Over the weeks, I have been monitoring the social media tools businesses use and how they communicate their messages across. I have previously looked into Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube to see how they carry out their communication strategies in order to accomplish their objectives. This week I have concentrated on blogging with my latest blog post about ‘Ways to use a Blog for business’.
I have now identified the most common mistakes businesses are making on their blogs. If you use a blog correctly, it can provide traffic to your website and business where you can be interacting and engaging with your customers and site visitors. Using a blog is about sharing your thoughts and information through writing, images and videos. It is like having your very own platform to publish posts related to your business and industry.
Here are the common mistakes that you should avoid when using a blog;
1. Not integrating your blog with your website.
Your blog is published on its own domain which is separate from your website. This can be damaging to your business’s search engine optimisation, branding and the content your business is publishing. Have your blog attached to your website in a separate tab.
2. Too much product content
A lot of businesses are publishing posts about the business, product, service and accomplishments. Instead of creating product focused content and concentrate on what is occurring in the industry you are in. You do not need to share everything you do as a business but what the industry is doing. This type of content will attract readers who will gain social interaction.
3. Not publishing frequently
Some businesses are guilty of not posting on a regular basis and when they do, it is not enough to make your blog effective. Keep publishing blog posts on a weekly basis to keep social interaction between you and your readers.
4. Not optimising your search
Some business do not categorise and add tags to the blog posts they publish. You are not optimising the opportunity to be found in searches made by people. By identifying key words related to the business, use it effectively to be found in searches made.
5. Failing to promote your blog in the social media platform
When you publish a blog post, make sure you are using other social media tools (Facebook, Twitter, etc) to promote and share the post. You need to direct your audience to visit the blog.
6. Ignoring your blog stats
Businesses do not realise they can evaluate how they are doing on their blogs. You can monitor how many views you get on a daily basis, where they visit from and how many comments are made. Pay regular attention to these stats so you are aware of how well your blog is doing.
7. Disabling comments
Some businesses have disabled readers from commenting on their blogs. It is vital to have readers comment on your blog because you can create a discussion where others will form opinions that may surprise you.
8. Replying to comments
A blog is a two way process for businesses and readers to interact. People will lose trust in your business as you are not replying to the comments made by readers.
9. Terrible post titles
Have a clear post title so people can read it to understand what your post is going to be about. Have it specific to your business and relate the blog posts to the industry you are in.
10. Sharing other people’s blog posts
businesses should insert an URL to the blog post they are commenting on so people can read the blog post you have collective thoughts about. There is no point writing about something else’s post blog when people do not know what you are writing about.
