Top 11 Ways to Use Business Blogs to Find More Customers

(Revised)

 

 

If you apply the ways for using business blogs that I’m outlining below, it will be easier for you to find more customers.  Why?  Because prospective customersFind More Customers Using Business Blogs will have an easier time finding you online. Customers who you haven’t met face to face will get to know you through the experience and knowledge you share.

With a business blog, you demonstrate your subject matter expertise. Customers searching for answers online will see clearly how you can help them.

A business blog increases the chances of prospective customers finding your website.

Here’s an interesting statistic. HubSpot, an online marketing firm, studied 1,531 of their small and medium size business customers in 2009. It found that companies with business blogs had 55 percent more website visitors than those without blogs.

 

So here are my top 11 Ways To Find More Customers Using Business Blogs:

 

1. Use your business blog to share your expertise. Business blogs are the best low-cost way to get yourself known to prospective customers. You can present yourself as a subject matter expert with a regularly updated blog. Choose the type of content you like using the most. Use photos, videos, audio podcasts, how-to guides, white papers, special reports, instructional or how-to presentations, technical articles, opinion articles, surveys and more. Creating and uploading how-to instructional blog content is an easy skill to learn.

2. Attract more prospective customers to your website. Search engines give preference to blogs and websites that regularly update their content. Your “organic search results” will improve as you continually create new, original blog articles. (According to Wikipedia.com, “Organic search results are listings on search engine results pages that appear because of their relevance to the search terms, as opposed to their being advertisements. In contrast, non-organic search results may include pay per click advertising.)

3. Share your business blog with potential clients. When you meet people in person, invite them to check out your blog article(s) or video(s) that pertains to their problem. It’s a way to explain in-depth your unique approach to solving their problems.

How great would this be? You’re talking with a potential customer you’ve met at a live event about her specific problem. You explain a bit about how your products or services solve the problem. Then you say, “I can send you a link to a recent blog article I wrote about how to solve problems like yours.”

4. Recycle blog articles into content for your email newsletters. You’ll get fabulous returns on the time you invest in creating blog articles because you can reuse them in several ways!

5. Build your customer database faster with a blog. End each blog article with a suggestion to subscribe to your email newsletter. Business owners I’ve worked with have found that doing so increases their email newsletter signups threefold!

6. Link to your business blog articles on social media networks. Direct customers to visit your website by linking to your blog articles on LinkedIn and other sites. By maintaining a business blog, it’s easier for you to regularly create your own customer-friendly content.  Soon you’ll have a library of your expertise to share on social media sites.

Some examples of instructional (how-to) content for your blog:

  • Articles written for your blog and other information you use in your business
  • How-to guides, checklists for solving problems
  • Online videos explaining how to fix a problem or accomplish a task
  • Non-salesy customer presentations
  • Customer success stories, or client case studies
  • Lots of photos that illustrate your approach to solving customer problems

 

Any type of customer-friendly content or information works well for your blog. The one exception is sales materials. Do not sell on your business blog. You’re building relationships by uploading helpful, useful information. Business blogs are a conversational and relationship-building form of customer communication.

7. Reuse customer-friendly content you have on hand. With a bit of reworking, you can turn articles, white papers, videos, reports, presentations, case studies, success stories   or any other non-sales materials you’ve already created into blog content.

8. Test new ideas for products and services.  Differentiate your business by publishing your one-of-a-kind approach. Create articles on your business blog to delve into new ideas. Discuss a new approach you’ve developed to help your customers solve problems.

9. Publish your appearances and news. If you give speeches or training programs, attend seminars, exhibit at or attend industry conferences or trade shows, talk about the details on your blog.

10. Get extra mileage from your daily customer conversations. Turn the “how to” information you’ve given during in person or phone discussions with clients into blog articles. Or create an online video to explain the how-to information.

11. Beat your competition to the punch. Be the first to discuss industry news on your blog. Share your views about industry developments.

Photo: iStock

 

I hope this helps you see how you can find more customers with a blog.

In my next post, I’ll discuss steps you can take to start your business blog.

Next Steps:

List your best customer experiences.

Explain your experiences in your customers’ language. Turn them into success stories.

Find more customers by sharing your best customer success stories on your blog.

 

 

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