Many businesses understand the importance of blogging, and have integrated it into their online marketing practices. Blogging is a great way to build reputation and achieve a dedicated reader base, and can help the business achieve a bevy of benefits. But blogging is not a simple process; many businesses are faced with challenges and problems along the way.
5 Common Mistakes and How to Fix Them
If implemented successfully, blogging can provide enormous advantages to your business. However, even the best bloggers can fall prey to common problems. The following are common mistakes encountered in business blogging, and how they can be addressed:
1. Inconsistent Schedule
One of the challenges of a blog is to maintain a consistent schedule. Many bloggers choose to post on a weekly or daily basis: but regardless of the type of schedule, it is important to stay consistent. Infrequent posting can have detrimental effects on the blog, resulting in lower traffic and fewer visitors. There are multiple ways through which bloggers can maintain a consistent schedule, whether through queuing posts or guest posting. Starting small and staying commitment can help your blog reach its potential.
2. Poor Writing
Nothing turns readers away faster than poor writing. Articles containing bad grammar and long-winded points reflect poorly on your business. Make sure that the individual responsible for the blog is a qualified writer and can clearly convey an idea. Another way to counter this problem is to have multiple contributors on a blog. Not only will this bring different viewpoints into the blog, additional bloggers will watch over the quality of the posts.
3. Shameless Promotion
A common mistake that many businesses blogs make is to focus on the businesses’ products, services, or other promotional material. However, this quickly changes the purpose of the blog, moving from concentrating on the audience to focusing on the business. A blog should provide valuable, useful content, which have a greater likelihood of attracting visitors and increasing the reputation of the business. Focus on informative content and keep your readers engaged.
4. Lack of Social Media
One of the most common sights on a blog is social media buttons, allowing readers to share interesting articles. However, there are a number of businesses that fail to integrate this useful tool into their blog, decreasing the visibility of their content. Bloggers can easily remedy this problem by looking into whether their content management system integrates with social media. For example, WordPress has an endless number of social media extensions and plug-ins, allowing bloggers to quickly tie social media into their posts.
5. Using Lead Generation
Given enough time and dedication, businesses can develop a blog with high traffic and reader audience. Regretfully, many fail to implement ways that can capture these readers and convert them into potential customers. Placing call-to-actions at the end of posts are a valuable means to draw readers to your business, leading them to landing pages with exclusive offers. However, make sure that your call-to-actions are not self-promotional, as this would detract from the purpose of your blog. Blogging is a chance to generate leads, and businesses would do well to make the most out of this opportunity.
About the Author: Rachel Hyun Kim is a writer for Resource Nation, an online resource that gives advice such as background checks for small businesses and entrepreneurs. Rachel has written on a variety of topics, ranging from GPS fleet tracking software to merchant services.
