SEO Quotient™
Get found on Google

Competition among online businesses is tough. Too many companies vying for the top spot on Google make it all the more important to be considered an expert in your business niche. Becoming a reliable expert can be done through blogging on your own site or through your company website. A blog gives you the power to speak to your audience about relevant topics based on your knowledge and expertise. It can become a showplace for your grasp on your specific industry.

Creating a credible blog does require regular effort. Here are tips for building credibility through a reliable blog:

Create an Outline

 Depending on your industry, you may have a lot of topic ground to cover. Create a timeline of topics you want to write about in some kind of relevant order. Develop topics based on how-to methods, tips, and general advice for things related to your industry and continue to add topics as news and information becomes relevant.

Narrow Down the Niche

With so much competition, find a niche area you can develop and promote that still relates to your business but that is not already overdone online. Be specific about the keywords you use in your blog content to attract search engine attention and the right audience.

Write Quality Blogs

It may sound easy but writing can be a challenge for some people. Be straightforward and factual. You want to get to your point and fast because online readers have short attention spans. Use bullet points and subheadings to make it easy to skim posts. Write well and use proper grammar. Readers who are at ease with your style will come back for more. If you can hack the writing aspect, hire a freelancer to supply posts. Don’t make blog posts promotional. Stick to the facts and informational posts.

Post Regularly

If you post it, they will come. If you don’t, you can forget developing a loyal list of followers who are interested in your product or service.  Write at least 2-3 posts a week, every week.

Interact on Your Blog

Your readers will likely comment, leaving the opportunity for you to interact and share even more of your knowledge. The information you provide in answering questions or discussing comments will generate valuable feedback you can use to improve the business and the blog. Plan to spend at least an hour or more on the blog each week. Don’t leave commentators hanging. Not only is it unprofessional, your readers will think you don’t care that much.

Get Your Blog Out There

Submit your blog posts to carnivals so other sites will link back to your blog. Carnivals also increase your exposure to audiences you may not find anywhere else. Link to your blog on the website and ask other site owners who cover similar topics to add you to their blogroll. Post links to your articles on Social Media sites.

Collect Mailing List Information
As you build a following, provide readers with a way to stay in touch. Use a form to collect email address and add a newsletter to your marketing plan. Those who sign up are already interested in what you have to offer and can be easily converted into long-term, paying customers.

Running even the smallest enterprise that thrives on local customer loyalty needs to have the exposure and promotional power that only the internet can give. From the tiny deli to the local greenhouse; local businesses need to venture out of the neighborhood an onto the web if they wish to remain competitive and profitable.

Provide the Answers to Your Local Customers

You may think your foot traffic each day is sufficient to keep business alive but the reality is that a good majority of your neighbors will still turn to the internet for answers to most important questions they want to ask you, like ‘What are your business hours?’. Web users of all demographics rely on the web to find what they need and if your company isn’t providing answers 24/7, your competitor probably is.

Prove You Are Running With the Big Dogs

Mom and pop stores are folding all the time, unable to keep up with the faster pace of newer, younger stores. Your competitors, both local and international, are surely online and able to promote faster, sell more, and essentially drive you right out of business. You may be a comfortable mom and pop operation to your loyalists but you’ve got to establish credibility and reliability. Let people know you have staying power and can adapt to the changing business environment.

Increase Profits By Widening Your Audience

While you may cater to the locals, you can still use your brain power to come up with innovative ways to expand your product or service to a worldwide audience and therefore increase your own bottom line. Consider the possibilities of taking your company to an international audience without ever leaving the block. A strong web presence can bring much need attention to your little operation.

Get Your Brick and Mortar Biz Socially Accepted

Promoting your company is still a crucial part of a business plan. You can use your website as a reference in local print advertising plus develop resources for advertising online to increase your exposure. Increasing company awareness online through social networking sites and well-developed advertising campaigns can literally change your business presence overnight.

Open Lines of Customer Service Communication On Your Website

Establishing a website allows for you to hear from and speak to your customers more frequently and efficiently. You can use forums to gain valuable feedback from your customers and utilize email to provide more information to seekers.

An online business presence is certainly not a set-it-and-forget-it type of situation. Developing a website and/or blog for your business requires forethought and dedication to planning and posting. Providing readers (aka your target audience) with valuable information is a priority for all business owners looking to drive the right traffic to a site in an effort to increase sales. The more valuable the information, the more reliable a business appears to potential customers. Visitors want to believe in the expertise and knowledge of a business before they buy in good faith.

Research and thought makes a better blog

Providing valuable content is not the only requirement of a site either. The content you provide needs to also be updated constantly. No one will keep coming back to a stale site where nothing changes. Readers yearning for information often turn to the internet for answers and if your site is providing up-to-date posts, they will come to you time and again to find what they need. You are essentially providing a solution for a problem on a preferably daily basis. Additionally, if comments are allowed on your site, the feedback provided by readers an be invaluable to a business owner.

Consistent blogging helps drive traffic to your website

One of the ultimate goals of your website is to get recognized above your competitors on the internet. Information being picked up by the search engines each day needs to be fresh in order to improve the ranking of your site pages. New content triggers better ratings so posts need to be well-thought out and consistent with what is in the news and the web’s trending topics. It can be a help to outline a list of topics you want to write about to keep the site streamlined and focused. New posts can also be used as a marketing tool through social media outlets. You can promote the link to your daily posts on your Twitter or Facebook accounts to help people easily locate your site while giving yourself some additional ‘face time’ in front of your target audience on the social networking sites.

How to get started with blogging

Starting with an outline of ideas, continue jotting down current events and other relevant topic ideas as they come to you. Depending on your writing skills, you may choose to write a batch of articles at a time. Most site platforms allow you to pre-schedule posts for the future. Make time each week to craft a number of articles and post them all at once. If your writing skills are not up to par, consider employing a freelance writer who specializes in online writing. Quality writing is definitely a plus as the content you produce can be the first impression you make for many new potential customers.

Great blogs start with dedication and commitment

While many business owners begin with the best of intentions when it comes to websites and blogs, a good majority fail to keep up the trend. What is left is an expired waste of space that will more likely turn people off than clue them in to what your business has to offer. Consider your daily postings as part of your required routine much like checking your email or fulfilling sales orders.