Becky Tumidolsky
Everywhere you look, you’ll find B2B blogs in bad, bad shape. They’re tripping up. Flailing. Falling flat.
Many businesses give up on their blogs after just a few months. They tire of seeing little or no engagement after posting company updates, random reflections, or dry, insular, industry-related stuff—nothing that would interest the people they were hoping to reach.
But at least these companies were doing it! They were blogging.
Problem is, they weren’t competing to win.
Unfit B2B Blogs Are Bound To Lose Steam.
Much has been written on the subject of bad company blogs.
Barry Feldman of Feldman Creative had some fun last year eulogizing bad business blogs. With tongue squarely in cheek, he highlighted some of the worst and most common blog offenses.
On his TopRank blog, Lee Odden explains what B2B blogs need but so often lack:
A successful business blog puts a personality on the company and both listens and responds to the community. [ . . . ] If a company is going to start a blog, they should plan for success rather than treating it like a crapshoot. Commit or go home.
B2B marketer Carter Hostelley puts it as delicately as he can:
We’re not saying that no one cares about how great your user conference is going to be, or your latest customer wins, or even those new exec hires, it’s just that those topics are probably not keeping your prospects up at night.
And this, from UK-based Iconsive:
Long words and technical posts do not make your business appear favourable to customers. In fact, people view you and your business negatively when you use language they don’t understand.
B2B bloggers who make these kinds of mistakes—rushing in haphazardly without knowing or considering who they’re targeting and why—will never be able to get ahead of the competition, let alone go the distance.
Is Your B2B Blog Built To Win?
Most B2B blogs feature the same standard parts (headline, body, visuals, etc.), but only a few bloggers know how to develop these parts to achieve their blogs’ full potential.
As successful bloggers can attest, a winning blog takes a lot of work. You must invest fully in giving your readers a uniquely valuable experience.
Does your blog have what it takes to break from the pack?
That’s how I think a winning B2B blog is built. What did I get right? What did I miss? Leave a comment below!
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