Here are 3 important blogging tips that you can apply straight away when you start a blog
Top 3 Blogging tips:
1) Get your blog linked
Your blog is like your website the more links you get to it the more traffic and visitors you’ll get who will in turn visit your website. So in the same way you build traffic to your website do the same with your blog. List your blog on a blog directory. Kiwiology is a good NZ blog directory or there are many international ones such as blogorama. Beyond directories try partner businesses, community websites and your customers. Best of all if your blog content is good you’ll find people will naturally link to your blog posts.
2) Adopt a search mindset for your blog posts
Ensure your blog post titles contain the right keywords (see our keywords article) this ensures search engines will rank your blog post. Informative titles will also entice your readers to click on the post to read it. Beyond the title ensure your content is also rich with keywords. E.g. mention full names of events, awards etc that people would search on instead of abbreviating.
3) Get active and comment on other blogs
One of the best ways of increasing traffic to your blog is commenting on other blogs. When you post a comment you’ll get the opportunity to link back to your own blog. If your post is insightful and adds value to the discussion then the greater chance readers will click through to your blog to find out more about you, your blog and your business.
Top NZ business blogs
Here are some examples of business blogs from businesses listed ‘The Kiwi Story’ that have leveraged the benefits of blogging to promote their business.
1. NZ Art Guild – NZ Art community
2. Deanna Gracie Contemporary Jewellery - Unique NZ made jewellery
3. DIYFather - Fathers parenting guide website
4. endemicworld.com - NZ online design store
5. Scamps Eco Boutique - earth friendly online store
Summary
Business blogging is a great low-cost way of marketing and keeping in touch with your customers. Most blog tools available are free and there are a variety of tools out there to suit your type of business. Hence you only need to commit your time and its well spent if you do it properly. A key problem with the NZ SME business scene is the lack of sharing of news and announcements. Too many times we see a business with an old website which has rarely been updated yet when we dig deeper we find they have just received a prestigious award, holding a great workshop, or have some other exciting piece of news. A blog is a great way to bridge this gap and share the flow of business information. If you haven’t already, give business blogging a try!
