Launching a business blog is a smart decision that can lead to new business, increase your sales potential, and enhance your business profile. Here is a general guide to starting your blog.
Choose a Blog Service
There are several free blog services to choose from that can give you all the necessary blogging tools you’ll need to get your business blog up and running. All of the ones listed below are very easy to learn to use, even for beginners.
Blogger is the name of Google’s popular blog service that is capable of hosting written content,images and videos. There are several different templates that you can choose from, and within those, the pages are highly customizable. You can post under your business domain name, and in addition you can easily monetize your site.
Tumblr is free blog hosting for individuals and businesses that is accessible by browser and mobile devices. It’s customizable, and users can easily integrate sharing capabilities so readers can share, tweet, +1, and more.
Weebly has professional looking blog design templates for free. There is a small charge if you want to use your business domain name, but it’s worth the nominal fee. It’s fully customizable and you can post articles, pictures and video very easily.
Build Content
Once you have decided on a blog hosting service, you’ll need to come up with a stream of fresh content to keep your readers coming back. It’s virtually impossible to write it all yourself, so you’ll want to hire a freelance writer to create content for you, or you can start an account with a content company that has a team of writers waiting to create customized content for you. The rule of thumb is to post something new at least once a week, but three times a week is better. The fresher your content, the more likely that your business customers will return to your blog.
Add Images
You’ll also need an abundant supply of images for your blog. Readers like to see lots of high quality photos to accompany articles. For that, you can access free image sites like:
Free Digital Photos.net
Or, you can purchase inexpensive, high-resolution images from Photos.com, or GettyImages.com
Marketing
To market your blog, run contests, ask for reader suggestions, and run forums on your blog. All of these techniques help to get your audience involved with your blog, and make them feel like they are a part of your business community.
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