Blogging is more popular today than ever before. You can find blogs on just about any subject. Want to learn how to fish? There are plenty of fishing blogs out there.
Do you want to travel to Alaska? You will have no trouble finding blogs written by experienced Alaskan travelers. How about searching for colleges? Yep, you will find bloggers who will share their experiences about how they searched. Most companies now have blogs. Have you ever wondered how you might use a blog to promote your business?
First off, remember that blogs are not ads. They are not sales pages. No one will come to your blog to read ads about your business. But a blog can be used successfully to promote your business. How can you do this?
Let’s say you are an author and you have just written a new book. Most authors today have their own websites, which are really blogs. In the blog they will talk about books they are working on. Perhaps the research has required them to travel to another city. They may use the trip as the subject of a blog post. Maybe they will introduce one of the characters in their new book in a post. As a result, people who read their blog will have a real curiosity about their new book and will want to buy it when it is released.
Restaurant owners have successfully been blogging for many years. If you have, say, an Italian restaurant, why not talk about where some of the selections on your menu originated. If you have a Sicilian dish, talk about Sicily and give some background about how that dish was created. You can also include why certain cheeses or pastas are used, while others are not. Your readers will be people interested in Italian food and people who will want to come to your restaurant!
Perhaps you are a lawyer that specialises in senior law. You could start a blog that gives advice to seniors about estate planning, elder care, wills and trusts and so on. Today there are many people seeking information on these subjects and they would love to find a blog written by a lawyer. Can you see how eager they would be to use your services if they live in your locale?
The most important thing when promoting your business in a blog is not oversell your business. Write informative articles about subjects people are interested in. No one has a problem if, at the end of your article, you say something like: “If you’d like to try this tasty dish, be sure to stop in the BoatHouse restaurant next time you are in Frankston.” But other than that, leave the sales pitch to a minimum.
In a blog you are trying to get people to get to know you and learn more about you. If you can accomplish that, they will flock to your doors! So you can see how writing a blog is a really good way to promote your business.
FURTHER READING
Keys to Successful Small Business Blogging