Community. That’s what you’re building with a business blog. You are establishing yourself as the mayor of your town online and expect the citizens to show up soon. If they finally don’t arrive, you must ask yourself why.
Many blogs are simply struggling to survive instead of thriving. They are full of information, but very little of it is worth getting too excited about. Delivery is boring and there are very few new informative posts. They just regurgitate what others have already said. Citizens of your blogging community post a collective yawn and forget to hit send.
In order for there to be the necessary excitement for your blog, you have to provide your readers with new information, new facts, expert analysis and you absolutely have to be passionate about what you are talking about. Yes, allow dissent, but defend your leadership position by providing members who disagree with additional evidence when necessary. Another question to ask yourself is whether you care enough about the product or topic to express the vulnerability of passion.
The truth is, you could be an articulate spokesperson for your blog topic, you could be a random whistleblower with no real interest in how work is received, or you could even be perceived as a cyber bully who can’t stand being contradicted. . If I were you, I’d aim for the first: an articulate spokesperson.
When you can accurately make your case in a diplomatic and articulate manner, you come across as a leader who has the experience to convey valuable data to readers. Many readers may want to know if you are the person they would like to follow when it comes to gathering information and casting a vision for what they are doing.
You will need links and interviews to supplement your own experience. From time to time you may need to think outside the box about common problems. You will need to invest time and patience in developing practical and thought-provoking material for your readers. You will have to make visiting your blog as much of an event as possible.
How are you doing at the moment?
If you receive a press release that you’d like to share with your readers, you might consider submitting a blog post with the information along with links, as well as a personal analysis of what the information means to your readers. Many bloggers get this concept wrong because all they do is just pass the press release around without significant leadership. Your readers can find that exact press release on virtually any blog on a similar topic to yours. It may be good information, but it’s not unique until you make it so.
You should also add applicable images or graphics to each blog post. Add subtitle bullets for scanners in your online village. Blog readers are no different than most of the rest of the online world: first and foremost, they are scanners. By visually drawing them into the most important concepts, you can help them come to terms with what information they would like to read more of. This can cause those scanners to come back more often.
Put some passion and expertise into your blog; it can go a long way in allowing your constituents to see you as their leader.