How To Be A Better Blogger

It seems everyone is blogging. Whether it’s a short 140-character post on Twitter or the latest sales tips on a corporate blog, this is a way to add value and share information with prospects and customers. A blog is also a way to position your company, and more specifically your leaders and sales professionals, as experts.

Today and tomorrow, Promotional Consultant Today shares these tried-and-true blogging tips from blogger Jeffrey Cohen.

Blog On Your Own Domain
Do not create a standalone blog at a different domain, including blogger.com and wordpress.com. Your business blog should be located at blog.companydomain.com or companydomain.com/blog. This search engine-friendly approach provides regularly updated content for your website. This way you can get maximum benefit for your website from the traffic that you drive to your blog.

Create An Editorial Calendar
Planning is the key to any large, ongoing project, and blogging is no exception. An editorial calendar can help you determine how often to blog, what topics to cover and what kind of content to create. This can also be overlaid with upcoming marketing activities and industry events for maximum impact of your other initiatives.

Use Keywords In Your Titles
You want your blog posts to be found and read, and whether that is through search or on social media platforms, keywords help readers discover them. While search engine discovery may be automatic, social discovery happens when you use words that describe what people are looking for or topics in which they are interested.

Be Human
Writing a blog post is different from writing a news release. While you should seek to educate your readers, you should also try to create a connection. An informal writing style, personal anecdotes and humor can start to make those connections. If they like you, you increase the possibility that they will come back to read another day or that they will share your posts.

Educate Your Readers
The difference between a good blog post and a great blog post is what the reader takes away from it. Build regular readership, and potential customers, by providing quality educational content that helps your readers in their businesses. The more you can educate them, the better prepared they will be if they become a prospect for your products or services.

Read PCT tomorrow for more tips for blogging success.

Source: Jeffrey L. Cohen is managing editor of SocialMediaB2B.com. He is also a social strategist at salesforce radian6. Cohen works with B2B and B2C enterprise companies to assess their social media strategy and adoption, and advises them on how social media marketing, communications and engagement can help them meet their business objectives.