will be able to post regular updates, and that the updates will never seem repetitious or redundant. When you can easily glance at an entire month’s schedule of posts, you can make quick changes to ensure that your blog stays relevant and interesting.
  • Include a call-to-action in every post. It’s important to give your readers something to do next after they finish reading one of your blog posts. That’s why you should be sure to end each post with a call-to-action that directs them to a landing page on your site, encourages them to contact you, or lets them know about a special offer. However, don’t reuse the same formula for your call-to-action every time—keep it lively and fresh.
  • Keep your headlines crisp and intriguing. The title of your blog is the first thing readers will see—and you won’t want it to be the last thing they read before looking away. Headlines should be written in the active voice, make use of strong and memorable language, and be as clear and easy to understand as possible.
  • Use images to break up the text. Graphics are great for adding visual interest to your blog and preventing it from becoming overwhelmed by too much text. The possibilities provided by graphics are endless, from well-chosen illustrations to data-packed infographics. Make sure that every graphic you post has been optimized with alt text.
  • Don’t go too long between updates. While you should make sure that every new post on your blog is relevant and substantive, going for long stretches without blogging can reduce its usefulness for your search engine rankings and risk losing readers. If you’re not posting at least once or twice a week on your blog, you’re not getting the most out of its potential.

If you’re not already blogging, adding a blog to your website will help you grow your audience and begin enhancing your online reputation. Keeping up with the demands of a high-quality blog, however, isn’t an easy task. Working with a capable content creator will help to ensure that you get the terrific blog copy you need to hook your readers. Pennington Creative has experience creating professional-quality blogs for numerous companies in a wide array of industries. Contact our team today to find out how we can help you.

About the Author

Justyn Dillingham

Digital Marketing Manager, Special Projects