Your company’s blog is one of the most important aspects of your company’s online presence. In essence, your blog is the ambassador of your brand to anyone who visits your site. As such, it is crucial that your blog not only says what you want it to say, but that it also conveys your brand’s voice and message. Gone are the days when simply having a blog on your site was impressive. Today, the online corporate blogging world is more competitive than ever, and it’s crucial to make sure your company’s blog stands out. In order to achieve this goal, make sure to avoid the following four mistakes that business owners often make when creating and curating content for their company blog.
Poor Writing
It stands to reason that if you’re creating a blog for your company’s website it should be professional and speak well of your brand. For this reason, poor writing is the number one turn-off to customers. If you have sloppy writing, bad grammar, misspelled words, typos, and other errors in your writing, there’s a good chance your prospects won’t return to your site. Always ensure your writing is top notch, and if writing isn’t your strong suit, hire a professional.
Lecturing Instead of Conversing
Your pamphlets and informational brochures are the places where you can make a presentation of your products or services. On your company blog, however, you should avoid presenting and lecturing at all costs. This is the area of your company’s site where you’re conversing with and engaging your customer. Instead of telling them how wonderful your services are or simply talking about a new product, ask the customer questions, show them videos of how you make different things, and post engaging and interactive quizzes and games. Your customers can find out about what your company does in many other places, but on your blog they should find out who your company is.
Lacking a Vision
A common mistake is to start a company blog with no idea where you’re going with it, what the theme of it is, or how you intend to use it. If you’ve ever listened to a child speak uninterrupted, you’ve likely noticed that they will start talking about their day at school and somehow wind up talking about their idea of what a spaceship should look like. That’s exactly how your prospects and customers will feel reading your company’s blog if you don’t have a vision and a strategy. Make sure you know what you’re trying to accomplish with your blog, and ensure that your readers can have a reasonable idea of what to expect when they visit. Variety is good, but make sure the overall blog is cohesive and focused.
Failing to Leverage Experience
What makes you stand out in your field? Why is your company so successful? Why should your customers trust you over the competition? If you don’t answer these questions but simply regurgitate information that is already common knowledge, your blog loses its value. Make sure your customers know that you and your partners have a combined 50 years of experience in law, or that your company has provided over 2 million widgets to customers in 10 countries. Any experience you have in your field makes you and your company unique, so use that to gain your reader’s trust.
Remember that your goal is to establish yourself as a thought leader in your field and as a trusted and helpful advisor. Your company blog is a great place to show you care about your prospects and customers by providing helpful, non-promotional information related to your field. If you sell insurance, for instance, put articles on your blog that tell your readers how to protect their homes from a fire. Write posts about what to expect during the bail bonds process if you’re an attorney. If you sell baby toys, offer tips to help moms save time. These types of posts don’t “hard sell” your product, but they provide valuable and useful information related to your business that will set you apart from your competition.
