Perhaps the first thing you thought to yourself when your read this headline was something like… what is a blog to begin with, and why would a I want one? Those are good questions, and they deserve good answers!
The term blog may be a little over-used these days, but all we’re really talking about is writing short articles about something you’re already passionate about – your business.
There are a lot of reasons small business retailers should consider maintaining a blog, and they all have to do with increasing your business. We’ll talk about some of those in a minute.
Some of you may already be wondering… what on earth would I write about? Consider this.. You are a professional – a specialist in your industry, and your customers are interested in what you do. They chose to purchase from you because they believe in you, and the more ways you can find to relate with them, the more loyal your customers will become.
By regularly posting short articles, your customers learn directly from you why you’re so passionate about your products. You might write about what makes your products stand out from your competitors’, or talk about how it all began for you. People love to hear the history of your business.
You could tell a story about how your product came in handy at just the right moment, or even post a video showing how to use your product. You could also explain to your customers when you should be using a widget instead of a cog, or how to choose the best size cog for your model of widget.
You can write tips and advice articles too. One example may be if you happen to sell golf clubs – you could post tips for getting the perfect swing or what clubs to use on certain holes at your local course. If you sell crafts, you might consider writing about the materials or process you use that makes your creations unique.
Whatever you decide to write about, try to be consistent. If your customers know when you usually post to your blog, there is a better chance they will check in more frequently. Here at NuggetWeb, we generally release our new articles on Mondays and Thursdays, and we occasionally post small announcements on other days as well.
Regular updates have an additional bonus as well… search engines love it! When search engines, like Google, see that a site is being updated and information is being added, they see that as being more important than a site who’s content may be outdated. The longer you keep at it, the more the search engines will reward you with better search results, which leads to more customers.
If you are a NuggetWeb Merchant Shop owner, or you run your own WordPress blog, consider scheduling your blog posts in advance. This allows you to write articles when you have time, or when you have a rush of creativity and schedule them to be published at a later date. It’s also great for the holidays, because you can write your holiday posts ahead of time, and free yourself up to help your customers during your busy season.
If you have created a Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn account for your business (and chances are you probably have), consider using a free social sharing service, like TwitterFeed, to have your posts automatically re-published on your social network of choice.
Now that you have a better understanding of what blogging really is and how it can help your business, it’s time to try it yourself. Happy blogging!
NuggetWeb Shop Owners and WordPress users can follow these instructions to schedule a post to be published at a future time:
While in the Add or Edit Post screen of your dashboard, you will have a section titled Publish. Where it says “Publish Immediately Edit“, click on the edit link:
This will expand your options to allow you to change the date and time your post will be published.
Next change the date, and time to when you want to publish your post, in this case we’ll set it for January 20th, at 10:00am.
Click Ok to confirm your changes, and then click the Schedule button. That’s it! Your post will wait until it’s scheduled to be published, and then it will automatically be available to all of your visitors.
More information:
- Blog Or Go Bust: Why Your Small Business Needs A Blog – Forbes
- How Content Marketing Affects Search Engine Rankings – QuickSprout.com