Business Growth Blog

I evaluate a lot of company websites and their online presence. The first few things I look for are whether or not they have a blog, if the articles lean more company-centric or customer-centric, and who the authors are.

The Internet is flooded with content. Not every article is going to be a hit, but posts that are interesting and compelling to the right audience can drive website traffic and leads for years. The best articles usually come from people in the trenches: business leaders and industry experts who are actively working in the field. They bring unique insights, advanced learning, and fresh perspectives that drive the conversation forward.

In the following articles, I explored some of the important benefits businesses realize when leaders engage in the blogging process. When you read the titles, you may think they contain the same information. But each blog has a slightly different take. Check them out! Comment below and share what you think about blogging.

One of the first priorities of your company’s marketing strategy should be to develop a process for blogging. From a technical perspective, blogging helps you get found online. It increases the number of web pages on your website (the more web pages, you have the more chances you have to get found) and increases SEO mojo. That’s definitely important stuff, but buyers don’t really care about that. The main reason to blog is to provide your prospects with the information they need as they travel through the decision making process.

Blogging is a profitable marketing tactic that companies from all industries can use to attract and engage target buyers. The two biggest questions marketing executives have to answer when planning their blog strategy are 1) what will they write about, and 2) who will write the articles.

The best blog articles come from people within your organization that have deep industry expertise. Unfortunately, most internal experts or other potential blog contributors don’t have time to write, don’t like to write, or don’t know what to write about. It’s not part of the corporate culture, and they’ve never done anything like that before.

The good news is that there are processes you can implement to simplify the content creation process and make blogging the norm within your organization. Business leaders will be able to quickly create quality blogs that build a following, generate leads, and help salespeople sell.

Here are four ways to create blog articles without having to agonize over the writing process:

For the majority of salespeople today, blogging is not a prospecting technique that is on their radar. However, when sales and marketing align around the content strategy, the return on investment goes way up. Here are 3 reasons why sellers should be part of the blogging process, either by helping to craft articles or by guiding the content strategy.

Every morning I check my email box, and it’s full of articles about a variety of topics. I go to my LinkedIn home page, and I’m bombarded with more articles. There’s no way on God’s green earth I could ever read them all. Sometimes I feel annoyed that there are so many.

So why bother blogging and adding to the plethora of information online? Won’t your articles just get ignored like the zillions of other articles do?

When I talk to salespeople about blogging, I get the same response Bob Wiley gives Anna when asked about going sailing: “I've never blogged before; I don't think I can handle it!” The good news is that even though Bob is terrified, he has a great attitude and is willing to try.

Below are some blog ideas that can get you started. Hopefully, when you write a few of your own posts, you can be as excited about your accomplishment as Bob is about sailing!

Don't waste resources writing blog articles that don't help you get new business. The best results come from a holistic blog strategy.

It may seem like a simple question, but there’s a lot more to blogging (good blogging that is!) than you might think. People read blogs all the time, but when it comes time to actually create one, the questions start popping up!

What is a blog? “A personal website or web page on which an individual records opinions, links to other sites, etc. on a regular basis.”

Read on to get 8 tips for writing good blog articles.

Sellers are on the front lines talking to prospects and customers all day long. They have deep company and industry expertise and know what messaging elicits the best responses. If anyone understands what information will resonate with your ideal buyer persona, it’s them.

But too often, sales and marketing are not aligned, and sellers aren’t at the table when it comes to developing the corporate content strategy or lending their experience and expertise to the content creation process. Here are some ideas about how to get your sales team engaged in creating useful blog articles that prospects and customers want to read:

I spend hours every week reading blogs (literally). It’s how I get my information. I can instantly spot a good company blog vs. a bad company blog.

Here are 10 tell-tale signs you’re wasting valuable time and money on your blogging efforts.