How to Unlock Your Website’s Hidden Potential with a Company Blog

Most of today’s businesses realize that having a website is an important part of whatever business they conduct. They hire a web design firm to put up all of the information about their business, where they can be found, what services their business offers, and how to get in contact with them. While this is a good start, after most businesses get their website up and running with what they think is the information that their customers need, they leave it alone to possibly be updated 5 years down the line when they discover one of their competitors has a better, and more up to date website.

Despite this being a common practice with today’s local businesses, this is not the goal of having a website. A business can never get ahead just by following what their competitors do, they have to lead, and be innovative. In this article, I’m going to talk about a few things that your business can do to be innovative, and at the same time feed your customers the best information possible about your business with a company blog.

A lot of people think there is a negative connotation surrounding the word “blog” and normally think of frustrated teenagers venting their “teenage angst” on the internet for their friends to read. While this does happen, blogs can also be a very powerful business tool as well.

An article from business week in 2005 states this very well telling us about how blogs will change your business.

”Go ahead and bellyache about blogs. But you cannot afford to close your eyes to them, because they’re simply the most explosive outbreak in the information world since the Internet itself. And they’re going to shake up just about every business — including yours. It doesn’t matter whether you’re shipping paper clips, pork bellies, or videos of Britney in a bikini, blogs are a phenomenon that you cannot ignore, postpone, or delegate. Given the changes barreling down upon us, blogs are not a business elective. They’re a prerequisite.”

The object of a blog is break down traditional barriers that currently stand between you and your customers and create empathy. If your customers can see your business from the inside out, they are much more likely to become loyal customers.

The beautiful thing about a company blogging is that it allows you to talk to your customers in a more personal, one-on-one, tone. And that’s exactly what you should do when writing your blog entries. Don’t give your customers a sales pitch, talk to them like you would anyone else trying to find out more information about your business. The goal of a blog is not immediately shove information about how and why they should buy from you, but to rather talk to them in a tone they can relate to, and guide them through the buying process. Some topics that are great to use in company blogs are:

• ”How to” articles
• ”Get to know the company”
• ”The Best way to get the Best Customer Service”
• ”What can we do to Live up to our Customer’s needs?”
• ”The economy is bad, but here’s how we’re helping you”

These are all great starting points in creating a company blog that really speaks to your customers. And the best part is, your customers will speak back.