Blogging is an excellent way to establish expertise and build trust for your business. It’s become so easy that there are an *estimated 31 million of bloggers in the US alone. Unfortunately it’s also estimated that around 65% of those blogs haven’t been updated in a year or more. So how can you keep your blog from joining that 65%? Here are four essential elements that will help keep your blog running smoothly.
A Mailing List
A blog is considered an inbound marketing tool. Your customers and potential clients come to your page to read your articles. Once they’re at your site, they can take action such as contacting you or purchasing a product. How do you remind them that your blog exists? eMail marketing is still one of the best ways to reach out to your customers and catch their attention. However, don’t try to manage an email list manually. You’ve got to ensure you comply with the CAN-SPAM act so you don’t lose customers and risk fines for spamming your list. Email services such as Mail Chimp and Aweber, provide services to help you do email marketing efficiently and correctly. Mail Chimp even has a free level that is free for up to 2,000 subscribers.
A Contact Form
Publishing your email address on your website leaves you open to hackers who scrape your address and use it to send spam. So how can your customers reach you? Using a contact form! Not only is a contact form a safe ways for your customers to reach you, but it allows you to guide what information they submit. Do you want their phone number? Need to know what kind of job they have? How about which of your products or services they’re interested in? It can all be built into the contact form to give you a head start on nurturing them as a customer.
An About Me Page
Everyone loves a story and your About Me page is the place your customers will go to find yours. Are you making the most of this opportunity to build trust with your readers? Your About Me page should talk about both you and your business. It should have a picture of you that represents your business and personal brand well. Use it to tell your story. How did your business start? Why do you love what you do?
A Call to Action
Weather the blog is your business or you started your blog to attract customers to your business, you’re blogging for a reason. Are you educating about a product or service? Are you informing on a topic? What is it you want your readers to do because of your message? Your blog should be built to drive your readers to perform some kind of action. It might be joining your mailing list, visiting your online store, or calling you for a consultation. The action should be easy to find and easy to do. For example, your mailing list signup should be present on every page of your blog. Or you phone number should be large and at the top. Each blog post should end with encouraging your readers to take an action.
If you need help breathing new life into your old blog, or starting one from scratch, join the Raleigh Mompreneurs Bloggers Group!
Kelly Phillips teaches professional networking techniques at RedFeatherNetworking.com and helps small businesses master technology in her new venture, SmallBizTechTools.com. *Figures by Blogging.org.
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