I don't know about you, but the holidays are definitely my time to go light on the blog posts. Traffic drops too, from my experience. But is it really good to go "dark" this time of year? Here's Beth's take on the subject: ...
To answer those questions, try the following:
Determining the things your target market really cares about is essential when setting up a blog for your business. You need to approach it from a marketing perspective, although the follow-through may not be -at least not in the traditional sense. Many people consider “marketing” to be the antithesis of a real blog– they choose blogging to connect with their clients rather than “annoy” them with direct marketing.
The important thing to remember is that there are many parallels between direct marketing and setting up a business blog. In both instances you are attempting to reach the client to enhance your brand. The true message here is that you can’t be afraid of marketing tactics.
We’ve discussed using your blog to test the water on choosing subjects. This time we’re going to really think like marketers - well, kind of. Here's what I mean:
We’ve discussed the issue of plagiarism before, on a couple of occasions. (See our post on 'Avoiding Online Plagiarism' last April) But really, the overall realm of original content is the gift that keeps on giving. A major topic of discussion around the Writesourcing water cooler (our virtual one, of course) is if there are other ways to define ‘original content’ that looks beyond the obvious theft, sourcing quoted material and the like. Well, fortunately, a client forced us to explore that further.
I thought I would list just a few resources that I found to be very helpful in my quest to be a better blogger. ...
Many businesses are nervous about sticking their neck out when they blog – they’re worried about people latching on to an idea or opinion voiced that they don’t like, and they’re concerned what that will do to the business.
But here’s the thing, without taking risks, you’ve got nothing to offer, so it is a must. Otherwise, all you’re doing is relaying the same news and fact that everyone else is already providing. Let’s face it, if you’re a small business looking to blog to increase brand awareness, you’re a small fish in a big sea. You’ve got to stand out or there will always be bigger businesses and sources that people turn to for industry news. I lose interest while rewriting and simply reiterating something someone has already said, and that won’t say much for the interest of your readers.
You don’t always need to take extreme risks to attract an audience. There are different types of risks every blog can choose to take. It comes down to your personal comfort level, but here are some ways to go about it:
