How to Write a Successful Company Blog
posted on
If you’re in charge of the company blog, you know it can be challenging to come up with interesting content and present it in a way that will make your customers keep coming back for more of your insights.
Blogging is no longer made up of dry, flat articles from your internal newsletter (and it’s not a diary of what you had for breakfast either)! A good blogging strategy is about educating your readers, proving you’re a thought leader in your field, and forming a relationship with your customers so that they understand your company culture and how you’re available to help them. And of course, you want to entice your customers to get in touch with you and start the sales process.
Achieving these goals doesn’t happen without a recipe for success. It’s a combination of topic selection, information architecture, enticing your audience, and providing easy calls-to-action for the next step.
If you’re ready to up your blogging game and start having meaningful conversations with customers, follow these tips:
1. Know Your Audience and Write For Them
If you want to ensure your readers find your blog interesting and helpful, make sure you're writing about topics that address their questions in a way that positions you as an industry expert.
Your customers are always looking for advice and new solutions. Brainstorm with your sales and support teams to figure out what your customers need help with and put together an editorial calendar with blog articles that fit those needs. If readers find your blog informative, they're bound to come back for more.
2. Choose a Catchy Title
Which article title would you respond to: “How to Increase Your Online Sales” or “10 Ways To Double Your Online Business”? Choosing a title that catches readers’ attention will help the article get read or the email get opened.
3. Make Your Posts Visually Appealing
Reader’s attention span has been seriously shortened for online pages. People don’t want to read big blocks of text. Make your blogs easy to read and visually appealing through the use of:
- Bullet points and lists
- Headings and subheadings
- Text highlight features
These styling options will break up text so that it’s skimmable and easy to read. You should also include a captivating photo in all of your blog posts. While words are important, people can absorb and analyze pictures more easily and it can add a new dimension to your article.
4. Entertain Your Readers
Your customers want to be entertained when they read. And they want to feel like they’re working with a company that can offer unique solutions. Add thoughtful and varying storytelling techniques to your blog posts to keep people engaged. Use quotes from other customers or senior-level employees, ask provoking questions to get readers thinking about their business, or tell a story about how your product or service helped someone else.
5. Add a Human Element
Scientific articles are for training manuals. Make your blogs easy to read by writing as if you’re speaking to your clients. Let them know there’s a person behind the screen so that they get to know your company and feel more comfortable reaching out to you.
- Use first-person voice
- Don’t use overcomplicated language or industry jargon
- Share a personal success story
These will help you be more relatable and easy to connect with.
6. Include a Call-to-Action
Don’t be shy at connecting the relevance of your blog with the products and services you have to offer, especially if they’ll solve a problem identified in your post. Within every blog, ask your readers to get in touch with you if they need help – or offer further insight into the blog topic with a related white paper or webinar. Giving them a click-to-contact way to get in touch with your sales team – or an offer to learn more from your expert team – will further your sales process and keep your client relations strong.
7. Make It Shareable
Social media is a new way to form relationships and share recommendations to friends and colleagues. Make sure all of your blog posts have easy-to-find share icons so that they can spread your insightful message to their colleagues, friends, or followers. Along the same lines, make sure you share your content through your company’s outlets: be it Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, or email marketing.
Let’s hear from you. What do you think makes an engaging blog post? What’s worked for you and what do your customers most respond to?