Amanda ClarkHaving a blog no longer makes your business distinct. The jury is in when it comes to blogging, and the verdict is clear: All companies need to be publishing regular content updates if they wish to remain visible. Just blogging doesn’t actually make your brand distinct—but blogging well? That’s a different story.
Just because most businesses have begun blogging, that doesn’t mean all businesses blog well. Taking the time to master the art is exactly what it will take for you to give your company a distinctive edge.
And maybe the best way to think about becoming a better blogger is to think about what makes your competitors so lackluster.
Consider:
- Terrible bloggers are insular.
You can always tell a bad business blog because it is singularly focused on its one topic—the business. But readers don’t want to read about your business all the time. They want value. They want to know what’s in it for them. They want connections to their lives, or at least to the broader industry and the wider world.
- Terrible bloggers sell incessantly.
Having a call to action in your blog is fine, and in fact we recommend it. Hard selling, from the first word of your post to the last, is a turnoff to readers, and a sign that you don’t really understand how content marketing works.
- Terrible bloggers only like to hear their side of the conversation.
Content marketing is about building relationships and fostering conversations. That’s how customer loyalty is built. What this means is simple: You need to turn on your blog comments, and respond to whatever questions or comments you receive.
- Terrible bloggers settle for quantity instead of quality.
Well-written blog posts can become invaluable, evergreen content to support your brand. A hastily written, dashed-off blog won’t linger for long, which means you’re not getting your money’s worth out of it. A really great weekly post beats daily ones that are just mediocre.
- Terrible bloggers forget to proofread.
True professionals care about spelling and grammar—and so do your readers.
- Terrible bloggers are esoteric.
The point of your blog should be to provide some specific action steps that users can take. If you can’t identify the action steps in your blog, then you need to retool it and ensure you are bringing real value to the table.
- Terrible bloggers forget to be human.
Finally: Remember that, with so many business blogs out there, robotically rehashing the same ol’ content just won’t do the trick. Be warm, authentic, and engaging. Be a person, not just a corporation.
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