5 Ways To Use A Business Blog Even If You Don’t Blog Regularly.

I know that there are still lots of business owners who are not only not “into” blogging, they don’t really know what one is. If the prospects in your target market fall into this category, then a blog may not be right for your business…
But there are still certain ways you can use a blog […]

I know that there are still lots of business owners who are not only not “into” blogging, they don’t really know what one is. If the prospects in your target market fall into this category, then a blog may not be right for your business…

But there are still certain ways you can use a blog which can provide a huge benefit to your business. First let’s start by exploring the reasons why a blog can be an excellent tool for your business…

• They help people get to know, like and trust you making the sales process easier – it’s how I “sell” to prospects even when I’ve never met nor spoken to them.
• Search engines love them meaning your blog posts are far more likely to show up in Google than a static page on your website which gets changed once a year at best – search for me on Google and my blog shows up way above any of my other websites.
• They are very quick and easy to set up – and getting a custom designed blog is far, far cheaper than getting a full website professionally created for you.
• They can help build up a following or community around what you do – my LIP blog is a good example of this.

But if you still don’t want to use a blog to actually, well, blog…here are a few more ways they can help your business:

#1 Blogs as websites

Blog platforms like Wordpress and Typepad both have options to use static pages - which means you can basically build a website using a blog service and update it really quickly and easily. This is a great option to own a website which you can update yourself and means you avoid having to pay your web designer to change the tiniest bits of text for you every month.

#2 Blogs as sales pages

Using the above method, you can use your blogging platform to create individual pages to promote special one-off offers, events or new services & products you’re launching. Rather than having to build a whole website before you can launch anything, you can create a single page really quickly and send people to the relevant URL address to promote whatever it is you’re selling.

#3 As an article repository

That’s all a blog really is anyway! So if you have a ton of articles that you want to share with prospects or clients, set up a blog, remove the date header (which removes the issue of readers knowing how regularly you do or don’t update the blog) and simply add articles to it every time you write one – it’s a bit like the “resources” section of a website. Of course, if you’re going to do this, you’d be smart to have other details about what you offer so that in the process of demonstrating your credibility through the articles, should someone decide they want to work with you, they’ll know what you offer.

#4 As a forum

One of the benefits of blogs is the community aspect and interactivity that a well-run and well-written blog can encourage. Alternatively, you can use a blog as a forum for existing clients to ask you questions (Q&As), to offer them further support, share updates with them and for them to share their success stories. This works a bit like a pared-down membership site or actual forum and could be used as a value-add service for your existing clients.

#5 As an ezine or newsletter

Like the above suggestion, you could use a blog as an ezine and choose to either keep it private (password-protected – with a fee or for free) for existing clients or prospects. It’s a great alternative to the typical internet marketing strategy of building a mailing list and sending out an ezine for people who either don’t like that strategy or for whom it doesn’t suit.

This article provides you with 5 alternatives for those of you with either a neglected existing blog or those of you who’ve thought about blogging but aren’t sure you can commit to posting regularly. There are multiple ways a blog can benefit your business, contact us to find out more.