Ravi Saive: A Technology Blog For Newbies

Your business blog is a great way to showcase your expertise in your field, connect with customers, and even boost your SEO. But it shouldn't be an empty endeavor you should be attracting readers. If you aren't, there are five main reasons why that might be. Here is what they are and how you can fix them.

1. It Offers No Value

Your business blog is another representation of your company, and it's an extension of your marketing strategy. Therefore, it should reflect your company as well as possible. Don't you want your business to be valuable to your customers? Don't you want your business to be exciting and interesting? Well, you want your blog to be, too. Your blog posts need to solve problems, answer questions, give suggestions, elicit emotions, and spread good ideas. Before you publish each post, ask yourself, What benefit does this post really offer to my customers?

2. It Isn't Attractive

The design of your blog is very important. It also needs to portray your image and your brand, and it needs to be readable. Make sure your blog's graphics, color scheme, layout, and typeface all look professional and well done. They should mimic the look and feel of your (also professionally and well-done) website. Don't litter it with ads, either; keep ads to a minimum.

3. It's Too Predictable

Yes, most of the content you'll publish on your blog will be text-based. However, if every single blog post is text, text, and more text, your readers are going to get bored. Make sure you vary it up by illustrating your posts with photographs and posting videos. Also post different kinds of text like lists and Q A. Offering exciting and varied content will keep people interested. It will also appeal to a wider audience, because some people are more visual than others.

4. It Isn't Active Enough

If you're going to keep a blog, you need to stay dedicated to it. Never, ever let it stagnate by letting too much time go between updates. It's important that you post content on a regular and consistent basis. Choose a frequency, such as twice per week or once per day and stick to it. If you don't post frequently enough, people will tire of checking back to see if there's new content. If they don't know when you'll post again, or if you ever will, they won't bother.

5. It's Not Promoted Enough

You need to make sure everyone knows that your blog exists. If they don't, how can you expect them to read it? Cross-promote your blog everywhere by posting links to it on your website, social media pages, and in your newsletter. When you create a new post, link to it in a Facebook post and a Twitter tweet. You should even consider putting the URL to your blog on your printed, offline marketing materials like brochures, business cards, and direct mailings. The more people you tell about your blog, the more traffic (and repeat traffic) you should see.