5 Tips on Blogging for Your Business
Nowadays, it’s nearly impossible to run a company that has no online presence. Even if your business has yet to develop a website, chances are it’s been reviewed on Yelp, discussed in a message board or bragged about on Facebook. 
Yet there’s a lot of value in taking your online appearance into your own hands and creating a landing page for yourself. Companies as small as your local laundromat have already jumped on board.
So what’s the next step in building your virtual brand? Many business owners are launching a company blog in order to humanize their product, connect with their audience and share new initiatives without spending a lot of time or money. The great news is that, with the right tools, they can make an enormous difference for you and your potential customers – or even go viral. The flipside is that they can also fall flat without an audience at all. It’s all about how you do it.
Here are five tips on blogging to grow your business’ web prowess and hit a home run in the virtual world:
1. Keep it short
Gone are the days of long, flowery descriptions and thorough evaluations. Today’s reader is looking for the meat of your article, and they want it now. Often, someone perusing a blog has five or six other tabs open on their browser while reading your words. Keep your sentences short. Limit your paragraphs to two or three sentences if you can. Try to keep your articles around 500 words. And write with passion!
2. Use numbers
A great way to keep attention on your blog is to use numbers. Create a list and number each heading (like we did with this one). Include the number in your title. “4 Ways to Go on a Greek Vacation”. “8 Activities Not to Do Before Bed”. “3 Things my Mother Taught Me”. For extra effectiveness, try making your sub-headings count down (5-1) rather than up (1-5).
3. Media is your friend
If you want to make sure your online article is never read, make it long, use big words, and don’t include any pictures. Fortunately, visual media is easier to get your hands on than ever. There are great stock photos available for cheap for small businesses. There are amazing videos that can be embedded from YouTube and Vimeo. Use them, and don’t forget to cite your source to keep your Internet karma intact.
4. Ask the audience
Nothing is more important than your audience when it comes to writing a blog post. Always keep the intent of your article in sight, and make sure it’s creating value for your readers. Engage them by asking a question at the end of the post and encouraging them to answer it in the comments section. Bonus points for giveaway items and contests. There’s a lot that someone will do for a free water bottle.
5. Join the community
If you really want your blog to be popular, make sure you know your community. Just like your parents taught you, you can’t make friends only talking about yourself. The blogging life is similar. Find your contemporaries and comment on their posts. Join social networks and retweet others’ articles. Make yourself a member of the community, and the community will reward you.
Want more tips on how to grow your brand using your blog? Join Go Girl Travel Network at the first-ever Women in Travel Summit for female travel bloggers and brands. Learn more at http://www.witsummit.com.
Beth Santos is Founder and CEO of Go Girl Travel Network, a resource and community for women travelers and the creator of the Women in Travel Summit. Beth is a current MBA candidate at the Kellogg School of Management and runs the monthly Chicago Founders’ Stories events with venture capitalist and social entrepreneur Pat Ryan at 1871. Visit her website at bethsantos.com for more information about her projects and to learn about her blogging classes and speaking engagements.
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