Author: sjmyles

A business blog is one of the simplest ways to add value to your business

In today’s world, you could be forgiven for underestimating the value of a business blog. As this modern era seems to emphasise visual platforms such as Instagram and Tik Tok, it is easy to question the validity of investing vital resources in written pieces for your business website. The fact is, however, a well-crafted business blog serves a very different purpose to social media content.

What is a business blog?

Throughout the 1990s, ‘blogs’ came to be known as diary-style pieces of personal writing posted on the internet, often focused on specific subject matter. This form of writing became increasingly popular over the years that followed, with many bloggers finding themselves able to monetise their output and create new careers. The world of politics began to fully embrace the art of blogging in the early 2000s, and the business world quickly followed. Large organisations found the medium useful for internal cohesion and communication, while businesses of all sizes began to add blogs to external commercial webpages.

Business blogging has evolved to be quite different to personal or political blogging. For commercial enterprise, blogging is an additional marketing or publicity tool that can add value to customer experiences and, as a result, to your bottom line.

1. Showcasing your brand – A business blog allows you to showcase your company voice and style, forming an integral part of your overall branding mechanism. It can provide a gateway into your commercial space for new customers, introducing them to your products or services in a way that is accessible and immersive.
2. Highlighting your business journey – Regular blog posts that are well-crafted and engaging build audiences, which means that your business blog can help create and maintain brand loyalty through highlighting the journey of your business. Sharing snippets of the story of growth that lies behind your organisation can lead to a greater sense of connection for your customers, who become invested in your success.
3. Marketing of products or services – When your business launches a new product or service, your blog is a great place to introduce it to the world. The format allows for a higher level of detail to be given, including benefits, market insights, and future plans.
4. Boosting your sales funnel – Both your business and your website have sales funnels. These are specific decision-points to which customers can be directed using a variety of SEO and marketing strategies. A well-planned business blog can be an important part of that sales funnel by providing scope for optimised keyword usage and the strategic deployment of internal weblinks. The regular updating of blog content means these techniques can be designed to achieve specific goals as needed, as well as increasing website traffic overall.
5. Enhancing credibility – A business blog can help to establish your company as a thought leader within its industry, building an informative and useful resource for a growing audience. This, combined with consistency in brand voice and style, enhances credibility. Customers will trust your business more quickly and in the longer term, helping to ensure repeat trade and positive word-of mouth.

How is it done?

Your business blog should be available on your company website and it is crucial that new posts are uploaded regularly to build a stable, core audience. Variety of content is also important, along with overall style.

1. Post length – Your blog post length should be tailored to your audience. Who is going to be reading your blog, and for what purpose? If you are planning a comprehensive ‘How To’ guide post aimed at Executives and Managers, a length of between 1500 and 2000 words may be warranted. For most other posts – covering product launches or industry developments, for example – a word count of around 1000 words should be sufficient.
2. Visual presentation – Text on a blog post should be clear and images should be eye-catching but relevant. You should consider the circumstances in which someone may be trying to read your post. They may be skimming through it on their mobile phone screen during their commute, or scrolling past on their PC while eating their lunch. Your post needs to draw their attention and ensure its central points are identifiable and compelling.
3. Content – You should use a variety of stand-alone posts and short series, all focused on useful information.
   • Stand-alone posts can cover industry-wide, company-level, or product developments, and can even be tied in with national or international current events or dates. This enables the blog to harness popular search terms to increase website traffic. For example, a private security company could publish a blog post focused on event security to tie in with the opening of the World Cup.
   • Short blog series are a good opportunity to take a deeper dive into more complex issues or subject matter in a way that is both useful to readers and relevant to the business. For example, a debt management company could publish a 6-part series of connected blog posts examining the causes and consequences of personal or corporate debt, and the solutions available.
   • Seasonal blog posts can allow your business to occasionally take a step back and look at the bigger picture – examining current trends and making predictions and estimations about the coming season. For example, a flooring company could publish a seasonal post about the current most popular carpet colour trends, framed against movements in the interior design market.
4. Post sharing – You should identify the most appropriate social media platforms on which to share your business blog. The platforms you choose may reflect the way in which your customer base engages with your website most often. For example, if your company has a Facebook page with a large number of followers, you may find that this audience is more likely to share your blog onwardly, boosting website traffic. Alternatively, if your products or services are better served by business-to-business marketing, then platforms such as LinkedIn may be more productive.

Blogging with SMWS

Sarah Myles Writing Services can ghostwrite your business blog. Getting to know your business, its voice, and its goals, Sarah Myles can work with you to plan the way your blog will develop, either in the short or long term. To find out more, contact sjmyles79@gmail.com.

Creating the right voice for your business is key to success

Communication lies at the core of every business. Every aspect of your organisation involves communication – both internal and external – and its efficacy can have a significant impact on the bottom line. You may have a product or service that is far superior to even your closest competitors but, if this is not communicated to the world in the right way, this will not be reflected in your results. This is why it is essential that you find your business voice and use it properly.

What do we mean?

When we talk about your business voice, we refer to the way in which your business communicates. This includes everything that forms the tone, personality, and style of your brand. While all marketing elements sit under this umbrella, words create the framework against which colour palettes and imagery can be built.

Why is it important?

Finding your business voice and using it consistently is vital to the success of your enterprise for a number of reasons.

1. First impressions – When a potential customer encounters your business for the first time and discovers a cohesive, professionally presented brand, the best first impression is formed. The customer will find it easier to trust your organisation, making them more likely to engage positively in the first instance, and return for further engagement.
2. Long term reputation enhancement – Brand consistency across your business builds brand loyalty within your customer base through lasting reputation enhancement. By ensuring that the public perception of your organisation is one of accessibility, familiarity and ease, your reputation will make a significant contribution to the growth of your business.
3. Increased influence – When customers are familiar and comfortable with the consistency and accessibility of your brand, the influence of your business within the marketplace also grows. The consistency and clarity of your brand plays an important role in turning your business in a market leader.

How do you find your business voice?

The idea of ‘finding your voice’ may sound vague and daunting but, with a structured and methodical approach, you can define your brand quickly and easily.

1. 1. Identify the values and mission statement of your business – To find your business voice, you first need to know what your business is, what it stands for, and what it seeks to achieve. In order to be effective, your business voice will need to communicate everything about your organisation in the most optimal way, so your company ethos and aims must be clearly identified and fully embedded throughout.
   2. Identify your audience – Your communications should always be tailored to the audience you need to reach, so you must identify and understand the customer bases you need to target. This includes discerning how and when customers communicate with each other, as well as how they communicate with your business.
   3. Be flexible – Successful businesses grow and evolve over time, which means that you need to be flexible when it comes to your business voice. While consistency is key, it is important to ensure that your voice stays true to the values and goals of the organisation as change occurs. This means it should be regularly reviewed, and small adjustments and shifts in tone should be made as necessary.
   4. Create a style guide – Once you have identified the values, clarified the mission statement of your business, and identified your audience, you need to create a style guide. This is a document that sets out the details of your brand voice and imagery clearly, and is applied across your whole organisation. In addition to colour palettes, logos and fonts, it stipulates language style and format, as well as the overall tone of written content. Implementing a comprehensive style guide – even in the earliest days of your business – means that your business voice will remain consistent, cohesive and recognisable in the long term, as your organisation continues to grow.

Making yourself heard with Sarah Myles Writing Services

When providing Writing Services for business, Sarah Myles is essentially your commercial ghostwriter. Whether it is the creation of text for webpages or the delivery of blog posts or series, Sarah works to understand and adopt your business voice in writing. To find out more, email sjmyles79@gmail.com.