Blogs - Business building tools!
Here are 12 different things you can do with a blog to build business:
1. Community building – create a blog that presents a wide variety of information of interest to your customers, both about your company, your industry, your community and more.
2. A newsletter – write articles on a variety of isssues pertaining to your customers and industry and distribute it through your blog.
3. Company news – post new announcements, news stories, management changes, new capabilities announcements, etc.
4. Industry news – report on the latest happenings in your industry. This is a great way to generate daily visitors to your site. Plus, frankly, it’s a great way to be able to feature your company’s solutions to the industry’s issues through links into appropriate pages on your site as part of a report.
5. Media center – create different categories within your Media Center blog for
• Media Releases
• Bios of key company officers
• Downloadable file photos
• Key media contact indivduals
• Recent stories run about your company in the media
• Frequently asked media questions
• Fact sheets about your products, plants, services, etc.
• Sample suggested interview questions
• Recommended sources for additional industry information
• Etc.
6. Product usage tips – how different customers are using your products, ideas and techniques.
For example, a food distributor could offer a daily recipe, serving ideas and theme based party menus using their products.
A machinery manufacturer could offer tips on how to set up the machine for optimal running when performing operations on different hard-to-work materials.
7. Case studies – show how your company has made a difference in the bottom lines or the lives of your customers
8. Testimonials – use a blog as an easy way to quickly add customer testimonials to your site
9. An online version of your email newsletter – any time you send out an issue of your online newsletter, place a copy of each article in your blog. That way there’s a means for people to read your newsletter without being connected to their email, each article in your newsletter becomes a search engine magnet, and you create a permanent archive of your newsletter materials.
10. Safety section – give your safety staff an easy way to provide MSDS information, usage information, cautions, latest news, etc.
11. Blogs for specific product lines – if you regularly have news, tips, information, and new product annoucements regarding certain product lines set up a blog specific for that product. That way your visitors can find product-specific information, your marketing and product development teams can have more direct access to their audience, and you can build communities specific to given product lines.
12. Give a blog to your industry’s associations through your site – many companies offer usage of their conference rooms for association meetings as a goodwill gesture – why not give them virtual access to their members through giving them a blog on your site. Or, set up a separate site for their blog ($10) under the condition that you are the sponsored supplier of that service.
For information on how you can use blogs to build your business, check out Blogging For Business: How To Generate Traffic, Create Publicity, and Build Your Bottom Line Using Blogs
