Inbound Marketing and Business Blogging, What's the Connection?

To answer this question it's important to understand what a blog is so that it makes sense in the context of inbound marketing. There may be a number of you who think that a blog is just a way that people provide information updates about their lives or interests similar to an extended Facebook entry and in many cases that is in fact what a blog is. For our purposes the discussion centres (yes, I'm Canadian so I spell centre with an 're' ending) around the business blog, a blog where the information updates are focused on our business activities, what's new, interesting or relevant to our target audience. A blog is a tool that allows you to quickly and easily publish new content online and where readers can interact with questions or comments about what you've offered. How does it relate to inbound marketing then? Remember that the first part of inbound marketing is about the creation of content that is well optimized using SEO best practices and promotion through social media vehicles? Therefore blogging allows your business to quickly create new content for all interested visitors to read, comment on and share with others. When done properly, you'll see your readership grow and by completing the inbound cycle of conversion and measurement, you'll achieve the business outcomes you've established.

For the purpose of my post here today I'm going to stay focused on the first element of inbound marketing, content creation, otherwise...well it would just be too long! OK, so we've established that blogging is an easy and effective way to create new content for our visitors so what do we do? Step 1 is to decide on your blog software and there are many to chose from, the important thing is to host it on your own website. (Yes, I'm well aware that I'm not following this advice, that will be changing very soon with the launch of our website!) Why is this important? The inbound marketing advantages of hosting your own blog are too numerous to talk about here but in a nutshell if you don't host the blog, you don't get the benefit. If you cut and trim your neighbours lawn, their property looks great...not yours! Step 2 is to understand who it is that your trying to reach with your information offering. As an example, here I offer information intended for the small and medium sized business who is looking for information on how they can use the internet to improve business results. All of the postings are intended to provide more useful (I hope!) ways that you can understand and use the web to help you achieve your business goals. Now we've touched on the why (generate business results), how (blog software), who (your target audience), what (relevant and helpful info), where (blog hosted on your own website) next let's discuss when...as often as possible! You've got a lot of information to share with your visitors so...get to it. Blogging is perhaps the simplest way for you to reach and attract new prospects from the web over time. Notice "over time" not overnight. It's rare that you'll create great business results right out of the gate, remember this is a process not and event so stay the course.

Blogging may seem a little daunting to your company, how are you going to find the time? Who's going to do it? Will we have enough information to share? These are all valid concerns, but consider this, the use of the internet is continuing to grow. Business and consumers alike are looking for information everyday, Google alone receives over a billion queries daily and if you're in business you must very seriously consider what the cost of not being in front of this stream, no scrap that... ocean of information seekers will cost you... a lot! Want some help? Feel free to contact us here.

We're at the edge of the future!

Andy Xhignesse