5 Tips for a Better Business Blog

By Carma Spence-Pothitt

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Do you want your blog to be read, subscribed to and shared with others? Then consider these five tips:

1. Keep your audience in mind ... always.
Even if your blog is generally personal, you should consider the interests of your readers. If your posts don't encourage visitors to read them, you won't get repeat visitors. And repeat visitors are what helps your blog thrive and grow.

2. Pictures speaks a thousand words.
Whether we like it or not, people are attracted by visuals. So, you can make your blog more attractive ... and, at times, more readable ... by including pictures with your posts.

3. Make your content constructive and beneficial.
Even though you are free to write anything you want on your blog, it is better to create something that will benefit your readers. Readers won't come back to read your blog again if they didn't gain a benefit from it — the benefit could be something productive like business advice or something entertaining like a humor blog.

4. Avoid making multifaceted and complicated blogs.
If you've followed tip #1, then you have an audience in mind. Is this audience focused? Then keep your blog posts on topic. If you cover too many things, you are trying to reach too many people and that will dilute your message.

Also, bear in mind that most people who use the Internet usually do more scanning than reading word for word. Therefore, keep your posts pithy and to-the-point.

5. Make it interactive.
As much as possible, make your blog interactive. You can do this by placing video or audio clips in your blog. You can even place an area for comments or for feedback. If you are using WordPress, there are plenty of plugins that can add interactive elements such as polls, to your blog. In this way, you can get reader impressions or reactions.

Blogs can be excellent business tools and a simple way to get a website up on the 'net. But you don't want to be the tree that falls in an empty forest, with no one around to hear you. Use these tips to make your blog more compelling and you will get the word out about your business.